Argument Essay- Draft

            As children get older, they are beginning to be exposed to the imperfections and issues in our world. Even though these issues may be scary or threatening to some, sooner or later children need to learn about them and what better way to learn about some of these issues than good literature. The book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is a coming of age novel that discusses social issues such as drug and alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, suicide, and other issues that take place in real life. Many parents feel that this book should be banned because the content is too mature for middle schoolers, however this book shouldn’t be banned because children have the right to be exposed to this literature and learn more about these topics if chosen to do so.

            One reason why this book shouldn’t be banned from classrooms is because students can be exposed to much more inappropriate content through the internet and it is their decision whether or not they want to have access to this content. For example, literacy teacher, Lynn Bruno, states “Like it or not, your daughters and sons in eighth grade have heard the word blowjob… What they are exposed to in terms of dialogue, in terms of media…I don’t like it any more than you do, but its (out) there.” This quote shows that a lot of the content found in the book, children may have already been exposed to because it can easily be found online or found in peoples everyday conversations. Another example is that “Per the school’s (Hadley Junior High) literacy curriculum, students could choose to ready a book and put it down at any time.” This shows that no student is being forced to be exposed to this content and that if they are curious in the topic, they can choose to continue reading it without having to ban the book from classrooms altogether.

            Another reason why this book shouldn’t be banned is because it teaches many life lessons and can be a helpful guide to students going through issues similar to what the characters go through in the book. For example, literacy teacher Lynn Bruno states, “Books like The Perks of Being a Wallflower are valuable because of the lessons students can learn from characters’ decisions in difficult situations.” Bruno also argues that, “While many Hadley (Junior High) students have supportive and caring parents…there are students facing issues similar to those depicted in the book and don’t have supportive parents to look to for guidance.” These quotes show that this book can actually be a positive influence for students growing up who don’t have adults for look to for guidance. It can supply knowledge on mistakes and challenges and how to overcome or deal with them.

            It is important to acknowledge that some of the content written about in this story may be too mature or questionable for kids in middle school. A parent from Hadley Junior High states, “I didn’t want to have this conversation with my daughter in eighth grade…our innocent child has already been tainted.” This shows that parents feel that by reading this book, their children are being exposed to things they are too young to handle. However, children do need to be enlightened on these issues, as they are present in our world and this is the age where kids start to become responsible enough to handle it.  

            By banning this book and others similar to it, children are being deprived of knowledge of certain social issues in our world that they are old enough to be exposed to. Children should be indulged in these topics so that they will gain knowledge that is crucial to growing up through an interesting and accurate source.