This question is a topic that comes across a lot in “library school”. It’s known as censorship; according to Vocabluary.com “Censorship blocks something from being read, heard, or seen. If you've ever heard the sound of bleeping when someone is speaking on television, that's censorship. To "censor" is to review something and to choose to remove or hide parts of it that are considered unacceptable. Censorship is the name for the process or idea of keeping things like obscene word or graphic images from an audience.” This is a very touchy and tricky subject because of course we want to expose our students to more knowledge but shield them form harmful material. However harmful material is often from one’s personal opinion. As a librarian I can’t only pick books that are about what I believe in I have to provide them all. I hate how the schools have things such as YouTube and Wikipedia blocked. Those sites are already somewhat filtered but what good does it cause to not allow them at all. I don’t agree with blocking music or entertainment sites I remember I couldn’t get on PBS.org for my kindergarteners. I think the only way to deal with this issue is by allowing all we can to be accessible and then teaching the students about proper Internet usage. It’s a skill that they must learned and school is the best place to teach it. The school could impose rules that revoke student’s rights of Internet usage if they use the Internet for improper things.
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