Title: What Are the Dangers of Censorship? | The Classroom
Headings: What Are the Dangers of Censorship?
What Are the Dangers of Censorship?
Threat to the Democratic Nature of Education
Missed Opportunity for Critical Thinking
Missed Opportunity to Learn From the Past
Suppression of Ideas that Challenge the Status Quo

Content: Students will find these kinds of evaluative skills useful as adults in a democratic society where they will have to deal with controversial ideas in the media, at work, in the government and internationally. Missed Opportunity to Learn From the Past
Some people believe in censoring classic books that use words that are now considered racial slurs, such as "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Certainly some of the ideas about race in such books are outdated and even derogatory, from a contemporary perspective. However, a teacher can use instances such as these as history lessons, explaining to students how ideas about race have changed over the years. Suppression of Ideas that Challenge the Status Quo
Many people know that the Nazis burned books that challenged their political philosophy. Book-burning or banning is common in many totalitarian governments, including Soviet Russia, North Korea and communist China. North Korea, the most censored country in the world according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, allows no independent media. In North Korea and other heavily censored countries, citizens have no access to information from outside their country and are forbidden to criticize the government. Many people in these censored countries live isolated, sheltered lives, ignorant of alternative ways of life and thinking.