Reading is a pastime enjoyed by many, and it has been a part of our culture for an extremely long period of time.  Reading is loved from an early age, and it is highly encouraged as well because of its essential educational value.  A mutual fondness for reading is shared by an enormous group of people because every possible subject of interest can be represented in a book, making reading a fun and informative experience for everyone.  Although reading itself has no true downsides, there is one limiting factor that can thwart someones interest in it very easily, the ban of books.  The censorship of books is a serious issue that violates freedoms we as U.S. citizens should possess.  People ban books for a myriad of reasons, one of the most common being parents afraid of their children reading inappropriate content.  These problems do have different solutions, and I think that the antiquated process of banning books should be eradicated.
One reason banning books is wrong is because it challenges the first amendment.  The United States Constitution states in the first amendment, “Congress should make no law... abridging the freedom of speech or the press...”  This clearly states that the freedom of speech and the press shall not be infringed upon, and in my opinion that should include books.  The ban of books is specifically targeted at libraries, and taking an already stocked book out of a library due to a ban is essentially unconstitutional.  Because the Constitution is the building block of our country’s legal system, it simply cannot be ignored for the purpose of taking material off of America’s shelves.  Taking away books is infringing on the grounds of free speech, so the ban of books is unconstitutional.
Banning books should also be stopped because it is taking valuable knowledge away from developing minds.  The ban of books is specifically targeted to public libraries and school libraries, the two places children can easily access books for free.  The ban of books can also aim to take certain literature out of school curriculum, taking valuable learning experiences away from students.  Many of the reasons books are banned are simply not worthy of taking beneficial learning out of our students’ lives.  One common banned book is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  The most common reason for the ban of this book is because of its utilization of the n word.  Although it is understandable that some may not want impressionable students to be exposed to such offensive language, the educational value of reading this book, or any banned book, far surpasses any reasoning for ban.  The ban of such books from student resource centers is simply not right, it does not teach our nation’s students to be well rounded and open minded.
Finally, this practice is unjust because banning books from public resources such as libraries not only takes away options for the intended targets but it takes them away from the general public.  If a parent wanted to ban certain books from their public library to shield their children, they would also remove the option from many other people possibly wanting to have those options.  Banning books is an ineffective solutions to problems held by only a small portion of communities, and it is far less effective than parents simply monitoring what their children read.  As for some parents wanting to protect future children from reading “questionable” literature, it is not their responsibility to account for them.  Not only is the ban of books not servicing our society, it is actually doing us a disservice by restricting entire communities.
The ban of books is not just wrong, it is unconstitutional.  With every book banned also goes a valuable learning experience for many students in generations to come.  Book banning is ineffective to say the least, impacting sizable groups of people, not just the intended recipient.  Banning books takes away our right as United States citizens to read and understand different interpretations of the very life we live, and it makes us an overall less educated society.