Student Christian Hayward notes the spread of book banning and the problems that come with it.
Controversy ignited across Alberta as the Edmonton School Board planned to ban over 200 books from school libraries, including literary classics like Huxley’s Brave New World and Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It was in response to the Alberta government issuing a general book ban to tackle children being exposed to sexual content.
Over heavy backlash from writers and educators, the Ministry of Education and Childcare declared on Sept. 8 that the ban will be restricted to texts with visual depictions of sexual acts or visuals pertaining to sex for purposes not related to education. While Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is staying on library shelves, it doesn’t mean it isn’t still at risk.
But this isn’t a one-off — and I believe that banning books ultimately harms people’s right to education.
The American Library Association reported that in 2024, 2,452 texts were attacked by protest groups. Many people are disturbed by the idea of books containing potentially controversial material being allowed in libraries in schools, targeting books for religious, political and social reasons.
In 2023, Florida put Bill 1069 in place, allowing concerned parents to undergo a government process to challenge any book they considered harmful or inappropriate for school libraries. Only recently has this bill been largely broken down by a Florida Judge. But that doesn’t mean the battle against books is over.
Literary censorship isn’t anything new. It has been around for thousands of years, spanning back to Ancient Rome, where Ovid’s Ars Amatoria, or The Art of Love, was both banned and burned due to its explicit suggestions of sex and courtship.
Reading is a form of education, and by banning books, potential readers are robbed of the chance to consume different perspectives or learn about topics they otherwise might not be exposed to.
Take The Handmaid’s Tale, the novel at the forefront of the media’s attention surrounding Alberta’s book banning. While reading about women being systematically objectified is undoubtedly uncomfortable, it’s important to understand the overall feminist goal of the novel and how Atwood uses a first person perspective to directly comment on the situation.
In my view, claiming that adolescents shouldn’t be exposed to The Handmaid’s Tale just strips them of their right to widen the scope of their political lens. Banning books goes against the public’s right to education. And that right should stay in place.