The Issues of Youth Censorship

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

when i was in grade six one of our final

assignments in english class was to

create a ted talk

we were to choose a topic that was

important to us and share it with the

rest of our class

i had recently made the switch to

veganism and thought this was the

perfect opportunity to educate my

classmates on something that i was

passionate about

from the start i was asked to keep it

mild and not too graphic which i agreed

to

we were about a week away from

presentation day when my mom got an

email from the teacher

saying that i was no longer allowed to

present my talk in front of my

classmates

and my only other option was to do it in

front of the teachers

my teacher said i spoke to your mom

about the fact that the grade six class

may not be quite the right audience for

the mature substance that you have

shared

i’m sorry what i’m fairly sure that at

age

10 we’re aware that meat comes from

animals i’m also pretty sure

that 10 year olds know that in order to

eat the animal

you have to kill it first it wasn’t like

i was explaining in detail

how the animal was killed all i was

sharing was how killing an animal is

never humane

no matter how you do it

the definition of censorship is the

suppression or prohibition of any parts

of books films news etc that are

considered obscene

politically unacceptable or a threat to

security

there are many different kinds of

censorship and not all of them are bad

censoring mature content from

five-year-olds to keep them young and

safe

can have its benefits but sharing

one-sided

biased opinions not allowing other

voices that contradict that biased

opinion

or shutting out the voices of people who

are trying to share an important topic

or a different view

is a real problem i’m not the only kid

who’s been censored for wanting to share

views facts ideas or beliefs so many

kids around the world have been censored

maybe for different reasons but the

cause is usually the same

parental censorship can stem from

concerned parents who don’t want their

kids to grow up with views that are

different from their own

or parents might simply feel unsure

about how to approach a sensitive topic

so they don’t approach it at all this is

usually an attempt to keep the child

pure or in the line of a certain belief

but can often result in unresolved

questions from the child’s youth

or no knowledge about the world that

they will grow up in

censorship in schools usually comes in

the form of removal or manipulation of a

topic or facts

or when a sensitive topic is brought

forward educators feel the need to

censor it

kind of like what happened to me

an article on school censorship says

that the censorship we see in schools

usually comes from a desire to ensure

that our children grow up making the

choices and following the beliefs that

we desire for them

by removing any other options but by

doing this

we’re not allowing the child to grow

explore and create their own ideas on

the world that they will inherit

if our children continue making the

choices and following the same beliefs

that we desire

for them nothing’s ever going to change

but what if instead of censoring an

important topic we encourage a

discussion about it

if i was allowed to present my talk it

could have opened the doors

to a mature conversation it could have

been very educational and enlightening

but instead my classmates were left

wondering why i wasn’t allowed to talk

about something that i was passionate

about

i can’t help but wonder what would have

happened if i was allowed to speak my

mind

i was sensitive for wanting to share

information at about veganism at school

by the teachers

this is a pretty small form of

censorship and in all honesty

it really isn’t that bad but the

question is

where does it stop how far are we

willing to go to keep a voice silent so

that we don’t have to feel uncomfortable

or challenged

are we really better better off just

sticking our heads in the sand and

ignore

and pretending that other views don’t ex

don’t exist

i want everyone to ask yourselves how

far are you willing to go

so where does it stop why are we afraid

to ask questions

why are we so afraid to discuss things

that are controversial

if we can’t learn how to be okay with

other people having different opinions

we could be heading towards a world

where we’re afraid to speak our minds

we need to learn how to be uncomfortable

we need to learn how to listen to other

people’s opinions

even if they may contradict our current

ones we’re all afraid of what we don’t

know and that’s okay

it’s just human nature but it’s not okay

to silence and censor for the sake of

your

own comfort so parents

be open with your kids if they want to

learn about something let them learn

about it

and support them it’s okay to be

uncomfortable with the topic but it is

not okay to tell them

that they that they can’t learn talk or

or talk about

things that they are passionate

questioning or just curious about

let them change the world let them

discover themselves

let them learn and the same goes to the

educators out there as well

teachers should be helping their

students get their voices out and learn

about what they want

not shutting them down let’s learn how

to have difficult conversations

i truly believe that when we allow and

encourage other voices to speak up

and when we learn how to question our

own beliefs the world will be a better

[Applause]

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