Rise Found in Censorship of School Books

Efforts to censor books and other materials in classrooms and libraries are increasing and the traditional conservative watchdogs have been joined by some women’s groups and minorities, a new report said today.

The efforts to censor come in all regions of the country and from urban, suburban and rural locations, and challenged publications included materials for all grade levels, said the report by the American Assn. of School Administrators and the American Library Assn.

Judy Blume, the popular children’s writer, is among the authors whose work is most frequently challenged, but also on the list are such writers as Nobel or Pulitzer prize winners Saul Bellow, William Golding, John Steinbeck, Alice Walker, John Updike and Norman Mailer.

“Some have sought to impose their views on the educational system, not through processes of persuasion and compromise, but by attempting to remove or restrict the use of certain instructional or library materials,” the report said.

“Would-be censors may think that it is the purpose of the schools to support certain values or causes, which are, of course, their values and their causes,” the report added. “Moreover, they tend to believe that those values and causes are best promoted by denying a forum to competing values and causes.”

Efforts Had Declined

The report cited a number of studies that showed censorship efforts declining between 1975 and 1979 but then growing rapidly during the 1980s.

An informal survey, done specifically for the new report, found 77 of 215 responding school districts reporting challenges to instructional or library materials since 1982.

“The conservative censor has been joined by groups that want their own special group values recognized,” the report said. “For example, ethnic minorities and women struggling against long-established stereotypes may want to reject materials that challenge their cause. And these groups, too, may use devices of censorship.”