Have you ever heard of a book which was so offensive it got banned? Far too frequently, a book is banned somewhere in the U.S.A everyday whether it is in a town, city or state. Amazingly, this happens with almost no protest against it.

Who bans books? Libraries, entire towns, and sometimes even  the United States government. The banning of books isn’t something that was done centuries or decades ago it happens nearly every week. These cases affect the learning of children, it limits children to explore and find something they enjoy in the world of literature. This can be stopped with any sign of protest, and the proscription will be lifted from the book. What reasons would a person ban a book? Well it can be from the extremeness of discrimination, to the simplicity of inappropriate language such as a case that took place here in colton, which almost took the job of David Rainey an English/journalism teacher who was only on his second year of teaching at Colton High School.

The case was started by a religious man who was offended by the language in the very popular book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. This man did not want his son to read the book and he demanded for the book to be banned from the district, and too be taken out of the English curriculum. After hearing of this incident one of  Rainey’s reporters from his journalism class decided to write a story about it and he insulted the man by calling him “Mr. Ignorant.”

When the story was published a district board member read the story and she had concern with the nickname and she questioned whether the school paper could insult parents in print.  Rainey’s position as adviser was saved by a protest to the school board members by his own journalism students. One of his students, Dan Flores, (who, in a twist of irony, is a current school board member) made a speech protesting this, and defending Rainey, and he managed to persuade the members to let Rainey continue in his position as Pepper Bough adviser. He still teaches Journalism and English to this day.

The problems caused by the questioning of a book can disrupt the education of children. Fight against the banning of books and these problems and setbacks can be avoided.