What do you think about primary schools banning Twilight?

I don't have much time, but I'll answer this interesting question anyway.

I think it's wrong. While I can see why they'd want to ban Twilight, I don't think they're right for doing it. Now, I'm by no means a fan of Twilight, but even I can see the good in the books. When it comes to banning books, I don't have an opinion that I'm solidly behind right now; I just haven't given it much thought.

Anyway, I have to disagree with you about the twelve year old having a good point. That point isn't really a point, but so much as something that every teenager who wants to get away with something will say to their parents. It's like saying, "Oh, well, this fire doesn't burn as much as that fire, so why can't I play with it? You're being unfair."

And with her being twelve, I imagine it's even harder for the adults to take her seriously and see where she's coming from. But even though we're talking about Twilight and banning books, that doesn't mean she (or anyone else for that matter) can't have points when it comes to defending her side.

For example, the good things about Twilight is that it teaches you about abstinence. Or it makes it an attractive thing, at least. I know that Bella seems like all she wants to do is get into Edward's pants, but she did wait until they were married. That's got to count for something, right? And I bet waiting until marriage didn't seem like a realistic and good thing for many teens until they read this book.

I've heard of fangirls who said they're going to wait for their Edward, so...while they'll be waiting for a while, at least the thought of waiting until marriage (and not having sex when they're fifteen) has crossed their mind.

The second good thing--that's bad too--is that they won't be settling for anything less than an Edward. It's very unrealistic for them to wait for an Edward, but at least they're not going to settle for some low-life (even if Edward is classified as a low-life by some). I don't know about that point, though, so I won't even expand on it.

The *real* second point is that Twilight shows that ordinary can be extraordinary. You may be ordinary and blah in one place, but then be considered absolutely extraordinary and exotic in another place. That's what happened to Bella, right? How it happens isn't *completely* unrealistic. I mean, it's very possible that an ordinary girl could catch the attention of a well-meaning popular boy. And I think because of that, it's boosted the confidence of many teenagers.

Those are some of the good things. I know that many have complained about how Edward stalks her and shows signs of abusive and controlling behavior. And then there's my favorite argument, which is the one where she's not going to college because she chooses to spend an eternity with Edward as a vampire and ends up getting preggo with his eggo and they all live happily ever after.

I have to say. College isn't for everyone. It's great if someone goes to college, but it's not for everyone and it doesn't pay off for everyone. So just because someone doesn't go to college, it doesn't mean they're going to end up a bum--or that they're stupid. And it's also not like she can't go to college ever, just because she had a baby.

As for Bella having a baby, you've got many teenagers out there having children out of wedlock. After they've had children, some choose to get married. Is that somehow more preferable than what Bella did? It does send the message that you don't have to go to college. That you should just instead settle down with you high school sweetheart and have children. But the message could also be interepreted to mean that if you're going to have children, why not get married first, regardless of age? After all, not all eighteen/nineteen year olds are immature and unable to look past their own nose to take care of a child.

Anyway, there are many unrealistic and bad messages being sent out by the Twilight series, but it's not all bad. You just have to dig through the rubble in order to see the good in it. And like you've said, kids aren't stupid and Twilight gets people reading. Just for that, it's can't all be bad. Eventually, these kids are going to grow up and grow out of the Twilight series. They'll look back on this fad and think of how silly they were for waiting for an Edward. Because Twilight fostered their love of reading, they'll read other books that are considered great literature and they'll in turn learn many great lessons from those books.

As much as I didn't enjoy them, they shouldn't be banned so that those who did and do enjoy the series can read them over and over and over again--as I know they have and will. :p

First off, regardless if the book is Twilight; Harry Potter; Heather's Two Daddies; or the Bible, censorship is never the answer! I understand that parents worry about what children are exposed to but the instead of trying to limit what children see, hear, or read (an almost impossible task) they should instead be teaching their child how to deal with it. After all if you are afraid your child will drown, it doesn't make sense to spend your time telling a child don't say water, don't look at water, don't ever go anywhere near water. It makes more sense to realize that they can't avoid it, and to teach them to understand the danger and how to swim.

Secondly, at some point a large majority of books have had some complaint filed against them. Should we ban every book that might cause someone to get angry? That would leave a very small selection indeed. September 26−October 3, 2009 is National Banned Books Week in America and I think it is worth everyone's time to see some of the books that have been "banned." http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequ...

I do however understand that the school is trying to protect itself against complaints but maybe a better solution than the school assuming the power of censorship would be to leave the decision to the parents. Instead of banning the book they could simply require a parent note to check the book out from the library or to bring a copy to school. Although it is not a perfect solution it allows the parent to know what the child is reading and if the parent is ok with it, so should be the school.

Thanks for bringing up an important issue.

This made me laugh when i read it because everyone always talks about how 'abstinent' Twilight is.

My parents never banned things for me. If i really wanted to read or watch something they let me. All the did was make sure i didn't have access to some explicit stuff. So I'm against schools doing this. I think it's really up to the parents, not the schools. If schools don't want kids to read Twilight the best option is to draw any attention to it, etc. But i think trying to ban kids from bringing Twilight to school is ridiculous.

There are books out there that are worse for kids than Twilight (ignoring the fact that it's some of the worse literature out there) One could argue that this book would give kids some wrong ideas of the way relationships word (like Edwards dismantling of the car engine to keep Bella from seeing Jacob) but i think that for kids in elementary school those concepts don't apply.

I think it's up to the parents to decide and once the kids reach middle school i think it should be up to them.

If I walk into a room, and you immediately put your hands behind your back to hide something, do you think I would just shrug my shoulders and not have a care in the world about what you're trying to hid? Or would it make more sense for me to do everything in my power to find out what you're hiding from me?

That's exactly what the people in the land of Oz are doing. The more they try to hide it, the more the kids strive to get it. And you can't just ban a book and expect that to be the end of it, especially not one as popular as Twilight. It'd be like trying to ban Lil' Wayne, Pringles, or Chapstick. It just can't be done.

Anyway, now that I'm done pointing out one of the major flaws of this very flawed plan, I shall say how I feel about it.

That's so lame. I'm not a fan of Twilight (At one time, I was so against it, I had to use every fiber of my being not to spit on the books in Barns & Noble. (I'm not the against it any more, though....)), however, if Twilight gets kids reading, even if it's crappy literature, sooner or later they're going to move on to the good stuff, rather than never read at all. Maybe Twilight is really a blessing in disguise.

So yeah, I'm pretty much against this whole banning Twilight thing. The books really aren't that big a deal.

My thoughts?

If you want to make something popular, ban it. By telling primary school aged children that they cannot read a book, it is only going to make them want to read it more. Particularly if it looks like something that older, cooler kids get to read.

The mature content is no worse than what is shown on TV programmes like "Home and Away" and "Neighbours" anyway.

While, I can see the point of the book not being kept in a primary school library, (after all, the book is not terribly well written and there are many other, better written books that are more age appropriate,) it seems silly to ban a student from bringing their own copy to school. Or such a ban could cause some parents to over-react and prevent their child from buying a copy of the book or borrowing it from a public library, believing that there must be something wrong, inappropriate or perhaps even evil about the book if the school has to go to the extreme measure of banning it.

I think that it is fair enough that the school banned the twilight series. Their just covering themselves and if they allow the children to read them from the school, then they could have parents complaining and so on. They are just saving themselves from the trouble i suppose. And about what the 12 year old girl said, sure children are exposed to sexual content via television, magazines etc but why add to that in the school emvironment? Also, if the twilight series are in the schools library, teachers could be getting asked questions about the 'content' of these books and this would put them in a very awkward position. I think it's just not worth the trouble. Put the books away for now and let the children enjoy them when they are a little older.

I want to be very careful what impressions my kids get, not just from books but from everywhere. How I will raise them not to be brainwashed with media advertising and pushy teen images I don't know. Sex is pushed so young now, it's not fair on them. I don't know about banning, but if my kid was too young for something I wouldn't want them to have access to it behind my back. Saying that people will do it anyway just isn't good enough. In my old school if something was considered above your age level you got parental consent, which seems easy enough.

You can read things without imitating them, but some people are so impressionable that it will probably happen. Just look at how many people come on here asking if Twilight is real :/

Saying that it could be worse; on a trip to France a couple of years ago I saw a little girl between 4-6 sitting on the floor in a supermarket reading a porno mag. That was just weird.

As much as i hate to say this, you're right. children should find a passion for reading even though twilight is the worst literature ever written. If they like to read twilight then let them. There's no use trying to ban them when they're going to bring the books to school anyway.

That 12-year-old girl is right, we are more exposed to sexual scenes in todays society. I mean, you can't really stop a kid watching an MA+15/18 movie on tv. However, only parents can enforce these rules for their children. It's their decision.

Let me guess: they're the same schools that banned Harry Potter for using magic, right? I thought that was bad, but this is...worse. Embarrassingly worse.

First of all, the Twilight series is one of the least racy series on the face of the earth. Stephenie Meyer practically goes out of her way to make sure the series is as uncontroversial as possible. The bigger issue at hand is that the series sends the message "Give everything up for a man who stalks and abuses you! It's okay, cuz he's hot!" But for sexual content? Wtf? Breaking Dawn was the only one even remotely sexual, and they could have spent the night on the beach playing Frisbee and it would sound almost exactly the same.

Second of all, there's no point in trying to get kids to not read Twilight. It's Twilight, you're out of the pop culture loop if you haven't read it, especially in that particular age group. They'll find a way. Like, here's a thought: they could, I don't know, read on their own time! Imagine! Young people turning off their TV and opening up a book for once! And even if, for whatever reason, they still won't read, they've still probably seen the movie anyways.

And third of all, banning it from school isn't going to stop students from reading it, if anything they'll want to read it more. Just look at The Perks of Being a Wallflower, it got way more publicity after it was banned and has more people reading it now. With Twilight, there's a (very) small possibility that someone who used to think it was pathetic, but then see that it got banned for sexual content and think that it might not be for just tween girls and bored housewives anymore. I mean they'd be disappointed, but at least they're reading *something*. And reading is always good, even if it is Twilight.

Banning something just makes it more desired.

So doing this is just going to make *more* kids fall into the clutches of Meyer. She's probably rejoycing about this.

It's like drugs. You can't take them so everyone thinks they're so cool when they do. Yet if you were to go to Sweden, where it's legal to posess drugs, you'd be nothing special.

I hate the banning of books. Period. Someone here asked a question about the 10 things you hate the most, and banning books was around my top 3. Really, let people make their own decisions. The parents should make those decisions about Twilight, not some control-freak of a school.

I see why they'd ban it I guess, but it's still really stupid. Kids listen to Lady Gaga, plenty of sexual references there. And think of all the little girls walking around singing "If You Seek Amy!"

To sum up my answer, it's plain and simple, this school needs to get over itself. I don't see what they gain in doing this, other than starting a whole lot of pointless turmoil.

I personally think that the ban is all right for primary schools as the sexual content in Breaking Dawn in not what children should be reading. This is primary and not middle school so I think that it should be allowed because this is too mature for primary. Especially with the behavior that Bella portrays when Edward does not want to have sex with Bella again because he hurt her (she coerces him into doing it and cries when she doesn't get her way) and then when she becomes somewhat sex crazy later in the book. Plus i don't think it is right for children to see how Bella gives up all her life over a boy, they are at a very impressionable age and they should know that it is not OK and that they are independent young ladies who have their own futures and dreams.

I think it should be up to the parents meaning if the parents think it is OK then they will let their children read it. Yes they may still try to read it without their parent's consent but by banning it out of the primary schools libraries it would make it somewhat harder for them to get their hands on a copy. This is just like movies that have a higher rating, it is up to the parents to decide and it is a way to try censor what children see and sometimes they do see the movies but it is a lot harder for them to see it without parental consent. There are many other books that can give children a passion to read, try any one of Meg Cabot's novels which are more so age appropriate. Even Harry Potter is a safer read then Twilight when it comes to that. In my opinion Harry Potter is a better book and would also give them the passion to read.