Children and Adolescent Literature Issues and Concerns PDF

**CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE** **UNIT 4: Issues and Concerns in Children and Adolescent Literature** **ISSUES AND CONCERNS OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE** **CENSORSHIP** THIS ISSUE PERTAINS TO THE ATTEMPTS TO RESTRICT OR BAN CERTAIN BOOKS OR MATERIALS DEEMED INAPPROPRIATE FOR YOU...

**CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE** **UNIT 4: Issues and Concerns in Children and Adolescent Literature** **ISSUES AND CONCERNS OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE** **CENSORSHIP** THIS ISSUE PERTAINS TO THE ATTEMPTS TO RESTRICT OR BAN CERTAIN BOOKS OR MATERIALS DEEMED INAPPROPRIATE FOR YOUNG READERS, OFTEN BASED ON MORAL, RELIGOUS, OR POLITICAL GROUNDS. **SOCIAL ISSUES** REFERS TO TOPICS OR PROBLEMS THAT AFFECT INDIVIDUALS OR SOCIETY AS A WHOLE, SUCH AS POVERTY, DISCRIMINATION, MENTAL HEALTH, BULLYING, OR FAMILY DYNAMICS. **REPRESENTATION AND DIVERSITY** REFERS TO THE PRESENCE AND PORTRAYAL OF DIVERSE EXPERIENCES, IDENTITIES, AND PERSPECTIVES IN CHILDREN ANDADOLESCENT LITERATURE. **ACCESSIBILITY AND AVAILABILTY** REFERS TO THE EASE AND AVAILABILITY OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE TO ALL READERS, REGARDLESS OF THEIR SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS OR GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION. **LITERARY MERIT** REFERS TO THE EQUALITY OF WRITING, STORYTELLING, AND ARTISTIC EXPRESSION IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE. **AGE APPROPRIATENESS** REFERS TO THE SUITABILITY OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE FOR SPECIFIC AGE GROUPS BASED ON THEIR COGNITIVE AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT. **AUTHENTICITY AND ACCURACY** REFERS TO THE REPRRESENTATION OF CULTURAL, HISTORICAL, AND SOCIAL CONTEXTS IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT. **STEREOTYPING AND BIAS** REFERS TO THE GENERALIZATIONS, ASSUMPTIONS, AND PREJUDICES THAT ARE PRESENT IN SOME CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE. **COMMERCIALIZATION AND MARKETING** REFERS TO THE PRACTICE OF PROMOTING AND SELLING CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENT LITERATURE AS A COMMUNITY. **PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT AND RESPONSIBILITY** REFERS TO THE ROLE THAT PARENTS AND GUARDIANS PLAY IN MONITORING AND GUIDING THEIR CHILDRENS, READING AND MEDIA CONSUMPTION, ESPECIALLY FOR YOUNGER READERS. **Lesson 1:** **Purpose and Censorship for Children and Adolescent Literature** **The Purpose of Children and Adolescent Literature** Prominent historians in children\'s literature, namely F.J. Harvey Darton, Percy Muir, and E.M. Field highlight the value of children\'s literature as primarily a source of entertainment next to instruction (Stevenson, 2011). In education, academicians view children and adolescent literature as a good source of modeling the acceptable behaviors, virtues, and beliefs valued by the general public (Jenkins, 2011). Everyone believes that books and other educational resource materials should serve as a \"Role Model\" to children and youth alike (Jenkins, 2011). The Philippines\' new curriculum framework acknowledges the role of literature as a good resource for students\' acquisition of communicative competencies: (1) grammatical compete nce, (2) discourse competence. (3) so ciolinguistic competence, and (4) strategic competence. **Censorship** Censorship is generally the process of assessing and filtering any literary piece or educational resource found to be morally offensive or having repulsive or abusive content. At most, the censors investigate and examine literature challenged by a particular individual or group to some extent on valid grounds. The Process of Censorship Based on the study of Hopkins in 1991, book challenges involve six factors: \(1) the narrative about the text challenged and the issue of complaint, \(2) the challengers or the party initiating the challenge, \(3) the librarian\'s character and expertise, \(4) the library\'s existing policy and level of implementation, \(5) the degree of support and involvement of the academic institution faculty, personnel, and officials, and \(6) external support provided by the immediate community (Jenkins, 2011). **The Decision and the Challenged Literature or Book** Once the authorities find the book falsely accused of the complaint, the book will still be available for display, without restrictions. However, when censors find the challenged literature otherwise, complainants and authorities settle certain compromises: 1\. closed shelving, which means that access to the literature would require parent\'s note or permission; 2\. relocation to reference section where the material could not be checked- out; 3\. reclassifying the material for access only among students in the higher level; 4\. (in cases among publishing companies) altering literary texts to remove the offensive statements; and 5\. (for worst cases) banning the literary text or book, which means access to such is entirely restricted or removed. Here are some notable books that have faced censorship or bans: 1\. \"1984\" by George Orwell - Often challenged for its political themes and dystopian content. 2\. \"To Kill a Mockingbird\" by Harper Lee - Frequently banned due to its themes of racial injustice and language considered offensive. 3\. \"The Catcher in the Rye\" by J.D. Salinger- Challenged for its language, sexual content, and themes of rebellion. 4\. \"The Handmaid's Tale\" by Margaret Atwood- Banned for its themes of sexual oppression and critique of authoritarianism. 5\. \"The Great Gatsby\" by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Often challenged for its depiction of sexuality and substance abuse. 6\. \"Brave New World\" by Aldous Huxley - Censored for its portrayal of a dystopian society and themes related to sexuality and control. 7\. \"Harry Potter\" series by J.K. Rowling - Banned in some schools for alleged promotion of witchcraft and occultism. 8\. \"The Color Purple\" by Alice Walker - Frequently challenged due to its explicit content and themes of violence. 9\. \"Of Mice and Men\" by John Steinbeck - Banned for its language, racial slurs, and portrayal of mental disability. 10\. \"The Bluest Eye\" by Toni Morrison - Challenged for its themes of race, abuse, and explicit content. These books have sparked significant debate about freedom of expression and the role of literature in society. **Conclusion** Children and Adolescent Literature is essential in the development of young readers minds. It enhances their imaginative and creative minds while educating them about the realities of the world. The education world knows this for a fact, thus, the integration of literature in language curriculum frameworks. **Lesson 2: Social and Political Issues in Children amd Adolescent Literature** **Social and Political Issues in Children and Adolescent Literature: A Call For or Against Censorship** Considering the critical role of literature as a resource of children and young adults learning its influence in developing the readers\' concept and understanding of the world particular individuals or groups raise complaints against certain literary pieces and books which they perceive to contain obscene, culturally offensive, or socially inappropriate content. Generally, complaints stem from three major subjects: \(1) religion, \(2) politics, and \(3) sexual content (Jenkins, 2011). The Philippines has its share of politically driven censorship during the Spanish colonization in the country. In 1886, the Catholic priests and government banned the reading or acquisition of Jose Rizal\'s novel Noli Me Tangere which translates to English as \"Touch Me Not.\" Even the seemingly playful and light children fairy tales are a vehicle of or subject of political concepts and issues. A study conducted by Totibadze in 2019 examined the fairy tales written by three famous authors in the field: \(1) George Orwell. \(2) The Brothers Grimm, and \(3) Hans Christian Andersen. The study follows Ness\' (2018) categories of classifying politically driven fairy tales: \(1) expressly political, which refers to literary pieces that overtly illustrate political issues; \(2) subversively political, which refers to tales that covertly Facebook Lite www.scribd.com present political concerns; and \(3) accidentally political which pertains to literary works that unintentionally became political. **Political Correctness in Children Bedtime Tales: Ideally Correct, Not Perfect** Political Correctness (PC) technically refers to a language used with minimal or no offense to any political issues, especially concerns related to sex and race. It is censorship in the ideal sense. The Sapir-Whorf theory seems to be the anchor theory for such an ideology (www.britannica.com). The theory points out how language affects people\'s perception of reality; thus, gender-biased words encourage gender bias. Semantics - the study of language meanings best explains the controversial applications of the PC ideology in the field. Gender bias is one popular topic of Political Correctness. With the rise of gender awareness drive, several feminist movements fought to neutralize terms believed as gender bias. **Conclusion:** Teachers Make Learners Understand, Not Ignorant Given the information above, it is not entirely possible or necessary to censor all literature for political incorrectness. Literature reflects reality from the author\'s perspective, and the reality we live in is not perfect itself. As Klein (1985) recommends in his book, the most sustainable way of combatting these challenges in political correctness in children and adolescent literature is to teach them competent study skills for independent learning. **Lesson 3: Writing and Deconstruction of Classical Tales** Deconstruction as a Reaction to Structuralism Structuralism first emerged in France in the 1950s and generally pertained to the idea of understanding the world in structures: relationships between categories and subcategories, whole and parts (Mambrol, 2016). It initially functions as a linguistic principle used to explain the relationship between language and culture and was introduced by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. Strauss applied the structuralist principle in his study of the world\'s different mythologies. In his study, he found that these mythologies are similar in many things, and thus he sought to categorize and organize these into meaningful structures. It resulted in the development of the concept of a binary opposition which indicates that the oppositional relationship of two words or ideas determines the meaning of each. Examples of these are light/dark, high/low, happy/sad, beautiful/ugly, and life/death. Deconstruction is a reaction towards the concepts and definitive nature of structuralist principles. Jacques Derrida initially introduced the concept of deconstruction in literature, intending to expose and undermine the embedded Western structure and ideas in many literary texts. There are three procedures in Derrida\'s deconstructive literary criticism: 1\. inverting the hierarchy; -Many texts have a set of oppositions, like light/dark, good/evil, or male/female, where one side is valued more than the other. Deconstruction flips these opposites to show that the supposed \"inferior\" side might be just as important or valuable. For example, in a text that prioritizes reason over emotion, deconstruction might highlight how emotion is actually necessary for understanding the full meaning of the text. Example: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 2\. deconstructing firmly definitive limitations or margins; and -This means questioning the boundaries or limits that are assumed in the text. For example, a story might define what is considered \"normal\" or \"acceptable\" behavior, but deconstruction would challenge these definitions, showing that they are not as fixed as the text makes them seem. Example: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 3\. analysis of inherent rhetoricity. -This involves examining the ways in which the text uses language and persuasion. Derrida argues that language is not neutral; it shapes and influences the way we understand the world. Deconstruction looks at how texts manipulate language to construct certain meanings or realities. Example: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Derrida describes his process as double reading, and for a good reason. It begins with reading the literary piece intelligibly as it stimulates the recognition of determinate meanings presented in the text. It serves as a springboard of critical reading where one reverses the hierarchy and explores every possibility of meanings until it arrives at an aporia which pertains to a situation where the explorations of meanings arrive at a deadlock (Abrams, 1999) **Rewriting/Deconstruction of Classical Tales** As a form of literary criticism, deconstruction addresses the political and social issues surrounding several book challenges among children and adolescent literary pieces. Hence, the conduct of the censorship process, which later paved the formulation of the Political Correctness (PC) ideology. Censorship works effectively on pieces of literature that display brutality, violence, and obscenity. Political Correctness is more than censorship. It sought to eliminate existing political and social biases deemed to be offensive to any minority groups. It was a good cause, but, over time, its implementation has gone overboard. One popular topic of Political Correctness is gender bias, influenced by the existing structure that the society created and observed. There seems to be a constant struggle between femininity and masculinity, male and female, man and woman. -Political Correctness aimed to eliminate offensive biases against minority groups, but implementation has been overly focused on gender bias, influenced by societal structures and the ongoing struggle between femininity and masculinity. -Political Correctness aimed to eliminate offensive biases against minority groups, but its implementation has become overly ambitious over time. Moving Pictures as a New Resource of Learning, Extending the Reach of Censorship The Philippines, for one, acknowledges this revolution, thus including viewing as the fifth language skill in the new language curriculum framework. Viewing includes the activities that involve comprehending and analyzing visual media, including moving pictures such as television and film. It is a fact that children and adolescents alike enjoy these forms of technology. Regarding the value of film as another form of resource for learning in the new generation, as were the books, authorities felt the need to extend the application of censorship. **Rewriting the Classical Tales in the Big Screen** The development of technology presents the opportunities of rewriting the favorite classical tales in motion pictures and film. Walt Disney Company is one prominent entity in such an industry. It started with their retelling of Brothers Grimm\'s The Little Snow White through an animated cartoon film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. They have rewritten the story in a manner that would be acceptable, romantic, and enchanting to young audiences. **Conclusion** Political Correctness (PC) ideology means to nurture the rights and significance of every minority group or individual impacted by any socially or politically offensive content found in many children and adolescents literature. Prepared By: Judith Santiago Marylyn Buyo Qeenmie Sahipno Gliza Odi Eiye-dezza Abbas Aian Rodgeh Herosanib