Merchant of Venice

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Although American’s hold the right to read, listen, watch, or do whatever they please, controversy surrounds whether or not minors should   be protected by these rights when it comes to Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice . Censorship of this play would not be beneficial to the Lawrence public high schools. However, personal beliefs within a family could dictate what a minor can or cannot read. This should be a personal preference, not a school district decision.
Getting a good education means getting the most education out of a subject.   In public schools, religious values and teachings are not brought up as much compared to private schools. When religious topics are brought up in a public school however, it can be a controversial subject due to all the diversity in the classroom. Parents knowing this should have a discussion with his or her child’s teacher discussing whether they want their child learning this. People coming from a religious background may have a problem with their child learning anti- Semantic ways, but if they were really into their religion, wouldn’t they trust their child to learn other ways and still strongly believe in their religion? Protecting your child during the teenage years over academic subjects is not the answer. Educators would not teach a subject without a meaning behind it. No matter how protected a child is, sooner or later they will face the differences that they were not familiar with, which may not be good. Knowing matters, even if the matters are against beliefs will help out in the future. Handling situations that someone is not familiar with can be extremely frustrating.
As Tim Carpenter stated, “This is too ugly of a play, too awful of a thing for someone who is Jewish to sit there and read” it is his personal opinion. Students which read this play would experience a unique style of Shakespeare’s writing. This play may not be your everyday romantic play; actually, it’s quite the opposite. Shakespeare...