A child's learning process begins the moment he or she enters the world. From the first seconds the child learns through observation, identification, processing and analysis of details of the surrounding environment. They watch and listen carefully, slowly piecing together every sight, sound and interaction. These pieces then serve as clues, defining socially accepted and expected behavior. Children process fundamental human relationships and the world around them not only through first-person experience, but also through modern cultural events such as television, the Internet, and literature. It is vital that children witness both the positive and negative aspects of society, so that they can form ideas and opinions that will guide them as adults. School education provides children with an outlet to explore, test, and reject or accept these thoughts. As parental paranoia grows, hoping to protect their children's innocence in a mature world, many schools, public and private, have begun to censor students' literature selection, Internet use, and free speech. in student publications. However, by censoring school literature and Internet exploration, as well as students' ability to publish their personal thoughts, schools are limiting students' social and mental abilities during the most influential and impressionable stage of their development. The term "censorship" comes from the Latin censere, "to give one's opinion, to evaluate" (Culture Shock: Who Decides? How and Why?: Definitions of Censorship). In contrast to this seemingly simple definition, contemporary usage offers no agreed upon definition of the term or its appropriate use, more specifically regarding the highly contested... half of the document... ehr, S. "Literacy, Literature and Censorship: The High Cost of No Child Left Behind". Childhood Education 87.1 (2010): 25-34. Career and Technical Education, ProQuest. Network. December 6, 2011. Maycock, A.. (2011). Issues and trends in intellectual freedom for teacher librarians: Where we come from and where we are going. Teacher Librarian, 39(1), 8-12. Retrieved December 6, 2011, from Research Library. (Document ID: 2505611051).Simmons, John S., and Eliza T. Dresang. School censorship in the 21st century: A guide for teachers and media specialists in school libraries. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2001. Print.Taylor, Stuart Jr. “Court Hears School Censorship Case – New York Times.” The New York Times October 14, 1987. Nytimes.com. The New York Times. Network. 06 December. 2011. .