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Books should absolutely not have ratings based on content. Ratings are appropriate for short-duration media, like half-hour or hour-long television programs and other short-lived, instant-gratification experiences like video games with little substance out of context. Books, however, are a completely different ball game.

A book is a life experience. It contains the story of a life, or a life moment, that most often stays with the reader for years to come. I personally read To Kill A Mockingbird, a book with strong themes of rape, at the age of 10 in fifth grade, purely for fun because I thought it would provide instruction on how to kill mockingbirds, and it remains, a full 10 years later, my absolute favorite book of all time. It exposed the ugliness of human nature, what with the Ewell girl's false accusation of rape against Tom Robinson, and also the sheer beauty of human nature, what with reclusive Boo Radley risking his life to save young Scout and Jem. It was only through the ugliness of that story that I appreciated the beauty of that story.

The argument for rating books would necessitate that To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee have at least a PG-13, if not R, rating for its sexual content, meaning that at the earliest I would have been able to read that book at 13, in eighth grade or even at 17, in twelfth grade. Imagine not being able to read a book that was in fact a landmark in one's formative years until the age of 17!

A rating system for books would ban a good deal of quality literature in public schools, and restrict a young person's access to them outside of school. Shakespeare wouldn't be read until high school, maybe even college due to language and strong sexual themes. The great Russian writers, Nabokov of Lolita fame, would be restricted. Some of our best contemporary fiction would be off limits, like Angels in America.

In addition to all this, a rating system for books opens us up to a Nazi-brand of censorship. Who gets to decide which book receives what rating? Are thoughts and theories and idea worthy of higher ratings, just like sexual themes and language would merit a book having a higher rating? Which thoughts are dangerous? What of our depiction of sexuality that necessitates this restriction? (In this case, we'd be reinforcing the erroneous thought that sexuality is something dirty that our youth need to be protected from.)

The politics of rating literature would make the whole endeavor prohibitive, to say nothing of how such a thing would be a direct violation of our inalienable human right to think and learn what we choose to.

Learn more about this author, Huma Rashid.
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