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teacher's censoring books
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From: Wayne Pferdehirt <wppferde>
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 10:39:31 -0600
At 07:01 PM 3/23/97 00, you wrote: for their own classrooms! What nerve of them to decide that "pisshole" is not a word they want to include in their vocabulary lists.
I am tired of the PC police shouting censorship every time any individual, teacher, parent, librarian, or just plain taxpayer questions the appropriateness of any materials being used in school or library settings.
If, as we've been told, it takes a village to raise a child, then that village has a corporate responsibility to protect the innocence of children, allowing them to grow up without being barraged by information which is beyond them, which requires more maturity than they possess to process and understand.
For example, I am a professional storyteller. When I tell stories of the Underground Railroad in Wisconsin I do not tell 3rd through 5th graders that one slave girl fled because her master was going to sell her as a prostitute on a Mississippi riverboat. I simply say she would have been sold to work on the riverboat. Is this censorship? How dare I decide which information is age appropriate for these children?
I dare just as these teachers dare. I, and they, have a right and responsibility to decide if written materials violate our own standards for use in our own classrooms or professional setting. I, and they, have a right to decide whether information, language, or perspectives presented in materials is morally questionable or is not age-appropriate for our students/audiences.
I can say that the word "pisshole" is not one used in our home. I would not want my 5th grader expected to read a book containing such language. Finally, should I ever return to classroom teaching, I would not unquestioningly accept books and materials handed down from some committee as those best suited for my students or for me as a teacher.
Sometimes censorship is really censorship - an effort to hide or limit access to the truth. Sometimes, however, what is called censorship is really wisdom - the wisdom to decide whether something violates personal or widely-held community standards and/or whether something violates the innocence of young children, exposing them prematurely to information, language, or concepts which they lack to maturity to understand, apply, or use appropriately.
Teachers want freedom to shape their own curriculum and classroom environment. That means teachers can be free to say yes or no to materials. What is the problem with these teachers simply choosing some of the truckloads of other good books on similar topics?
J. Pferdehirt
Received on Mon 24 Mar 1997 10:39:31 AM CST
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997 10:39:31 -0600
At 07:01 PM 3/23/97 00, you wrote: for their own classrooms! What nerve of them to decide that "pisshole" is not a word they want to include in their vocabulary lists.
I am tired of the PC police shouting censorship every time any individual, teacher, parent, librarian, or just plain taxpayer questions the appropriateness of any materials being used in school or library settings.
If, as we've been told, it takes a village to raise a child, then that village has a corporate responsibility to protect the innocence of children, allowing them to grow up without being barraged by information which is beyond them, which requires more maturity than they possess to process and understand.
For example, I am a professional storyteller. When I tell stories of the Underground Railroad in Wisconsin I do not tell 3rd through 5th graders that one slave girl fled because her master was going to sell her as a prostitute on a Mississippi riverboat. I simply say she would have been sold to work on the riverboat. Is this censorship? How dare I decide which information is age appropriate for these children?
I dare just as these teachers dare. I, and they, have a right and responsibility to decide if written materials violate our own standards for use in our own classrooms or professional setting. I, and they, have a right to decide whether information, language, or perspectives presented in materials is morally questionable or is not age-appropriate for our students/audiences.
I can say that the word "pisshole" is not one used in our home. I would not want my 5th grader expected to read a book containing such language. Finally, should I ever return to classroom teaching, I would not unquestioningly accept books and materials handed down from some committee as those best suited for my students or for me as a teacher.
Sometimes censorship is really censorship - an effort to hide or limit access to the truth. Sometimes, however, what is called censorship is really wisdom - the wisdom to decide whether something violates personal or widely-held community standards and/or whether something violates the innocence of young children, exposing them prematurely to information, language, or concepts which they lack to maturity to understand, apply, or use appropriately.
Teachers want freedom to shape their own curriculum and classroom environment. That means teachers can be free to say yes or no to materials. What is the problem with these teachers simply choosing some of the truckloads of other good books on similar topics?
J. Pferdehirt
Received on Mon 24 Mar 1997 10:39:31 AM CST
