I *highly* recommend this book. (I put this thread in "Learning at school" rather than "Books" because this book deals specifically with censorship that affects schools--mainly textbooks and standardized tests.)
Diane Ravitch was appointed, along with several other people, by the Clinton administration to develop a standardized test which would be administered nation-wide. This was a reading skills test and had passages for students to read and answer questions on. Once the committee had finished the test, it was given to a bias review panel, which rejected several of the passages.
One passage about peanuts, had to be taken off the test because it implied that peanuts are a healthy snack, a concept that the bias review panel apparently concluded was too dangerous to expose children to. (I wonder how many TV ads for junk food children are exposed to?
: )
Another passage, an inspiring true story about a blind man who hiked to the top of Mt. McKinley was also rejected for two reasons: 1.) Mountain climbing presented a regional bias--children who didn't live near mountains would be at a disadvantage with this question. and 2.) It was offensive to focus on the man's blindness and to call him courageous. Blindness should not be seen as something that hinders one in any way.
Many other passages were rejected as well, but I don't want to copy the whole book. The test was never administered.
This started Ms. Ravitch on an investigation of bias review and censorship at both testing companies and textbook companies and what she has found is pretty disturbing.
History texts are watered down, history even revised in some cases. Literature texts have been expunged of any interesting literature and instead are packed with selections that are inoffensive, but not necessarily good literature.
The Right has forced textbook companies to elimnate fantasy, fairy tales, magic, any--even the most tangiential--reference to evolution. They want the textbooks to present a world that they see as ideal. Meanwhile, the Left also puts pressure to censor on the textbook companies, such as insisting that women are never portrayed in traditional roles, or that the elderly must always be portrayed as active and vital etc. The Left insists that textbooks present an ideal world that we could become.
Meanwhile, education suffers. Has anyone read this?
Diane Ravitch was appointed, along with several other people, by the Clinton administration to develop a standardized test which would be administered nation-wide. This was a reading skills test and had passages for students to read and answer questions on. Once the committee had finished the test, it was given to a bias review panel, which rejected several of the passages.
One passage about peanuts, had to be taken off the test because it implied that peanuts are a healthy snack, a concept that the bias review panel apparently concluded was too dangerous to expose children to. (I wonder how many TV ads for junk food children are exposed to?
: )Another passage, an inspiring true story about a blind man who hiked to the top of Mt. McKinley was also rejected for two reasons: 1.) Mountain climbing presented a regional bias--children who didn't live near mountains would be at a disadvantage with this question. and 2.) It was offensive to focus on the man's blindness and to call him courageous. Blindness should not be seen as something that hinders one in any way.
Many other passages were rejected as well, but I don't want to copy the whole book. The test was never administered.
This started Ms. Ravitch on an investigation of bias review and censorship at both testing companies and textbook companies and what she has found is pretty disturbing.
History texts are watered down, history even revised in some cases. Literature texts have been expunged of any interesting literature and instead are packed with selections that are inoffensive, but not necessarily good literature.
The Right has forced textbook companies to elimnate fantasy, fairy tales, magic, any--even the most tangiential--reference to evolution. They want the textbooks to present a world that they see as ideal. Meanwhile, the Left also puts pressure to censor on the textbook companies, such as insisting that women are never portrayed in traditional roles, or that the elderly must always be portrayed as active and vital etc. The Left insists that textbooks present an ideal world that we could become.
Meanwhile, education suffers. Has anyone read this?
: ) living library.
