Censorship+Issues

A very "by the book" look at censorship abroad. [] (MarkD)

[|My remote comments for the Censorship Trial] from the perspective of a Teacher in Favor. (Andrea)

Sarah Babler: I found this article on how to handle censorship in the classroom that was interesting. []

Megan Deutschman: Here is an article on censorship in Japan. It's interesting to see how other countries deal with censorship and what they find appropriate or inappropriate. []

Interesting link, Megan!

(Doug Larson): This is a link to Laurie Halse Anderson views and experience with censorship related to novels she has writen. [] Great link to have, Doug. It begins with a couple of great quotes: “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” —Benjamin Franklin “It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.” — Judy Blume

http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/ieo/digests/d53.html

Here is an opinion article that is against censorship with some supporting rationale. I have also included and article that has an incomplete list of banned books and an example of a rationale for using the books. Pedro and Me is on the list! However, the rationale for it was not available...but still interesting. (Georgia ) There is a rationale for Pedro and Me in the CD, Rationales for Teaching Graphic Novels, Maupin Press, 2010. (Mary W.)

[|Censorship and Young Adult Literature] [|List and Rationale]

Here is some information I found (Danielle) Top 10 Banned books and why ....[|Here] How schools Restrict the reading of young people..... [|Here] Books that have been censored, banned or challenged.....[|Here]

[|Common Ground: Speak With One Voice on Intellectual Freedom] [|Censorship: Don't Let it Become an Issue in Your Schools] [|Guidelines for Selecting Materials in English Language Arts Programs] [|Guidelines for Dealing With Censorship of Nonprint and Multimedia Materials] [|Statement on Censorship and Professional Guidelines]

Add one link that deals with censorship and adolescent literature. If you can find a link to an article about one of the books we are reading and censorship that would be ideal.
 * [[image:adlitforever:blankets.jpg width="109" height="171" caption="Blankets, by Craig Thompson"]] ||
 * Blankets, by Craig Thompson ||

In 2009, 250 parents from the Northshore School District, a public school district for parts of King and Snohomish County in Washington, asked the district to ban “Persepolis” (both the book and the movie) in the schools. Here are links to two online newspaper articles. Doing a search within the online website will lead to another article and a few editorials. The district ultimately decided not to ban the book but chose to listen to an appeal. So far, I cannot find what happened with that appeal.

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(Kathy Kepulis )

"Books don't corrupt us. They guide us through the complexities of life, arm us with information, and help us develop our own moral compasses." This is a quote from an interesting article on censorship of books in the Texas schools. [] Hmmmmm. This link is not working...I will need to find the right one.... (Kathy Kepulis)

Heather Traeger is a ninth grade English teacher of mostly Somali students in the Twin cities. Her opinion of book censorship is that teachers should choose books that are relevant to their students, or in other words, culturally relevant. She also advocated that it is not necessarily wrong to not have students read a book if their community voices strong objection; students can just read something similar that is not so controversial. In discussing __Persepolis__ in her class, Mrs. Traeger had her students read this controversial book and allowed them to freely give their conservative Islamic opinions, such as Marji's family are not real Muslims since they drink alcohol and question Islamic scholars. This shows while Mrs. Traeger advocates being culturally sensitive, she recognizes the need to expand student horizons by having students read a variety of books, but she allows them a space to voice their disagreements. Here is the link to the pdf: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:JLV7cbFuz_8J:www.mcte.org/journal/mejV46/Traeger.pdf+English+teachers+against+banning+Persepolis&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShDcbyKhq7pyAAHCqneqKJNhFyGvuhp7p-hkbeu2bMrQc6OA68-qh1mosGoCsR2Cuudmi6tItHGZNHccG8yNtiZ1aIbnzJtdQ7pcnp7AZ47aFXJhATsrPSEmLWl9p6sNZwdEQZv&sig=AHIEtbRsqbtMuYy_RCCqFJuhFl1dJ57cJA (Nick Schreiber)

This is an article examining censorship issues regarding the //Huckleberry Finn// debate. It was written by an English teacher Karen Morrill (from the high school I attended) What is interesting about it is that she presents a different perspective than you'd expect, and basically agrees with the censorship. It's an interesting read that inspired 60 minutes to visit the school and interview her.

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(Tegan Hedstrom)

Mark Twain's books were routinely censored in his own day and they continue to be. What he had to say about that is rather amusing: > "But the truth is, that when a Library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn't anger me."

This article talks about censorship in the classroom and how to detail with books being banned from classrooms. It defines censorship, talks about legal trends, how to avoid controversy and how to h handle controversy when it arrises. The article ends with this quote by the National School Board Association (NSBA), "the challenge is not to avoid censorship, but to meet it head on with adequate policies and procedures that provide an open forum for deciding what should -- or should not -- take place in public schools." And finally has links to additional resources. I found it quite informative.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr031.shtml (Kaite Sweval)

[|The American Library Association's Statement on Censorship.] Excerpt: [|West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)] Andrea Holck
 * “The Fourteenth Amendment, as now applied to the States, protects the citizen against the State itself and all of its creatures—Boards of Education not excepted. These have, of course, important, delicate, and highly discretionary functions, but none that they may not perform within the limits of the Bill of Rights. That they are educating the young for citizenship is reason for scrupulous protection of Constitutional freedoms of the individual, if we are not to strangle the free mind at its source and teach youth to discount important principles of our government as mere platitudes.” — Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson,**

[|NCTE's Statement on Students' Right to Read.] Excerpt: //Wallace Stevens once wrote, "Literature is the better part of life. To this it seems inevitably necessary to add, provided life is the better part of literature." Students and parents have the right to demand that education today keep students in touch with the reality of the world outside the classroom. Much of classic literature asks questions as valid and significant today as when the literature first appeared, questions like "What is the nature of humanity?" "Why do people praise individuality and practice conformity?" "What do people need for a good life?" and "What is the nature of the good person?" But youth is the age of revolt. To pretend otherwise is to ignore a reality made clear to young people and adults alike on television and radio, in newspapers and magazines. English teachers must be free to employ books, classic or contemporary, which do not lie to the young about the perilous but wondrous times we live in, books which talk of the fears, hopes, joys, and frustrations people experience, books about people not only as they are but as they can be. English teachers forced through the pressures of censorship to use only safe or antiseptic works are placed in the morally and intellectually untenable position of lying to their students about the nature and condition of mankind.// (Andrea Holck)

For anyone interested in the history of censorship and publishing in the US, I recommend the movie "Howl" based on the obscenity trial of Allan Ginsberg's poem. This was the trial that opened the doors for publication of "questionable" material in the US in the 50s. Great movie.

This article that I found talks about tips for English teachers and how they should deal with censorship issues in the classroom. [] Sarah Babler

[] This website talks about censorship with the internet and the use of internet in schools, libraries and classrooms. Susan Nelsen

[|Book Challenges and Censorship in School Libraries] This article discusses reasons behind book challenges, the implications and role of the First Amendment and the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, the difference between censorship and selection, and the absolute necessity of having a written selection and review policy which can help a librarian know how to appropriately respond when a censorship challenge occurs. Also includes links to other censorship-related articles and resources. (Kathryn Love)

The following were the most frequently challenged books in 2002, as compiled by the Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association: www.firstamendmentcenter.org/speech/.../topic.aspx?...books - Cached - Similar (Mary Qualls)

Here's a great video where John Green, author of [|Looking for Alaska], responds to one schools attempt to ban the book. [|Video: I am not a pornographer] (Tegan Hedstrom)

Here is an article on how censorship affects the curricula of English teachers in high school. http://www.albany.edu/cela/publication/article/censor.htm (Nick Schreiber)