Creating inquiring minds or censoring them?
A divided nation faces book and curriculum censorship, plus moves to prohibit discussion of anti-racist ideas in schools
by Candace Bowen, MJE
Can you teach controversial books in your class?
I always warn my students how dangerous question leads are and how a wrong answer can scare a reader away. But the question you just read is now my abiding concern – and should be yours, too, if you think students need to be challenged to think and to expand their minds.
A New York Times article announcing readers’ choices of the best 25 books in the last 125 years sparked a discussion on my Facebook page recently that should be a warning to everyone. The books ranged from “Charlotte’s Web” to “1984,” and “The Grapes of Wrath” to “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Not many comments into the strand, an English and journalism teacher, Sandy Cato, from the Northwest, wrote, “This list is interesting to me because of how few of these we would ever be able to get approved for use in school classrooms.”
“They are problematic,” she explained further, “and so many districts have become subtle censors by simply not approving or refusing to purchase important texts. Districts seem to choose to placate rather than educate if it risks conflict.”
Others added concerns related to similar issues – especially books that cover anything about race, sex/gender or politics. Some teachers had even been threatened or told flat out not to teach certain books. Now that more and more parents and community members are attending school board meetings, the battles about what to teach – and what NOT to teach – have even made headlines. The Intellectual Freedom Blog of the American Library Association covered more than 20 like these in its Jan. 7, 2022, posting:
- The Atlanta Journalism-Constitution reported a member of the Georgia General Assembly is writing legislation to “shield children from age-inappropriate materials,” such as transgender issues, even though a national survey showed 20 percent of transgender and nonbinary youths reported attempting suicide in the previous year.
- The Mississippi Free Press wrote about its state auditor supporting possible legislation to “ban educators from teaching ‘anti-racist’ ideas in schools.” This he posted on Facebook.
- NBC News focused its online article about a Texas school district that had pulled two award-winning graphic novels by Black author and illustrator Jerry Craft, one of many Black authors whose books are being banned, parents claiming they teach critical race theory.
The current “This American Life” podcast for Jan. 7, 2022, is “Talking While Black,” with Act Two devoted to an interview with Jerry Craft, who is really amazed that his “New Kid” graphic novel was so controversial. From a transcript, Chana Joffe-Walt, who interviewed him said, “What’s so interesting to me about this book in particular being kind of drawn into this CRT battle that’s supposedly about history. But your book is not a history book. This is literally just you writing down the story of your life.
Jerry Craft replies, “Right, yeah. It literally is based on what I actually see. There’s nothing that I haven’t lived myself.”
Now that more and more parents and community members are attending school board meetings, the battles about what to teach – and what NOT to teach – have even made headlines. The Intellectual Freedom Blog of the American Library Association covered more than 20 like these in its Jan. 7, 2022, posting.
The American Library Association’s Banned Books Week annually points out the harm of limiting student access to books and supports students’ right to explore and learn. About last year’s theme – “Books Unite Us, Censorship Divides Us” — the ALA website pointed out, “Sharing stories important to us means sharing a part of ourselves. Books reach across boundaries and build connections between readers. Censorship, on the other hand, creates barriers.”
For 2022, Banned Books Week is Sept. 18-24.
There is hope, though. Further down in my Facebook post, Jenna Bates, journalism and English teacher at Bio-Med Science Academy in northeast Ohio, said, “It may help a bit to know that it’s not all districts. Where I teach, I — and I alone — decide the curriculum for my ELA course. I’m starting ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ next week (only one student requested an alternate book), and we’ll do ‘The Hate U Give’ later this year. I’m lucky, but I do share your concerns about the profession and what it means to the future.”
When I taught high school English in Illinois, I must admit feeling a certain personal satisfaction when teaching “To Kill a Mockingbird,” a book the librarian removed from my high school library in Des Moines, Iowa, but one that has such important messages to deliver.
Today, I think one step further and wonder if some of our leaders would have been better off if they had read and taken to heart Atticus’s advice: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
Books can teach us a lot about each other we might now learn any other way.
For information about teaching controversial books
Want to teach a controversial book but aren’t sure where to start? The Harvard Graduate School of Education has a website called “Usable Knowledge: Relevant research for today’s educators.” A Jan. 9, 2019 post by Jill Anderson, “Bringing Controversial Books into the Classroom,” has a list of six tips and explanations to help.
Read MoreCelebrate roles student news media can bring to a democratic society; honor, envision and practice free speech
JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee hopes to help you and your students celebrate their free speech rights this year. Constitution Day, observed on Sept. 17 each year in commemoration of the signing of the United States Constitution, is an excellent time to do it.
This year we provide lesson materials ranging from exploring impactful, recent Supreme Court cases to applying the democratic political philosophy of John Dewey and how to use modern planning tools to improve coverage.
We have a quick Constitution-review crossword as well as an additional blog post to help you and your students audit if your coverage was as comprehensive as you’d like.
Read MoreUse a planning tool – Futures Wheel – to build better contextual, meaningful content
Futures Wheels were designed by futurists to see what the future might bring, positive or negative. If positive, the wheels could be used to show how to induce something to happen. If negative, how to prevent that. Can it be a part of journalistic story planning, source acquisition and other types of information processing to craft stories that meet audience needs?
Title
Futures Wheels: Developing and refining journalistic story planning to better identify context, background and meaningful events, empowering journalism’s social responsibilities
Description
A Memorial Day incident in northeastern Ohio this year raised the specter of potential First Amendment violations, opened wounds of racial tension and created ethical questions on issues of media social responsibility. How can students localize the event and issues? How could covering these issues lead to improved audience awareness and journalistic social responsibility?
News planning using futuristic tools can provide essential information and credible leadership empowering journalistic responsibility.
Read MoreThe fight for First Amendment rights has escalated
by Stan Zoller, MJE
Needless to say, a staple in any beginning journalism course is (or should be) understanding the First Amendment. Many educators go to great lengths, and rightfully so, to make sure their students know the five freedoms guaranteed (religion, speech, press, assembly, petition).
The 45 words are engrained in our, and hopefully our student’s, heads from the days of J-1 and for the rest of our lives.
We know them.
We defend them.
And we expect our government to abide them.
Sadly, the key word in the previous sentence is expect. However, recent stories have indicated that is not the case.
Both The Washington Post and CNN have revealed situations in which the Trump Administration sought to interfere with the practice of a free press.
On May 7, the Post reported:
“The Trump Justice Department secretly obtained Washington Post journalists’ phone records and tried to obtain their email records over reporting they did in the early months of the Trump administration on Russia’s role in the 2016 election, according to government letters and officials.”
Almost exactly two weeks later, on May 20, CNN moved a story that said almost exactly the same thing when it reported:
“The Trump administration secretly sought and obtained the 2017 phone and email records of a CNN correspondent, the latest instance where federal prosecutors have taken aggressive steps targeting journalists in leak investigations.”
Be concerned. Very concerned.
The fear facing the American public at large is that the very principles of our democracy continue to come under attack by government officials who seek to manipulate the Constitution for their own personal vendettas. The assault on the American media, in this case by the Trump Administration, is little more than effort to erode the trust in the media among the American people.
While there may be warts in journalistic practice by some scribes, the reality is that the institution that is the American media is pretty damn good – largely because the framers of the Constitution saw to it that Americans deserved a press that was free of government interference.
Journalism curriculums at all levels need to be tweaked to take into consideration the current climate of battering of the media. For high school educators, the challenge is more daunting. No longer can student journalists embark on journalism because it’s fun or because they have a friend on staff.
It has become a rumble. A street fight.
The challenge for student, if not all, journalists, is echoed in the oath given to the President of the United States to “…preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” By upholding the intent of the First Amendment, student journalists are in essence following the oath. Obviously, scholastic journalists need to understand and practice the full breadth of power and responsibility they have under the First Amendment.
And with this power and responsibility comes something else. Something that may usurp the joy and fun of being a student journalist.
The challenge. Not the challenge of getting a good grade. Not the challenge of meeting deadlines or accurate reporting.
The challenge “from above.” The proverbial trickle-down effect.
The new and now seemingly sad reality, is that interreference by those “in power” who see fit to try and impede the First Amendment Rights of journalists – including student journalists.
In the past, solid reporting and fact checking were the main spears needed to ward off an attack by overzealous administrators, community activists and, sadly, even parents who want to impede the educational process based on their own biases.
Journalism educators need to step up their coaching of student journalists when it comes to identifying support for their First Amendment rights. The obvious first steps are JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee and the Student Press Law Center. Beyond these two pillars of support for scholastic journalism, advisers and students should reach out and connect with state and congressional representatives who understand the need for a free and responsible student press and that fabrications that students don’t have First Amendment rights are unwarranted and unfounded.
Students and advisers should also look for support from organizations like American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the League of Woman Voters. Both groups have regional or local chapters that more than likely be willing to work with students.
The challenge for student, if not all, journalists, is echoed in the oath given to the President of the United States to “…preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” By upholding the intent of the First Amendment, student journalists are in essence following the oath. Obviously, scholastic journalists need to understand and practice the full breadth of power and responsibility they have under the First Amendment.
Stan Z0ller
Scholastic press associations should consider initiatives to step up their efforts to initiate or support New Voices legislation.
The need has always been there. Now, however, the stakes are greater than ever before.
The defense of First Amendment rights can no longer be penciled into a unit in a course curriculum, or on a poster during Scholastic Journalism Week or Constitution Week.
Like the ongoing assault, the defense must be ongoing.
We don’t have a choice.
We need to be concerned. Very concerned.
Read MoreExpanding the First Amendment: State Laws and Student Voice
Return to Front cover Constitution Day 2020
Description: This lesson is intended to help students gain a better understanding of how state laws may expand student press rights beyond the First Amendment, as limited by Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. Students will use SPLC.org to research their state’s status to see if it already has a New Voices law or an active New Voices campaign. All students will explore SPLC’s New Voices FAQ to learn more about New Voices and evaluate how press freedom might change or impact their educational experiences. If they live in a state with a New Voices law, they will read it and evaluate the extent to which their experience of press freedom aligns with that law. If they do not live in a state with a New Voices law, they will pick a NV law to explore. All students will reflect on what they have learned from this process by evaluating the legality of their current press freedom and discussing next steps for personal action.
Read More