In 2011, Banned Books Week runs from September 24th through October 1st this year. Contrary to popular opinion, book banning and censorship is alive and well in the United States. The only thing that's changed is the language used to describe it. These days, books are "challenged," meaning that some group feels they should be banned from schools or libraries. The challenged books then undergo a review process, but often end up being removed without anyone ever saying that the book was banned.
Another tactic is to just ban part of the book. This can happen when those buying schools books tell the publisher that they won't accept a textbook or literature anthology for use in the classroom unless certain specific changes are made. This can result in rampant and heavy-handed editing of classic works of literature or even changing history itself to make it more politically correct.
I spoke with Joan DelFattore, professor of English and legal studies at the University of Delaware to discuss textbook adoption and classroom censorship that is taking place in high schools at the state level and some of the issues that creates when the kids affected by it reach college.
Here are the links to the three part series of interviews as published at Yahoo! News:
Read them to find out what's going on in the classroom and how three states can effectively dictate what gets included in textboks all across the country.
Another tactic is to just ban part of the book. This can happen when those buying schools books tell the publisher that they won't accept a textbook or literature anthology for use in the classroom unless certain specific changes are made. This can result in rampant and heavy-handed editing of classic works of literature or even changing history itself to make it more politically correct.
I spoke with Joan DelFattore, professor of English and legal studies at the University of Delaware to discuss textbook adoption and classroom censorship that is taking place in high schools at the state level and some of the issues that creates when the kids affected by it reach college.
Here are the links to the three part series of interviews as published at Yahoo! News:
Read them to find out what's going on in the classroom and how three states can effectively dictate what gets included in textboks all across the country.
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