The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict what Students LearnBefore Anton Chekhov and Mark Twain can be used in school readers and exams, they must be vetted by a bias and sensitivity committee. An anthology used in Tennessee schools changed "By God!" to "By gum!" and "My God!" to "You don't mean it." The New York State Education Department omitted mentioning Jews in an Isaac Bashevis Singer story about prewar Poland, or blacks in Annie Dillard's memoir of growing up in a racially mixed town. California rejected a reading book because The Little Engine That Could was male. Diane Ravitch maintains that America's students are compelled to read insipid texts that have been censored and bowdlerized, issued by publishers who willingly cut controversial material from their books--a case of the bland leading the bland. The Language Police is the first full-scale expose of this cultural and educational scandal, written by a leading historian. It documents the existence of an elaborate and well-established protocol of beneficent censorship, quietly endorsed and implemented by test makers and textbook publishers, states, and the federal government. School boards and bias and sensitivity committees review, abridge, and modify texts to delete potentially offensive words, topics, and imagery. Publishers practice self-censorship to sell books in big states. To what exactly do the censors object? A typical publisher's guideline advises that - Women cannot be depicted as caregivers or doing household chores. - Men cannot be lawyers or doctors or plumbers. They must be nurturing helpmates. - Old people cannot be feeble or dependent; they must jog or repair the roof. - A story that is set in the mountains discriminates against students from flatlands. - Children cannot be shown as disobedient or in conflict with adults. - Cake cannot appear in a story because it is not nutritious. The result of these revisions are--no surprise!--boring, inane texts about a cotton-candy world bearing no resemblance to what children can access with the click of a remote control or a computer mouse. Sadly, data show that these efforts to sanitize language do not advance learning or bolster test scores, the very reason given for banning allegedly insensitive words and topics. Ravitch offers a powerful political and economic analysis of the causes of censorship. She has practical and sensible solutions for ending it, which will improve the quality of books for students as well as liberating publishers, state boards of education, and schools from the grip of pressure groups. Passionate and polemical, The Language Police is a book for every educator, concerned parent, and engaged citizen. |
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THE LANGUAGE POLICE: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn
用戶評語 - KirkusJohnny and Janie can't read, can't find the Pacific on a map, can't even think—all thanks to official censorship that "represents a systemic breakdown of our ability to educate the next generation ... 閱讀評論全文
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用戶評語 - kellymaliawilliams - LibraryThingTimely report on the effect pressure groups have on the literature taught in The public school system 閱讀評論全文
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adoption African Americans Asian authors avoid banned as offensive banned as sexist bias bias and sensitivity bias guidelines boys California censorship changed characters civil classic committee common contained controversial critics culture disabilities edition editors English equal ethnic ETS2 example females gender girls grade groups guidelines high school HRW1 HRW3 human ideas illustrations images important language literary literature Little living materials minorities Mother Native Americans never novel objected older parents passages person plays poems political portrayed publishers questions racial readers refer religion religious replace revised roles selections SF-AW social society specific standards stereotypes story suggested teach teachers textbooks texts thought tion topics United women world history writers written York young
書目資訊
| 書名 | The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict what Students Learn A Borzoi book |
| 作者 | Diane Ravitch |
| 版本 | 重印 |
| 出版者 | Knopf, 2003 |
| 來源： | 密西根大學 |
| 已數位化 | 2008年11月3日 |
| ISBN | 0375414827, 9780375414824 |
| 頁數 | 255 頁 |
| 匯出書目資料 | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |