Dr Udaramati Pope Nottingham Trent University 6 February 2018 Aims of the session To introduce you to some of the ways censorship occurs in schools To explore some of the parties and issues involved in censorship in schools and the potential impact of this censorship on pupils ID: 830516
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Slide1
Censorship and education
Dr
Udaramati
Pope
Nottingham Trent University 6 February 2018
Slide2Aims of the session
To introduce you to some of the ways censorship occurs in schools
To explore some of the parties and issues involved in censorship in schools, and the potential impact of this censorship on pupils
To begin to explore censorship in university
Slide3Learning outcomes
By the end of this session you should be able to:
Identify some of the reasons why censorship occurs in schools and
unversities
Appreciate some of the ways censorship occurs in relation to children and their education
Critically evaluate the potential impact of censorship in schools and universities
Slide4Approach to the session: flipped
You will explore some of your thinking about censorship in schools and universities
Then follow up with some input from me about specific examples of censorship in schools
Finally, critically evaluate your response to these examples, and the potential impact on children and students of this censorship
Slide5Censorship – a definition
“The suppression or prohibition of
any parts of
books, films,
news, etc. that are
considered obscene, politically unacceptable,
or a
threat to security”.
What, if anything, would you add to this definition in relation to
censorship in education
?
Slide6Activity 1
Why is censorship an issue in relation to the materials children should encounter in schools?
Slide7Activity 2
Should books ever be censored in schools? If so, why?
If they should, what should be censored, and in what way should the censorship be applied?
Slide8Activity 3
Who tries to/does censor materials that children are exposed to in schools?
Who, if anyone, should be able to censor in schools? Why?
Slide9Summary
At this point in the session, draw together your thinking about the role of, and reasons for, censorship in schools.
What should be censored?
On what grounds?
By whom?
Slide10Why is there censorship in schools?
The safeguarding agenda would be the primary reason in the current educational climate
Safeguarding children goes beyond child protection to incorporate the additional aims of preventing the harm of children's health and development
Prior to this, suitability of materials for the age of pupils based on the moral, sexual or religious nature of the materials/topics
More recently, political agendas have also been a reason for covert censorship
Slide11Banned books in schools
Slide12Banned books in schools: Harry Potter
One school to ban Harry Potter was St. Mary's Island Church of England school in Chatham, Kent. Head teacher Carol Rockwood explained that "The Bible is very clear and consistent in its teachings that wizards, devils and demons exist and are very real, powerful and dangerous and God's people are told to have nothing to do with them." She added that "I believe it is confusing to children when something wicked is being made to look fun
.”
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/banned-harry.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/12052212/Religious-parents-want-Harry-Potter-banned-from-the-classroom-because-it-glorifies-witchcraft.html
Banned books in schools: Philip Pullman’s
His Dark Materials
trilogy
International bans –US and Canada
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/sep/30/american-library-association-banned-books
GCSE syllabus – “Education for Leisure” by Carol-Ann Duffy dropped by AQA 2008
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/sep/04/gcses.english
Education for Leisure
Today I am going to kill something. Anything.
I have had enough of being ignored and today
I am going to play God. It is an ordinary day,
a sort of grey with boredom stirring in the streets
I squash a fly against the window with my thumb.
We did that at school. Shakespeare. It was in
another language and now the fly is in another language.
I breathe out talent on the glass to write my name.
I am a genius. I could be anything at all, with half
the chance. But today I am going to change the world.
Something's world. The cat avoids me. The cat
knows I am a genius, and has hidden itself.
I pour the goldfish down the bog. I pull the chain.
I see that it is good. The budgie is panicking.
Once a fortnight, I walk the two miles into town
For signing on. They don't appreciate my autograph.
There is nothing left to kill. I dial the radio
and tell the man he's talking to a superstar.
He cuts me off. I get our bread-knife and go out.
The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch your arm.
Carol Ann Duffy
Slide16Banned books in schools –
the international context
Slide17UK vs US context
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11417672
Books that have been banned in schools in the US
The Diary of Anne Frank
The Lord of the Flies
Alice in Wonderland
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/may/07/anne-frank-diary-us-schools-censorship
http://classiclit.about.com/od/lordoftheflieswg/f/Lord-Of-The-Flies-Banned-Or-Challenged.htm
https://
www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2016/sep/26/banned-books-week-2016-the-10-most-challenged-titles-in-pictures
Recently banned book: I am Jazz
Autobiographical picture book about the life of a celebrity transgender teenager
Aimed at junior-school age children
https://
www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/sep/27/my-trans-picture-book-was-challenged-but-the-answer-to-hate-speech-is-more-speech?CMP=share_btn_link
Other censored issues in schools
Slide21Section 28
Section 28
or
Clause
28
of the
Local Government Act 1988
caused the addition of
Section 2A
to the
Local Government Act
1986
,
which
affected
England, Wales
and
Scotland
. The amendment was enacted on 24 May 1988, and stated that a
local authority
"shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "
promote the teaching in any
maintained school
of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship
".
It was repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland as one of the first pieces of legislation enacted by the new
Scottish Parliament
, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of the United Kingdom by section 122 of the
Local Government Act
200
3
From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/nov/17/uk.gayrights
What brought Section 28 about? Books!
In 1983, the
Daily Mail
reported that a copy of a book entitled
Jenny lives with Eric and Martin
, portraying a young girl who lives with her father and his male partner, was provided in a school library run by the Labour-controlled
Inner London Education Authority
.
The book was subsequently banned from schools.
Slide23What brought Section 28 about? Books!
During the
1987 election campaign
, the
Conservative Party
(under the leadership of
Margaret Thatcher
) issued attack posters claiming that the Labour Party wanted the book
Young, Gay and Proud
to be read in schools, as well as
Police: Out of School
,
The Playbook for Kids about Sex
,
and
The Milkman's on his Way
,
which, according to
Jill Knight
– who introduced Section 28 and later campaigned against
same-sex
marriage
– were being taught to "little children as young as five and six", which contained "brightly coloured pictures of little stick men showed all about homosexuality and how it was done", and "explicitly described homosexual intercourse and, indeed, glorified it, encouraging youngsters to believe that it was better than any other sexual way of life".
[
Slide24Free schools banned from teaching Creationism
Schools to be held in violation of the State Funding Agreement if they teach Creationism as an alternative to evolution
https://www.rt.com/uk/167044-uk-bans-teaching-creationism/
Jewish school redacted exam questions on evolution
All faith schools consequently barred from doing so by
Ofqual
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10735397/Ofqual-faith-schools-banned-from-censoring-exam-papers.html
http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2013/10/jewish-faith-school-caught-censoring-questions-on-science-exam-papers
Political censorship of the curriculum: Michael Gove
GCSE reforms English Literature = covert censorship
Of Mice and Men
To Kill and Mockingbird
The ‘other cultures and traditions’ emphasis from previous National Curriculum requirements has been revoked.
Gove required a focus on literature in English by
British writers
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/05/michael-gove-go-gsce-english-literature-row-petition?CMP=share_btn_link
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/29/harper-lee-steinbeck-dropped-english-gcse?CMP=share_btn_link
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/27/michael-gove-denies-ban-of-american-novels-from-gcse?CMP=share_btn_link
Parents allowed to take children out of sex education and religious education
Https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/other-compulsory-subjects
Online censorship in schools:
A whole new censorship ball-game? Or the same, just another medium?
firewalls and
software
Apps and personal devices
http://www.bl.uk/my-digital-rights/videos/freedom-web-censorship-in-schools
So, what, if anything, is different about the context of censorship in schools?
Do we need to censor in schools?
If so, what drives that need for censorship? How, if at all, is it different from other reasons for censorship?
Slide30Censorship in universities
What kinds of censorship occur in universities?
Curriculum censorship
Free-speech and no-platforming
Slide31Unconscious bias (curriculum censorship) in HE
English literature – colonialized curriculum?
Where else might curricula be covertly censoring the material students are exposed to? And why?
https://
www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jan/05/diverse-reading-list-shakespeare-students
Free speech and no-platforming
Jo Johnson (until recently minister for HE) has put in place opportunities for the new Office for Students to impose sanctions (possibly fines) on universities that, in their view, are limiting freedom of speech across campuses.
https://
www.theguardian.com/education/2017/dec/26/jo-johnson-universities-no-platforming-freedom-of-speech
Free speech university rankings
http://www.spiked-online.com/free-speech-university-rankings/results#.WnRlsuRLGM
_
Red: has banned and actively censored ideas on
campus 73
Amber: has chilled free speech through
intervention 35
Green
: has a hands-off approach to free
speech 7
Slide34What do some students think? Activity 4
https://
www.theguardian.com/education/2017/oct/26/do-no-platform-policies-threaten-free-speech-at-uni-students-share-their-views
NUS
no-platform policy:
https://
www.nusconnect.org.uk/resources/nus-no-platform-policy-f22f
What do some students think? Activity
63% of students surveyed agreed that the NUS was right to have a no-platforming policy
http://www.comresglobal.com/polls/bbc-victoria-derbyshire-no-platform-poll
/
Summary: the scope of censorship in schools
Should there ever be censorship in schools?
Who should have the power to censor in schools?
Who should not have the power to censor in schools?
What are the potential impacts of censorship in schools?
Slide37To conclude
People have been trying to censor books probably for as long as books have been around. Commonly “challenged” titles in 2015 included Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird and even the Bible. But now, with the rise of Donald Trump and the wave of xenophobia, racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia that has accompanied his campaign, the sharing of stories has never been more crucial. Without the authentic stories of immigrants, women, LGBT people, and Muslims, people will become more entrenched in their view of those groups as the Other. What we need now is more information, more voices; otherwise the diversity that has long been one of our greatest strengths will end up tearing the US apart.
Slide38Other resources
Banned Books Week (US)
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/about
Schools Library Association on banning books stocked in
school libraries:
http://
www.sla.org.uk/links-censorship.php
Banned Books
of Childhood:
http://www.sampsoniaway.org/blog/2013/05/27/banned-books-of-childhood
/
https://
www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/26/banned-books-week-launches-with-call-to-read-books-the-closed-minded-want-shut
https://
www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2016/sep/26/banned-books-week-2016-the-10-most-challenged-titles-in-pictures
https://
www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/sep/27/my-trans-picture-book-was-challenged-but-the-answer-to-hate-speech-is-more-speech