This is part three of the Making Bold Choices CCI:
So, starting with the principal that parents are allowed to challange chosen books and dictate what their students read, where are we left as educators? What then is our role? To choose the least offensive book, which can be read by the most number of students? In my eyes, there is no place in education for timidity. And I think that Frances brought up some great points on why we have to understand the limitations of the school environment while making bold, prudent and wise choices for our students. The main reason for censorship of our web technologies is CIPA, which is meant to stop access to pornographic images. This is understandable there is no real place for this kind of thing in the classroom, or in the world of our young students, but concern about one corrupting influence should not dilute the richness of our students' education. As Frances points out, good teaching should breed good behavior, and as Dr. Crissman also noted, there are studies that show less restrictions actually cause students to be more thoughtful and discerning about where they go on the web. The modern world is the most important world to our students. We cannot predict what the future holds for them in ten years (I never would have thought I would eventually be attending class in an online world when I first booted up everquest in 1999). So we must try and prepare our students for the modern world in which they will live. I think the most difficult situation, and the one that poses the most frustration down the road will be when a student wishes to read something that his parent or guardian does not want him to. Because, as I said in the voicethread, and as Marc Aronson pointed out in his essay on the topic, we cannot dictate what a student will get out of a book. We are reading with different eyes. And we have to accept at some point that our children are not entirely moldable to our own desires. There is a point, and I believe that to be during adolescence, when students must start to break away from the viewpoints held by their parents or guardians and start assessing the world for themselves. My grandfather grew up in Great Depression era South. He and many of his fellow citizens did not agree with busing to integrate the schools in Tarboro, NC. But I am very proud that my parents did not hold on to these outdated, and in truth, bigoted views. Our children, and our students need to the freedom to grow and discover the world outside of their home, and I think literature is an extremely safe and compelling way to encourage that growth. So what I take away from Frances' speech is that we must be bold enough to stand up to some compelling forces. The forces of the opinions of parents guardians and administrators. And the very best and safest way to do that is to make sure that you can always justify the choices you make in the classroom. If you have a sound and well thought out reason for allowing a student to choose certain literature to read, then there is no reason why we as teachers should have to worry about the tides of censorship. We just have to be bold and wise.
Will, I agree with you that "there is no place in education for timidity." It's a difficult stance, but as you mention, if your stance is built on defensible pedagogical reasons for the inclusion of certain materials into your curriculum you're already on better footing. I also agree with you that preparing our students for whatever the future is going to look like must include technology, but I would also go so far as to say that we must prepare our teachers for teaching in that world as well. I agree that it is developmentally appropriate for our students to move away from the viewpoints held by their parents and teachers and should happen in order for our students to grow into independent, competent adults. There is a richness in the exchange of ideas, however, that I also think needs to happen. No, a student probably won't take away the same thing from a piece of work as I do, but engaging one another in the reasons why we feel differently is where the best conversations can be found.
ReplyDelete"Our children, and our students need to the freedom to grow and discover the world outside of their home, and I think literature is an extremely safe and compelling way to encourage that growth."
ReplyDeleteI love that you said that :) Literature is definitely one of the safest ways to explore the world around us and to grow.
I've often found that even literature that many adults would consider "risque" or that they feel deal with "inappropriate" subjects can actually have the opposite effect on young readers than what parents expect - meaning that reading about the characters' experiences with certain "bad" or dangerous activities will often dissuade the reader from doing those things.
When I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, for example, I had never tried drugs. The character in that book has flashbacks from his drug use, and it scared me so badly that I didn't do drugs at all in high school. So take that pro-censoring people!
"In my eyes, there is no place in education for timidity."
ReplyDeleteWell said. Sometimes, I think that people forget that our job is to educate. We're not going to get anywhere if we keep teaching the same controversy-free books over and over and over. Sometimes, the things that parents or critics might find "shocking" are the ones that will really break through to students. And that's the point, really -- to speak to our students, whether that means finding a book that they simply love to read or finding a book from which they can learn.
Yes, I think the key is what Dr. Crissman started talking about yesterday, having a good justification. Because if you can make a good case for why a certain piece is significant or useful, I think it will win out over concerns about language etc.
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