Censorship and education DR UDARAMATI POPE NOTTINGHAM TRENT

Censorship and education 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 To begin to explore censorship in university

Learning 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

Approach 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

Censorship – 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?

Activity 1 Why is censorship an issue in relation to the materials children should encounter in schools?

Activity 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?

Activity 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?

Summary 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?

Why 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

Banned books in schools

Banned 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/educationnews/12052212/Religiousparents-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-libraryassociation-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

Banned books in schools – the international context

UK 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-schoolscensorship 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/booksblog/2016/sep/27/my-trans-picture-book-was-challenged-but-the-answer-to-hate-speech-is-morespeech? CMP=share_btn_link

Other censored issues in schools

Section 28 or Clause 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 caused the addition of Section 2 A 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 2003 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 Labourcontrolled Inner London Education Authority. The book was subsequently banned from schools.

What 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". [

Free 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/educationnews/10735397/Ofqualfaith-schools-banned-from-censoring-exam-papers. html http: //www. secularism. org. uk/news/2013/10/jewish-faith-school-caughtcensoring-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-rowpetition? CMP=share_btn_link http: //www. theguardian. com/education/2014/may/29/harper-lee-steinbeck-dropped-englishgcse? CMP=share_btn_link http: //www. theguardian. com/politics/2014/may/27/michael-gove-denies-ban-of-american-novels-fromgcse? 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-webcensorship-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?

Censorship in universities What kinds of censorship occur in universities? Curriculum censorship Free-speech and no-platforming

Unconscious 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/diver se-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-johnsonuniversities-no-platforming-freedom-of-speech

Free speech university rankings http: //www. spiked-online. com/free-speech-universityrankings/results#. Wn. Rlsu. RLGM_ 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

What do some students think? Activity 4 https: //www. theguardian. com/education/2017/oct/26/do-no-platformpolicies-threaten-free-speech-at-uni-students-share-their-views NUS no-platform policy: https: //www. nusconnect. org. uk/resources/nus-noplatform-policy-f 22 f

What do some students think? Activity 63% of students surveyed agreed that the NUS was right to have a noplatforming policy http: //www. comresglobal. com/polls/bbc-victoria-derbyshire-no-platformpoll/

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?

To 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.

Other 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-ofchildhood/

https: //www. theguardian. com/books/2016/sep/26/banned-books-weeklaunches-with-call-to-read-books-the-closed-minded-want-shut https: //www. theguardian. com/books/gallery/2016/sep/26/banned-booksweek-2016 -the-10 -most-challenged-titles-in-pictures https: //www. theguardian. com/booksblog/2016/sep/27/my-transpicture-book-was-challenged-but-the-answer-to-hate-speech-is-morespeech