Student Response: There is no way to protect us from hearing or reading profanity. This language was used by poor, uneducated migrant workers. Our situation is different and we would not use this language at home or with our friends.
Parent Objection: Teaching this book is as if the school is saying profanity is okay.
Student Response: The school is not saying that profanity is okay any more than by reading about World War II and saying killing is okay.
Parent Objection: I haven't read the book, but I think it's too rough.
Student Response: Life during the Depression was rough. We see rougher things on TV or even in P.E. class, but there are many examples of kindness, love and humanity, too. Reasd it yourself - you'll see.
Parent Objection: I don't like John Steinbeck. He wrote about a tough element in life.
Student Response: John Steinbeck wrote about people with real weaknesses and strengths, but his descriptions of how tough life is makes us see how important it is for us to trust and rely on each other
I also found an essay written by a future teacher (now probably a teacher). The essay is titled "Censorship and the Student Writer", and the author creates a lesson plan to teach her class about censorship. Some of the assignments include; discussing public and private censorship, studying song lyrics from a controversial song (students had to bring in a censored version of the song if they wanted to play it in class), and debating whether or not censorship has a place in America's society.
I also found this video interesting, it provides an overview of a censorship challenge in the high school setting and one of the ways that it can play out.
Has anyone read this novel? Can you think of reasons why it should or shouldn't be banned?
To be honest, I never really thought about censorship in schools. I guess you can say that I never acknowledged it. Your project got me really thinking about it issue. I really liked how the teacher took parents' complaints into responsive work. If I was to become a teacher I would most definitely do this with my class. Not just with parents' complaints but also society's issues or even world issues.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Really interesting stuff here. I love the shift you've taken in your research since your last post. You're right, there's only so much you can learn from scholarly articles and such. I think it's great that you're looking into different avenues to research your topic. You can learn a lot from case studies, interviews, actually getting down in the trenches and doing some of your own investigating.
ReplyDeleteI thought the video was really interesting. I don't really know how schools in this state operate (I'm unfortunately rather ignorant of our school system since I largely sidestepped it most of my life), but it'd be really interesting to see what goes on in the various offices, committees, and votes on censorship. It would be really fascinating to delve into a meeting like this one and closely examine the process and the thoughts of the people involved with a school's decision to ban a book.