Censorship: A Tradition

1. Censorship: A Tradition • As long as books have been around, people have been banning them. • Plato: “Then shall we simply allow our children to listen to any stories that anyone happens to make up, and so receive into their minds ideas often the very opposite of those we shall think they ought to have when they are grown up? No, certainly not. It seems, then, our first business will be to supervise the making of fables and legends, rejecting all which are unsatisfactory . . .” Comic Book Burning in New York, 1950’s

2. The Printing Press and Europe • 1440 Gutenberg’s Printing Press • Germany’s first censorship office established soon after • 1529 England - Henry VIII outlawed all imported publications • required printers to submit all manuscripts to Church of England • 1535 France - king Francis I issued an edict prohibiting the printing of books • 1559 - Roman Catholic Church issued Index Librorum Prohibitorum - first official published list of banned books

3. Book banning comes to America • 1650 - a religious pamphlet was confiscated by Puritan authorities in Massachusetts, condemned by the General Court and burned by the public executioner in the Boston marketplace. • 1873 Comstock Law - banned the mailing of materials found to be “lewd, indecent, filthy or obscene.” • Formalized what was previously a gentlemen’s agreement among publishers

4. A shift to the courtroom • Thoughts on censorship in schools from Inherit the Wind (Start at 1:30 mark)

5. Censorship and the law • “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” • The First Amendment

6. Landmark Cases • Schenck v. United States (1919) • Established “clear and present danger” doctrine on free speech • Bradenburg v. Ohio (1969) • States only could restrict speech that "is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action, and is likely to incite or produce such action." Free Speech Decisions

7. Landmark Cases - Right to Read • Evans v. Selma Union High School District of Fresno County (1924) • King James Bible’s place in library does not equate to an adoption of a dogma • Rosenberg v. Board of Education of City of New York (1949) • Merchant of Venice and Oliver were protested, but court ruled for BOE because it believed the BOE was acting in best interest of the school system • Minarcini v. Strongsville (Ohio) City School District (1976) • Students prevented removal of Catch 22 from library, 1st Amendment right of students to receive information and librarians’ right to distribute it • Counts v. Cedarville School District (Arkansas) (2003) • Harry Potter permission slip was ruled unconstitutional • “could not abridge students' First Amendment right to read a book on the basis of an undifferentiated fear of disturbance or because the Board disagreed with the ideas contained in the book.”

8. Landmark Cases - Freedom of Expression • Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) • Students who wore armbands could not be expelled - 1st Amendment extends into schools • Zykan v. Warsaw (Indiana) Community School Corporation (1980) • School board has the right to establish a curriculum on the basis of its own discretion, but it is forbidden to impose a "pall of orthodoxy.” • BOE, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico (1982) • "Local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion.” • If a board acted solely upon the “educational suitability” of the books in question or solely because the books were “pervasively vulgar,” such actions would not be unconstitutional.

9. Court Case Observations • In the end, the courts usually rule in favor of the books • Libraries and classrooms are different in the eyes of the court • Race and religion are often at the root of the cases • Many cases are decided in local courts • These cases continue today (in Georgia) • http://www.fac.org/%5Cnews.aspx?id=18611

10. Kanawha County: The Beginning • Winter of 1973-1974 • New textbooks for Kanawha County • March 12 meeting met with no protest • However, on April 11, Alice Moore protests. • She says review time too short • Takes books home, disapproves • Calls Mel and Norma Gabler

11. Who is Alice Moore? • Wife of a minister in St. Albans, WV • Protested sex education curriculum in 1969 • “Conservative heroine” • Elected to school board in 1970 • Began the questioning of whether schools should teach or depart from home values

12. The Gablers • Started textbook reviews after encountering “errors” in son’s history book • Founded Education Research Analysts • Claimed to uncover factual errors, “secular humanism” • textbookreviews.org • Air-mailed information to Alice Moore about how the textbooks in the Interaction series defied Christian, conservative values

13. Educational Research Analysts’ Mission Statement: • “We are a conservative Christian organization that reviews public school textbooks submitted for adoption in Texas. Our reviews have national relevance because Texas state-adopts textbooks and buys so many that publishers write them to Texas standards and sell them across the country. •   Our unique 48 years' experience gives us expertise equal to or beyond that of the education establishment itself in all phases of the public school textbook adoption process, and in that our standard review criteria spell out what public school textbooks often censor on certain topics. •   Publishers market textbooks – and many teachers select them – based on convenience of their teaching aids. Unlike them, we review textbooks for academic content only. Parents, teachers, and school board members can all profitably use our materials. (http://www.textbookreviews.org/)

14. ERA Subject areas of concern include: • Scientific weaknesses in evolutionary theories • Phonics-based reading instruction • Principles and benefits of free enterprise • Original intent of the U.S. Constitution • Respect for Judeo-Christian morals • Emphasis on abstinence in sex education • Politically-correct degradation of academics   (http://www.textbookreviews.org/)

15. ERA’s Standard Review Criteria for American Lit Textbooks “Story content should present: • A universe that rewards virtue and punishes vice, where good and evil are not moral equivalents, and where problems have solutions • Behavioral role models that demonstrate civility, sensitivity, humaneness, and non-destructiveness • Generally positive attitudes toward, and relations among, children, parents, and others … • …No sensational violence, offensive language or illustrations, occultism, or deviant lifestyles (e.g., homosexuality) • No pattern of pejoratives stigmatizing one group and superlatives idealizing another • No politically-correct stereotypes of oppressors and/or victims by race, class, or gender ”

16. Confrontation • With the support of the Gablers, Moore voices her concerns at a board meeting on May 23 • Books are filthy, trashy, disgusting, one-sidedly in favor of blacks, and unpatriotic • Another meeting set for June 27, Moore goes public

17. June 27, 1974 • More than 1,000 attend, including people from over 30 rural churches • After 3 hours, board votes 3-2 to purchase all Interaction books except 8 from the senior high level • Motions to include parents on textbook selection committees.

18. Heated Summer of 1974 • The June 27 meeting didn’t resolve tension • Several groups gather support in opposition to the textbooks • Letter-writing campaigns • Rallies • Newspaper ads • Pickets • Labor Day Rally: “Boycott schools tomorrow.”

19. “The Dirty Books” • Fliers include excerpts from Sexual Politics, Facts About Sex for Today’s Youth • Community shocked by these excerpts • Soon, books known as “the dirty books” • Parents accused administration of holding back offensive books when they couldn’t locate the “dirty” selections (Clip #1 with Dave talking about “demonized” books)

20. Schools open on Sept. 3; national news media cover the boycotts, strikes, pickets • During first week of Sept., 9,000 of 45,000 students kept out of schools • In Upper Valley, absences were 80-90% • Miners also stage sympathy strikes ( Clip Ginny #4: Mary Martin “subcultural hillbillies”)

21. Escalation and Violence • On Sept. 11, board announces that it will withdraw textbooks from schools; 30 day review • Rev. Horan signs agreement, then backs away, then changes his mind • Rev. Ezra Graley, Rev. Avis Hill, Rev. Charles Quigley take over Concerned Citizens after this • Graley and Hill spend 30 days in jail for defying court injunction, Graley another 60 for contempt of court

22. Escalation and Violence (cont.) • 2nd week of school, more violence • Two men wounded by gunfire at pickets, one man beaten– both truckers • Threats against superintendent, members of board, parents sending children to school • Sherriff asks Gov. Arch Moore to send state troopers • Moore says state shouldn’t intervene in local political rows (Ginny Ragliano clip #1)

23. Escalation and Violence (cont.) • Sept. 13– Superintendent Underwood closes all public schools for 4-day weekend • Some parents kept students home to protest, but many kept them home for safety • During a review of the books, an elementary school fire-bombed and another dynamited, both while empty • Vandalism, gunfire, fire bombs • Rocks thrown at homes and buses

24. Escalation and Violence (cont.) • During a review of the books, an elementary school fire-bombed and another dynamited, both while empty • Vandalism, gunfire, fire bombs • Rocks thrown at homes and buses • Two school buses fired on by shotguns (Ginny Clip #3)

25. “They’re shooting people because they don’t want to see violence in books.” • “I am asking Christian people to pray that God will kill the giants [the three board members who voted for the books] who have mocked and made fun of dumb fundamentalists.” (Moffett, p. 19)

26. Beginning of the End • School board finally holds meeting on Nov. 8 after dynamite scare • Vote of 4 against Moore, board returned all basic and supplemental books except Communicating the senior high portion of Interaction • These books were put away in school libraries (Clip Ginny #2 of Betsy Green speaking)

28. Beginning of the End (cont.) • Violence continued, threats against parents by phone • West Virginia State Police finally intervene after protestors shoot at patrol cars • Nov. 21– board passes resolution with guidelines for future textbook selection (Clip Dave #2)

29. Textbooks… • “may not intrude on privacy of students.” • “must recognize sanctity of home.” • “must not contain offensive language.” • “must teach that traditional rules of grammar are a worthwhile subject for academic pursuit and are essential for effective communication.” • “shall encourage loyalty to the United States.” • “must not encourage sedition or revolution against our government or teach or imply that an alien form of government is superior.”

30. “Do you think something like this could happen again in your area? • Ms. Rogliano: “Oh!” • Ms. Green: “In this area?  [Hesitation]  Sure, I think so.” • Ms. Rogliano: “Yes, yes, yep… I don’t want to use the word narrow-minded, but I think…well, look at the Evolution [issue]… • Ms. Green: “And I think what’s happening is that the people that are on the Board now, people that are in the school system here now have—some of them—lived through this old stuff, and so they try to avoid controversy… • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkYX1wPAzxg

31. Another Issue of Controversy in Kanawha: The Theory of Evolution • “The last Science Textbook Committee I was on, the son of Reverend ______ was asked to come in and look at the books because they [parents?] threatened to have another textbook controversy on the issue of evolution in our Science books.  And our Board of Education elected not to get that book and not to teach evolution, and some of the teachers—Science teachers in our middle schools and high schools—were really upset about that.  And I was on that committee.  And it [that controversy] was stopped before it got out of hand like it did the last time… •   - Ms. Ginny Rogliano

32. Last Stirrings • Dec. 1– Rev. Avis Hill leads 2,000 protestors through Charleston • Dec. 12– Superintendent Underwood and others assaulted by men and women at board meeting • Demonstrations and rallies until April of 1975, when Rev. Martin Horan is sentenced to 3 years in prison

33. Last Stirrings (cont.) • Communicating, the most hotly protested, returns to school in the fall of 1975 with no objections.

34. Why did this happen? • Religious war? • Racism? • Tension between two very different socio-economic groups? • Agnosis?

35. What was Interaction? • “A work of love.” – James Moffett • Houghton Mifflin • Two film series, card and board games, recorded selections, plus 172 paperback books • “Student-centered” • Diverse subjects and methods • Reflected diversity of situations, values, dialects

36. Interaction after Kanawha County • Jeopardized state adoption in Arizona • People with “Concerned Citizens of Kanawha” buttons showed up at textbook hearings • Company sales people refused association with books

37. Textbook Publishing: An Overview “Whether intentional or not, any program or approach that features specific directions to masses of students in a standardized format … will almost certainly be guilty in some measure of propagandizing just because it is manipulating students too much.” — James Moffett, Storm in the Mountains

38. Tools of the Trade • “Elhi” textbooks Association of American Publishers (AAP): “The principal trade association of the U.S. book publishing industry.” AAP School Division: www.aapschool.org Educational Market Research: www.educationmarketresearch.com Educational Marketer Newsletter

39. The Big Four Pearson McGraw-Hill Reed Elsevier Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

40. Pearson Based in United Kingdom North American education provides their largest business

41. McGraw-Hill Based in New York In addition to an education division, owns Standard & Poor’s, J.D. Power and Associates, and Aviation Week

42. Reed Elsevier • U.K.-based • Produces thousands of scientific, technical, and medical journals • Owns Lexis-Nexis

43. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Parent company: Education Media and Publishing Group Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt merged in 2007

44. Common Complaints “A mile wide and an inch deep” Lack of evidence of effectiveness: Publishers as development centers, not research and development centers Ancillary materials Authorship

45. Self Censorship • “Special interest pressure groups from the politically correct left and the religious right exert enormous influence on textbook content through bias and sensitivity guidelines and reviews that have dumbed down textbook content in an attempt to render them inoffensive to every possible ethnic, religious, and political constituency.” • “The books ignore or whitewash unpleasant facts about our country in the name of promoting some people’s ideas of patriotism.”

46. The ABCs of Textbook Adoption “To fail to get adopted in Texas is tantamount to disaster in most cases, and publishers will stop at little to ensure against failure.” — James Moffett, Storm in the Mountains

47. The Adoption Process Two types: • State adoption — 22 states mostly in the south and west — Process began during Reformation when Southern states trying to keep-out anti-Confederacy messages from textbooks — To get state funding for textbooks, districts must choose from list of books approved by the state • “Open territories” — 28 states — School districts can choose for themselves

48. Charges Against State Adoption • Review process suspect • State adoption makes it easier for special interest groups to lobby for their position to be included in the books • Top 4 publishers benefit from system because they can cover more ground and throw in more supplemental materials to sweeten deals than smaller publishers can • Teachers do not have as much of a say in choosing their own books

49. Georgia Textbook Adoption • We have state adoption • 6-year adoption schedule • State funds may be used to purchase “any learning resource selected by a local school system that is used as a primary resource material in a classroom” • Last year 9-12 ELA materials were reviewed and approved • Evaluation rubric • List of approved materials • Publisher contact list

50. State Textbook Adoption States 12. Illinois13. Indiana14. Kentucky15. Tennessee16. Alabama17. Georgia18. South Carolina19. North Carolina20. Florida21. West Virginia22. Virginia 1. Oregon2. Idaho3. California4. Nevada5. Utah6. New Mexico7. Texas8. Oklahoma9. Arkansas10. Louisiana11. Mississippi