Controversy Over Who Controls the Curriculum

1. Controversy Over Who Controls the Curriculum 7

2. Students Parents Standardized tests Education committees Communities Federal government Special interest groups Teachers Colleges and universities Administrators State government Local government Professional organizations Publishers SHAPING THE CURRICULUM 80 Shaping the Curriculum Figure 7.1, Chapter 7, p. 258

3. WHO & WHAT Students Parental & Community Groups Teachers Administrators Federal Govt. State Govt. Local Govt. Colleges and Universities Standardized Tests Education Commissions & Committees Professional Organizations Special Interest Groups EXAMPLES OF HOW WHO AND WHAT SHAPE THE CURRICULUM? (Student Generated Responses) 81 Who and What Shape the Curriculum? Chapter 7, p. 257

4. As I name a specific group or individual, please tell me whether you think that group or individual has too much, too little, or just about the right amount of say in the decisions that affect the local public schools. DECISION-MAKING POWER Source: Lowell C. Rose and Alec M. Gallup, (2000) The 32nd Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll Of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kpol0009.htm#1a 82 Decision-Making Power Chapter 7, p. 257

5. NO DESIRE TO TURN BACK When it comes to your school district’s effort toward higher academic standards, do you think the school district should: • Continue the effort as planned. • Continue the effort, but make some adjustments. • Stop the effort. • Don’t know. • How do we vote? Source: Parents who are aware of standards effort (n=437), Public Agenda September 2000.. 83 No Desire To Turn Back Figure 7.2, Chapter 7, p. 261

6. STANDARDS: KEY POINTS (Student Generated Responses) • Content Standards • Performance Standards • Opportunity-to-Learn Standards 84 Standards: Key Points Chapter 7, p. 261

7. WHEN STUDENTS DO POORLY If students in your district did poorly on a standardized test, which might be your reaction? • The schools failed to prepare students. • Something was wrong with the test design. • The students lack ability. • Don’t know. • How do we vote? Source: Public Agenda, September 2000. 85 When Students Do Poorly Chapter 7, p. 263

8. BIAS Invisibility Stereotyping Imbalance/Selectivity Unreality Fragmentation/Isolation Linguistic Bias Cosmetic Bias EXAMPLES FORMS OF BIAS (Student Generated Responses) 86 Forms of Bias Chapter 7, p. 276

9. EXAMPLES OF CENSORSHIP • Mary Rodger’s Freaky Friday: “Makes fun of parents and parental responsibility.” • George Eliot’s Silas Marner: “You can’t prove what that dirty old man is doing with that child between the chapters.” • Plato’s Republic: “This book is un-Christian.” • Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days: “Very unfavorable to Mormons.” • William Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “Too violent for children.” • Fodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment: “Serves as a poor model for young people.” • Herman Melville’s Moby Dick: “Contains homosexuality.” • Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl: “Obscene and blasphemous.” • E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web: “Morbid picture of death.” • Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island: “You know what men are like and what they do when they’ve been away from women that long.” • J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit: “Subversive elements.” • Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: “Racist.” • William Steig’s Sylvester and the Magic Pebble: “Anti-police” (one of the police officers is drawn as a pig). • Webster’s Dictionary: “Contains sexually explicit definitions.” 87 Examples of Censorship Chapter 7, p. 282