Gene V. Glass was stunned to discover that a book he wrote with David Berliner, “50 Myths and Lies That Threaten America’s Public Schools,” had been removed from the summer reading list for AP English students.
Too controversial.
About a decade ago, I wrote a book about censorship in texts, tests, and assigned books, called “The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn.”
Plus ça change, plus ce la meme chose.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
See why Arizona wants to censor science books. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/5/23/1766533/-Arizona-Department-of-Education-removes-evolution-from-science-texts-because-god?detail=emaildkre
And this is an annual list of most challenged books.
https://www.bustle.com/p/the-10-most-challenged-books-of-2017-according-to-the-american-library-association-8732432
I have learned more about the language and IMAGE police than I ever wanted to know.
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The AP system seems to me to do more to turn kids off from science than excite them. Coincidentally, just yesterday I posted an item about this on my blog with a link to one of the most exciting science articles that I have read in a long time:
“Will a Female Physicist Succeed Where Einstein Failed?”
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But this isn’t AP’s fault. The district in Arizona does that. However, I really wish that AP would stand up for material and teachers, which is doesn’t.
If you want a REAL controversy swirling in the AP world, look at AP World History. It’s been a real summer of discontent over there: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-education/2018/07/20/teachers-unimpressed-by-ap-world-history-changes-285909
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The real controversy – though the research takes it apart – is that AP is better than sliced pizza.
It isn’t.
AP is like the other College Board products, the PSAT and SAT.
Far more hype than educationally meaningful and beneficial.
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that’s the true hidden treasure for the each-year-increasingly-invasive testing game: HYPE
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WAIT, WHAT?
“There has been concern raised by parents at the district, that those three books may have a possible connection to political issues that may come up in future elections”
EVERY BOOK HAS A POSSIBLE CONNECTION TO POLITICAL ISSUES ANd FUTURE ELECTIONS – THAT’S CALLED LEARNING, THINKING, and EXPRESSING YOUR VOICE. (Oh wait, “thinking” – especially “critical thinking” is a no-no for conservatives.
G-d forbid their kids should have an opinion that wasn’t ingrained in them at the dinner table)
Holy crap. Are they banning…
Biography of Muhammad Ali.. Malcolm X… Thomas Jefferson… ?
Silent Spring and the Population Bomb?
ANY book about Viet Nam?
Fail Safe?
Inherit the Wind?
Enrico’s Journey?
CAINE MUTINY (president knows who stole the strawberries)
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Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose!
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Merci pour la correction. Cela vaut la peine de le faire.
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Je suis prof de français! Je ne peux pas résister! J’ai toujours mon stylo rouge.
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The Language Police is still one of my favorite books especially because it criticizes censorship from the left and the right.
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Our district is going full STEaM (with a nod to the arts) and one-to-one with Mega Data Collector Google (“personalized learning.”) As an ELA teacher, I will find every way possible to incorporate literature (even though the emphasis is on nonfiction).
“The Jungle” can be a launching pad into deeper discussions and raise awareness of the same problems we face today with immigrant labor being exploited in the meat-processing plants of the rural Midwest.
Oh, and the book view socialism in a favorable light, which might be a reason the book remains “controversial,” especially in R-leaning areas of the country.
Although we’ve been warned as teachers to keep our views to ourselves, post-Janus, that warning should be moot.
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