Donna Portmann - Aberdeen School District



Donna Portmann

Dr. Sonya Wiedenhaupt

Master in Teaching Program

1 March 2004

Teacher Self Censorship in Language Arts Curricula

Research Question: Do the real, or imagined, pressures of providing acceptable materials to widely divers groups of students hinder an emerging teacher’s ability to present the most through and inclusive curriculum available?

Introduction “the typical censorship challenge as one or more parents objecting to particular passages without appreciating the entire text, circulating or reading passages out of context, having but declining the opportunity for students to read alternative texts,, and assuming the teacher and administrator are endorsing the supposedly offensive material” (Simmons, 24).

A. Context of the Problem

1 “Censorship attempts generally focus on a particular text and result in a we versus they dynamic with parents lined up against teachers and administrators” (Waterson, 32).

2 “Parents can become passionate about censoring” (Brinkley, 74).

3 “In many cases, self-censorship is intentional” (Brinkley, 44).

B. Problem Statement

1. “So often censorship challenges are kept quiet in schools and the teachers involved are told not to discuss the situation with anyone” (Brown, ).

2. “By providing access only to that literature that does not discuss sex, politics, violence, or question the role of the adult, what are we doing to our children’s minds?” (O’Neal, 772).

C. Research Question: Does self censorship really exist, or is it actually selection; and, historically why does censorship occur in school?

D. Relevant Literature

1. Agee

2. Freedman and Johnson

3. Moffett

E. Existing Controversies

F. Limitations

G. Significance of Research Question and Study

Historical Background

A. Two Key Disputes

B. Social Context

C. Cultural Context

D. Political Context

E. Empirical Research

F. Conclusions

Review of the Literature

1 Quantitative Research

1 Censorship and Selection

2 Attacks on the Freedom to Learn

3 Curriculum Challenges in California

4 Censorship and Children’s Literature

5 Junior High and Middle School Teachers and Self Censorship

6 Attitudes Toward Censorship

7 What does the Quantitative Research Indicate?

2 Qualitative Research

1 On Teacher’s Perspective

2 The Ripple Effect of Censorship

3 Policies Supporting Intellectural Freedom

4 Student’s Writing Topics

5 Literacy Censorship

6 The Effects of Censorship on High School English Teachers

7 Self Censorship and Young Adult Literature

8 Storm in the Mountains

3 Analysis of the Current Research

1 Common Themes

2 Common Shortcoming

3 Exemplary Research

4 Summation

Conclusions

1 Research Question

2 Research Literature and the Original Research Question

3 Teacher-School-Parent Power Conflict

4 Strategies

1 Classroom

a. Productive classroom practices

b. Unproductive classroom practices

2 Departmental

a. Productive departmental practices

b. Unproductive departmental practices

3 District

a. Productive district practices

b. Unproductive district practices

4 External

a. Productive external practices

b. Unproductive external practices

5 Ambiguity in the Literature

6 Areas for Future Research

1 Future Quantitative Research

2 Future Qualitative Research

7 Personal Strategy: Awareness of Curricular Self Censorship

8 A Final Note in First Person

IV References

A. List of Figures

1 Figure 1 – Censorship challenges by institution type

2 Figure 2 – Initiatior of censorship challenges

3 Figure 3 – Censorship challenges reported

B. Appendices

4 Appendix A – Permission from The American Library Association

5 Appendix B – Tentative Model of Self Censorship

Work Cited

Adler, L. (1993). Curriculum challenges in California: Third statewide survey of challenges to curriculum materials and services. Fullerton, CA: California State University [Abstract]. (ERIC Reproduction Service No. ED375475).

Agee, J. (1999). There it was, that one sex scene: English teachers on censorship [Electronic version]. English Journal, 89(2), 61-69.

American Library Association. (2000). Censorship in the schools. Retrieved September 27, 2002, from

American Library Association. (2002). Banned books week. Retrieved October 21, 2002, from bbooks/challeng.html#wcb

American Library Association. (2002). The 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990 – 2000: Challenges by initiator, institution, type, and year. Retrieved October 21, 2002, from

Apple, M. W., & Oliver, A. (1996). Becoming right: Education and the formation of conservative movements [Electronic version]. Teachers College Record, 97(3), 419-445.

Berger, P. N. (1998). The day they came to arrest the book: Censorship and a civil debate. Teaching and Learning Literature with Children and Young Adults, 8(1), 27-31.

Blair, L. (1996). Strategies for Dealing with Censorship. Art Education, 49(5), 57-61.

Boccardi, R. (1993). The artist's dilemma: A drama-in-education study in censorship. Drama/Theatre Teacher, 5(3), 13-17.

Brinkley, E. H. (1999). Caught off guard: Teachers rethinking censorship and controversy. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Brown, J. E. (2000). Creating a censorship simulation. ALAN Review, 27(3), 27-30.

Butler, B. J. (2002). The response of public schools in Tulsa County, Oklahoma to neoteric issues involving literary censorship. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Oral Roberts University (UMI No. AAT 3042796).

Creswell, J. W. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand oaks, CA: Sage.

Daly, J. K., Roach, P., Evans, S., & Mitchell, G. (1995). Building support for intellectual freedom. Contemporary Education, 66(2) 92-95.

Freedman, L., & Johnson, H. (2001). Who's protecting whom? I hadn't meant to tell you this, a case in point in confronting self-censorship in the choice of young adult literature [Electronic version]. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44(4), 356-369.

Fege, A. F. (1991). Censorship in the schools: Parents can protect the freedom to learn. PTA Today, 16(5), 10-12.

Foerstel, H. N. (1994). Banned in the USA: A reference guide to book censorship in schools and public libraries. Westport, CT: Greenwood.

Greenbaum, V. (1997). Censorship and the myth of appropriateness: Reflections on teaching reading in high school [Electronic version]. English Journal, 86(2), 16-20.

Greenlee, E. D. (1992). Recommended adolescent literature: Avoiding those hidden secrets [Electronic version]. English Journal, 81(4), 23-24.

Grigg, K. L. (1993). Censorship and selection. [Abstract]. (ERIC Reproduction Service No. ED360955).

Goldwasser, M. M. (1997). It happened to me in southwest Virginia: It could happen to you [Electronic version]. English Journal, 86(2), 34-42.

Heins, M. (2001). Not in front of the children: Indecency, censorship, and the innocence of youth. New York: Hill and Wang.

Jongsma, K. S. (1991). Concerns about censorship and intellectual freedom [Electronic version]. Reading Teacher, 45(2), 152-153.

Lacks, C. (1997). The teacher's nightmare: Getting fired for good teaching [Electronic version]. English Journal, 86(2), 29-33.

Layne, S. L. (1995). Censorship: The best defense is a strong offense. Contemporary Education, 66(2), 103-105.

Naylor, A. P., Dwyer, E. J., & Bliss, L. B. (1995). Attitudes of students in education classes toward censorship. Journal of Research and Development in Education, 28(4), 189-196.

Noll, E. (1994). The ripple effect of censorship: Silencing in the classroom [Electronic version]. English Journal, 83(8), 59-64.

McCracken, N. (1995). Reading and responding to the censors: grounds for defense. ALAN Review, 22(2), 41-43.

Miner, B. (1998). When reading good books can get schools in trouble. Rethinking Schools Online: An Urban Education Resource 12(3). Retrieved September 27, 2002, from

Moffett, J. (1988). Storm in the mountains: A case study of censorship, conflict, and consciousness. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

Moffett, J. (1990). Varieties of censorship. Journal of Educational Thought, 24(3A), 5-16.

National Council of Teachers of English. (n.d.). Guidelines for selection of materials in English language arts programs. Retrieved October 13, 2002, from

O'Neal, S. (1990). Controversial books in the classroom [Electronic version]. Language Arts, 67(7), 771-775.

Peck, R. (1999). The Many Faces of Censorship. Voice of Youth Advocates, 22(4), 242-43.

People for the American Way (1990). Attacks on the freedom to learn: People for the American way 1989 – 1990 report. People for the American Way [Abstract]. (ERIC Reproduction Service No. ED329475).

Person, D. (1998). Censorship: Confronting the sound of silence. Journal of Children's Literature, 24(1), 118-121.

Roberts, D. F. (1993). Adolescents and the mass media: From Leave It to Beaver to Beverly Hills 90210 [Electronic version]. Teachers College Record, 94(3), 629-644.

Russo, C. J., & Delon, F. G. (1999). Teachers, school boards, and the curriculum: Who is in control? [Electronic version]. NASSP Bulletin, 83(610), 22-29.

Saks, A. L., & Larson, R. L. (1995). Annotated bibliography of research in the teaching of English. Research in the Teaching of English, 29(4), 451-467.

Sadler, G. E. (1995, September/October). The killing of a great book: Censorship and the classics. Teaching and Learning Literature with Children and Young Adults. 31-37.

Schneider, J. J. (2001). No blood, guns, or gays allowed!: The silencing of the elementary writer [Electronic version]. Language Arts, 78(5), 415-425.

Schroeder, E., & Boe, J. (1994). Individualize: An interview with James Moffett. Writing on the Edge, 6(1) 5-21.

Simmons, J. S. (1999). Better safe than sorry. ALAN Review, 26(3), 23-24.

Sipe, R. B. (1999). Don’t confront censors, prepare for them [Electronic version]. Education Digest, 64(6), 42 – 47.

Steach, H. R. (2001). A Foucauldian view of literary censorship in the Richland School District language arts curriculum. Unpublished master’s thesis, California State University, Dominguez (UMI No. 1406745).

Strope, J. L., Jr. (1999). Academic freedom: In our minds, the legal myth dies slowly! [Electronic version]. NASSP Bulletin, 83(610), 14-21.

Suhor, C. (1997). Censorship: When things get hazy [Electronic version]. English Journal, 86(2), 26-28.

Swint, K. (1991). Another look at the textbook wars. Georgia Social Science Journal, 22(1), 11-18.

Van Allen, L. (1993). Poll taken at the JH/MS assembly session, NCTE, Seattle. ALAN Review, 21(1), 49-50.

Watterson, M. S. (1997). Public schools and censorship: What parents need to know. Our Children, 23(3), 34-35.

Webb, C. A., & Williams, C. (1993). Developing insurance against the censor. ALAN Review, 20(2), 20-21.

What works: A written policy statement on the selection of learning resources [Electronic version]. (1991). Emergency Librarian, 18(5), 33.

Zirkel, P. A. (2002). Decisions that have shaped U.S. education [Electronic version]. Educational Leadership, 59(4), 6-12.

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