2008 October 03 Archive at The Core Knowledge Blog

Archive for October 3rd, 2008

…And Your Little Dog, Too!

Published by Robert Pondiscio on October 3, 2008 in Education Practice. 2 Comments

It’s not just books and cell phones that are being banned in schools. Here is a (very) partial list of items and activities schools have banned, attempted to forbid, or recently rescinded policies against:

Extreme hairstyles and dyed hair.
Spelling tests.
Cartwheels.
Flags, including the American flag.
Muslim head scarves.
Blogging.
Hugging.
Hugs over two seconds long.
Criticizing the superintendent of schools.
Trendy ties.
Peanuts.
Hoodies.
Signs at sporting events.
Birthday cakes.
Books about vampires.
Boys wearing makeup.
Playing in the playground before school.
Church flyers. (A California school tried, but was told they couldn’t)
Parents.
Ugg boots and bar earrings.
“Cyber bullying.”
Purses.
Laptops.
Backpacks.
Black shoes.
HPV vaccinations.
Soda.
Spiky hair.
Dogs.
“Obscene, distracting or disruptive jewelry” including a rosary.
Caffeinated energy drinks.
A corn-eating contest.

Digital Divide

Published by Robert Pondiscio on October 3, 2008 in Educational Policy. 0 Comments

Utah’s Board of Education today will take up a proposal to require the state’s school districts to put guidelines in place governing the use of cell phones and other electronic devices in classrooms. Past board discussions have run the gamut from banning cell phones from campus to using them for educational purposes, the Deseret News notes.

Utah’s education officials and lawmakers point to recent incidents of students using camera phones to take nude photos of themselves and others. Texting is being used for harassment or bullying. But many adults admit there is an opportunity to harness this technology that teens are so obsessed with and potentially use it to promote education.

The state’s legislators rejected a measure earlier this year to require all school districts to adopt an electronic-device policy. The bill didn’t pass, the paper notes, but state education officials took notice.

Meanwhile over at The Tempered Radical, teacher Bill Ferriter worries that “those who are in the position to make decisions about how dollars are spent or how instruction should change struggle to understand the range of ways that digital tools can be used to facilitate the work of groups or the learning of individuals.”

Sex, Bad Language and Gay Penguins

Published by Robert Pondiscio on October 3, 2008 in Education News. 2 Comments

The Chocolate War, Olive’s Ocean, The Golden Compass, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are among the notable titles on this year’s list of the most frequently banned books, compiled by the American Library Association.

A challenged book is defined by the ALA as any ”formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.” It’s interesting to see what gets people upset enough to complain. In the top ten, seven were challenged for being sexually explicit; five for using offensive language; two for religious viewpoints. Three of the most banned books were targeted for homosexuality, including the No. 1 banned book of 2007, “Tango Makes Three.” It’s a picture book about a pair of male penguins who adopt a child. The book, which I have not read, is based on a true story of penguins at the Central Park Zoo.

“With new dad Clay Aiken coming out of the closet, why can’t a children’s book about a couple of gay penguins catch a break?” asks the Momlogic blog. “Would you really object to your children reading ‘And Tango Makes Three?’ How about your kid buying a Clay Aiken CD?

Actually, I would object to my kid buying a Clay Aiken CD. But not because he’s gay.

Update: The Washington Post today reports on a conservative Christian group that is using “banned book week” to point out that books sympathetic to religious viewpoints are also being banned….by librarians themselves.