Thursday, May 25, 2006

Censorship In Public Schools

I am not surprised that the PBS documentary we saw in class this week was pulled from a local high school. The public school system is always resistant to new and innovative ways to get students involved in the critical thinking process. I am sure the teacher framed the lesson appropriately, and I am even sure that the class shared some very profound commentary. It is this type of censorship that hinders students from learning about the world they live in. This is exactly why I do not teach in the public school system anymore because you can never elevate your students with curriculum that will empower them to critique the world they live in. Its situations like this that makes me fight for curriculum reform in American public schools. The fact of the matter is, students need to be media literate, and the only way to facilitate this process is to show relevant documentaries like this to provoke students to begin to ponder solutions to society’s complexities.

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