| during Banned Books Week, proponents of unfettered speech and intellectual freedom draw attention to instances in which debate is circumscribed and the universe sanitized. As if on cue, a dispute over such censorship erupted in the affluent Dallas-area community of Highland Park, where students pushed back at a decision by administrators to suspend the teaching of 7 books . Some parents had complained about the books....This echoed moves years earlier by officials at some schools to prune standardized tests of words that might distress students, either by summoning life's harshness, reminding them of their deprivation or making them feel excluded. "Poverty," "slavery," "divorce," "hurricanes" and "birthdays" were on a list by New York City educator; these efforts overlap in their impulse to edit the world to the comfort of students...troubling in this day when... |
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