LA_MERC_Dirge
May 12th, 2003, 02:17 PM
Mother Lode (Pt. 2)
Anyone interested in the subject of over-the-top political correctness who hasn't read Diane Ravitch's new book, The Language Police, should if he or she harbors any doubts about the pervasiveness of this nefarious trend.
Ravitch, an NYU professor and former member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which was charged with devising national standards for school testing, chronicles an array of absurd censorship and over-sensitizing of textbooks and standardized tests.
An earlier item here cited an excerpt from the book in the Atlantic Monthly some time back, but the full text cites many more examples. They are as numerous as they are spine-tingling.
Among them:
An inspirational story of a blind man who climbed Mt. Everest was rejected by a bias review committee because it implies that blind people have a disability and are somehow limited by that disability.
A story from an anthology edited by William Bennett was rejected simply because the politics of the editor might distress fourth-graders.
A biography of the man who designed Mt. Rushmore was rejected because mention of the monument in the Black Hills of South Dakota might offend Native Americans.
An essay about the plethora of life in a rotting stump in a forest was rejected because it compared the stump to an apartment building and that might make people who live in apartments or public housing feel bad.
A story about a dolphin that guides ships through a treacherous channel was rejected because it shows bias toward people who live by the sea. Those who don't live by the sea might be at a disadvantage, you see.
A passage about owls was rejected because owls are considered taboo by Navajos. A publisher decreed that owls should disappear from all texts and tests, so American schoolkids are now unlikely to ever read about them.
And that's just the first chapter.
Anyone interested in the subject of over-the-top political correctness who hasn't read Diane Ravitch's new book, The Language Police, should if he or she harbors any doubts about the pervasiveness of this nefarious trend.
Ravitch, an NYU professor and former member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which was charged with devising national standards for school testing, chronicles an array of absurd censorship and over-sensitizing of textbooks and standardized tests.
An earlier item here cited an excerpt from the book in the Atlantic Monthly some time back, but the full text cites many more examples. They are as numerous as they are spine-tingling.
Among them:
An inspirational story of a blind man who climbed Mt. Everest was rejected by a bias review committee because it implies that blind people have a disability and are somehow limited by that disability.
A story from an anthology edited by William Bennett was rejected simply because the politics of the editor might distress fourth-graders.
A biography of the man who designed Mt. Rushmore was rejected because mention of the monument in the Black Hills of South Dakota might offend Native Americans.
An essay about the plethora of life in a rotting stump in a forest was rejected because it compared the stump to an apartment building and that might make people who live in apartments or public housing feel bad.
A story about a dolphin that guides ships through a treacherous channel was rejected because it shows bias toward people who live by the sea. Those who don't live by the sea might be at a disadvantage, you see.
A passage about owls was rejected because owls are considered taboo by Navajos. A publisher decreed that owls should disappear from all texts and tests, so American schoolkids are now unlikely to ever read about them.
And that's just the first chapter.