As a beginning teacher within the next year or so, I’m constantly reminded of my best and worst teachers. I’m reminded of those classes I actually enjoyed attending, and what really made them enjoyable. In all I remember, it all goes back to one central theme: censorship. In this one concept, I refer not only to censorship of material, but of the teachers as well.
I have noticed the difference between my experiences almost ten years ago in high school, and have compared them to my experiences teaching at the high school level in the past year. This made me curious on how much things have changed, and I came upon this website: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7688/is_200907/ai_n39230004/ At first I thought of censorship as the basic material basis, as the article states: “"The most obvious example of censorship is where a government or one of its authorities restricts, say, a film or book because of its perceived harm or the offence it might cause" (Moss, 2006, p. 16).”
I can understand some teachers not wanting a cell phone in class, or iPods since they can be used for cheating, however our world is forever changing, and it is our responsibility to change with it. When it comes to physical material, I am shocked by what is no longer allowed in schools. I could not find it to confirm online, but I heard that in some Canadian schools, Huckleberry Finn was banned because of its racist nature. Hell yes it was, but it should be examined in terms of the context and time period it was written in. If we cannot teach our students about the past, how will they understand the future?
In terms of social media sites banned from some schools, I do not personally use any of those sites, so I do not entirely disagree with the reasons behind this. However, I know I am a rarity in this matter, and the article brings up a good point: “Since children are rarely allowed to "chat" during class time, they interact with their peers after school hours using social media networks (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.).” What better way to bring the outside world into the classroom to stimulate children into learning? Even this blog is the very essence of that point.
In terms of the teachers themselves, they are very limited in speak and actions. My two favourite teachers of jr high school were very blunt. One – my grade 7 English teacher – would do two things: first, she made a deal with the classroom that if she ever spelt a word wrong on the board, we would have no homework that night; second, if we got out of line, she would jokingly tell us to “shut it or I’ll shoot.” That would result in an immediate dismissal now-a-days. The other – my grade 7 French immersion homeroom teacher – would tell us that if we misbehaved, he would “string us up by our eye lids and tickle us til we blinked.” He also taught us all the curse words in French in our first week so that it was out of the way and didn’t distract us from learning. My good god, if a teacher were to try any of those now, they would be tried, quartered, and hung.
It scares me how much society, and mostly parents, try to shelter their children from the world around them. I’m not saying that we should open the flood gates and let any and all behaviour and material into the classroom, but where do we draw the line? At what point do we step back and truly examine what is and is not appropriate for the students of today?
Interesting article, Nichelle. This brings up the question on how are we supposed to engage students in discussions when everything that isn't bland and G-rated is off limits? I mean, yes, certain things should definitely be censored in classrooms.
I guess the extreme that censorship has reached is just another reason why students say classes are boring and not relevant to their lives. Maybe its one of the reasons why the majority of new teachers leave the profession within five years? They just can't find ways to connect with their students because of the limitations to what they can and cannot say/teach.
Ultimately, I want my students to feel like they are in a safe learning environment where they can ask questions and I'm not limited to my response. Children are very curious and if they're not going to get the answer from one place, they will go searching for the right answer.
And that, my friends, is my first contribution. Oh yaaaa!
There is some definite food for thought in this article Nichelle. The question that I would have in this is… Is banning cellphones and social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace) censorship?
Censorship is defined as: the act or practice of censoring … an official who examines books, plays, social media.. for the purpose of suppressing parts deemed objectionable on moral, political, military or other grounds.
I think there is a time and place for everything, and telling a student that they will have to wait until after class to find out the latest posting on Barbie’s whereabouts with Ken is not about censorship.
Think about this from our own educational experience… how many times have you sat at the back of a classroom and watched others surf Facebook, chat with friends on MSN, check their email, and play games on their laptops or smartphone? Now, it might be that students choice to not participate in the class, but what about the other students around them who are being distracted by their actions, is that their choice too?
Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge advocate for technology within our classrooms. I love social media, and am a total computer geek. But as I said earlier there is a time and place for everything. It is our responsibility to change with the technology, but not to allow the misuse of technology to overrun our classrooms.
Hmmm Nichelle, this is a tricky area of discussion What is too much censorship? What is not enough? I think there obviously needs to a balance somewhere in the middle. I agree with you in that schools today may be over sensitive. Not being able to read To Kill a Mockingbird is just ridiculous. How are students supposed to understand and learn from these social challenges if they aren’t exposed to them? Also, if you consider the things kids watch and play in video games, this book is pretty tame. I really like the comment in the article: "We can safely make two statements about censorship: first, any work is potentially open to attack by someone, somewhere, sometime, for some reason; second, censorship is often arbitrary and irrational". It’s impossible to make everyone happy and no matter what you do it seems there will always be someone who doesn’t agree and wants to complain. Now for the topic of cell phones and social media in class: If we want to make connections between school learning and their outside environment then banning the use of cells and computers doesn’t make sense. However, allowing them to use them freely whenever and for whatever also wouldn’t work. I think incorporating them into the lesson and using them for educational tools would be a great way to bring technology into the class. Like in Allyson’s 787 class, we were all working on a google document at the same time, as well as the blog in this class. There are ways to incorporate technology but again there needs to be some balance.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAs a beginning teacher within the next year or so, I’m constantly reminded of my best and worst teachers. I’m reminded of those classes I actually enjoyed attending, and what really made them enjoyable. In all I remember, it all goes back to one central theme: censorship. In this one concept, I refer not only to censorship of material, but of the teachers as well.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed the difference between my experiences almost ten years ago in high school, and have compared them to my experiences teaching at the high school level in the past year. This made me curious on how much things have changed, and I came upon this website: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7688/is_200907/ai_n39230004/
At first I thought of censorship as the basic material basis, as the article states: “"The most obvious example of censorship is where a government or one of its authorities restricts, say, a film or book because of its perceived harm or the offence it might cause" (Moss, 2006, p. 16).”
I can understand some teachers not wanting a cell phone in class, or iPods since they can be used for cheating, however our world is forever changing, and it is our responsibility to change with it. When it comes to physical material, I am shocked by what is no longer allowed in schools. I could not find it to confirm online, but I heard that in some Canadian schools, Huckleberry Finn was banned because of its racist nature. Hell yes it was, but it should be examined in terms of the context and time period it was written in. If we cannot teach our students about the past, how will they understand the future?
In terms of social media sites banned from some schools, I do not personally use any of those sites, so I do not entirely disagree with the reasons behind this. However, I know I am a rarity in this matter, and the article brings up a good point: “Since children are rarely allowed to "chat" during class time, they interact with their peers after school hours using social media networks (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.).” What better way to bring the outside world into the classroom to stimulate children into learning? Even this blog is the very essence of that point.
In terms of the teachers themselves, they are very limited in speak and actions. My two favourite teachers of jr high school were very blunt. One – my grade 7 English teacher – would do two things: first, she made a deal with the classroom that if she ever spelt a word wrong on the board, we would have no homework that night; second, if we got out of line, she would jokingly tell us to “shut it or I’ll shoot.” That would result in an immediate dismissal now-a-days. The other – my grade 7 French immersion homeroom teacher – would tell us that if we misbehaved, he would “string us up by our eye lids and tickle us til we blinked.” He also taught us all the curse words in French in our first week so that it was out of the way and didn’t distract us from learning. My good god, if a teacher were to try any of those now, they would be tried, quartered, and hung.
It scares me how much society, and mostly parents, try to shelter their children from the world around them. I’m not saying that we should open the flood gates and let any and all behaviour and material into the classroom, but where do we draw the line? At what point do we step back and truly examine what is and is not appropriate for the students of today?
Everyone should read some Aristotle.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article, Nichelle. This brings up the question on how are we supposed to engage students in discussions when everything that isn't bland and G-rated is off limits? I mean, yes, certain things should definitely be censored in classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI guess the extreme that censorship has reached is just another reason why students say classes are boring and not relevant to their lives. Maybe its one of the reasons why the majority of new teachers leave the profession within five years? They just can't find ways to connect with their students because of the limitations to what they can and cannot say/teach.
Ultimately, I want my students to feel like they are in a safe learning environment where they can ask questions and I'm not limited to my response. Children are very curious and if they're not going to get the answer from one place, they will go searching for the right answer.
And that, my friends, is my first contribution. Oh yaaaa!
There is some definite food for thought in this article Nichelle. The question that I would have in this is… Is banning cellphones and social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace) censorship?
ReplyDeleteCensorship is defined as: the act or practice of censoring … an official who examines books, plays, social media.. for the purpose of suppressing parts deemed objectionable on moral, political, military or other grounds.
I think there is a time and place for everything, and telling a student that they will have to wait until after class to find out the latest posting on Barbie’s whereabouts with Ken is not about censorship.
Think about this from our own educational experience… how many times have you sat at the back of a classroom and watched others surf Facebook, chat with friends on MSN, check their email, and play games on their laptops or smartphone? Now, it might be that students choice to not participate in the class, but what about the other students around them who are being distracted by their actions, is that their choice too?
Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge advocate for technology within our classrooms. I love social media, and am a total computer geek. But as I said earlier there is a time and place for everything. It is our responsibility to change with the technology, but not to allow the misuse of technology to overrun our classrooms.
Hmmm Nichelle, this is a tricky area of discussion
ReplyDeleteWhat is too much censorship? What is not enough? I think there obviously needs to a balance somewhere in the middle. I agree with you in that schools today may be over sensitive. Not being able to read To Kill a Mockingbird is just ridiculous. How are students supposed to understand and learn from these social challenges if they aren’t exposed to them? Also, if you consider the things kids watch and play in video games, this book is pretty tame.
I really like the comment in the article: "We can safely make two statements about censorship: first, any work is potentially open to attack by someone, somewhere, sometime, for some reason; second, censorship is often arbitrary and irrational". It’s impossible to make everyone happy and no matter what you do it seems there will always be someone who doesn’t agree and wants to complain.
Now for the topic of cell phones and social media in class: If we want to make connections between school learning and their outside environment then banning the use of cells and computers doesn’t make sense. However, allowing them to use them freely whenever and for whatever also wouldn’t work. I think incorporating them into the lesson and using them for educational tools would be a great way to bring technology into the class. Like in Allyson’s 787 class, we were all working on a google document at the same time, as well as the blog in this class. There are ways to incorporate technology but again there needs to be some balance.