Author Patricia Polacco - Heroine of Anti-Censorship

[lyrical di]

Go to author Patricia Polacco's site to read her description of Publishing Companies trying to control free speech. http://www.patriciapolacco.com Patricia is now my hero!

Here is a small section about what happened after she accepted an invitation to speak at the IRA International Reading Association HUGE conference:

"But, then, a very disturbing turn of events transpired. My staff started receiving phone calls and emails from this firm in Ohio requesting that I furnish them with a detailed written outline of what I intended to include in my speeches. I assumed, of course, that this was asked so that a synopsis of my content could be included in a printed brochure furnished to the conferees.

You can imagine my astonishment when I finally called this firm and learned that this was not the reason. They requested my written outline because their 'client' wanted to make sure that I would not discuss my deep concern about NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND MANDATE...as well as my concern that there is a link between this mandate and the SRA/McGraw Hill Company who manufactures, prints, and profits from the sale of these tests to school systems all over our country.
....
This "firm" insisted that my speech be "upbeat, non-controversial, and non-political"...I countered with the fact that the plight of the American teacher is far from "upbeat" and they are caught in the vice grip of the most controversial and political LIE that has ever been perpetrated on the American teacher.
....
My speeches certainly do inspire teachers...I truly believe they are among the last hero's we have in our country...but I always mention the destructive path that is laying wasted to our schools and that is the No Child Left Behind Mandate! I did mention to them that I considered this broaching "censorship" and a violation of my freedom of speech. Finally, after receiving numerous emails from this 'firm' that got more and more 'insistences'...I finally sent them a written refusal to alter my speeches in any way, Certainly I can moderate their length, but I refused to alter the content. I made them aware if they truly had a problem with this, then they could "un-invite" me to be part of their event.

Needless to say, cancelled my programs within the hour!"

[villager]

1. this story is getting traction...

I posted an earlier version a few days ago... author groups, etc., are picking up on it -- especially since the control a private company like McGraw-Hill has over school curricula via its "textbooks," shows the fatal flaws in "No Child 'Left Behind'"

[TN al]

2. Censors in Action?

I went to the web page and saw she'd taken the letter off the site. My librarian wife informs me that her letter was captured on another site. LM_NET, that listserv of 16000 school librarians, was all over this thread. They are monitoring. Beware vexing the librarians.

[kath]

3. Susan Ohanian has it on her website:

http://susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=402

And she has more stuff about the controversy here:
http://www.susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=403

For those who aren't familiar with Ohanian, check out the rest of her website:
http://www.susanohanian.org/outrage_fetch.php?id=403

Don't miss the "Commentary" section, which includes many of her articles, plus those of other authors. I especially like "Is that Penguin Stuffed or Real?", "Some are More Equal than Others", "Weasel Words", "Homeland Security Threat Advisory Teacher Rating System: 1043 U. S. Individual Teacher Return 2005", among others.

She's written some great books: "Who's in Charge?" "One Size Fits Few" and "What Happened to Recess and Why Are Our Children Struggling in Kindergarten?" are ones I've read and highly recommend.

Ohanian is allied with Alfie Kohn and many others in fighting all the testing bullshit. (I love this cartoon on Alfie Kohn's website, "The Essence of the Tougher Standards Movement":
http://www.alfiekohn.org/stdtest.htm

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Alfie Kohn is one of my heroes!

from your link

A WORD ABOUT "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND"

...We must quit confining our complaints about NCLB to peripheral problems of implementation or funding. Too many people give the impression that there would be nothing to object to if only their own school had been certified as making adequate progress, or if only Washington were more generous in paying for this assault on local autonomy. We have got to stop prefacing our objections by saying that, while the execution of this legislation is faulty, we agree with its laudable objectives. No. What we agree with is some of the rhetoric used to sell it, invocations of ideals like excellence and fairness. NCLB is not a step in the right direction. It is a deeply damaging, mostly ill-intentioned law, and no one genuinely committed to improving public schools (or to advancing the interests of those who have suffered from decades of neglect and oppression) would want to have anything to do with it.

Ultimately, we must decide whether we will obediently play our assigned role in helping to punish children and teachers. Every in-service session, every article, every memo from the central office that offers what amounts to an instruction manual for capitulation slides us further in the wrong direction until finally we become a nation at risk of abandoning public education altogether. Rather than scrambling to comply with its provisions, our obligation is to figure out how best to resist.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Patricia Polacco is AWESOME!!

Her books are wonderful. This doesn't surprise me at all. Good for her!!

This is, BTW, the second article about political controversy at the IRA convention I have seen here at DU in the last two days. Boy am I glad I no longer belong.

I will definitely be spreading the word to my colleagues that IRA is no longer worthy of our membership dollars.

[kath]

6. She IS awesome. We had the fortune of seeing her speak at our local

independent bookstore a few years back. Unfortunately, we missed a lot of her reading/talk because my girls had a birthday party and we got there late. Her books are real treasures.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. Oh I love her books

They are such great stories and her illustrations are beautiful.

[kath]

7. What was the 2nd article about concerning the IRA convention - was it

something beside the Polacco controversy??

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Another speaker told to not slam NCLB

by the publishing company. (Was it SRA?)