I am involved in a local concern that raises issues of academic freedom in
the context of material that appears to be discriminatory and promote
harassment of students with learning disabilities. I would really appreciat=
e
some feedback on how issues such as this might be perceived and resolved in
your districts.
By way of background, there are two schools in our school building. My
children attend the neighborhood school. The other school is a more select
school that requires application and admission by lottery. I serve on a
district committee that is seeking to address the inequities that are the
result of these more select schools that were established by the district
about 20 years ago. I chose the neighborhood school for my children and hav=
e
spoken out against the more select schools because of the obvious inequitie=
s
-- which has not won me any friends at the school located in our building.
A teacher in this select school has had his students prepare a play to be
performed for students and parents. This play is entitled Murder Most Fowl
("fowl" as in "chicken"). The play, in my opinion, is a crude,
discriminatory portrayal of Appalachian mountain people that depicts them a=
s
stupid, backwards people who live like slobs.
There are old clothes strewn on the floor of the stage which is supposed to
be the house these people live in.
I have walked past the room to hear the teacher say "Come on you
Hillbillies, let's get on stage." The kids are all talking in fake
"hillbilly" accents.
The first scene involves the father coming into the cabin with a dead
chicken. He announces that this is the 3rd dead chicken in 3 days. "How man=
y
we got left," asks the mother. "Well =8A we had four =8A" "Yep." "=8Athree died=8A"
"Yep." "(sits) =8Aso I reckon that leaves =8A(all face the audience and think
hard) =8A one or two." This inability to determine how many chickens are left
is repeated two additional times with the one daughter who has gone to
college providing the answer. Other instances of the inability of the
characters to count occur throughout the play.
Later in the play, the sheriff indicates the need to go count chickens and
asks everyone who has passed the 6th grade to follow him. No one moves. He
counts down the grades and finally reaches 2nd grade when another character
announces that his sons have passed 2nd grade and so can go count the
chickens.=20
It appears obvious to me, but not to the principal, teacher, and parents of
children in his class, that the term "hillbillies" is a derogatory, ethnic
slur and that the play is an inaccurate depiction that ridicules a cultural
group. The teacher and principal indicate that this is just "Americana." I
think it is bigotry. If this play ridiculed a poor southern black family, o=
r
a Native American family, of a Latino family, I think this bigotry would be
more evident.=20
Further, I have a son who is adopted from India who has profound learning
disabilities. There will be many instances in his life where he will not
know the answer to what to other students will be a very simple question. S=
o
the last thing I want the students in this building to watch is a play that
encourages them to do just this.
I have followed through with a complaint about this play. Much to my
chagrin, the complaint process is the one that was originally set up to dea=
l
with complaints from the more conservative folks in our society who are
seeking to censor more liberal books in the library. Please remember that I
wrote previously in relation to the ability of teachers to use the Internet
to provide students with access to information that has been removed from
textbooks, noting that this was a good thing. I do believe that the right o=
f
teachers to present material has to be balanced with the responsibility to
ensure that such material is not presenting a inaccurate, biased,
discriminatory perspective that promotes ridicule.
I am curious about your evaluation of this situation. How would such an
issue be resolved in your district? How do you balance between academic
freedom and concerns about discrimination and harassment?
Thanks in advance.
Nancy
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
=20
Center for Advanced Technology in Education
University of Oregon, College of Education
E-mail: nwillard@oregon.uoregon.edu
URL: http://netizen.uoregon.edu
Responsible Netizen Institute
URL:http://responsiblenetizen.org
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-
All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation.
LM_NET Help & Information: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
Archive: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.shtml
LM_NET Select/EL-Announce: http://www.cuenet.com/archive/el-announce/
LM_NET Supporters: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/ven.html
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-
LM_NET
Mailing List Home