During the rapidly changing political atmosphere of the 1910s, the practice of sanctioning scholastic knowledge began to be implemented in the yearly selection of textbooks due to political contingencies. The study shows the procedures of approval and disapproval practised by the Grand Council of Education and the Copyright and Translation Office…

Australian Protestant schools have often been depicted as sites that restrict knowledge. This paper presents the findings of a 2010-2013 field study of 137 teachers, exploring the nature and extent of Protestant School English teacher self-censorship when excluding and selecting texts to teach. In both survey and interview data, I find that the…

Argues that educators faced with community concerns over the selection of instructional materials should devise an instrument to measure the attitudes of school board members (who represent the community) and teachers concerning the choice of reading materials dealing with controversial subjects. Includes a copy of such a survey instrument. (FL)

Censorship of books and learning materials is a growing trend nationwide, according to responses from a 1980 survey of 1,891 public elementary and secondary school administrators and library personnel from across the country and of state administrators overseeing evaluation and adoption of textbooks in 21 states. This summary and interpretation of…

This full report of a nationwide survey provides data on the range of procedures and policies currently followed in selecting textbooks and other instructional materials, the extent to which these materials have been challenged, and the resolution of such challenges. The survey sample comprised school administrators and library personnel from…

Recent research demonstrates that one in five school districts is under pressure to purge objectionable books from its libraries and classrooms. This paper briefly summarizes literature and court decisions dealing with censorship in the schools and describes a study of censorship in Illinois schools. In the study, a 68-item questionnaire asked 200…

A survey investigated the existence and extent of censorship in the Wisconsin high schools. Questionnaires were sent to the principals, librarians, and some English, social studies and science teachers at 426 high schools. Tallies of the 728 questionnaires returned showed that censorship was a common event; 57.8% of respondents said there had been…

To determine attitudes towards censorship in public schools, 26 social studies supervisors, administrators, and college educators were surveyed. Results supported the classroom teacher's desire for academic freedom in the use of instructional materials. There was a split decision regarding community and public involvement in determining…

A survey designed to investigate how challenges to school library materials relate to the overall selection process found that (1) the number of challenges increased steadily with increasing grade level; (2) local challenges were more restrictive than state challenges; and (3) active challenges affected administrators' selection, making them more…

The extent and nature of censorship in Illinois social studies classrooms is assessed. A questionnaire included in the state Council for the Social Studies newsletter asked social studies teachers at all levels to respond to a 12-item questionnaire covering censorship of texts, teaching methods, textbook selection processes, and origins of…

As a result of a joint concern over the issues of book selection and censorhip, the National Council of Teachers of English and the American Association of School Librarians distributed a questionnaire in the spring of 1964 to 1,600 secondary schools, half going to chairpersons of English departments and half to school librarians. Approximately…

Presents results of an Illinois State survey of 200 high school principals (48-percent return) in which respondents indicated the extent of censorship pertaining to teaching methods and textbooks and the originators of the censorship. Indicates that many potential items for censorship have not been of concern. (DC)

An argument is presented in this booklet for the formal study of controversial issues and materials in public secondary schools. The democratic ideal of freedom of discussion is cited as justification for this stance. Included in the examination of issues are discussions of: (1) the democratic point of view as it relates to educational goals, (2)…