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…

This article draws upon the author's experiences with designing and teaching a lower-level undergraduate course, Geography and Gender. It is proposed that there is a relative lack of resources available for conducting geography courses on gender, feminism, and/or sexuality and as such, this article addresses issues of text selection, course…

Textbooks are often a core element of curricula and delivery of classroom instruction and have long been a source of controversy. The textbook adoption process has become less about content and more about political/cultural pressure. Special-interest groups from the right and left exert enormous influence on textbook content through bias and…

Describes the work of Mel and Norma Gabler and their campaign against what they have determined are "improper" textbooks. (IRT)

Provides a brief description of the current state of book censorship in Warsaw, Indiana, and of some of the community response to the censorship. (IRT)

Provides guidelines a board of education should follow before a censorship controversy arises. Also includes a brief list of organizations that can assist in the preparation of guidelines for the selection of textbooks and other curricular materials, and, in handling complaints. (Author/IRT)

Textbook makers, buyers, and users are all suffering from censorship by vocal minorities. (DD)

Textbook censorship cases from Tennessee and Alabama have been brought before the U.S. Supreme Court. In east Tennessee, fundamentalist families objected to a 1983 Holt, Rinehart, and Winston reading series for grades 1-8. Federal District Judge Thomas G. Hull held that Hawkins County Schools had violated the families' First Amendment rights and…

The powerful influence the state of Texas exerts in textbook adoptions throughout the country is analyzed. In revising a text or writing a new book, it is easier for publishers to omit issues that may be controversial than lose out on an adoption and big money. (RM)

The suit claimed violation of First and Fourteenth Amendment rights in that the school board, disregarding the recommendation of faculty, refused to approve Joseph Heller's "Catch 22" and Kurt Vonnegut's "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" as texts or library books. (Author)

A right-wing group has succeeded in banning Edwin Fenton's social studies inquiry series after stormy debates between State textbook selection people and professional educators. (Author)

Examines academic freedom focusing on the role of school textbooks which are often logical focal points for exercise of control or supervision. Society's values, education and thought control, lobbying, history texts, and the creationism vs. evolution controversy are discussed in relation to the censorship controversy. References are provided.…

The textbooks of a nation are generally a reflection of the values, goals, and essential priorities of that particular society. Therefore, teachers, parents, administrators, school boards, and publishers must ensure that the best thinking of various groups and of textbook critics is incorporated in the development of more effective textbooks.…

Discusses the influence of textbooks on student attitudes and the right of parents to participate in textbook selection. Controversy over parental participation in one school system is described. (Author/DB)