U.S.-Based Secondary Educators’ Grappling with Regional Censorship Efforts

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Exploring the Struggles of Responsive Primary/Secondary Educators

Proposal

This portion of the presentation explores teachers’ perceptions of risks of both not resisting and resisting censorship in secondary classrooms-- acknowledging the significant consequences of both. While ultimately, the presentation will argue for the need to protest efforts to control/restrict texts and ideas taught in classrooms, it will nonetheless acknowledge that educators who engage directly in these struggles often take substantial risks to do so. Drawing on findings from an empirical study in a large midwestern metropolitan area in the U.S., along with ideas from the literature, this presentation will offer concrete examples and pose theoretical questions related to the risks and benefits of two reactions teachers can make in the face of censorship movements: resistance or a lack thereof. The presenter will begin by offering context and describing the nature of regional censorship efforts in the conservative state that this study took place in—a state that has recently criminalized the sharing of particular texts in schools. The study that informs this presentation is interview-based and IRB-approved with active ongoing data collection at the time of submission. All participants are English educators in public secondary schools. Semi-structured interviews focus on themes such as: perceptions of censorship, experiences with censorship, acts of resistance, and curricular design control (or lack thereof). The presenter will draw on both interview data and the literature to explore the tensions that educators experience as they navigate censorship pressures in the classroom.

Author

• Sarah R Lillo Kang, Independent ConsultantWashington University