Censorship SimulationReturn to Index for EdSe5215
On March 20, you will proceed to Room 119 in the Sports/Health Facility where the Advisory Board on Censorship will meet to discuss the recent concern over the teaching of Staying Fat for Sarah Burns by Chris Crutcher. You will meet with a cross section of concerned citizens, town officials, and teachers. The teacher who is currently teaching this book will be there to defend her/his decision. The group was selected by the Chairperson of the Board of Education and represents as many different view points on the issues involved in censorship as can be found in our community. This is a serious issue, and you are expected to take it seriously and to listen carefully to the opinions of others as we meet. Our task is to advise the School Board about how to develop policy for this and future issues of censorship in our community.

Directions for the Simulation:

You will receive a folder with a card in it that describes the role that you will play. You are to find a person who is in this same role in the community and interview that person. Take the person seriously, try to understand why the person has strong or mild feelings about the issue, and what those feelings are. Ask them if they have ever been active in supporting or objecting to the teaching of certain school materials. You will also find in the file folder readings that may be relevant to, or interesting to, a person in your role. These have been put in the folder by myself or by a student who took your role in this simulation last year. One of your requirements for the "B" in this class is to add something to the folder to help the person who gets the same role next year.

When you wake up on the morning of the simulation, try to be the person whose role you are taking. Dress the part. For ten minutes before you enter the board room, make a concerted effort to remember the interview, trying to see and speak in the persona of that person.

Directions to Get to the Board Room: Go through the trophy cases into the lobby of the gymnasium. Turn right in the lobby and take a left down a corridor. The room is the first on the right hand side of that hall. Don't be late, but if you are, you may have to tap lightly on the door, as it locks automatically.

Censorship Reflection:

How did you prepare to be this other person?  You different were you from the person you played?

How did other people influence you as you acted in this role?

How did you influence other people?  How does this fit into how you usually are with people?

How did people yield and take power in the group?  How did you do this?  As you normally are?  How the person you were playing would act?

What one thing did you learn about censorship?  About yourself?