AccLaIM For Diane Ravitcu's The Language Police “A stunning, revealing, passionate bit of whistle-blowing.” — Chicago Sun-Times “Penctrating. . .. Fascinating and often infuriating... . Ye Language Police is the first step toward ending the absurdities of educational censorship. It should be required reading in the education of every parent.” —Mother Jones “Her criticism is devastating.” —The Atfanta fournal-Constitution “Revealing and important... . Ravitch richly illustrates her case |and| provides telling assessments of historical texts. ... [Her] compilation of evidence and argument is overwhelming.” — The New York Times Boot Review “Stunning. ... Should send a shiver down the backs of parents with schoolchildren.” —The Washington Times “Compelling. ... Convincing. ...A smart, savage exposé of the absur- dities wrought by both sides of the culture wars... . [Ravitch’s| demand for an educational environment that pushes students to con- front, rather than avoid, the larger world is one we ignore at our own peril.” —The New Leader “Spirited... .A plea for substance, intelligence, and reason.” —The New York Sun“Meticulously researched and forcefully argued. ... Ravitch’s qualifica- tions ...are impeccable and unassailable. ... She has no political axes to grind and no ideological agenda to pursue. She is a lucid writer and an absolutely clear thinker.” —WVhe Washington Post “|The Language Potice)| could do for the failures of education in the United States what Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Toms Cadin did for slavery. It is a brilliant revelation of an insidious national disease of public policy. . .. lt should be obligatory reading for every citizen con- cerned with the intellectual, moral, and imaginative life of U.S. chil- dren and society as a whole. It should be mandatory for everyone even peripherally involved in education... .Read it. Get the five most thoughtful people you know to buy it, read it and pass it on.” —The Baltimore Sun “Ravitch writes with enormous authority and common sense. She shows how priggish, censorious and downright absurd ‘the language police’ can be, and she does so with furious logic.” —The New York Times “A fascinating and comprehensive account... . Incisive and lucid. . . . Ravitch is passionate and persuasive.” Tbe Inteltectual Activist “Brilliant. ... Astounding. ... A hopeful sign [that] censorship this ridiculous can’t last forever.” —Reader’s DigestDiane Ravitcu The Language Police Diane Ravitch is a historian of education and Research Professor of Education at New York University and Nonresi- dent Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washing- ton, D.C. She was assistant secretary in charge of research in the U.S. Department of Education in the administration of President George H. W. Bush and was appointed to the National Assessment Governing Board by President Bill Clin- ton. The author of seven previous books on education, includ- ing the critically acclaimed Left Back: Century of Battles Over Schoo! Reform, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.Auso ay Diane Ravircu Author Left Back: Century of Battles Quer School Refornr National Standards in. American Education: A Citizen's Guide The Schools We Deserve: Reflections on the Eeucational Crisis of Our Times The Troubled Crusade: American Extucation, mgs—rg8o0 The Revisionists Revised: A Critique of the Radical Attack on the Schools The Great School Wars: New York City, 809-1973 Coauthor What Do Our 17-Year-Olds Know? A Report on the First National Assessment of History and Literature Editor Debating the Future of American Education: Da We Need National Standard: and Assessments? The American Reader Brookings Papers on Education Policy Coeditor Making Good Citizens: Education and Crvif Sa ciety City Schools: Lessons from New York New Schoot for a New Century: The Redesign of Urban Education Learning framr the Past: What History Teaches Us About School Reforrs The Democracy Reader Chailenges to the Humanities Educating an Urban People: The New York City Experience Against Mediocrity: Improving the Teaching of the Humanities in Americas High Schoals The Schoo! and the City: Community Studies in the History of American EducationThe Language Police trTHE LANGUAGE POLICE + How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn Diane Ravitch VINTAGE Books 4A Division of Random House, Inc. New YorkFIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, MAY 2004 Copyright © 2003, 2004 by Diane Ravitch Allrights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Vintage Hooks, a division of Random House, Inc, New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, Originally published in hardcover in slightly different form in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, in 2003. Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. The Library of Congress has cataloged the Knopf edition as follows: Ravitch, Diane. The language police : how pressure groups restrict what students learn_—ast ed. Pp. em. Inchides bibliographical references. t Textbooks—Censorship—United States. 2. Test bias—United States. 3- Censorship—United States. 1 Title. LB 3045.7 -Rzf 2003 R7Ly aden 2002040622 Vintage ISBN: 1-4o00-zob4-1 adutbor photograph © Lina f Wolfe Scot design by.inthea Lingeman wore. vintagebooks.com Printed in the United States of America wm 9 BF & 7 ¢ 32 FEFor MaryONE Twa THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN Contents Acknowledgments A Note to the Reader Forbidden Topics, Forbidden Ware's Vbe New Meaning of Bias Everybody Does ft: The Texthook Publishers Everybody Does ff The Testing Companies Cenoribip from the Right Censorship from the Left Vibe Mad, Mad, Mad World of lexthook Adoptions Literature: Forgetting the Tradition Flistory: The Endless Battle Vibe Language Police: Can We Stop Them? Afterword Appendix 1 4 Glossary of Banned Words, Usages, Stereotypes, and Topics Appendix 2 The Athincon-Ravitch Sampler of Classic Literature for Home and Schoot Notes Bibliography Index 21g 251 259Acknowledgments ‘THs BOOK began as an essay for Daedalns, commissioned by its edi- tor, James Miller. When | finished the essay, | realized that | had only scratched the surface of a huge scandal in American education, and the essay quickly grew into a book. Many people helped me as | searched for examples of censorship codes in action. | thank Francie Alexander for her files on censorship issues in California; Glen W. Thomas for background on California's social content guidelines; Commissioner David Driscoll of Massachu- setts for examples of that state's bias and sensi reviews; Commis- sioner Richard Mills of New York for that state's bias and sensitivity guidelines; Sandra Stotsky for explaining bias and sensitivity review in Massachusetts; David Alexander of the Texas Education Agency for describing that state’s current practices; Darvin Winick and John Stevens for bringing me together with Texas education officials; Mary Crovo of the National Assessment Governing Board for information about the bias review process for federal tests; Buzz Ellis, Julie McGee, and Charlotte Frank of McGraw-Hill for explaining a big textbook publisher’s dilemmas; Blouke Carus of Open Court for his files on censorship issues; Stephen Bates for sharing the Holt files from the r$os; William J. Bennetta of the ‘Textbook League for materials about bowdlerization of textbooks; Brooks Mather Kelley for sharing his experiences as a textbook author; Jonathan Rosen- bloom of Time for Kids for current examples of censorship; Paul Hol- land, Howard Wainer, and Paul Ramsey of the Educational ‘Testing Service for explaining DIF analysis; Michael Zicky of the Educational ‘Testing Service for that company’s bias and sensitivity guidelines; Jennifer McDougall of the Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability for gathering state standards for this project; Judith F.x Acknoartedgments Krug of the American Library Association for information about its policies related to intellectual freedom; and Hannah Richman for her energetic research assistance. | thank Lisa Wolfe Ravitch for her stead- fast support. | am indebted to Rodney Atkinson, children’s literature expert extraordinaire, for his sensitive collaboration on our reading list at the back of the book. I wish to thank Kevin Kosar for his invaluable assistance in creating the Web site for Ye Language Police and for his continuing techno- logical support. And I am deeply grateful to Cece Cunningham for recommending, after seeing an early draft of the manuscript, that | show clearly which publisher was responsible for every single item in appendix I, “A Glossary of Banned Words, Usages, Stereotypes, and “Topics.” It took an extra week to implement her suggestion, but she was absolutely right. 1 am grateful to Jeffrey Mirel, Chester Finn Jr., Paul “och, Rita Kramer, Joseph Viteritti, Daniel Hurewitz, and Michael Ravitch for reading an early draft of the book. Any errors of fact or interpretation, of course, are mine. As ever, | thank my good friend Mary Butz for her constant sup- port, partnership, and encouragement. My very special thanks and love to my wonderful grandchildren, Aidan Ravitch and Nico Ravitch, who might one day enjoy a world in which schoolbooks and tests are not sanitized and censored. My work on this book was generously supported by the John M. ‘Olin Foundation. 1 heartily thank my editor, Ashbel Green of Knopf, his assistant, Luba Ostashevsky, and my agents, Lynn Chu and Glen Hartley of Writers’ Representatives.