These are information on what is happening in our education system currently. As people who are constantly involved in education either through teaching or learning, it is also our responsibility to be aware of the issues that occur within education that affects many people’s right to a just education that supports their needs. Part of Pitzer’s core values is responsibility and it is within our responsibility to both learn of people’s needs within education and act on it. These pages act as a basis of research and learning, but we encourage you to dig deeper and develop your own research as well as placing these current events into a catalyst of action and social justice in education
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
The recent supreme court ruling on affirmative action is one that affects students directly. Students all over the country who have historically and continuously been disadvantaged by the school system and admission processes and thus affirmative action played a vital role in giving students a fair chance in the already competitive admissions processes. As the Supreme Court has recently ruled against affirmative action, it is now more important than ever to stress the need for its existence. Supreme Court Ruling on Affirmative Action: Learn More About it.
BOOK BANNING
“By restricting information and discouraging freedom of thought, censors undermine one of the primary functions of education: teaching students how to think for themselves. Such actions, assert free speech proponents, endanger tolerance, free expression, and democracy” (Webb). When the resources of students to formulate their own ideas, opinions, and expressions is limited, it is putting them at an advantage in the education system and society as a whole.
As standardization of testing recedes and expression of individual students is encouraged in the education system, it is crucial to provide students with the necessary resources to succeed in this. Books serve as a student’s primary source of objective information and to broaden their thoughts. When books as a resource are banned and limited, can the US really call itself a country of free thought?
Source Information
Webb, S. L. (n.d.). Book Banning. https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/986/book-banning#:~:text=removal%20of%20books.-,Opponents%20of%20bans%20argue%20that%20by%20restricting%20information%20and%20discouraging,%2C%20free%20expression%2C%20and%20democracy.
RESOURCES/ACTIONS TO TAKE AGAINST BOOK BANNING
- MoveOn Actions against book banning
- Petition to “Stop Book Bans”
- Banned Book Mobile : “MoveOn’s first-ever Banned Bookmobile is going on a multistate tour to sound alarms about Governor Ron DeSantis’s censorship and the rising wave of GOP book bans across the country. DeSantis’s—and the MAGA movement’s—vision for America is a place where our stories, our identities, and our communities are banned. That’s why we’re launching the MoveOn Banned Bookmobile tour that will distribute some of the most frequently banned books in some of the communities most impacted by the bans.”
- PenAmerica – an organization dedicated to “the freedom to write.”
- They do advocacy work against book bans as well as host events like talks with authors, trainings concerning how to report online abuse/report book bans, community building events, and much more.
- They have offices in LA, New York, and Washington DC – but many of their events are virtual
