Action | Amendments Regarding Use of Controversial or Sensitive Instructional Materials |
Stage | NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 1/15/2014 |
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In public education, almost all of the material covered in an English or history classroom can be deemed objectionable by a parent. Please ensure that the verbage change is explicit. Unnecessary burdens are placed on teachers that eat away time that could be used to create lesson plans or evaluations.
To have to deseminate a list of all reading selections on a teacher is an incredible burden. Often the materials have been published in division approved text books. For example, if a Muslim parent objects to "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" by Jonathon Edwards would a teacher have to provide an alternative assignment? Or a Christian parent complains about the teaching of the Crusades in a history class, would that have to be removed or an alternative assignment issued?
This slippery slope will require every teacher to have a policy and the ability to create multiple evaluations per each individual student. In high school that would equal 120 individual lesson plans. All material in the Common Core, as well as the Virginia Standards of Learning, also follows this paradox.