Legislation, rulings, and arguments for and against public schools giving creationism equal time or consideration with evolution are discussed. In the 1920's fundamentalists began to promote statutes prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools. Since that time the creationists have sought to supplant evolution with creationism on the…

Political responses to the "cult of efficiency" in the schools, academic freedom, and the role of education in social reform between 1914 and 1921 are traced in issues of the "Nation" and the "New Republic." The variety within political liberalism at the time was reflected in a similar diversity of educational…

This paper discusses the issues involved and presents an overall picture of attempts to censor the April 11, 1938 issue of "Life" magazine featuring a four-page spread of 35 pictures from the film "The Birth of a Baby." It examines contemporary news accounts from newspapers published in New York, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, New…

Court decisions show that school officials must protect the freedoms guaranteed students by the U. S. Constitution, including the right to distribute unpopular literature excluding material that is obscene or libelous, or that contains fighting words or promotes lawless action. (Available from the Institute of Government, University of North…

The "pig in the parlor" refers to a growing area of censorship. In this paper, "parlor" stands for public schools, and "pig" for speech that need not be protected if it occurs at an inappropriate time or place, i.e., if such speech is not considered to bear the "imprimatur" of the schools. A review of the…

Educators are being called upon by various groups to provide ethics instruction as part of the public schools' curricula. At the same time, teachers are coming under close scrutiny for accountability as well as being subjected to decisions about education made by legislators, school boards, and the courts. Moreover, they are finding themselves…

Focusing on the Library Awareness Program, these two congressional hearings scrutinize the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to collect counterintelligence data from librarians regarding their patrons. Two examples of proposed legislation to address the question of intellectual privacy and confidentiality are included. Testimony…

A first-year first grade teacher's professional disappointments were broken down into three divisions: (1) power and control, or the lack of them; (2) co-worker socialization; and (3) lack of professionalism and support. Lack of control was reflected in pressure from administrators to use certain texts, or even to decorate classrooms in a certain…

College union administrators should be careful about the use of facilities, particularly in public schools, because of the potential for legal liability. Institutions of higher education today are vulnerable to being sued in regard to issues of free speech, trespass, and religion. Areas of potential liability include (1) serving alcoholic…

To examine why citizens today do not understand the U.S. Constitution and its provisions, a survey was conducted among 153 high school social studies, journalism, and English teachers to examine, among other things, how they taught about constitutional rights and how they rated their students' knowledge of the subject compared to students'…

This collection of materials is designed to assist Indiana educators, administrators, and communities with the textbook selection process. Criteria for making such selections is outlined in the following articles: (1) "Laws, Rules, and Guidelines for Teaching Social Studies in Indiana" (Victor A. Smith); (2) "Indiana's Recommended…

The opinions of principals and newspaper advisers toward high school student press freedom were surveyed in a random sample of principals and newspaper advisers at 502 high schools in all 50 states. Subjects completed a 39-statement instrument on which they indicated levels of agreement or disagreement on the following concerns: control and…

Concerned with protecting the First Amendment rights of high school and college journalists, this focused journal issue analyzes libel law and the question of liability in the student press. Covering such broad topics as ethics, courts, censorship, administration, student government, and libel, the journal articles (1) question journalism as a…

The 1982 Supreme Court decision in "Pico v. Island Trees Union Free School District" occasioned an ideological war over interpretation of the First Amendment, but a review indicates that it is an additional case in the long-standing attempt to find the proper balance between the amendment and the efficiencies of government. In…