ACLU Demands Audit Records, Says Efforts to Shut Down TUSD Mexican American Studies Program Amount to Censorship

ACLU Demands Audit Records, Says Efforts to Shut Down TUSD Mexican American Studies Program Amount to Censorship

http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2011/06/16/aclu-demands-audit-records-says-efforts-to-shut-down-tusd-mexican-american-studies-program-amount-to-censorship/

This article speaks about Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, John Huppenthal. He is saying that the Mexican American Studies Program in the Tucson Unified School District is violating a state law that went into effect on December 31, 2010. The law explains that it, “Prohibits schools from teaching subjects that promote, “the overthrow of the United States government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic races.”” (A.R.S. 15-112 & Morales, 2011) The Superintendent feels that this course is violating the state law.

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) wants to see the documentation from the audit that was undertaken by auditors hired by Huppenthal to look into the program. The ALU thinks that the decision to shut down the program is because of Huppentha’s personal opinions. There was another audit done by Cambium Leaning, Inc. and the National Academic Educational Partners that found no evidence that the program was breaking any laws.

Do you think that a course that teaches students about Mexican history would overthrow the US government or promote resentment toward the Mexican race?

I think that Huppenthal is trying to prevent classroom discussion, which is violating the student’s and the teacher’s right to free speech. I think it would be difficult to teach children if they aren’t allowed to discuss the history and the “why” behind how the country began.

Morales, A. (2011, June 16), Aclu demands audit records, says efforts to shut down tusd Mexican American studies program amount to censorship. Retrieved from http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2011/06/16/aclu-demands-audit-records-says-efforts-to-shut-down-tusd-mexican-american-studies-program-amount-to-censorship/

The Digital Divide

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-m-eger/economic-survival-in-the-_b_871575.html

This article called "Closing the Digital Divide" discusses how cyber 
education might be the only way to assist under educated countries. It 
also mentions how the world needs to gain the support of global 
corporations and governments in order to help educate the world all at 
once. This will eliminate the divide between countries that lack 
technology and those that do not.

My thoughts on this are that it is a great idea in practice. However, 
once other countries are educated, my concern is that the digital 
divide will never officially go away. There will be more and more new 
technologies out there as long as people keep creating them. The under 
educated countries will always lag behind because they will not be 
able to afford the new technologies. Also it takes time for these 
technologies to filter down. Therefore, I think there will always be a 
digital divide or maybe more of digital gap.

I think that global corporations and organizations should help support the cause to educate the world. This could be a very difficult task. It is one of those things where you must get everyone on the same page working for the same cause. I think it is possible if everyone has the same goal.

Do you think that corporations should be required to participate in helping close the digital divide?

Do you think that the digital divide will ever be closed?

Social Networking, Photos, and Phones

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/technology/04photosharing.html   A Stream of Postcards, Shot by Phone.  New York Times: June 3, 2011 by Jenna Wortham

This article is about a free mobile application that allows cellphone users to take snapshots and share them in the social networking environment. Instagram is an iPhone only application that users can put special effects over photos. They can upload the photos to their Instagram feed. It is kind of like a Twitter feed only with pictures. Others can see your pictures, “like” them, and comment on them.

Photographs are becoming a new form of communication. People can post their entire day or an entire event in photos, and others are able to see the course of the event. The author of the article, Jenna Wortham said, “People are more accustomed to constantly documenting moments and sharing throughout the day.” (Wortham, 2011)

The article also mentions Photobucket and Twitter have a partnership. This will introduce photo-sharing features. Also Flickr was one of the earliest photo sharing sites. They are working towards creating mobile applications for photo sharing.

I think it is neat how we have yet another way to communicate and open our lives up to social networking. However, think about how this affects your privacy, as well as other people who are in the photos that are being posted.

Do you use a photo sharing or photo social networking site?

How do you feel about photos of yourself being posted by others?

Internet Filters

The article, All or Nothing: Hardly the Facts, discusses the lawsuit of Sarah Bradburn et al. v. North Central Regional Library District. “The suit alleges that the library violated the plaintiffs' First Amendment rights by refusing to disable Internet filters at the request of adult patrons.”(Oliver, Pinnell-Stephens, Jones, 2011)

This article made me think about my stance on internet filtering. I am somewhat torn about filtered internet. On one hand, I am all about not filtering, because I want people to be able to have access to everything that they want, regardless if I feel it may or may not be a moral topic. I can see the other side of the argument as well when it comes to children. Children under 18 would be able to access explicit sites if filters were not involved. Since 18 is a law in order to have access to most explicit material, then I do agree with internet filters for minors. However, once again I am torn about letting everyone regardless of age have access to everything, because internet filters are not 100% accurate at filtering out just the explicit things. Since this is a law, I am inclined to follow it.

I like having the ability to unblock sites if the filter blocked a certain site that should not have been blocked, or if an adult is requesting a site to be accessible.

What do you think of internet filters? Do you think that they are a good idea and have a place within libraries?

Oliver, K., Pinnell-Stephens, J., & Jones, B. (2011). All or Nothing: Hardly the Facts. Library Journal, 136(1), 42-43. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Week 2 Blog: Book Challenges in Canada

The library that I work for subscribes to the Intellectual Freedom Newsletter. It is published by the ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee.

The particular issue that I was looking at this week is from the January 2011 edition. The first article was titled, "Increase Reported in Canadian Library Book Challenge." The article speaks about challenges from 2006-2009 that were reported in public libraries. An annual survey is conducted by the Canadian Library Association Advisory Committee on Intellectual Freedom.  In 2006, there were 31 challenge reports. In 2009, there were 139 challenge reports!

The article mentions that the most challenged author reported in Canadian libraries, in 2009, was Charlaine Harris. The picture book, "And Tango Makes Three" has been on the challenge list every year since 2006. I think it is interesting that a picture book has been on the challenge list for three consecutive years!

The article also mentions the reason that the number of challenged books increased was because entire series of novels were being challenged instead of single books. I think that this is a valid reason for the number of increasing challenged books over the years. One of the series that was mentioned was Cecily von Ziegesar’s “Gossip Girl,” which includes 15 titles.  

I think that 139 reported challenges is a very low number. I think that there are a lot of challenges that are not serious enough to be reported, or they are settled prior to needing to report the challenge.

ALA Intellectual Freedom Committee, Initials. (2011). Increase reported in a Canadian library book challenges. Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, 1, 1-36.