The Language Police

The Language Police The Language Police The Language Police By Maeve Maddox Lovers of language and literature, especially those with children or grandchildren still in Grades K-12, will find The Language Police by education historian Diane Ravitch riveting, revelatory, and extremely disturbing. The Language Police is an exposà © of the practice of systematic self-censoring by textbook manufacturers to avoid offending either the political right or the left. Ravitch, an education historian who has worked in the administrations of both political parties, says she learned only gradually that educational materials are now governed by an intricate set of rules to screen out language and topics that might be considered controversial or offensive. The systematic censorship Ravitch describes stems from â€Å"bias and sensitivity† guidelines provided by state textbook selection committees and other groups. Such guidelines proscribe words, phrases, images, and concepts that someone- anyone- might consider sexist, religious, elitist, ageist, regionalist, or unhealthful. Here are a few of the words and phrases writers are warned to avoid or to exclude outright when writing for the educational market: able-bodied seaman, actress boatman, busboy cabin boy, cameraman, caveman, cult devil, dogma, dwarf Eskimo, fairy, fanatic, fat, fisherman God, gringo, gypsy heathen, hell, heroine, hut jungle, junk bond, juvenile delinquent Middle East, maniac, myth night watchman, nobleman, normal old, old wives’ tale pagan, papoose, past one’s prime, polo Satan, schoolboy, schoolgirl, seamstress, Sioux, slave, snow cone, snowman, soul food, stick ball, swarthy tomboy, tote bag, tribal warfare, tribe, turn a deaf ear to un-American, uncivilized victim, yacht For a detailed description of The Language Police, read the review by science teacher Anne C. Westwater in The Textbook Letter, Vol. 12, No.4 of the Textbook League. Better yet, read the book. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Book Reviews category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:"Because Of" and "Due To" 7 Patterns of Sentence StructureDouble Possessive