Diane Ravitch discusses her latest book The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn. Ravitch maintains that America's students are compelled to read texts that have been censored by publishers who willingly cut controversial material from their books. Her book documents the existence of an elaborate and well established protocol of beneficent censorship, quietly endorsed and implemented by test makers and textbook publishers, states, and the federal government. School boards and sensitivity committees review, abridge, and modify texts to delete potentially offensive words, topics, and imagery. Publishers practice self-censorship to sell books in big states.
Diane Ravitch is Research Professor of Education at NYU. She is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. Ravitch shares a blog called Bridging Differences with Deborah Meier, hosted by Education Week. She also blogs occasionally for Forbes.com and Huffingtonpost.com. Her articles have appeared in many newspapers and magazines.