THE METASTASIS OF OFFENSIVE MATERIAL IN OUR CULTURE IS SPREADING INTO THE CLASSROOM!

DISCLAIMER: This blog series deals with censorship in the classroom. Despite our academic freedom, the issue here is exercising your best professional judgment and discretion to set boundaries on what material could offend students and destroy your classroom environment. It is not my intention to preach, but to inform based on 30 years of teaching statistics and measurement with what most faculty would consider over-the-top methods involving humor, a variety of media, and drama. I learned the hard way at the expense of several students along my journey. I hope these blogs will spare you and your students those lessons.

METASTASIS OF OFFENSIVE MATERIAL
Offensive material is metastasizing throughout our culture. It permeates every nook and cranny and is spreading into our classrooms. Consider the following:

WRITERS, DIRECTORS, AND PERFORMERS: We already know there are whack-jobs everywhere. But here I’m thinking of specific whacky writers, directors, and performers who have lost their minds. Hannibal Lecter has dined on their brains? Why do so many (a) stand-up comedians on Comedy Central and in comedy clubs, (b) writers for commercial media, TV, and movies, and (c) singers or rappers seem addicted to content that pushes the boundaries of profanity, vulgarity, sexuality, and political incorrectness, or is just plain out there to offend?

For example, Quinton Tarantino has become infamous for the barrage of filthy, profane language, violence, and sexuality in all of his movies. If there is a substantive message to be conveyed in one of his films that would be valuable to your students, should that clip be shown?

DON’T CULTURAL NORMS SET THE STANDARD? Rather than reflecting prevailing norms and tastes, some of the content in the products of our culture seem to be lowering them. The producers have trained consumers like our impressionable students and us to accept progressively lower standards of language and behavior. For example, many movies are edgy, cryptic, potty-mouthed dramas that mutilate the old proverbial envelope. This sinking of standards enables their work to stand out in an increasingly crowded field. Profits outweigh whatever criticism results. Falling standards, consequently, become self-fulfilling. Each new breach of the existing “standard” establishes a new, lower standard that comes to be seen as the norm, at least until the next breach.

You need to define what is potentially offensive and set explicit guidelines to prevent it from invading your classroom. The next blog will tackle a definition and then move on to identifying specific types of material.

It doesn’t matter whether you agree with the list I present. The decision you have to make to where you are going to draw the line—set the standards for your classroom. Every instructor may draw the line at a different point. That LINE is the over-riding bottom line for these blogs, if you ride over lines.

COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC

DO YOU NEED TO SET STANDARDS FOR PRINT AND NONPRINT MEDIA IN YOUR CLASSROOM? Who Cares? Why Bother?

WHY STANDARDS?
The issue of offensive material in the classroom is usually not discussed. We have academic freedom to do just about anything we want under the guise of “teaching.” The problem is that NOW the intersection of our culture with the technology has significantly changed the rules of the game.

Yup, the Standards Police have arrived! BEWARE! As many of you already know, I have written on this topic in all of my books and several articles and blogs. Why? Because what we model or permit in the classroom, especially anything negative or contentious, will most likely be emulated by our students and pushed to the next level.

We have a responsibility to set appropriate guidelines and standards in our classroom as a learning environment and in our workplace. We need to filter what is in the culture before it contaminates our domains and diminishes our control and effectiveness. We need to sift through all of the material and extract what is positive, uplifting, and constructive to facilitate learning, not impede it. Anything that can offend our students can destroy their learning spirit and our classroom atmosphere.

SO WHERE’S THE PROBLEM?
The problem is (Are you ready? Do you want the truth? Can you handle the truth?): Media in our culture are OUT OF CONTROL. What we read, listen to, and see on TV, the Internet (particularly YouTube and social media), and Comedy Central, and in movies, theaters, and comedy clubs is now stretching the limits of decency. Much of that material is blatantly offensive and would be inappropriate in the classroom. I’m not saying that it is not entertaining; it just doesn’t belong in your classroom or department.

This blog series will address this problem and how you can set standards for a safe, productive, yet, also exciting, learning environment. I hope you will stick around.

COPYRIGHT © 2010 Ronald A. Berk, LLC