The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1963-06-14

it must be lost or won by the aca-
demic world, in this case the school
boards, either on the state or local
level.
1t is here that much of the battle is
fought behind the scenes, and often,
as ''The Censorship and the Schools
documents, there is not much of a
battle at all. For instance, one text
book firm Offered" to the Texas
Textbook Committee the deletion
from it's books of any controversial
names.
The Silver Burdett Company is
reported by the Messrs. Nelson and
Roberts to have made substantial
notifications in a geography text,
THE AMERICAN CONTINENTS
Apparently the statement that ITO
day, other countries help us in pro-
tecting our land against possible at
tack" in discussion of radar install
lations, was considered not sufficient
~ America-minded. In the next edi-
ton it was changed to: "With radar
we can quickly detect the approach
of enemy aircraft or missiles.
For similar reasons, the statement
that "The United States sometimes
finds it difficult TO agree with it's
neighbors !. Nor do other countries
always agree with us" was "Ameri-
carized" so as to leave no doubt
where, in any possible disagreement, |
the fault would have to be sought. |
Now it reads: ''The people of some
nations have forms of government |
different from ours. Often they do |
not enjoy the same freedom and OPP
oortunity as our people,.
CREEPING CENSORSHIP"
AIDS TEXTBOOK SALES
There is no easy answer to such |
censorship-es especially since,
more often than not, the agreements
20 make minor" compromises are
made without public knowledge. More
many textbook authors, as
eager to sell large quantities of books
Us the publishers, have their politi-
al ears sufficiently close to the
ground TO make their product inof-
ensive to would-be censors.
The only possible safeguards
must be a combination of able
school officials who not only de-
mand high-quality books but who
are ready to stand up for them
whenever a full presentation of the
facts invites controversy. Freedom r
is strengthened further in direct I
to the abandoning of +
statewide adoption procedures for f
books-a process that violates the f
very tenets of local control of edu- n
cation which the states Fighters :
ike to proclaim in their speech +
making against Federal Aid to Edu-
:ation. Publishers are much more
likely to risk losing a censor-ridden
own as a customer than to write
'ff an entire state or group of
tates.
Two academic changes are now
lping to block some of the worst
reats of censorship. The first is the
tion-wide demand, as college adj
ssion pressures increase, for i'm II
owed high school instruction. Today
e expurgated history or econom-
book is as much of a handicap II
the preparation for admission to
good college as an obsolete science
1t. The second hopeful trend is the
angling technology of book publish
:, with paperbacks increasingly
ed to augment the basic texts. Be-
.e long, many of the "safe" and
Ii books will, when placed in COM
ition with exciting and inexpen-
e books by reputable scholars, look
inane as TO enlbarrass their pub
lers, if not their authors.
It is safe to predict that attempts
keep such improved reading fare
, of reach of "impressionable"
dents will be made in the future,
they were in the past. But to take
Sc censors seriously enough to
en- to their objections is to let
lcation be influenced by lunacy
history be replaced by halluci-
ions.
Ultimate effect of HB 267, the
tbook commission bill of the 1868
ntana Legislature, would have