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Intellectual Freedom Award
Ohanian Comment: Gloria and ReLeah's book At the Schoolhouse Gate: Lessons in Intellectual Freedom is a must read. See link for free sample chapter below.
Longtime Defenders of Intellectual Freedom Recognized by the National Council of Teachers of English
Gloria Pipkin and ReLeah Cossett Lent believe it’s important for students to think deeply, read widely, and write honestly. Equally important, they are not afraid to defend this conviction, even if it means standing up in a courtroom.
For their long-standing commitment to defending intellectual freedom for students and teachers, Pipkin and Lent will receive the 2003 NCTE/SLATE National Intellectual Freedom Award during the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention to be held in San Francisco, California, November 20–25. (The award will be presented during the Opening Banquet at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 20.)
The duo met as they helped to build a strong literacy program at Mowat Middle School in Lynn Haven, Florida. In 1985 NCTE named the program one of 150 “Centers of Excellence” across the country for exhibiting high quality in the English language arts. It was during this decade that religious fundamentalists challenged the program’s methods and materials and the superintendent eventually banned more than 60 books. Pipkin and Lent rallied to the defense, and Pipkin was a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit, which lasted five years and restored access to all banned books and restricted materials.
Lent faced other challenges when she taught at A. C. Mosley High School, also in Lynn Haven. There she helped to reverse the principal’s ban on the classroom teaching of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and confronted a challenge as advisor to the student newspaper. On the last day of school in May 1997, the principal removed Lent as advisor, citing differences in philosophies and a desire to emphasize school spirit over investigative journalism. Lent sued in federal court and won an out-of-court settlement in 1998.
Their struggles gained wide exposure, including an article in The Washington Post Magazine (January 4, 1987). They also have told their stories in At the Schoolhouse Gate: Lessons in Intellectual Freedom (Heinemann, 2002), which contains an “Intellectual Freedom Manifesto” listing teachers’ and students’ rights and responsibilities related to reading, writing, thinking, and learning. Pipkin and Lent also are editors of Silent No More: Voices of Courage in American Schools, which relates stories of other educators who share the conviction to stand up for teachers’ and students’ rights (Heinemann, 2003).
Their courage has drawn other honors as well. The Courage Foundation recognized Pipkin for defending the right to read. Lent received the PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award. And both Lent and Pipkin have received Golden Apple Awards from the Association of Bay County Educators.
The NCTE/SLATE National Intellectual Freedom Award is given by NCTE’s Joint Committee of SLATE (Support for the Learning and Teaching of English) and SCAC (Standing Committee Against Censorship). It honors individuals, groups, or institutions that merit recognition for advancing the cause of intellectual freedom.
NCTE, with 60,000 individual and institutional members worldwide, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education.
Read Gloria Pipkin and ReLeah Lent’s account of some of their intellectual freedom efforts in an article published in The ALAN Review (Winter 2001) at
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v28n2/lent.html
Read a sample chapter from At the Schoolhouse Gate: Lessons in Intellectual Freedom on “What Can a Teacher Do?” to defend against censorship at
http://www.heinemann.com/shared/onlineresources/E00395/teacher.pdf
Intellectual Freedom Award
NCTE Inbox
2003-09-18
http://www.ncte.org/inbox/ (http://www.ncte.org/about/over/inbox on
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
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