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“I strongly encourage teachers, administrators, districts, and state boards of education to make time to read this book together. David Moshman’s flawless research, probing questions, and insightful principles will lay the foundation for a new era in academic freedom, perhaps prompting school systems to create strong policies to guard against challenges to intellectual freedom.”
ReLeah Cossett Lent
Co-author of At the Schoolhouse Gate: Lessons in Intellectual Freedom

Academic freedom, argues David Moshman, is neither a special privilege of college faculty nor a First Amendment right of individual teachers and students. Rather, academic freedom is intellectual freedom in academic contexts, consisting of five principles that everyone is obligated to respect:

• Freedom of belief and identity
• Freedom of expression and discussion
• Freedom of inquiry
• Freedom from indoctrination
• Rights of equality, privacy, and due process

Moshman succinctly shows readers how these principles resolve some of the most intractable problems facing education today. On matters ranging from evolution to sex education to the literary canon, his principles address the concerns of teachers, administrators, students, parents, and their communities alike, providing tools that promote real student learning and thinking.

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Contents

Foreword by ReLeah Cossett Lent

Preface

PART ONE Liberty, Learning, and Academic Freedom

1. With Liberty for Whom?

Institutional Autonomy • Faculty Autonomy • Student Rights • Parental Authority • Education By and For the Community

Conclusion: Academic Freedom as Intellectual Freedom

A Legal Interlude

2. The Constitutionalization of Academic Freedom

West Virginia v. Barnette: Freedom from Indoctrination • Keyishian v. Board of Regents: Intellectual Freedom in Education

3. From Armbands to Bong Hits in the U.S. Supreme Court

Tinker v. Des Moines: Freedom of Expression • Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier: School Authority over

Curriculum • Morse v. Frederick: Bong Hits 4 Jesus

Conclusion

4. Principles of Academic Freedom

Freedom of Belief and Identity • Freedom of Expression and Discussion • Freedom of Inquiry •Freedom from Indoctrination • Equality, Privacy, and Due Process

Conclusion

PART TWO Academic Freedom in Practice

5. Canon to the Right of Us, Canon to the Left: Literature, Selection, and Censorship

6. Apes and Evolutionists: Biology and Ideology

7. “Don’t Know Much About History”: Genocide, Denial, and Indoctrination

8. Tolerating the Intolerant: Bad Words and Worse

9. The Birds, the Bees, and the Censors: Sex Education and Its Discontents

10. Doing Right and Being Good: Morality, Values, and Character

11. Ultimate Questions: Religion and Beyond

Appendix: Principles of Academic Freedom

Book Study

References and Suggested Readings

Index

Samples

• Read a Sample from this book