Suspended for promoting literacy
An Indiana teacher was suspended for 18 months for teaching from the bestselling book The Freedom Writers Diary. Apparently one member of the teachers union disagreed with the fact that the book contained some swearing, because you all know what a little colourful language will do to an inner city kid!
The Writers Diary, a series of true stories written by inner-city teenagers, was put together by a teacher, Erin Gruwell, and has been celebrated as a model for transforming young lives. It was made into a film with Hilary Swank last year.
Connie Heermann, a teacher for 27 years, sought permission to introduce the book to her students last autumn after attending a training workshop held by the Freedom Writers Foundation. “If you read the whole book you will see how these inner-city students grow and change and become articulate, compassionate, educated young people who want to do something good in their lives despite the environment in which they were raised,” she told the Guardian. “I thought my students would very much relate to those kids.”
