The Importance Of Political Merrectness In Children's Literature

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Register to read the introduction… In this paper I would not like to explore the chosen books on a particular study or given viewpoint. I have tried to base the study on personal data research and my own reflection on the book. Nevertheless I find it important to bring up various terms and critics according to the topic of political correctness. First of all, I would like to explain what does political correctness (PC) generally means and its importance in the context of education and children’s literature. “The central uses of the term relate to particular issues of race, gender, disability, ethnicity, sexual preference, culture and worldviews, and encompass both the language in which issues are discussed and the viewpoints that are expressed.”[1] Examples can be African-American instead of Black or Negro; Native-American in place of Indian. Also gender-neutral terms like police officer instead of policeman, or flight-attendant in place of …show more content…
But across the country the term PC, as it is commonly abbreviated, is being heard more and more in debates over what should be taught at the universities.[4]

We can see at this point, that his reference on political correctness has already reached the question of education and the influence on children, proving that it has become a significant issue from the 1980-90’s. Although ever since children’s literature came to existence, there have been debates over the “moral correctness” of books[5]. In the 1981 December issue of English Journal an article points out the important features that should be considered when editing books for educational use, targeting children. The title is “Proactive censorship: The new wave”:

Today when writing a book for use in public schools, an author must be aware of: 1. How many black faces appear in proportion to the number of white faces; 2. The use of names such as Carlos and Juanita in proportion to those of Billy and

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