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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2015
PAGE 3
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According to KU math professor Ben Cobb, the probability of randomly picking all 32 winners in the first round of the NCAA tournament is 1 in 4.3 billion. If you take the #1 seeds out of the equation, the probability gets better at 1 in 268 million.
Teachers, students react to sexual censorship bill
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Celeste Hutton's english class at Wichita East High School poses with their copies of "Huckleberry Finn" and sent it to the governor in light of Senate Bill 56.
Students and teachers across the state reacted to the bill Kansas Senate passed last week that would hold teachers criminally liable for distributing "inappropriate materials." These materials include anything too sexual or profane for minors, although the bill doesn't go into specific detail.
Both high school and college students took to Twitter with the hashtag #StopSB56. Some brought their protests into their classrooms.
ALLISON CRIST
@AllisonCristUDK
Wichita Southeast High School sophomore Sarah Marmol said one of her teachers allowed students to come into her classroom and call state representatives. The teacher gave them a list of Republicans and Democrats and their contact information, along with a script.
"As we called, some were very rude," Marmol said. "Others agreed with us, and we left voicemails for the ones who didn't answer."
Trevor Mahan, a sophomore at Wichita East High School, protested the bill by tweeting a picture of his English class holding "Huckleberry Finn" with the caption, "Look what we're reading! It's education not offensive #StopSB56."
We're reading Huck Finn in class right now, and if this bill passed, it would definitely be on the banned book list", Mahan said. "Our teacher told us about the bill, and all of us, naturally being against it, decided to take a group picture with our books and send it to
the governor and other state senators and representatives."
Though there's no definitive evidence that books like "Huckleberry Finn" would be eliminated from Kansas schools, but Dr. Micah Kubic, executive director of Kansas' American Civil Liberties Union, said he believes it's a possibility.
existing protocols are sufficient and should be left up to the individual schools.
"Teachers are going to be a lot less likely to give assignments
"There's no need to criminalize teachers and dramatically increase punishments and scrutiny," Kubic said. "It would impact the quality and type of education students receive in Kansas schools."
or have discussions because someone, somewhere might object," Kubic said. "This is problematic for both students and parents who want their children to get a good education."
Lawrence Free State High School biology teacher David
the bill is designed to prevent another situation like this from occurring. Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, the bill's sponsor, could not be reached for comment.
This bill comes from a controversial poster that was displayed at a Shawnee Mission middle school last year. The sexual education poster listed a variety of ways
people show affection, some of which were explicit.
Kubic said the situation at the Shawnee school was addressed relatively quickly, and the teacher responsible was punished, showing that
Reber is unsure whether the bill would affect him.
"The bill seems to be more of an intimidation stunt than anything." Reber said. "You'd be hard pressed to find any harmful materials within a district's established curriculum."
However, Reber is still against the bill.
"It would empower a lot of people to try and bully teachers or schools into not addressing certain topics, which is unfortunate," Reber said.
"Especially if I decide to be a high school teacher, it makes me hesitant," said Brittany Bartak, a junior from Chicago. "I feel like the government should understand that as teachers, our responsibility is to educate."
The potential consequences within the bill might even be enough to deter education majors here at the University.
Another bill inspired by the poster will require parents of students to opt into sex education rather than opt out, like many schools require now.
"The way I see it, the problem with opting in is that it immediately puts the kids whose parents are not engaged at a disadvantage, and they will miss out on that education," Reber said.
Kubic said he believes the bills are tied together and a part of a bigger agenda to put a limit on academic freedom.
"It's important for the people of Kansas to see the connection between the two bills," Kubic said. "There's a broader play at work here."
Edited by Callie Byrnes
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