Curriculum

District Restores Textbook With Nude Photos (of Ancient Statues)

By Erik W. Robelen — November 16, 2010 1 min read
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A Texas district has apparently backed off plans to remove a humanities textbook from schools that had drawn complaints from a parent about (gasp!) photos of ancient nude sculptures, the Dallas Morning News reports.

The story explains that students and parents had accused the Plano Independent School District of censorship following the district’s decision to pull Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities, Alternate Volume. The book was used by freshmen and sophomores in the district’s gifted and talented classes. It contains photos of nude statues from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as the Italian Renaissance.

A spokeswoman for the district told the Dallas Morning News that the book would be reissued to high schools and that any individual concern over content would follow the “challenge process as provided for under local board policy.”

The district’s original decision triggered an online campaign by current and former students accusing the district of censorship.

One former student wrote on a Facebook page set up to protest the district’s action: “These works of art are not obscene, lewd, or pornographic. They are completely appropriate for the class and for the curriculum.”

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A version of this news article first appeared in the Curriculum Matters blog.