Baldwin Condemns U.S. Textbook Censorship by Foreign Printers

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Baldwin Condemns U.S. Textbook Censorship by Foreign Printers

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin has condemned the printing of U.S. textbooks in countries that censor these and other publications. Baldwin notes that one consequence of outsourcing to cheaper labor sources overseas is that an increasingly large number of American textbooks and educational materials are printed in other countries, especially in China, a country which the State Department's 2006 Country Report on Human Rights concludes actively censors all publications.

Baldwin raised the issue during floor debate of the FY'08 Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill, a bill that provides federal funding for local school districts. "I have learned that taxpayer dollars in this bill, combined with taxpayer dollars at the state and local level, are used to purchase textbooks printed and manufactured in countries that censor these teaching materials," she told her colleagues. Baldwin says she will work vigorously to confront this issue when legislation to set federal education policy comes up for reauthorization later this year.

Baldwin explained how the Chinese government inflicts its own censorship on American students and teachers: "An American publishing company develops a textbook or any educational material and decides to print it overseas because they can save on printing costs by doing so. But the material content will be censored by the government-sanctioned publishing houses to conform to Chinese requirements. The Dalai Lama, Tiananmen Square, and balanced discussions of Tibet, political freedoms, and descriptions of democratic participation and public protest will intentionally be left on the cutting room floor. And then a well-meaning, well-prepared, unsuspecting teacher or school district buys this textbook for their classroom, a textbook which contains no mention of the Dalai Lama and a decidedly altered discussion of politics and culture, even American politics and culture, because Chinese censorship laws do not discriminate between Chinese and American texts and contexts."

"This means that U.S. public funds meant to educate our children are simultaneously suppressing human rights and freedoms, and limiting exposure to and curricula on important topics of history, politics, and culture," she said.

Baldwin pointed out that the same situation exists, with more harmful consequences, for teaching manuals and materials. "If a lesson does not exist in the teacher's curriculum, chances are that students won't be taught the lesson," Baldwin said.

Baldwin reminded her colleagues, "The lesson that our students truly need to learn - which must not be censored - is that state-sponsored censorship should not supported with public dollars. Baldwin asked her colleagues will join her "in future efforts to teach our school children that ethics and morals and their education are more important - and more valuable - than cheap labor and production costs."

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