Cambridge Academic Freedom Center
Defending the Right to Teach and Learn in Classrooms
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Welcome to the Cambridge Academic Freedom Center, a civic action project created by a high school junior to support teachers' freedom of expression in the classroom and students' speech rights on their campus.
Here, you will find resources to help you push back against restrictions on your curriculum.
Our Guiding Principle: The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Our Guiding Principle: The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Photo credit: ProAdvocate Group
This is what protects our voices, our ideas, and our right to learn and think freely.
Nov. 5, 2019. Allen G. Breed/AP
Classroom Speech is Under Attack
Classroom Speech is Under Attack
According to RAND Corporation, an American nonprofit global policy think thank:
65% of public school teachers limit discussions about sociopolitical issues
55% of teachers who were not subject to any state or local restrictions still decided to limit instruction about political and social issues
Trends in Recent Years
Trends in Recent Years
Increasing numbers of educators across the nation are choosing to self-censor in fear of becoming a target for harassment or being scrutinized by their school administrations.
Censoring what students can and cannot read limits their access to diverse voices and true realities lived by others around them. Books are gates to worlds of brilliant ideas that should not be banned based on a parent/administrator/government's opinion of what is moral or ethical to read.
Under the First Amendment, the government cannot restrict speech based on its content or viewpoint, and public school students do not lose their rights at the schoolhouse gate (Tinker v. Des Moines, 1969).
Photo credit: Tyler Menezes/flickr
Photo credit: Tyler Menezes/flickr
Photo credit: Haggie Partners
Photo credit: Haggie Partners
We should not be afraid to discuss controversial topics at school. Cancel culture and curriculum censorship hurts the environment of higher education where free discourse and exchange of dissenting ideas in classrooms are meant to thrive.
Academic freedom is the foundation of a thriving democracy. When educators fear punishment for the books they teach or the topics they cover, students lose access to critical thinking, diverse viewpoints, and the accurate account of their nation's history.
Testimony from an educator on Reddit's r/Teachers (2022)
Testimony from an educator on Reddit's r/Teachers (2022)
I'm going to be frank and blunt. Cancel culture or any type of censorship for that matter doesn't belong in a classroom environment. I am secondary ELA teachers in NY. At the beginning of the school year, I presented a list of texts my students will be reading throughout the year. The other day, my admin pulled me aside and asked me to consider removing a specific text from my syllabus for 10th grade ELA. The text in question, To Kill A Mockingbird, a staple point of my syllabus for the past three years. The reason why it should be removed was 'questionable language'.
Image Credit: ACLU
Why We Must Defend Intellectual Freedom
Why We Must Defend Intellectual Freedom
What You'll Find Here
What You'll Find Here
Expert Opinion from a National Council of Teachers of English representative
Student Support - Know Your Rights, How to Speak Up, Rethinking Dialogue, Get Inspired, Reading Recommendations
Teacher Support - Professional resources, poster & bookmark downloads, survey tools, legal help, hotlines
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