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Censorship dilemma…A New York University study of US education policy points a finger at an unsettling rise in censorship of educational materials, in some cases leading to a severe dumbing down what kids learn in school. Such screened material is making its way into Canadian classrooms. "This research tells us little we don’t already know, but it tells it pointedly," notes SFU education professor Meguido Zola. "It certainly bears out my own and others' experience (documented in David Booth's Censorship Goes to School)." Zola says the best literature, such as Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, is ultimately radical or, when it has to be, subversive. "So, too, the best education, and the best teachers. They light fires in dark places, illuminate, ignite." He adds: "But the natural stance of elders toward children is to protect and conserve, and to instruct rather than delight, leading at times to thought policing, censorship and peddling of particular orthodoxies. These arise from fear, bias, prejudice, and anger. They are an attempt to teacher-proof the curriculum, to circumvent the educative process. Ultimately, as this research shows, they stultify."

Meguido Zola, 604.224.1550 (h); meguido_zola@sfu.ca

Behind the Air India trial …Wading through the evidence of the long-awaited Air India trial could take years. As the case unfolds, SFU political scientist Shinder Purewal can look at the issues and explain the history of the Sikh separatist movement and the role of terrorism. The author of Sikh Ethnonationalism (published by Oxford in 2000), Purewal’s expertise includes ethnic conflict and politics, secessionism, and terrorism. He can trace the Sikh secessionist movement of the 1980-90s, and explain how the separatist push for Khalistan developed in the Punjab and why it turned violent. He can also look at how internal power blocs within Sikhism shaped an exclusionary Sikh identity over the past 300 years.

Shinder Purewal, 778.688.0061 (cell); spurewal@sfu.ca

Experts target youth health…Not all youths grow up to be happy high school graduates. Some end up living on the streets, dropping out of school, or being victimized by peers. Several graduate student researchers at SFU are examining how such issues impact the health of young people, using data from adolescent health surveys conducted by Vancouver’s McCreary Centre Society. They’ll share their findings at a seminar on youth health on Tuesday, May 13, at 1-4:30 p.m. at Harbour Center. Among them is Karla Jackson, whose focus is the centre’s street youth survey, involving more than 500 street youths in six BC communities. Kim vander Woerd’s ongoing study of aboriginal high school drop-outs has earned her yet another Canadian Institute for Health Research doctoral scholarship. The seminar is being held in conjunction with the third World Congress on Child and Youth Health in Vancouver, May 11–14. Among presenters is SFU psychology professor Marlene Moretti, who will look at attachment and adolescence.

Marianne Meadahl/Julie Ovenell-Carter, Media & PR, 604.291.4323Marlene Moretti, 604.291.3604; marlene_moretti@sfu.ca

Coming to terms with a Canadian identity…The question, "how do you see yourself as a Canadian?" can be difficult even for mainstream Canadians, but how do those with Asian roots answer it? Jan Walls, director of the David Lam centre for international communication, says it’s much more complicated when one’s outward appearance leads the majority of fellow Canadians to assume "you are from someplace else." He adds: "In North America, where individuality is a primary virtue, should national, ethnic or religious backgrounds matter at all?" Walls, an expert on Asian culture, hopes his series of Asian heritage cafes in May will prompt debate. He’ll look at defining Asian roots, how expatriate and colonial experiences in Asia shape Canadian identity, Asian sources of wisdom and wellness, intercultural marriage, and whether it’s time to drop the hyphen in words like Chinese-Korean-Indo-Canadian. The sessions run Thursdays, May 8, 15 and 22, 6:30-8 p.m., and Saturdays May 17 and 31, 1:30-3:30 p.m., at the Café Ami in the Pendulum Gallery (lobby of the HSBC building on West Georgia).

Jan Walls, 604.291.5021; jwalls@sfu.ca