The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has another story about the perils of educational publishing in Texas. It seems that a play by Peter Sagal, the host of NPR’s popular news quiz show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, was being considered for inclusion in an end-of-course exam under development for high school English students in Texas. Then, the Star-Telegram explains, a three-word exclamation in the play’s dialogue got in the way:
Sagal wrote a post on his blog last week about how test maker Pearson Education wanted to include his play as part of an end-of-course English III assessment for Texas schools.
“For ten years to come, high school students taking this exam would read my play, and then have to answer questions about it. Neat,” Sagal wrote.
His excitement turned to confusion when the company told him that the phrase “for God’s sake” needed to be cut from the play because it could be deemed offensive by officials at the Texas Education Agency.
Texas Freedom Network 