A little less lying to children Followup to the Regents’ exam story:

In response to criticism from writers and publishers, the New York State education commissioner said yesterday that literary passages in state-administered tests would no longer be altered to delete unwanted words or phrases.

“It is important that we use literature on the tests without changes in the passages,” said the commissioner, Richard P. Mills. “I have looked carefully at the Education Department’s current practices and the concerns of the writers and have directed that these changes be made.”

In a small piece on this controversy, Slate’s Kate Taylor points out that one of the pertinent legal precedents under which the bowdlerized authors might sue New York State is one involving Monty Python. (Thanks to Charlie Stross for forwarding an email that points this out.) [05:28 PM]