Censorship and controlling ideas in the classroom: Dr. Yvonne Chiu at TEDxHongKongED

Can too much information too soon actually be harmful to students? Is there some value to censoring ideas in the classroom? If so, what does censorship mean in this context, and how should it be done? This talk explores acceptable and unacceptable reasons for and ways of withholding information from students, and discusses the relationship between restricting ideas and molding suitable citizens of the state. Dr. Yvonne Chiu (Ph.D., UC-Berkeley; A.B., Stanford University) is Assistant Professor of Politics & Public Administration at the University of Hong Kong and Director of The Panopticon Foundation: Centre for the Study of Transitional Societies. She has over a decade of experience teaching at the university (HKU, Brown University) and elementary-school levels, and working in educational professional development and performing arts education. She has published in top political science and philosophy journals, and her research interests include international justice and law, just war theory and military ethics, civil-military relations, and distributive justice. During 2013-14, she will be on fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton, NJ, USA). In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)