Penn State University professor of education Patrick Shannon will deliver a powerful indictment against No Child Left Behind during "Hog Farms in Pennsylvania—Rethinking Literacy and Democratic Values" at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 14 in Camp Lounge on the Simpson College campus in Indianola.

Shannon, a former preschool and primary grade school teacher and currently a professor and coordinator of graduate studies in language and literacy education at Penn State, will address how people who stood up against corporate hog farming in Pennsylvania can serve as a model for citizens to resist "high stakes testing," like that required by No Child Left Behind legislation.

Shannon is the author of “Broken Promises,” “text, lies & videotape,” “Reading Poverty,” “Becoming Political” and other books which consider various connections between literacy education and democracy. A Fellow of the National Council of Researchers on Language and Literacy, he is the youngest member of the International Reading Association Reading Hall of Fame.

“As an Iowan concerned about the path of literacy education and our local environment, I find his criticism very compelling.  He describes how the people of Pennsylvania have taken a firm stand against corporate hog farms and his argument is that their approach (democracy in action) would serve us well in the rethinking of public education policies, especially in light of current federal government impositions,” said Sharon Jensen, assistant professor of education at Simpson.

This rescheduled event, which was originally scheduled for February, is free and open to the public.