Texas tests won't feature NPR host's work

Peter Sagal is getting over a pretty bad week.

First off, he got hit by a car. The Chicago writer and humorist is recovering from his injuries (which he has described as an "invisible angry dwarf" stabbing him in the back) and expects to return to his duties as host of NPR's "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!" on the first weekend of September.

Then, while laid up in a hospital bed, Sagal found out Texas students were not, as originally planned, going to read one of his plays as part of a standardized English test.

Sagal had written on his blog and on Twitter that a private testing company working on behalf of the Texas Education Agency had contacted him about using his short play, Game Theory, in some testing materials. He expected to make $2,000 off the deal.

As he explained online, Sagal didn't know whether to accept the offer because the company wanted to edit the phrase "For God's Sake" out of the play. Sagal said he was told the phrase might be considered offensive by Texas education officials. (More details here.)

After some agonizing, Sagal agreed to change the dialogue to "For Pete's sake."

Sagal's decision to publicize the deal means it's is now off, according to TEA spokeswoman Debbie Graves Ratcliffe.

“We’re big fans of Peter Sagal but unfortunately this won’t show up on any tests,” Ratcliffe said. “It’s no longer a secure testing item. We could have people practicing on that play all year so they can answer that question."

Sagal said no one told him he had to keep the arrangement a secret.

His plan was to donate the $2,000 to Jo Carson, a friend and writer in Tennessee who is struggling to cover the costs of fighting colon cancer.

Sagal said he's still planning to make a donation and encourage others to also support a fund set up for Carson.

Despite the initial interest, Sagal said he doesn't expect any of his other writing to make it into official Texas education materials.

"I have a feeling I may have blown my chance in Texas," Sagal said.

(Photo via kuer90.1 on Flickr.)

-Aman Batheja

Comments

[m gray]

who cares.

This is the worst political blog in Texas.

[Robert]

Libs want us to be sensitive to everyone else but they are never to be asked to be sensitive to traditional American society.