Duluth drops two American novels from reading list, citing use of racial slur

[sarisataka]

Duluth drops two American novels from reading list, citing use of racial slur


The novels “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” will no longer be required reading in the Duluth school district due to the books’ use of a racial slur, a curriculum change supported by the local NAACP chapter.

The two books will continue to be available in school libraries and can be optional reading for students, but beginning next school year, they’ll be replaced as required reading by other literature that addresses the same topics in ninth- and 11th-grade English classes, said Michael Cary, the district’s director of curriculum and instruction.

The district’s intent is to be considerate of all of its students, Cary said. The district owes it to its students to not subject them to a racial slur that marginalizes them in their required learning, he said. He added that district leaders felt that there are many other options in literature that can teach the same lessons as the two novels without containing a racial slur.

“We felt that we could still teach the same standards and expectations through other novels that didn’t require students to feel humiliated or marginalized by the use of racial slurs,” Cary said.

https://www.twincities.com/2018/02/06/duluth-drops-two-american-novels-from-reading-list-citing-use-of-racial-slur/

Sensitivity or censorship? And should the teachers have been allowed input or should these decisions be made solely by administration?

[HopeAgain]

1. I heard Kurt Vonnegut speak years ago

and he pointed out that anyone who wanted to ban these classics because of a word or a name had never actually read the books.

These kids are going to hear the slurs, and probably already have. Seems to me the better thing is to acknowledge racism existed, that it still exists, and to discuss it. To try and obliterate it is nothing more than denial.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. The books aren't banned, nor is this an effort to obliterate the harsh realities of racism that many

of these students experience. It's a harm-reduction move, not an erasure.

[mythology]

16. Except there is no harm.

This is a dumb decision.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

19. There are quite a few perspectives online from current and former students of color who have talked

about the impact of having school authorities endorse and require them to read a word used as a racial slur more than 200 times and then discuss it in class as if racism were "controversial" or something to be debated. Huck Finn is a white-ass book written by a white guy for white audiences. It doesn't hurt to reconsider it as part of the curriculum.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Don't Think Censorship Is The Right Word

They're not banning the books. They're removing them from the "must read" list.

I'm not yet sure how i feel about this either, but i don't think there is any censorship here.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. It's not censorship. I do think the teachers should have been allowed to comment. I don't have a

problem with this move -- there are plenty of books out there that can teach similar lessons and highlight similar themes without using slurs. And sure, kids hear those words as slurs or slang every day, but using it in curricula gives those words a weight they don't deserve.

Literature is deep and wide. I'm a fan of overhauling curricula regularly and not teaching the same books for nostalgia's sake.

[MichMary]

4. I wonder what they were replaced with

I can understand why they did this, but both are truly great works of literature, and it makes me sad that they aren't studied like they used to be.

[HopeAgain]

6. To Kill a Mockingbird is an inspiring novel

that helped me find a social conscience as a young man. I'm shocked a judgement (whether to put something on a list is a judgement) can be that narrow minded.

[ExciteBike66]

7. Sensitivity or censorship? Definitely not censorship

Not including the books in a curriculum is different from banning them altogether.

[ollie10]

8. I think many Twain scholars raise the point that Finn is anti-racism....

I understand the controversies, however Finn is considered a classic and students should be exposed to books and ideas that are challenging and even controversial.

Satire is also something that may be lost on some....

[WhiskeyGrinder]

9. I don't think minority students need to read satirical fiction about how terrible racist people are

to understand racism. Nor do I think satirizing the racist south useful for teaching the evils of racism in a majority-white northern town where it's easy to pretend that "we're not like them at all!"

[ollie10]

10. A book can be a vehicle for people to discuss from different backgrounds

I think more harm is done by "sheltering" students from ideas than by exposing ideas to discuss and think about.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

12. I agree, books can help people find common ground.

I don't think that reshaping curriculum with an eye toward harm reduction is "sheltering," though, or that Huck Finn or TKAM are alone in being able to convey certain ideas or themes.

[ollie10]

13. Who said they alone can convey ideas?

Education should be a smorgasbord, not a three course meal.

[ollie10]

14. Common ground? What is wrong with diversity?

Besides....are you trying to make the point that Mark Twain is HARMful to students? OMG

[LanternWaste]

15. Great... because no one is arguing the books need to be read to understand racism

Great... because no one is arguing the books need to be read to understand how terrible racists are; merely that they are one additional tool.

But I get it... regionalism is tough bias to overcome, and if a book pokes fun at a dearly-held land, we suddenly pretend that book is simply not relevant.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

17. You're right, it's one tool among many, and I would guess not a useful one up here.

I'm not sure what you're getting at with your second comment, though. To be clear: I don't think a book that satirizes the south of 150 years ago is useful for discussing racism in the north now, because there's plenty of regional bias against the south and lots of self-congratulation about we're not nearly as bad as, say, Mississippi, and so don't need to examine our biases or behaviors. There's a lot of well-meaning white people in this particular school district who would do well do read books that aren't written through a white lens for other white people.

[LanternWaste]

18. You're right. A guess. No evidence to support that premise

"would guess not a useful one up here..."
You're right. A guess. No evidence to support the premise, merely unsupported allegations.


"plenty of regional bias against the south..."
Try to read more. There is no unbruised area of the US that escapes mocking and satire in its job to frame a larger point easily missed by the small-minded and the biased.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

20. A guess based living here and having been involved in some of the efforts to address disparaties

in the school district, which divided on geographic lines that also correlate with racial and resource inequalities. A school district that is only now making the effort to listen and respond to a broader range of voices -- resulting in this change. They're still terrible about listening to teachers, though, obviously.

[marylandblue]

11. There is a dramatic moment in Huck Finn

that is in few other novels. when he decide to follow hin conscience rather than everything he "knew" was right, and he felt guilty about. That's an important lesson. Following your conscience isn't easy, not just because of social pressure, but also internal conflict. No other novel I've read has made the point so clearly. I say it still belongs in the curriculum.