huck finn
I'm feeling really uncomfortable about the removal of the n word from Huck Finn. It's one of our country's most offensive words, but considering the context of the novel it seems irresponsible to remove it when it presents so many opportunities for teachable moments.
That they're deleting it at all shows, IMO, that teachable moments aren't happening. Teachers don't know how to address the issues students would have in understanding its use; or the discomfort and hurt many would feel in reading HF at all. So instead of more fully preparing our teachers we're relieving them of the duty of actually, well, teaching.
And this book is being read in high school or college! People are claiming immaturity of the readers, inability to understand the context of the novel, blah blah blah as allowance for censorship, but if students are that incapable of basic literary analysis by high school then our school systems are fucked.
I'm so frustrated by this. I'm trying so hard to understand this from the perspective of people who haven't had to deal with questions of race their entire lives, but then I wonder how the hell that's possible in this country. With all the problematic messages in all of our different types of media how did someone come to the conclusion that the best way to address part of it would be to ignore it?
This is just perpetuating the problem. We need to learn how to discuss issues of race, ethnicity, and culture, and for most people that starts in school. If we're not learning then we need better teachers.
What do you guys think? I was lucky in having amazing teachers, and considering I'm biracial questions of race were really significant to my life. Strong opinions kind of come naturally to me, but if there's a perspective I'm missing I'd love to hear it.
That they're deleting it at all shows, IMO, that teachable moments aren't happening. Teachers don't know how to address the issues students would have in understanding its use; or the discomfort and hurt many would feel in reading HF at all. So instead of more fully preparing our teachers we're relieving them of the duty of actually, well, teaching.
And this book is being read in high school or college! People are claiming immaturity of the readers, inability to understand the context of the novel, blah blah blah as allowance for censorship, but if students are that incapable of basic literary analysis by high school then our school systems are fucked.
I'm so frustrated by this. I'm trying so hard to understand this from the perspective of people who haven't had to deal with questions of race their entire lives, but then I wonder how the hell that's possible in this country. With all the problematic messages in all of our different types of media how did someone come to the conclusion that the best way to address part of it would be to ignore it?
This is just perpetuating the problem. We need to learn how to discuss issues of race, ethnicity, and culture, and for most people that starts in school. If we're not learning then we need better teachers.
What do you guys think? I was lucky in having amazing teachers, and considering I'm biracial questions of race were really significant to my life. Strong opinions kind of come naturally to me, but if there's a perspective I'm missing I'd love to hear it.