A mother’s protest in Virginia has reignited the persistent debate over whether the ban on the N-word in schools should extend to the books students must read, including such classics as “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
The parent in Accomack County Public Schools in Virginia said her biracial son was upset at having to read “Huck Finn,” which uses the racial slur 219 times.
“I keep hearing, ‘This is a classic, This is a classic.’ I understand this is a literature classic, but at some point I feel that children will not or do not truly get the classic part, the literature part, which I’m not disputing. This is great literature. But there are so many racial slurs in there and offensive wording that you can’t get past that. And right now, we are a nation divided as it is…My son can walk outside and be called that name. We don’t need it in the school system,” the mother told the school board last month.
The school board is now reviewing whether “Huck Finn” should be on class reading lists. While critics blame modern-day political correctness, Mark Twain’s novel was banned for the first time a month after its publication in December of 1884 by librarians in Concord, Mass., who proclaimed it “not suitable for trash.” The book ranks No. 14 on the top 100 Banned/Challenged books in America.
Educator are not of one mind on this issue, although agree the book has to be taught with care and in the context of its time.
To read more of the debate, go to the AJC Get Schooled blog.
About the Author
