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Schools in Duluth, Minnesota Have Removed Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird from the Curriculum.

By February 8, 2018Literature, News

The Duluth school district of Minnesota has decided to remove Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird due to the book’s use of racial slurs.

The two books will still be available to read in the school’s libraries but, as of next year, they will be replaced by other books that tackle the same topics in the ninth- and 11th-grade English classes. The news has been announced by the district’s director of curriculum and instruction, Michael Cary.

As Duluth News Tribune reports, Cary stated that the removal of these books has been carried out in an effort to be considerate to all students. “We felt that we could still teach the same standards and expectations through other novels that didn’t require students to feel humiliated or marginalised by the use of racial slurs,” he said.

The removal of the books has occurred due to numerous complaints that the two books have received over the years. Superintendent Bill Gronseth stated that some students were reporting that the use of racial slurs in the books was creating an uncomfortable atmosphere in the classroom.

President of the NAACP’s local chapter, Stephan Witherspoon, supports the school district’s decision to remove the books. He described the novels as “just hurtful” and condemned the “hurtful language that has oppressed the people for over 200 years. It’s wrong. There are a lot more authors out there with better literature that can do the same thing that does not degrade our people. I’m glad that they’re making the decision and it’s long overdue, like 20 years overdue,” Witherspoon said. “Let’s move forward and work together to make school work for all of our kids, not just some, all of them.”

Gronseth went on to say that the schools aims to keep teaching the lessons found in these books but with literature that is “more universally appropriate.” He added: “It fits really well into the equity work that we’re doing, making sure that what we’re using as core curriculum is a good experience for all of our students. When curriculum materials are making some students feel uncomfortable, then we need to make a better choice.”

To Kill a Mockingbird was recently removed from a school in Biloxi, Mississippi in October of last year. The removal was controversial and attracted criticism from many national free-speech groups, including the National Coalition Against Censorship. The NCAC wrote a letter to the Biloxi superintendent, saying: “While the use of historically accurate language in conversations about racism is deeply discomforting to many readers, it is a necessary aspect of any realistic account of our nation’s history. A pedagogically sound approach to curricular selection requires educational professionals to ask whether a book has educational value, not whether it is comfortable.”

The outcry caused the Biloxi school to announce that students who were interested would be able to take part in an in-depth study of To Kill a Mockingbird, provided their parents approved.

The decision to remove the book was finalised in January after several months of discussion. However, President of the Duluth Federation of Teachers, Bernie Burnham, said the district’s English teachers were concerned by the fact they weren’t consulted about the change before the decision was made. He said: “I don’t think anybody is averse to change — there’s obviously lots of great literature there that we can use with our students and are there reasons to walk away from that book? Probably — but we just want to be included in conversation about it.”

Cary responded that the decision was made privately because it was about “protecting the dignity of our students.” The remainder of the school year will be used to find suitable replacements for the books for when the new school year begins. “The decision to protect the dignity of our students seemed like a reasonable and easy one to make that didn’t require teacher input. But in terms of making sure that we select excellent novels that serve the same purpose, that definitely needs teacher feedback and their help in making that decision.”

No doubt this decision will prove to be controversial. Some may argue that books that include racial slurs have no place in schools, whilst others may say that the mistakes of the past should not be glossed over. It seems these two books are just as divisive as ever when it comes to educational reading.



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