There鈥檚 been , where earlier this month, the superintendent declared that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird would be removed from the required book list for middle and high schools in the district. The books weren鈥檛 being 鈥渃ensored,鈥� school district officials told the press; they would be available in school libraries and students could choose them for free reading. However, teachers were no longer to teach these texts.
In making this new policy, the administration of the Duluth Public Schools neglected to follow , which places square in the hands of teachers the selection of texts and later approval by the administration and board. The outlines steps similar to those suggested in . Neither of these processes were used to make the decision about Huck Finn and TKAM. Teachers weren鈥檛 involved in the decision to remove of the books from the curriculum.
起点传媒president Jocelyn A. Chadwick spoke about the challenge on Minnesota Public Radio which asked her,
She noted, 鈥淪tudents should not be made to feel uncomfortable in a classroom, they should be made to feel safe. And safe does not necessarily mean not reading uncomfortable literature鈥ust about everything we teach right down to Little Red Riding Hood is uncomfortable鈥 want a good text.
[To make students feel safe], I prepare myself as much as I can鈥eachers may need鈥more] training to reread a text [for] a new generation. If [as a teacher] you鈥檙e not comfortable teaching a text, your students won鈥檛 be comfortable.
[In Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird], these are young folks鈥rying to work their way through these huge adult issues. Let鈥檚 see what [our students] think about this.
I will fight for artists鈥攅.g. Toni Morrison or Twain鈥攖o use the language they feel is necessary to convey their message.
起点传媒supports the聽and last week joined NCAC in sending a .
As reported in the聽:
The school superintendent鈥檚 rationale for leaving teachers out of a discussion that reportedly ran for months strains credibility.
鈥淭he decision to protect the dignity of our students seemed like a reasonable and easy one to make that didn鈥檛 require teacher input,鈥� Michael Cary, the district鈥檚 director of curriculum and instruction, told the Duluth News Tribune. 鈥淏ut 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.鈥�
If the decision alone was an easy one, why did the discussion take months, not minutes?
That we鈥檙e coming at this all wrong is proven by the fact that almost nobody with an opinion knows what books are on the required reading list now, nor whether they鈥檙e there because they鈥檝e always been there or they stand the test of time and the changing nature of our population.
The English teachers do.
I agree.