Time to update schools' reading listshttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/394832_nword06.html
By JOHN FOLEY
GUEST COLUMNIST
John Foley of Vancouver is an English teacher at Ridgefield High School in southern Washington.
The time has arrived to update the literature we use in high school classrooms. Barack Obama is president of the United States, and novels that use the "N-word" repeatedly need to go.
Oh dear god. Is there nothing more important to worry about? Try addressing the fact that your students don't know how to use their native language correctly, and possess zero comprehension skills. Are novels that use ‘myopic, self-important, censorious jackass’ still okay?
To a certain extent, this saddens me, because I love "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Of Mice and Men" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." All are American classics, and my students read them as part of approved sophomore and junior units, as do millions of students across the nation.
His students were born about 1992. Remember that.
They all must go.
I hope they go to private and public libraries and remain in high school classrooms. I would keep copies in my own classroom and encourage students to read them. But they don't belong on the curriculum. Not anymore. Those books are old, and we're ready for new.
What year would be a good cutoff date, perfesser? To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960. Maybe you could teach your classes from Oprah’s reading lists. They’re current.
Even if Huck Finn didn't contain the N-word and demeaning stereotypes, it would remain a tough sell to students accustomed to fast-paced everything. The novel meanders along slower than the Mississippi River and uses a Southern dialect every bit as challenging as Shakespeare's Old English.
Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English (sometimes called Elizabethan English), which has about 300 years of language evolution on Old English. What class do you teach again?
Explaining that Twain wasn't a racist -- or at least didn't hate African-Americans (he had a well-documented prejudice against Native Americans) -- is a daunting challenge. I explain that Jim, a black man, is the hero of the book. I tell them Huck eventually sees the error of his ways, apologizes to Jim and commits himself to helping him escape slavery. Yes, I tell them, he does all this while continuing to refer to Jim by the demeaning word, but Twain was merely being realistic.
Many students just hear the N-word. This is particularly true, of course, of African-American students. I have not taught Huck Finn in a predominantly black classroom, and I think it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to do so effectively. With few exceptions, all the black students in my classes over the years have appeared very uncomfortable when I've discussed these matters at the beginning of the unit. And I never want to rationalize Huck Finn to an angry African-American mom again as long as I breathe.
So sorry that it falls to you to explain how these books are actually anti-racist. Teaching can be tough. Suck it up or retire.
John Steinbeck's "Mice" and Harper Lee's "Mockingbird" don't belong on the curriculum, either. Atticus Finch, the heroic attorney in Lee's novel, tells his daughter not to use the N-word because it's "common." That might've been an enlightened attitude for a Southerner during the Great Depression, but is hopelessly dated now.
I cannot believe a teacher who is supposed to build on the foundations of literature going back thousands of years just used the expression “hopelessly dated.” And which part is hopelessly dated? The use of “common” to mean “lowborn or base”, or holding the attitude that we shouldn’t use the word?
What books should replace these classics? The easiest call is for "Mockingbird." David Guterson's fine "Snow Falling on Cedars" has similar themes and many parallels, and since the novel is set in the San Juan Islands, it would hold more interest for Washington students than the Alabama setting of Lee's novel.
Setting aside the stupidity of determining curriculum by geographic location, don’t you think the phrase “that fucking goddamn lap bitch” [page 251] might be at least as objectionable as “nigger” to some? Does Obama approve of lap dancing?
I think a good substitute for "Mice" would be Tim O'Brien's Vietnam novel "Going After Cacciato."
“Nigger,” Oscar said. The boy lit up. “Nigger!” the boy said. [page 113]
Like George and Lennie in Steinbeck's novel, Cacciato dreams of peace and a better world. And the Vietnam War is a more recent -- and arguably more painful -- era in American history than the Depression, and one of more interest to teens.
What is it with Liberals and the fucking Vietnam War?
John Foley of Vancouver is an English teacher at Ridgefield High School in southern Washington.
The time has arrived to update the literature we use in high school classrooms. Barack Obama is president of the United States, and novels that use the "N-word" repeatedly need to go.
Oh dear god. Is there nothing more important to worry about? Try addressing the fact that your students don't know how to use their native language correctly, and possess zero comprehension skills. Are novels that use ‘myopic, self-important, censorious jackass’ still okay?
To a certain extent, this saddens me, because I love "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Of Mice and Men" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." All are American classics, and my students read them as part of approved sophomore and junior units, as do millions of students across the nation.
His students were born about 1992. Remember that.
They all must go.
I hope they go to private and public libraries and remain in high school classrooms. I would keep copies in my own classroom and encourage students to read them. But they don't belong on the curriculum. Not anymore. Those books are old, and we're ready for new.
What year would be a good cutoff date, perfesser? To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960. Maybe you could teach your classes from Oprah’s reading lists. They’re current.
Even if Huck Finn didn't contain the N-word and demeaning stereotypes, it would remain a tough sell to students accustomed to fast-paced everything. The novel meanders along slower than the Mississippi River and uses a Southern dialect every bit as challenging as Shakespeare's Old English.
Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English (sometimes called Elizabethan English), which has about 300 years of language evolution on Old English. What class do you teach again?
Explaining that Twain wasn't a racist -- or at least didn't hate African-Americans (he had a well-documented prejudice against Native Americans) -- is a daunting challenge. I explain that Jim, a black man, is the hero of the book. I tell them Huck eventually sees the error of his ways, apologizes to Jim and commits himself to helping him escape slavery. Yes, I tell them, he does all this while continuing to refer to Jim by the demeaning word, but Twain was merely being realistic.
Many students just hear the N-word. This is particularly true, of course, of African-American students. I have not taught Huck Finn in a predominantly black classroom, and I think it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to do so effectively. With few exceptions, all the black students in my classes over the years have appeared very uncomfortable when I've discussed these matters at the beginning of the unit. And I never want to rationalize Huck Finn to an angry African-American mom again as long as I breathe.
So sorry that it falls to you to explain how these books are actually anti-racist. Teaching can be tough. Suck it up or retire.
John Steinbeck's "Mice" and Harper Lee's "Mockingbird" don't belong on the curriculum, either. Atticus Finch, the heroic attorney in Lee's novel, tells his daughter not to use the N-word because it's "common." That might've been an enlightened attitude for a Southerner during the Great Depression, but is hopelessly dated now.
I cannot believe a teacher who is supposed to build on the foundations of literature going back thousands of years just used the expression “hopelessly dated.” And which part is hopelessly dated? The use of “common” to mean “lowborn or base”, or holding the attitude that we shouldn’t use the word?
What books should replace these classics? The easiest call is for "Mockingbird." David Guterson's fine "Snow Falling on Cedars" has similar themes and many parallels, and since the novel is set in the San Juan Islands, it would hold more interest for Washington students than the Alabama setting of Lee's novel.
Setting aside the stupidity of determining curriculum by geographic location, don’t you think the phrase “that fucking goddamn lap bitch” [page 251] might be at least as objectionable as “nigger” to some? Does Obama approve of lap dancing?
I think a good substitute for "Mice" would be Tim O'Brien's Vietnam novel "Going After Cacciato."
“Nigger,” Oscar said. The boy lit up. “Nigger!” the boy said. [page 113]
Like George and Lennie in Steinbeck's novel, Cacciato dreams of peace and a better world. And the Vietnam War is a more recent -- and arguably more painful -- era in American history than the Depression, and one of more interest to teens.
What is it with Liberals and the fucking Vietnam War?
Technically, America got involved in the Vietnam conflict in 1950, ten years before To Kill a Mockingbird was published. Don’t you think that’s a little…old…perfessor? Your students weren’t even born until 17 years after the war ended. It has exactly as much relevance to them as the Great Depression.
"Huck Finn" is the toughest book to replace; it's so utterly original. The best choice, in my view, would be Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove." Like Huck, "Dove" involves an epic journey of discovery and loss and addresses an important social issue -- the terrible treatment of women in the Old West. That issue does not rank as high as slavery on our national list of shame, but it definitely makes the list.
“Niggers eat turtles”’ “have a nigger bring you buttermilk”, “I’ve went with a nigger”, “The news about the nigger”, “a bad nigger they ride with”, “I think I hit the nigger”, “Don’t you tie me, nigger boy”, Nigger boy, don’t you get near me”, “and this nigger boy, too”, “you’ve got a nigger for a scout”, “Leave me that nigger”, “They’re just red niggers, anyway”, “Soupy Jones and Bert Borum, who didn’t feel it appropriate for white men to talk much to niggers, exchanged the view that nevertheless this one had been uncommonly decent.” [Lonesome Dove]
Some might call this apostasy; I call it common sense. Obama's victory signals that Americans are ready for change. Let's follow his lead and make a change that removes the N-word from the high school curriculum.
Yeah, John. You’re off to a great start with your suggestions.
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