Mississippi School District Pulls "To Kill a Mockingbird" from Shelves

piglet too · Oct 17, 2017

Magpie - just wanted to comment on your bringing up “The Hate U Give” as not many I know have heard of it, much less read it. I would love to see schools include this in their curriculum (probably not until high school though) but can’t imagine that it would ever get past the naysayers. This is probably the best book I’ve read this year, and one of the most powerful books I’ve read in a very long time.

Gumbo4x4 · Oct 17, 2017

Magpie said:
Sometimes it's just bad luck.

I had to do Wolfe and Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham three years in a row, thanks to changing schools once, followed by a province-wide rejigging of the Canadian History curriculum. Ugh! I was SO sick of that period of Canadian history!

Ugh, in my case the 3 years were spent in the same building - 2 with the same teacher (our school was so small, we didn't have a dedicated 5th grade teacher. 1/2 of 5th shared a teacher with 4th grade, the other 1/2 with 6th grade. The 6th grade teacher also served as our principal).

luvsJack · Oct 17, 2017

yoopermom said:
Perhaps not "ban" but definitely "make it much more difficult to access". Many children and young adults don't have access to their public library (parent doesn't take them, too far to walk, parent doesn't want to have to deal with lost items/fines, etc, etc) and many also don't have electronic devices and/or do not use them to access books(whether by choice or due to financial circumstances). A school library provides easy access to a collection of materials that are accessible to all students in that building.

(Stepping down off my soapbox....)

Terri

But it IS in the school library and if they choose to read the book they CAN with the book club thing. Good night, this is being made into way more of an issue than it is. No one is burning books.

The district that all of this is concerning, access to public libraries would be fairly easy to the majority of the kids. And I would bet the rest do in fact have access to some kind of electronic device to read on.

BrianL · Oct 17, 2017

luvsJack said:
But it IS in the school library and if they choose to read the book they CAN with the book club thing. Good night, this is being made into way more of an issue than it is. No one is burning books.

The district that all of this is concerning, access to public libraries would be fairly easy to the majority of the kids. And I would bet the rest do in fact have access to some kind of electronic device to read on.

But how realistic is it really to get those kids to check the book out of the library and read it if it isn't required, especially when their parents are against it? I think, at least in my case, that the problem I have here is with people demanding the book be taken off the curriculum because of one word, despite it being an absolute masterpiece of a novel that teaches important and positive lessons. What I deplore is this knee-jerk reaction without considering the context. I understand that the superintendent is in a tough spot with the parents here.

luvsJack · Oct 17, 2017

BrianL said:
But how realistic is it really to get those kids to check the book out of the library and read it if it isn't required, especially when their parents are against it? I think, at least in my case, that the problem I have here is with people demanding the book be taken off the curriculum because of one word, despite it being an absolute masterpiece of a novel that teaches important and positive lessons. What I deplore is this knee-jerk reaction without considering the context. I understand that the superintendent is in a tough spot with the parents here.

If I had a kid in the district, I may feel differently but curriculums are changed all the time. Sometimes every year. Books that are required this year may not ever be required again. I have three kids, all three had different books as required reading. They still read some great books and learned the required skills they needed for college classes, which is exactly what high school should be doing.

I read Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Those books have been a long time since removed. Other books went in their place. No one asked why are really even cared. The students just read the books put in their place.

And they still have not even said who or how many were against the book so its not like the entire student body will be not allowed to read it because their parents are against it (and isn't that the right of the parent to say what their child should and should not be exposed to?) . Besides, what teens do you know that won't access a book they want to read even if their parents are against it? That is usually like waving a red flag in front of a bull! lol

If this book was removed from the curriculum at any other time, in any other state, I just don't see it making national news.

Magpie · Oct 17, 2017

BrianL said:
But how realistic is it really to get those kids to check the book out of the library and read it if it isn't required, especially when their parents are against it? I think, at least in my case, that the problem I have here is with people demanding the book be taken off the curriculum because of one word, despite it being an absolute masterpiece of a novel that teaches important and positive lessons. What I deplore is this knee-jerk reaction without considering the context. I understand that the superintendent is in a tough spot with the parents here.

Again, that raises the question, which books should we require kids to read? Is this one of them?

Also... just a thought, but after reading an article about how public schools are increasingly segregated by race these days (due to housing and economic factors), I'm having a hard time imagining teaching this book to a classroom full of urban, low income, black kids. Will they really take important and positive lessons from this masterpiece of literature? Or, would another masterpiece be better suited to them?

That said, I personally think the board president is a giant weenie for giving in to the "I don't like that word" parents. Either that, or he's passive aggressively trying to stir up a controversy. Ie, doing what they want, but not really.

BrianL · Oct 17, 2017

luvsJack said:
If I had a kid in the district, I may feel differently but curriculums are changed all the time. Sometimes every year. Books that are required this year may not ever be required again. I have three kids, all three had different books as required reading. They still read some great books and learned the required skills they needed for college classes, which is exactly what high school should be doing.

I read Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Those books have been a long time since removed. Other books went in their place. No one asked why are really even cared. The students just read the books put in their place.

And they still have not even said who or how many were against the book so its not like the entire student body will be not allowed to read it because their parents are against it (and isn't that the right of the parent to say what their child should and should not be exposed to?) . Besides, what teens do you know that won't access a book they want to read even if their parents are against it? That is usually like waving a red flag in front of a bull! lol

If this book was removed from the curriculum at any other time, in any other state, I just don't see it making national news.

But it is the reason why it is being changed (same for Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, though I wouldn't say they give quite as positive of a moral lesson as TKAM), that is problematic. It's reactionary and doesn't account for a thoughtful discussion about why or why the book should or should not be taught. Yes, you are right that the parents have the right to make the decision as to what their kids are exposed to, but that does not mean they will make good decisions for proper reasons, and that is what I find dishearenting.

Regarding the question "what teens do I know that won't access a book they want to read?" I would surmise that most teens won't access a book at all if they aren't required to for class. Most teenagers aren't as into reading as most of us here probably were.

BrianL · Oct 17, 2017

Magpie said:
Again, that raises the question, which books should we require kids to read? Is this one of them?

Also... just a thought, but after reading an article about how public schools are increasingly segregated by race these days (due to housing and economic factors), I'm having a hard time imagining teaching this book to a classroom full of urban, low income, black kids. Will they really take important and positive lessons from this masterpiece of literature? Or, would another masterpiece be better suited to them?

That said, I personally think the board president is a giant weenie for giving in to the "I don't like that word" parents. Either that, or he's passive aggressively trying to stir up a controversy. Ie, doing what they want, but not really.

It is one thing to have a thoughtful conversation about which books to teach and which are best suited for the audience that makes up the student body, but I don't think that's what this is. This is a reactionary attempt to shelter the kids from a book dealing with an unpleasant subject matter and a particularly offensive word. Hiding this stuff away from kids is not very beneficial as far as I'm concerned.

ELKA · Oct 17, 2017

Magpie said:
Here we have a book told from the perspective of a little white girl living in the 1930's. It's a good book! But, how does it relate to my students' experience of racism today? Is it relevant to a world with Black Lives Matter, and "Hands up, don't shoot!", and Muslim bans, and jerrymandered voting districts?

I think a good teacher can help their students to relate certain happenings in the past and bring it to the present. A good book no matter the time portrayed has relevance. In TKAM it does show harassment, the Ewells; false allegations, rape charge; they did try to lynch the only Jew in the district by buying the sheets from his store and wore them to his house, being KKK members to make him leave; voting districts by year should be easy to get, especially your district. You can show how whichever party is in control can move the lines of the district.

Magpie said:
But, if the lesson is, "Racism was a problem back in the 30's. See how far we've come? Yay, us!" then we have an issue. Because while we don't have separate drinking fountains, the fact is that schools are more segregated today than they were in the late 1960's.

You could teach them both the history in the 1930s, when the story takes place and how in 1960 when the book was published that the systemic racism was entrenched but was being challenged and laws were then created so that people had a right to live where they wanted, had a job they were qualified for and were seen as people. A Black man was elected President, and then ask could things be better and how can that happen.

Magpie · Oct 17, 2017

BrianL said:
It is one thing to have a thoughtful conversation about which books to teach and which are best suited for the audience that makes up the student body, but I don't think that's what this is. This is a reactionary attempt to shelter the kids from a book dealing with an unpleasant subject matter and a particularly offensive word. Hiding this stuff away from kids is not very beneficial as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not really convinced that's what it is, either. Especially with the book club option being made available to students, twice a week.

If you think about it, all the controversy over this is likely to make the book club seem very attractive, especially to those kids whose parents don't want them to read it.

While some of the parents making the original complaint may be reactionary and over-protective, I'm not sure that's where the school board is coming from at all.

Magpie · Oct 17, 2017

ELKA said:
I think a good teacher can help their students to relate certain happenings in the past and bring it to the present. A good book no matter the time portrayed has relevance. In TKAM it does show harassment, the Ewells; false allegations, rape charge; they did try to lynch the only Jew in the district by buying the sheets from his store and wore them to his house, being KKK members to make him leave; voting districts by year should be easy to get, especially your district. You can show how whichever party is in control can move the lines of the district.

You could teach them both the history in the 1930s, when the story takes place and how in 1960 when the book was published that the systemic racism was entrenched but was being challenged and laws were then created so that people had a right to live where they wanted, had a job they were qualified for and were seen as people. A Black man was elected President, and then ask could things be better and how can that happen.

Yes, you absolutely could. And that would be an excellent lesson plan!

And yes, a good teacher can take almost any book and make it relevant.

A good teacher also knows there are many, many excellent books to choose from (including this one), and will choose the one that best matches her students' interests. And that book might be TKaM, or it might be a different book entirely.

And a mediocre teacher... :laughing:

I well remember, in the late 80's, one of my teachers trying to do a unit on women's rights. She taught us about sufferage in the 1920's. Bra burning in the 60's. Then she played a scratchy recording of some marching songs, and was tearing up as the voice on the tape warbled, "Our mothers were raped and murdered...!" while we all sat there uncomfortably, feeling embarrassed for her. Our consciousnesses were not raised that day!

FlightlessDuck · Oct 17, 2017

Magpie said:
Again, that raises the question, which books should we require kids to read? Is this one of them?

Shouldn't that be decided by the professionals who create the curriculum for their school districts and the state department of education which creates the standards for each grade level?

Magpie · Oct 17, 2017

FlightlessDuck said:
Shouldn't that be decided by the professionals who create the curriculum for their school districts and the state department of education which creates the standards for each grade level?

Well, and these professionals apparently don't actually require this book. It seems there's a variety of books for the schools to choose from, and this district has chosen a different one.

FlightlessDuck · Oct 17, 2017

Magpie said:
Well, and these professionals apparently don't actually require this book. It seems there's a variety of books for the schools to choose from, and this district has chosen a different one.

The article makes it sound like it was part of the curriculum until there were complaints.

sam_gordon · Oct 17, 2017

BrianL said:
To Kill a Mockingbird is an American classic and perhaps the best novel ever written.

Magpie · Oct 17, 2017

FlightlessDuck said:
The article makes it sound like it was part of the curriculum until their were complaints.

Sure, but I'm assuming their curriculum allows for some flexibility. At least, every one I've encountered does. "These are the books available for 8th grade English. Here are study guides to go with them. Pick three. Have at it!"

FlightlessDuck · Oct 17, 2017

Magpie said:
Sure, but I'm assuming their curriculum allows for some flexibility. At least, every one I've encountered does. "These are the books available for 8th grade English. Here are study guides to go with them. Pick three. Have at it!"

Yeah, I guess that depends on the district.

scoutie · Oct 17, 2017

We don't make kids read the Iliad any more, either. Or Pilgrim's Progress. Or the Canterbury Tales.

My school district does.

The reason To Kill a Mockingbird was pulled is because it made some people uncomfortable. That's a problem. Those who are saying the school should teach a newer book---classes often do teach more than one novel. You can have a more contemporary novel like THE HATE U GIVE (but the language in that book might make it hard for school districts to implement), as well as classic novels. They make for good comparisons. To Kill A Mockingbird is taught to our 8th grade AP students and I absolutely think it should stay.

What I find interesting is that the amount of parents who are horrified by this book, yet I wonder if they are monitoring their children's snapchat, internet use, etc., with parental controls. In my experience this is not the case.

Magpie · Oct 17, 2017

scoutie said:
My school district does.

The reason To Kill a Mockingbird was pulled is because it made some people uncomfortable. That's a problem. Those who are saying the school should teach a newer book---classes often do teach more than one novel. You can have a more contemporary novel like THE HATE U GIVE (but the language in that book might make it hard for school districts to implement), as well as classic novels. They make for good comparisons. To Kill A Mockingbird is taught to our 8th grade AP students and I absolutely think it should stay.

What I find interesting is that the amount of parents who are horrified by this book, yet I wonder if they are monitoring their children's snapchat, internet use, etc., with parental controls. In my experience this is not the case.

Scoutie, is your username a cool coincidence or deliberate?

scoutie · Oct 17, 2017

Scoutie, is your username a cool coincidence or deliberate?

Deliberate!

I wanted it to be "Scout", but that had been taken.

Mississippi School District Pulls "To Kill a Mockingbird" from Shelves

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