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'Huckleberry Finn' pulled from classes after parent complains
The Lansing State Journal ^
| November 3, 2006
| AP
Posted on 11/03/2006 6:54:37 PM PST by Stoat
'Huckleberry Finn' pulled from classes after parent complains
Associated Press TAYLOR - Mark Twain's classic "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has been pulled from high school classes after a parent of a black student complained that a teacher had students read portions aloud. There is only one black child in the English class where the book, which contains racial slurs, was read aloud and acted out, The Detroit News reported Thursday. The book will remain on the shelves at Taylor School District's high schools. The district's curriculum committee will recommend to the school board whether the book should have a future in district classrooms. "We want to be sensitive to how the children feel," said Lynette Sutton, assistant superintendent for secondary instruction. The 1880s novel about a white boy's first-person account of his adventures along the Mississippi River with a runaway slave named Jim has long been controversial because of its use of racial slurs and its representations of blacks and women. |
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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: alangribben; auburnuniversity; blackkk; books; homeschool; huckfinn; huckleberryfinn; literature; marktwain; moralabsolutes; pc; politicalcorrectness; race; racism; samclemens; samuelclemens; tomsawyer
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To: wintertime
Government schools are an abomination because they deeply offend the freedom of conscious of the taxpaying citizen and the students ( and their parents) who are compelled by police threat to attend them. If our Founding Fathers could have imagined the government schools of today they would have included freedom from government education in our Bill of Right.************
Excellent observations.
201
posted on
11/04/2006 8:36:32 AM PST
by
trisham
(Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
To: gidget7
Here is a link to a lawsuit of more than one.
Thanks for the link. But being sued to pull a book and pulling a book because it offends one person are two different things. Agreed?
202
posted on
11/04/2006 10:35:23 AM PST
by
Jaysun
(Let's not ruin this moment with words.)
To: Stoat
While this is sad, what is sadder is that I heard the same complaint from a student in a graduate seminar in American Lit.
To: Jaysun
"Thanks for the link. But being sued to pull a book and pulling a book because it offends one person are two different things. Agreed?"
Yes but you seem to miss the point. The lawsuit is because.........they refused to pull any books on the subject, even though many complained. Yet this school pulls Huck Finn, when one complains. Quite a double standard. Not to mention the books many complained about were NOT classics, in fact are quite new and are pushing an agenda.
204
posted on
11/04/2006 10:52:23 AM PST
by
gidget7
(Political Correctness is Marxism with a nose job)
To: gidget7
Thanks Gidget, I could not for the life of me remember the name of the other website! I have it bookmarked, just couldn't remember!
205
posted on
11/04/2006 1:51:00 PM PST
by
acapesket
(never had a vote count in all my years here)
To: gidget7
Yes but you seem to miss the point. The lawsuit is because.........they refused to pull any books on the subject, even though many complained. Yet this school pulls Huck Finn, when one complains. Quite a double standard. Not to mention the books many complained about were NOT classics, in fact are quite new and are pushing an agenda.
I see. I got the point, I just didn't realize that we were on the same page. Thanks.
206
posted on
11/04/2006 1:59:21 PM PST
by
Jaysun
(Let's not ruin this moment with words.)
To: acapesket
Not a problem, my friend, glad I could help!
207
posted on
11/04/2006 1:59:42 PM PST
by
gidget7
(Political Correctness is Marxism with a nose job)
To: Jaysun
208
posted on
11/04/2006 2:01:01 PM PST
by
gidget7
(Political Correctness is Marxism with a nose job)
To: Hugin
Why don't we agree to spell it niger and argue over the pronunciation?
209
posted on
11/04/2006 2:06:20 PM PST
by
Old Professer
(The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
To: Lonesome in Massachussets
210
posted on
11/04/2006 2:07:24 PM PST
by
Old Professer
(The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
To: msnimje
Don't blame Johnny's mother. Blame the Assistant Superintendent for giving in to the mother's request.
211
posted on
11/04/2006 2:12:30 PM PST
by
353FMG
(I never met a liberal I didn't dislike.)
To: LexBaird
Have you read the Red Badge of Courage?
212
posted on
11/04/2006 2:21:19 PM PST
by
Old Professer
(The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
To: Jorge
Shoot, everybody else has tried to get through, I may as well try.
The use of this word then by Clemens was indeed meant to frame the characters and there was no better way to make the point that what you see is not always what you get; our current problem with slurs is that we pretend they don't exist and by not using them the feelings and nuances of their use will simply disappear.
So yes, one must read Huckleberry Finn to fully understand that it wasn't a simple laziness of speech that led to the popular use for that word in those darker times (Darker, will that get me in trouble?), but an intentional wake-up call that society was becoming too redivided in that postwar era fought bravely and hard to reunify a country so recently torn apart.
We don't judge books by their covers and we can't just tear off the flyleaf and lay them facedown, either.
213
posted on
11/04/2006 2:31:06 PM PST
by
Old Professer
(The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
To: supremedoctrine
I thought I was the only person who went to different schools with famous people at the same time.
214
posted on
11/04/2006 2:41:21 PM PST
by
Old Professer
(The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
To: Stoat
I find this really funny. Jim is the hero and the moral center of the story, yet people do not want to read the story.
My daughter who is black tells me all the readings at all the Highschools are about black women victims...they are abused and sexually promiscuous. My daughter was embarrassed. This is how the left views blacks.
215
posted on
11/04/2006 4:24:39 PM PST
by
Chickensoup
(If you don't go to the holy war, the holy war will come to you.)
To: wintertime
It's all part of the sick, cancerous pattern of always bending over backwards to please Leftist special interests.....Stoat
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The solution is to begin the process of privatizing universal K-12 education.
Remember, any government powerful enough to force one child to sit through Mark Twain is powerful enough to force your child to sit through "Heather has Two Mommies".As someone who has enthusiastically supported Homeschooling long before it was ever legal, I of course agree.
216
posted on
11/04/2006 4:28:39 PM PST
by
Stoat
(Rice / Coulter 2008: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
To: Trailerpark Badass
While this is sad, what is sadder is that I heard the same complaint from a student in a graduate seminar in American Lit.Yes, "Public" (Government-run) Universities as well as institutions far earlier in the academic path have long had their Literature and English departments corrupted by the Left. Such courses no longer serve as a gateway to the joys of fine, world-class literature and the Classics but mainly serve as indoctrination camps, led by Leftist professors who intentionally select literature that supports Leftist dogma or they twist and corrupt the meanings of classic works in order to further their agenda.
It's awfully tough to find 'true' Classical education without going to an expensive private or religious school or through Homeschooling or focused self-study.
217
posted on
11/04/2006 4:40:05 PM PST
by
Stoat
(Rice / Coulter 2008: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
To: Old Professer
Have you read the Red Badge of Courage? Many years ago.
218
posted on
11/04/2006 5:10:13 PM PST
by
LexBaird
(98% satisfaction guaranteed. There's just no pleasing some people.)
To: gidget7
Quite a double standard
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Good Point!
Down on the Animal Farm, the politically favored get to sleep in the barn. The rest get the barn.
Do you see? It is impossible for the government to be neutral to all parties involved. It can not have the books in the classroom and not have them at the same time. It is impossible!
No matter what the government does it will favor and ESTABLISH the political, cultural, and RELIGIOUS beliefs of the politically powerful. At the same time is WILL actively and even maliciously destroy the values ( some of them religious) of the less favored.
This is why government schools are an abomination. They will ALWAYS deeply violate the freedom of conscience of the less powerful. The pigs living in the Farmer's House will alway get to indoctrinate the rest of the animals.
Why doesn't someone drive a stake into the heart of government schooling? Why doesn't someone sue these government school monstrosities for violation of free assembly, free press, free speech, and establishment of political, cultural, and religious belief?
219
posted on
11/04/2006 5:22:32 PM PST
by
wintertime
(Good ideas win! Why? Because people are not stupid)
To: Chickensoup
I find this really funny. Jim is the hero and the moral center of the story, yet people do not want to read the story. Yes, it makes no sense at all, and is the result of several factors, including but not limited to
- A disinterest on the part of some parents to actually read the book and to develop an interest in understanding it's true meaning and significance.
- The overwhelming 'victim' mentality that is eagerly embraced by an unfortunately large number of people
- The numerous Governmental and non-Government organizations and agencies that foster and perpetuate this victimhood mentality
- The social acceptance of shouting "RACISM!" at the slightest provocation
- The choking, smothering and all-pervasive prevalence of Television in our culture, which for many replaces literature as well as serving to crush the mental abilities to find subtleties and broader meanings in stories
My daughter who is black tells me all the readings at all the Highschools are about black women victims...they are abused and sexually promiscuous. My daughter was embarrassed. This is how the left views blacks.
I'm terribly saddened to hear that your daughter is being subjected to this, but she is very lucky to have a parent as yourself who recognizes the problem, takes an interest in her education (many don't) and can disprove the lies that they are trying to indoctrinate her with.
I'm wondering if you have considered homeschooling or a focused self-study regimen for her, as this will be a problem that will only get worse in College?
There are many here on this thread and elsewhere on Free Republic who can give you far better specific recommendations on pursuing this option than myself (sadly, I was never Blessed with children).
A route that I have been pursuing has been the Great Books Ten Year Reading Plan (this is free and the books should be available at most libraries, as well as being freely available online)
Ten Year Reading Plan
There is also the Great Books Lifetime Reading Plan
Fadiman and Major. New Lifetime Reading Plan, 4th ed.
Amazon.com The New Lifetime Reading Plan The Classical Guide to World Literature, Revised and Expanded Books Clifton Fadiman,John S. Major
220
posted on
11/04/2006 5:24:12 PM PST
by
Stoat
(Rice / Coulter 2008: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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