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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: Rembrandt_fan; All
These are the same people who think the Three Fifths Clause was an attempt to devalue the lives of slaves by saying they were only worth three fifths of a white person.
Just a bunch of raging idiots.
61
posted on
11/03/2006 8:10:23 PM PST
by
rlmorel
(The US Media...Where you get Million Dollar Words From people with a Ten Cent Fart for a brain.)
To: acapesket
Too Late.
The Mass Teachers Association has already locked up the school system. A gnat cannot fart without direction from the MTA.
62
posted on
11/03/2006 8:12:15 PM PST
by
rlmorel
(The US Media...Where you get Million Dollar Words From people with a Ten Cent Fart for a brain.)
To: Stoat
"I wonder if God invented man because He was disappointed in the monkey?"
Mark Twain
63
posted on
11/03/2006 8:13:19 PM PST
by
stboz
To: Stoat
I allowed my 10yo son to read "Huckleberry Finn", but I sympathize with this parent. I'm sure it's not easy being the only black kid in the class. I sure remember being the only white kid on the school bus, and I know that wasn't easy.
I would also guess that this parent probably wouldn't agree with books like "King and King" being brought into the classroom, either. Just a guess.
64
posted on
11/03/2006 8:15:11 PM PST
by
Tired of Taxes
(That's taxes, not Texas. I have no beef with TX. NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation.)
To: Lonesome in Massachussets
The greatest bit of irony in that book is when Huck is talking to a "good Christian woman" about him being on a steam ship whose boiler exploded. When asked if anyone was hurt, he replies, "No'm, killed a nigger." Relieved, she says "That's good."
It was a terrific anti-slavery/anti-racism piece, and yet, year after year, (black or guilt-feeling pansy white) people want it banned from here and there. Maybe someday they'll grow a damned brain.
To: Nova442
Fahrenheit 451, here we come.
66
posted on
11/03/2006 8:18:10 PM PST
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: Stoat
Christ, just don't let this lady see you reading Huckleberry Finn while eating at Cracker Barrel.
67
posted on
11/03/2006 8:18:11 PM PST
by
VeniVidiVici
(Kerry's remark about stupid troops is a kerfuffle rolled into a macaca.)
To: Republicanprofessor; Tired of Taxes; DaveLoneRanger
68
posted on
11/03/2006 8:19:47 PM PST
by
metmom
(Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
To: Stoat
My teacher just gave me another choice when I objected to a couple of books in junior high. The teacher didn't quibble and there were no expectations of others having to follow suit; just a book report and a requirement to listen to the class discussions about the other books.
69
posted on
11/03/2006 8:21:53 PM PST
by
skr
(We cannot play innocents abroad in a world that is not innocent.-- Ronald Reagan)
To: FlingWingFlyer
This so-called "parent" needs their ass kicked. This is America! We have a First Amendment. Mark Twain is America! Huck Finn is America! This "parent" is a scumbag. You're joking right?
The fact is, if there are racial slurs, it doesn't belong in a public school.
This "parent" is right and you are wrong. Period.
70
posted on
11/03/2006 8:25:14 PM PST
by
Jorge
To: Stoat
One of my best memories of school was being in the 6th grade and every day after lunch for the length of the story the teacher would turn out most of the room lights and read Huck Finn aloud for about 1/2 hour.
To: VeniVidiVici
Christ, just don't let this lady see you reading Huckleberry Finn while eating at Cracker Barrel
Or let anybody know at FR you think Oscar Wilde was a great writer.
To: Central Scrutiniser
Yeah, but if it was pulled for teaching evolution, then people would cheer, right? same difference.
73
posted on
11/03/2006 8:29:26 PM PST
by
countess
To: DeFault User
Huckleberry Finn should be recognized as the most important book of the Civil Rights movement. That is the great irony. Anyone who thinks that Huckleberry Finn is a racist book clearly has either never read it or is unable to understand it.
74
posted on
11/03/2006 8:31:21 PM PST
by
Bubba_Leroy
(What did Rather know and when did he know it?)
To: Stoat
Apparently this parent has never read the book. One parent's ignorance should not a policy make.
75
posted on
11/03/2006 8:33:27 PM PST
by
Chena
("I'm not young enough to know everything." (Oscar Wilde))
To: Jorge
You wrote, "The fact is, if there are racial slurs, it doesn't belong in a public school."
Read the book, Jorge. For the love of God, just read the book. Twain's novel one of the most insightful, beautifully rendered allegories on the nature of friendship, justice, and racial equality ever written. The kind of blind, rubber-stamping censorship you advocate flies in the face of reason and all we know about the power of great literature.
To: Rembrandt_fan
The crucial scene in the novel shows Huck at war with himself; the society of his day has been teaching him from birth that turning in Jim is the right thing to do, the legal thing to do, the only thing to do. It goes even deeper: Huck thinks he will be literally damned to Hell if he doesn't turn in Jim to the authorities. But he doesn't, willing to endure the fires of Hell forever rather than betray the trust of his friend. Unfortunately, I don't think the parents got to that point. They probably saw "n-----r," and freaked. Too bad this isn't a teachable moment for the parent too.
77
posted on
11/03/2006 8:36:47 PM PST
by
jude24
("I will oppose the sword if it's not wielded well, because my enemies are men like me.")
To: healy61
78
posted on
11/03/2006 8:42:22 PM PST
by
Bubba_Leroy
(What did Rather know and when did he know it?)
To: Jorge
The fact is, if there are racial slurs, it doesn't belong in a public school. This "parent" is right and you are wrong. Period.I disagree. Teaching children about literature, past and present, is an important part of their rounded education. Huckleberry Finn is not a HATE novel. There are valuable lessons to be learned in that novel whether you are white or black. In this instance, the parent would have been wiser to be an educator for the child rather than a sensor. This was a valuable, teachable moment for this parent, and this parent chose to fight rather than teach.
79
posted on
11/03/2006 8:43:27 PM PST
by
Chena
("I'm not young enough to know everything." (Oscar Wilde))
To: Rembrandt_fan
Read the book, Jorge. For the love of God, just read the book. Instead of handing out reading assignments, why don't you save us both time and just address the issues raised in the article?
Twain's novel one of the most insightful, beautifully rendered allegories on the nature of friendship, justice, and racial equality ever written. The kind of blind, rubber-stamping censorship you advocate flies in the face of reason and all we know about the power of great literature.
This is all very nice, but I'm still waiting for you to explain why black children in school should have to read books with racial slurs as part of their education?
80
posted on
11/03/2006 8:48:20 PM PST
by
Jorge
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