Children should not have to read books with racial slurs as a part of their elementary education.
How many times do I have to type this before you understand?
Dearest Jorge, remember what I said about "speed-reading" not being our friend? Perhaps you should go back and read the article at the beginning of this thread. Since you're on meds, please allow me to assist you.
Quote: "Mark Twain's classic "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" has been pulled from high school classes..."
Now, I know that you probably just stumbled over the very first sentence in the article and didn't comprehend it before you decided to make your first post, but it's not too late to read it now.
Huckleberry Finn wasn't banned from "elementary" education classes. It was being banned in "high school classes". :)
Why not?
How many times do I have to type this before you understand?
Your typing it is an unsupported declaration. Explain why it is bad for children to be exposed to unpleasant things, when it contains a lesson as to WHY they are bad.
By the time kids read "Finn", they are well old enough to understand prejudice. If their only exposure to the term comes as rap lyrics and playground insults, how are they to understand the social implications of racism it carries? It becomes just a "shock" word, like "M*****F*****.
No one who slings that term is really accusing the target of incest with their mother. It is used for insult and shock. Same with racial slurs. "Finn" gives kids some insight into the time when it wasn't a racial insult; it was just the commonplace perception of Blacks by Whites. It was a social given that Blacks were inferior, almost not human. It is that sort of context that students need to understand how vile their "shock" term is, and why modern society condemns its use.