Edit Huck Finn to eliminate n***** and injun?

[FlaSoxxJim]

Poor teaching isn't a reason to censor a book so as to remove its meaning. If teachers can't properly put the book into context and ensure that the students understand Twain, then they shouldn't be teaching the book at all. Neutering it so that you can have kids read a "classic" just makes the situation worse.

 

FWIW, Twain's probably my favorite writer and I think he should be taught more than he is.

 

 

I re-read Letters From Earth every couple of years.

 

[Buehrle>Wood]

Uncle Tom's Cabin should be rewritten to not mention slavery.

[FlaSoxxJim]

Uncle Tom's Cabin should be rewritten to not mention slavery.

 

Then it would be called Walt Disney's Song of the South.

 

Uncle Remus. . . the Happiest Slave on Earth!

[chw42]

They should have a Kids version and an Adult version. Get rid of the slurs in the kids ones. That way, you can have the book in schools without people complaining and still have the original version accessible to those who are mature enough to handle the content.

Edited January 8, 2011 by chw42

[Texsox]

Thoughts from 27 Pre-Ap 8th grade Hispanic students at my school.

 

Should the words be changed?

All said the book should be read just as the author intended. It's a silly label that does not apply to anyone today.

 

OK, what if the offending word was wetback, s***, or beaner? How would you feel about being required to read the book?

We would want to read it as the author wrote it, it just shows the user's ignorance.

 

What if instead of being in a classroom where everyone is Hispanic, you were the only one or there was only one or two other Mexicans?

That might be a little weird.

I was up north at a white school and anytime stuff like that came up everyone was uncomfortable, looking at me to see what I was doing.

Yeah, in Michigan they would try to speak Spanish and I would be pissed, I speak English.

I'd have a hard time reading n***** aloud if there was a black person in class.

 

Would you have a hard time reading slave aloud?

IDK

I don't think so, it seems easier than n*****.

That would be a problem also.

 

I really like Twain. This summer I took a steamboat trip to the island where so much was set and walked the streets to see the stores and houses. Anyone who speaks confidently of what Twain would do today is just guessing.

 

There is so much material to be uncovered in most required scope and sequences, I'm not certain I would teach Twain unedited in an English class. I would want to spend most of the time discussing the racial aspects, and that is not part of any English class requirements I can think of. And just like y'all in your jobs, you have to major in the major stuff.

 

I also believe there is a misunderstanding that Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are books for children. I read them when I was in middle school, blissfully unaware of any controversy, and much like Balta, believing people just talked that way back then. Reading them a couple years ago was far more interesting.