Should "Huck Finn" Be Banned in Schools for Its Use of the Forbidden N Word?

Source: pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/ren/news/20746544.html

Apparently there are quite a few people out there who believe that the novel "Huck Finn" ought to be prohibited from being used in English cirriculums for its use of the forbidden N word. What do you think?

 

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i think that its political corectness gone mad personally, huck finn is not the only book to use the word NIGGER!!!

and besides why should we be affraid to say NIGGER when black people call themselves it every day

 

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Again. Political correctness is not an invention of the left. Books have been banned by conservatives for all sorts of reasons - sex being high on the list - for a long, long time.

You theory about the use of the N word is worthy of counterargument.

 

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i think for a lot of black children,open discussion of the word nigger might be very embarrassing.
if you have a book that makes a significant proportion of the students uncomfortable there should certainly at least be a discussion about removing it.

 

So if a class that's primarily composed of Jewish kids feels uncomfortable after reading about Nazi horrors and the verbal and physical degradation of Jews in a Holocaust book, is there an argument to remove all holocaust books? An extreme example, but one that follows your basic premise. I think neither should be censored.

 

A friend of mine his son was reading this book at school and he felt very uncomfortable about the use of the word nigger. His dad wanted to talk over the matter with the teacher so he phoned the school. The teacher said to him I really do not see any offense in using the N word. My friend said to the teach if you do not see anything wrong with it, then why have you referred to it as the N word? Case closed.

I'm not a PC person and whilst having this conversation I was ready to fight for freedom of literature (which is important) but on him finishing the story I could only agree with him.

 

There's a big difference between using the N word in its historical and literary context and using it without a care. I don't support the latter, and hiding away from the former does nothing to address the problem. You're essentially giving more power to the word.

 

Ashura in the case I gave this kid was only black kid in his class and he felt uncomfortable in this situation. I do not believe that any kid should be made to feel uncomfortable in the class for any reason.

However, this could be a positive experience and kids could learn from it, I accept that. But it might be a bad experience and that should be avoided.

 

i doubt it would be a problem in schools where they are in the majority as they wouldnt feel like they were being singled out.but certainly if they feel uncomfortable i see no problem with them voicing their concerns.
there is also the point that the subject matter needs to be appropriate for the age/group of people.
you wouldnt show a group of 8 year old jews a book which describes in great detail the suffering of their people,the women raped,the parents forced to choose between children,the operations without anaesthetic.in the same way if i was an english teacher i would hold an open discussion about the word nigger in a class with only one black child.

 

That's retarted. The characters were a product of the time, and their use of the n word should make people uncomfortable to some degree. What ever happened to our critical thinking skills that we should take everything we read as a guide to life.

It's not that it's OK because modern black people use the term, it's OK because we should learn about how things were.

 

No, of course not. But the student in this example is in the 11th grade, almost legally an adult. I think anytime in high school (I personally read Finn in freshman or sophmore year, can't remember which) is fine for this sort of exposure. If not then, then when? College, which is an education step that a lot of people either don't or can't take?

 

retarded?
honestly you think that high school kids are going to go into english class looking for a guide to life?!

this was mainly the fault of a very insensitive teacher.


anyway,its my opinion that nigger is a vulgar word.i would object if the word cunt etc were included in a book that was part of the curriculum too.
but i digress,the place for teaching history is history class.

 

His point was that kids shouldn't look for a guide to life in everything they read, and I completely agree.

Historical fiction is a good place for it too.

 

Here's an example of what happens when this sort of thing gets taken seriously:

http://volokh.com/posts/1204830545.shtml

 

oh ok.,


for sensitive subjects it might be better to deal in facts rather than fiction.
it could be confusing that one of your home countries most revered authors uses racist terms aimed at you,no?

 

No. We're talking about high school kids, not elementary schoolers. I would be very disturbed if most of them couldn't distinguish between Twain trying to insult blacks and writing in a historical context.

 

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prepare to be disturbed.

 

Mostly not, however this one intellectually challenged girl seems to think that all books should be like the bible or something, presenting <gag> positive role models.

 

That's true. I've know whites from the south that used the term, but didn't think it was insulting in any way, that's just what they called them.

 

ever heard of tintin. Same thing