To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee taken off Mississippi school reading list - Sensationalist Headlines

[QUOTE]Kenny Holloway, vice-president of the Biloxi School Board, told the newspaper: 'There were complaints about it. There is some language in the book that makes people uncomfortable, and we can teach the same lesson with other books. It’s still in our library. But they’re going to use another book in the 8th-grade course.'[/QUOTE] [URL]https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/14/to-kill-a-mockingbird-harper-lee-mississippi-school-reading-list[/URL]

nobody in 8th grade really enjoys the book anyway, and making a bunch of pre-teens say nigger 48 times doesn't accomplish anything meaningful. they're still allowed to read it, they just don't have to. like any book it'll have a greater impact if it's read on one's own time rather than on the teacher's

[QUOTE=butre;52780566]nobody in 8th grade really enjoys the book anyway, and making a bunch of pre-teens say nigger 48 times doesn't accomplish anything meaningful. they're still allowed to read it, they just don't have to. like any book it'll have a greater impact if it's read on one's own time rather than on the teacher's[/QUOTE] I don't think you really read it at all

To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the best books I've ever read. There's foul language in it? Language like that is used and heard every single day. Also, taking off or banning books = censorship? :thinking:

[QUOTE=butre;52780566]nobody in 8th grade really enjoys the book anyway, and making a bunch of pre-teens say nigger 48 times doesn't accomplish anything meaningful. they're still allowed to read it, they just don't have to. like any book it'll have a greater impact if it's read on one's own time rather than on the teacher's[/QUOTE] Speak for yourself. It's definitely one of the best assigned readings I've had in school,and it has a great message.

[QUOTE=Mio Akiyama;52780575]I don't think you really read it at all[/QUOTE] I went to the same school that this is happening at and all that happened was whenever someone said nigger there were a couple giggles around the room. it's meaning fell on deaf ears to a bunch of eighth graders. nothing meaningful was accomplished. [QUOTE=kijji;52780581]To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the best books I've ever read. There's foul language in it? Language like that is used and heard every single day. Also, taking off or banning books = censorship? :thinking:[/QUOTE] it's not censorship, it's not banning books. it's still available in the school library and in book stores nationwide. it's just changing the curriculum.

[QUOTE=butre;52780566]nobody in 8th grade really enjoys the book anyway, and making a bunch of pre-teens say nigger 48 times doesn't accomplish anything meaningful. they're still allowed to read it, they just don't have to. like any book it'll have a greater impact if it's read on one's own time rather than on the teacher's[/QUOTE] To Kill a Mockingbird had a greater impact on me than any single other book I read in my entire school career. It was more impactful on me than Shakespeare. It is absolutely important for kids to read, ESPECIALLY in 2017, and ESPECIALLY in Southern states like Mississippi. Removing this book from the reading list because you're too pussy to have kids read the word nigger is only allowing racism to be stronger.

[QUOTE=butre;52780588]I went to the same school that this is happening at and all that happened was whenever someone said nigger there were a couple giggles around the room. it's meaning fell on deaf ears to a bunch of eighth graders. nothing meaningful was accomplished.[/QUOTE] Interesting how you can speak for thousands of people's reaction to a book. Are you psychic now?

[QUOTE=Empty_Shadow;52780599]Interesting how you can speak for thousands of people's reaction to a book. Are you psychic now?[/QUOTE] I mean I've got a sample size of about 30

Imagine being offended by literature. Even if the kids are genuinely "uncomfortable" reading it because of a certain word they should really be teaching them to just deal with it.

this is a little finicky. I can understand not wanting to make students feel uncomfortable. but that discomfort may be a really valuable teaching tool. Education should be a little uncomfortable and push your boundaries. It's all a question of degrees... like if it's creating an actual hostile environment for the students, sure. But that environment should be weighed against the positive aspects of keeping it in the curriculum. It's an important book. An interesting thought is to whether black students or white students or both are the ones made uncomfortable by it. If it's black students only (who see a hostile environment arising as a result), that gives some merit. If it's both black and white students, it might be worth keeping it in to tackle the subject of our history as a class. And if it's only white students, it's a coin-flip. It toes a fine line between simply white-washing the past, with students uncomfortable with seeing it and learning about how it still affects us today, and with creating a sense of "white guilt" which should absolutely be avoided in fear of driving wedges. tricky situation for sure. I'm not envious of most school administrators, to be honest. No matter what decision you make on any particular subject you're going to get shat on by a portion of the parents of your students, because each parent has their own view of what is good for their kid.

[QUOTE=ilikecorn;52780606]Everyone's at a different place in 8th grade. In 8th grade this book had no impact on me at all, except making my life a living hell for 2 weeks because of "now don't read ahead, we're all going to read together and talk about it". It had a bigger impact on me a year ago, because I was mature enough to actually pay attention to the themes, and appreciate the "down" times in the book. I mean I think its kinda dumb to have book assignments before highschool. Especially if they're going to have more "mature" themes. Because half the time the mature theme goes completely over your head and all you can sit and focus on is just how bored you are, and all you can hope to gain out of the book is a passing grade on the test that you're inevitably going to have over the book.[/QUOTE] Am I alone in that I enjoyed it on my first read. I distinctly remember tearing up a little bit at the ending when I was young. It really nails the landing. Also anyone willing to bust my chiffarobe?

[QUOTE=kijji;52780581]To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the best books I've ever read. There's foul language in it? Language like that is used and heard every single day. Also, taking off or banning books = censorship? :thinking:[/QUOTE] Of all the dumb books I was given to read in school, "To Kill a Mockingbird" was the best hands down, and a good book in its own right. I think my folks have the book somewhere in the library, I may want to re-read it again. Yeah the message and the themes in the book are freaking powerful and I daresay is relative even many years later.

[QUOTE=butre;52780566]nobody in 8th grade really enjoys the book anyway, and making a bunch of pre-teens say nigger 48 times doesn't accomplish anything meaningful. they're still allowed to read it, they just don't have to. like any book it'll have a greater impact if it's read on one's own time rather than on the teacher's[/QUOTE] Bull fucking shit. Coming a small public school in Alabama where half the students hated to read assigned books and usually never found a real interest in the assigned books. This book blew us the fuck away, it genuinely captivated everyone because it was well written and we could relate to it as we were from the state it was set in.

[QUOTE=ilikecorn;52780606]Everyone's at a different place in 8th grade. In 8th grade this book had no impact on me at all, except making my life a living hell for 2 weeks because of "now don't read ahead, we're all going to read together and talk about it".[/QUOTE] This is a problem more with the way reading assignments are done in school than anything else. It's shitty no matter what the material is and just punishes fast readers.

[QUOTE=DinoJesus;52780615]Am I alone in that I enjoyed it on my first read. I distinctly remember tearing up a little bit at the ending when I was young. It really nails the landing.[/QUOTE] I probably would have enjoyed it on my first read if it wasn't a school assignment. it is a good well-written book but having to read at the pace of the frankly quite dumb kids in my class ruined it for me.

Also I don't remember anyone in my grade ever joking about the use of nigger in the book. Even as a kid it seemed to hot an area to giggle about in class.

I'm not surprised, they did the same thing for the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Shame, according to the plot summary it looks like an actually interesting story. Unlike the dull as fuck Bram Stoker's Dracula we had to endure in high school. Forcing students to read old as fuck novovels they aren't the least bit interested only achieves making them dislike reading. Fuck Shakespeare, fuck Dracula, give them something that won't bore them to death. Though for some reason the book I enjoyed reading the most in school I can remember the least of.

Damn dude, is this article from 90s/early 2000s? What an archaic action

[QUOTE=helifreak;52780628]Shame, according to the plot summary it looks like an actually interesting story. Unlike the dull as fuck Bram Stoker's Dracula we had to endure in high school. Forcing students to read old as fuck novovels they aren't the least bit interested only achieves making them dislike reading. Fuck Shakespeare, fuck Dracula, give them something that won't bore them to death. Though for some reason the book I enjoyed reading the most in school I can remember the least of.[/QUOTE] You see it's weird though because some old books age like wine and others age horribly. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is pretty old but it's worded in a way that doesn't feel all that dated, and the story is great. Shakespeare on the other hand needs to be explained to understand it, and even after that it's not particularly gripping.

[QUOTE=butre;52780566]nobody in 8th grade really enjoys the book anyway[/QUOTE] As someone who just read this for school I can tell you you're fucking wrong.

[QUOTE=Lord of Boxes;52780641]As someone who just read this for school I can tell you you're fucking wrong.[/QUOTE] Wait you're in eight grade?

I was in 9th last year when we read it.

[QUOTE=DinoJesus;52780634]You see it's weird though because some old books age like wine and others age horribly. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is pretty old but it's worded in a way that doesn't feel all that dated, and the story is great. Shakespeare on the other hand needs to be explained to understand it, and even after that it's not particularly gripping.[/QUOTE] So much of enjoying Shakespeare in high school comes down to having a great teacher who is actually informed about all the great wordplay, irony, dark comedy, political commentary, etc. It's so great, and it makes me sad that the large majority of people don't enjoy it.

[QUOTE=sgman91;52780648]So much of enjoying Shakespeare in high school comes down to having a great teacher who is actually informed about all the great wordplay, irony, dark comedy, political commentary, etc. It's so great, and it makes me sad that the large majority of people don't enjoy it.[/QUOTE] I feel like I did, but even still I wasn't that hot on it. I loved the odyssey though, so I think I just don't click with Shakespeare. Wordplay really loses its edge when it no longer applies to the current language, and explaining why something is funny doesn't make it so. I didn't hate it, but there's a lot of other stories I'd have preferred were assigned instead.

We not only read it but got to also watch the movie, and damn was Gregory Peck great. Good film.

[QUOTE=VenomousBeetle;52780664]We not only read it but got to also watch the movie, and damn was Gregory Peck great. Good film.[/QUOTE] Gregory Peck had so much passion in the movie, and the child actors were good too.

[QUOTE=ilikecorn;52780606]Everyone's at a different place in 8th grade. In 8th grade this book had no impact on me at all, except making my life a living hell for 2 weeks because of "now don't read ahead, we're all going to read together and talk about it". It had a bigger impact on me a year ago, because I was mature enough to actually pay attention to the themes, and appreciate the "down" times in the book. I mean I think its kinda dumb to have book assignments before highschool. Especially if they're going to have more "mature" themes. Because half the time the mature theme goes completely over your head and all you can sit and focus on is just how bored you are, and all you can hope to gain out of the book is a passing grade on the test that you're inevitably going to have over the book.[/QUOTE] Idk, I always read ahead in those classes anyway. Most of the time my teachers actually handed out all the homework we would have for the entire duration of the book so if I actually liked the book, I'd read it and just do all the assignments. Most of my teachers were cool like that, and if they saw you had already read and completed the assignments, at most they'd just want you to participate in some kind of class discussion but would allow you to do other things while the class read the book without you. It's dumb that most classes don't work like that though, everybody has to read together, and be damned if you read ahead. I personally really liked To Kill a Mockingbird and we also watched the movie too. When nigger showed up in the book, the kids reading it could totally just skip over it. It's like every other book in existence with curse words that's read as a class. Of all the books they could remove from a curriculum, To Kill a Mockingbird is surprisingly tame and the book also teaches some very valuable themes and lessons that are extremely relevant today. If they ban To Kill a Mockingbird then they should also get rid of Grapes of Wrath, Huck Finn, and Uncle Tom's Cabin.

[QUOTE=sgman91;52780648]So much of enjoying Shakespeare in high school comes down to having a great teacher who is actually informed about all the great wordplay, irony, dark comedy, political commentary, etc. It's so great, and it makes me sad that the large majority of people don't enjoy it.[/QUOTE] As a (poor) theatre student, I have to agree with this sentiment. Shakespeare's work is brilliant. And I feel that that is also the case in regard to other literary works, such as this one. If a teacher can explain the context of the story in a gripping way, then the book can and will hold its true meaning for the kids.