My latest Newsweek (3/9/2009) had an article entitled "Rethinking Race in the Classroom." While books like To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn and Of Mice and Men have always been controversial, apparently the argument that it's time to stop teaching books that use the "N" word. A (white) teacher who wrote an editorial in support of this said, "...we have this very articulate, smart, and intelligent black man running the country, we don't need to reinforce the same negative stereotypes...I'm very tired of having to explain to black parents and white kids why these books use the "N" word over and over again..." A professor at USC said "I think there is a certain sector of the country that now feels racism is over, let's move on."Um...well, if that were the case, then why did we celebrate the election of the BLACK president? Why is race such a factor when candidates push for the black and Latino voters? I'm not a big fan of Black History Month, in part because I think it's a bit like tokenism, but I don't think I'm naive to think that we do not carry the legacy of our past today. We are all of us shaped by our past, even if it's a past that we don't feel like we can "relate" to anymore. That's where literature comes in. I can read about any event in history and learn all about it. The only way I can even begin to emphathize or get any glimpse into what it was really like is through the arts, and that's literature for me. It's those words, those images, that we are so fortuneate to have received, that show us what those historical events mean, what they did to people. Do they perpetuate negative stereotypes? Or do they show us how far we've come, show us where we may still need to go, and why we do and see and feel the things we feel today?
Do these stories portray African-Americans as inarticulate and unintelligent? Yes, at times, (although I would strongly debate that point in Mockingbird's Tom Robinson). But let me step out on an very un-PC limb and ask if those portrayals weren't rooted in the reality of so many people? Not because they were inherently stupid or genetically deficient as they were told and so many believed, but because they had been denied education, or culture, or any kind of a voice that would allow them in large part to be anything else but uneducated. In the case of Tom Robinson, is that really the message? Tom Robinson is a family man, a man of integrity and compassion, a man whose only crime was to feel sorry for a white girl. How is this man not worthy of our respect as a heroic figure? Wouldn't we be better served to examine those portrayals from an historical perspective? What past historical event isn't hard to relate to? Should we stop teaching about the Holocaust? or Native Americans simply because it involves sensitive or painful or unpleasant vocabulary or themes?
And to deny us Tom Robinson, a hero of character and virtue, a man victimized by racism, would be a great loss. To deny us Tom Robinson is to deny us Atticus Finch, a man who risked his life and that of his children to fight against the tide of hatred. To deny us Tom Robinson would be to deny us Boo Radley, a man every bit a victimized by the circumstances of his time, who taught us all a lesson about acceptance. Can't we learn lessons from them in this day and age, as we struggle to come to grips with our attitudes towards immigrants, Muslims, and anyone that doesn't fit our neat and tidy packages? And Huck, and Lenny, and George--characters that are the essence of our American culture, flawed, yes, products of their times, yes--as we are products of our own. I have learned more, felt more, and grown more from these men than I have from any history textbook. I'm sorry that the teacher is "tired" of difficult themes and difficult conversations. I believe that it's our jobs as teachers to be in those difficult situations, to push the envelope--and in the case of literature, to continue to make it relevant. If that's the litmus test, we can consign algebra, poetry and chemistry to the rubbish bin. The vast majority of us have little active use for it in our daily lives. You don't find those kinds of lessons in Cliff's Notes. They come from the heart. And kids will rise to the challenge--they are capable of so much more than we give them credit for.
6 comments:
Enjoyed your thought provoking post.
Perhaps historical facts can be taught (debatable), but much truth of history is often found in contemporary literature of the time which reflects various philosophies, desires, and cultural mores of those making the history.
I hope the attitude shown by the comments made in the article doesn't become widespread. I am reminded of the destruction of thousands of Mayan "books" by Spanish conquerors so that the Mayans would forget their religion and history. Though no one advocates that, it is tantamount to burning books if they are ignored and unused in teaching black history in this country.
How might attitudes of the Spanish towards the Mayans have changed if they had read and understood the thinking, wisdom, values and history of that occupied people?
I know I should not be surprised that people are thinking we're past that whole racism thing and thus, as it is so distasteful, let's not bring it up in class anymore. But I AM surprised and completely dismayed! Great post, Mama Ava!
Just recently I heard two Brits, one a history professor and one a fiction writer, bemoan a new policy in the British education system that basically tosses history for children over 14. I wonder if its become too uncomfortable to talk about certain periods of British history. So now they'll just ignore it and it will be like it never happened?
I don't like to contemplate what our education system (and the students) will become if we feel that these issues are too offensive or difficult to teach. I mean, someone could totally write a scary futuristic novel about it. (not me!)
hi, i am one of calandria's cousins and got to your post by way of her's. i really appreciated your post and just had to add my thoughts.
i think it is just plain stupid for anyone to think that they can just avoid history. history is the only way we learn ANYTHING. we know certain things in science, math, liturature, etc. because through the test of time, through history, certain things have proven themselves. if that man is tired of teaching the hard stuff then maybe it's time he retired because life is hard and teaching about how to live in life can be hard.
what i find pathetic is that i am now in my third year of college and i have read all the books mentioned in your post and about all the controversy surrounding that one word and only now am i learning about where the word nigger came from, what it means, and how it went from being a good word to describe a strong viral black man to a racist word used to express hatred for a whole race to now a simply feared word.
people really think they can escape the past? with all of the books, television and internet available through which one can learn anything they really think that kids are not going to eventually run into the past? they really think it's better to just not talk about it then to discuss it and how to be better people because of it?
sorry, i'm never really good at expressing myself adequately through words.
Amen sister! Do they want us to forget racism? As if it doesn't still exist? Do they want us to NOT know about the killing of thousands of Native Americans by whites or the killing and persecution of new world colonists by the puritans or the horrible treatment of the Chinese in California in the 19th century or the Japanese in the 2nd world war? Did Hitler never exist? Was the U.S. never in Haiti, Vietnam or Irak?
Wow, my world is changing pretty fast. I didn't know everything we have came so easily.
btw, its me, yesweareonmars.
On several occasions I have ordered high school students books for an english class. They seem to be teaching books now that can be very heavy on the sex, but contain nothing "offensive" like racial name calling.
what a great post! I think TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is a book that should never ever be taken off of the list of required reading because of the use of a word that holds a different connotation today than at the time it was written. I agree with you whole-heartedly that this book more than any history books helps students and readers to understand the struggles of the time. It is important that we step into the feet of people from the past and it is hard to do that with a boring history book.
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