Books banned from schools

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by kranz

I'm just wondering...Are you sure it's only about the "N" word? Coz sth like two years ago we were discussing this novel and the teacher told us that in the USA the book is being banned in some schools bcoz of the n word but also bcoz of sth that we gonna learn after discussing the whole novel. So we did all the stuff and among it we discussed the stages on which Huck perceives the world, the blacks (lol-this word is banned as well, right?) and slavery. So after all Huck says that "Jim is ok coz he's black on the outiside but has a white soul". Dunno- but for us it meant that he simply learned nothing. And this was the another reason for banning the book. Of course I'm not trying to say that banning this book can be justified by anything but this is a much more valid argument than the "N word" one. (from my non-US perspective)

The problem I have is kids will lose the lack of understanding of the culture then. Do we start applying our current culture and rewrite context of past culture. Part of that culture was slavery and racism and to remove that element does an injustice to history.

What's next...rewrite the history books to be politically correct? Actually, Huck Finn taught properly really shows the current view then. Before you know it Hitler will be seen in a different light.