
'Hurtful' Harper Lee and Mark Twain Dropped from Minnesota Curriculum - okket
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/12/hurtful-harper-lee-mark-twain-dropped-from-minnesota-curriculum-to-kill-a-mockingbird-duluth
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PricelessValue
Are they going to drop shakespeare or his works next because of the racist
antisemitic language in his works?

When does it end? There are offensive language in almost every work of
literature? Of Mice and Men? Scarlett Letter? Catcher in the Rye? Do we shelve
them all?

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SpikeDad
Although it stinks it is only one school district in Minnesota (Duluth) and
the books will remain in their library.

The reasoning (due to racially insensitive language) is nonsense but there are
plenty of books in American literature that could be used just as effectively.

I'm hoping that the teachers in Duluth encourage the students to read the
books on their own time.

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ziotom78
I live in Italy and sincerely hope they are not going to ban Dante's Comedy
from school because of its anti-Muslim stanzas! Authors should always be
contextualized within the age and place where they lived and created their
works.

However, what strikes me the most is the fact they consider literary works
interchangeable. It's like of they said, «we are not going to read this book,
because the same message can be found in this other book, which uses a more
appropriate vocabulary». But the artistic merit of a book does not lie in its
anti-racist message alone. There are countless things which make a work a
masterpiece: the use of language, the development of the characters, the way
things and situations are described...

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secfirstmd
At least you can be pretty sure waaayy more teenagers in that school district
are going to read that book now that it's been banned.

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senthil_rajasek
There are plenty of uncomfortable topics that gets glossed over in high
school. Censoring these books at the high school age is great.

