Posted on 11/03/2006 6:54:37 PM PST by Stoat
Who said it was a "HATE novel"?
That's not the point.
Since when does a well "rounded education" need to include racial slurs?
I agree. We should bury them like the Confederate flag! Hell, let's bury that entire sad period of US History! Nobody has any reason to study it!
The root cause of the problem is not the book or racial slurs. The root of the problem is socialized schooling. If we returned to a capitalist school system everyone's desires could be accommodated.
Jorge and the parent in the article could send their children to schools that banned anything containing words they don't like. Others could send their children to schools that teach from "Heather Has Two Mommies" while others could send their children to schools that taught a classical curriculum.
The market would provide for all these options and more.
As long as parents chose to subsidize their lifestyles by feeding at the public trough these kinds of situations are unavoidable.
I agree. We should bury them like the Confederate flag! Hell, let's bury that entire sad period of US History! Nobody has any reason to study it!
And the rich history of KKK literature, Hitler or perhaps Nation of Islam writings on hatred of whites and Jews...it's HISTORY!!
Make the children read it!
I didn't say anyone said it was a "hate" novel. History is full of ugly things. Slavery, racial slurs, murders, attrocities beyond belief, and the list goes on. We have matured as a society and we are teaching our children right from wrong. Does this mean that we are to throw away past literature? Burn the books? What a tragedy that would be.
I read Huckleberry Finn as a child. My children read Huckleberry Finn. And yet none of us became bigots, none of us use racial slurs. We learned valuable lessons from Huck and Tom Sawyer.
In my honest opinion, only someone who has a chip on their shoulder, or has not outlived past wrongs, or simply believes that everything every written should be censored, would believe that Huckleberry Finn should be banned.
Those who do not know history, either through literature and/or historical books, are bound to repeat it. Ignorance is NOT bliss. Ignorance breeds contempt, repetition of wrongs, and no hope for the future.
Well said, Rembrandt-fan.
Right! We must make our children read books with racial slurs, so they know NOT to use racial slurs!
Are you kidding?
Excellent response! On a side note, and a rather humorous one; when I was a young girl in public school a parent tried to get the book, "Catcher in the Rye", banned from our school library. The parent's issue with the book was not because of a swear word. It may have become an issue if the parent had ever read the book. But no, the parent's issue with the book was the title. The parent thought the title was, "Catch Her In The Rye". I remember my parents saying that "so and so" was going to have a hard time facing the community for awhile. LOL
Anybody who wants to know my REAL position can read my posts.
Don't waste your time trying to assign me positions you feel most comfortable arguing against.
I'll tell you what my argument is.
You know what's funny about this is that Huck himself would probably be just fine with being pulled out of school, and more than likely horrified to find himself there in the first place.
Jorge, you can't possibly be serious. Then again, maybe you are. I have a feeling you have not read the book, or perhaps you read it so long ago that you have forgotten the story but latched onto racial slurs.
May I ask if you have read it? May I ask why you think that our children aren't teachable and why you think that they would be like you, and only latch onto a racial slur rather than the entire meaning of the novel? May I ask why it is that you have such a chip on your shoulder?
You wrote, "I'll tell you what my argument is."
Followed by an expanse of beautiful blank space. A kind of mirror of your mind, I guess.
I'm sorry I didn't respond sooner to your post, SUSSA. You have a good point and one that confirms my belief that the best school in the world for our children is home-school. Simply put, there are far too many weirdos out there and they seem to be gaining on us. ;)
Your comment has me laughing and cheering at the same time. LOL!
Actually I've read the book.
The only vacuum here is your inability to address the issues raised in the article.
You're proposing dropping one of the greatest novels of American literature down the memory hole because you and others are seemingly incapable of understanding context or allegory.
What are you talking about?
Who proposed dropping any "American literature down the memory hole"?
You talk about "others" being "incapable of understanding context or allegory" when you can't even read a simple post.
When are you going to respond to something I actually say on this topic?
LOL!
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