Posted on 11/01/2007 10:30:23 AM PDT by VRWCmember
HALTOM CITY -- The Birdville school district superintendent will apologize in writing to a student offended by a lesson on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and teachers will get cultural sensitivity training.
Those were the agreements reached Wednesday after a 90-minute meeting between school officials, 17-year-old Ibrahim Mohamed, his parents and a coalition of activists offended by the teacher's repeated use of a racial slur that is in the text of the classic 1884 Mark Twain novel.
The school district has removed the book from the Richland High School student's class and has allowed him to enroll in a different English class, but his parents say they will now go though a process of requesting that the book be removed from the district's curriculum.
Several group members described the meeting as very positive and productive.
"We are here today to say we will not tolerate the n-word being used by any educators anywhere in any school district throughout our region or the state of Texas," said Ron Price, a Dallas school district trustee. "It's critical that we examine all of our textbooks to ensure that the language is proper and that the language is not being used to abuse any child in any public school."
The concern centered on a lesson that prepared students to read the book, about a mischievous white boy who travels down the Mississippi River on a raft with Jim, a runaway slave. Jim is referred to as a n----- throughout the book.
The Mohamed family is still deciding whether the eleventh-grade student will stay at Richland High School or return to Trinity High School in Euless, where he attended last year.
On Wednesday, members of a new group, the Coalition to Stop the N-Word, met at the Birdville Administration Building with several administrators, including Superintendent Stephen Waddell, Associate Superintendent for curriculum and instruction Ellen Bell and Richland High School Principal Randy Cobb. The English teacher, who neither the district nor the group would name, did not attend the meeting.
The group issued five demands to the district, including eliminating the book from district classes. At a news conference after the meeting, the group announced that Waddell would issue a written apology to the student and his family and arrange future training sessions for Birdville faculty about cultural sensitivity, said Thomas Muhammad, coalition spokesman.
The teacher has verbally apologized, said Mark Thomas, district spokesman. The group also wanted her to apologize in writing but the school district cannot require her to do so.
And while the group wanted the teacher to be required to do community outreach work with black and Muslim communities, school district officials cannot comment on what, if any, disciplinary measures might have been implemented, Thomas said.
The district has a procedure to formally object to instructional materials by filing a complaint with the campus principal, who appoints a committee to study the material and decide whether the items should be used. Any decision can be appealed to the district superintendent and then the school board.
"I'm pretty comfortable about the whole situation," Ibrahim Mohamed said. "I feel good about the meeting."
Online: www.birdville.k12.tx.us
Book challenges
Complainants fill out a Request for Reconsideration of Instructional Materials form with information about the material in question and recommendations for other material that could be used to teach the subject.
The requester can ask that the material be removed from the curriculum, used only as a resource or restricted from use by their own children.
The instructional material can include books, textbooks, video, displays, magazines, library programs, audio recordings, newspapers and electronic information.
Source: Birdville school district policy
Word Magic lesson plan
Step 1: Before students enter the classroom, have certain words written on the chalkboard. Examples include cancer, pregnant, n-----, peace, Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test.
Step 2: Ask students to respond to these words.
Step 3: Personalize the words by showing sentences on the chalkboard. You are pregnant/Your girlfriend is pregnant. You are a n----. You have peace. You failed your TAKS test. Explain a scenario to help students understand meanings of words used in context. "You are in the doctor's office for a follow-up visit. The doctor steps out of the room, and you see the word 'cancer' written on your chart."
Step 4: Ask students to respond to the change in meaning of words because of context.
Step 5: Discuss the power of words. Why did Twain use the word n-----? Was it personal for Twain? Is this word personal today?
Step 6: Decide as a class how to handle the word n----- when it appears in the book. Skip it? Replace it? Say it? Should each person have a choice of what to do?
Source: Birdville school district
Email author: jessamybrown@star-telegram.com
JESSAMY BROWN, 817-685-3876
It’s become the national pastime. We’ve developed it to a fine art. There are so many times I open my mouth to respond and just shut it quietly as the thought runs through my mind, “It’s pointless, totally pointless. There’s not enough grey matter there to justify the effort. I’ve got nothin’ to work with.”
By the way, much success with your campaign. My folks hale from there about 250 years ago. Nice to see that some brains stayed behind to manage the place. ;-)
It sounds to me as if the teacher failed to properly incorporate step 6 of the learning plan: [Step 6: Decide as a class how to handle the word n----- when it appears in the book. Skip it? Replace it? Say it? Should each person have a choice of what to do?]
The student's objection to the word could have been used to springboard a class discussion on this part of the learning plan and different ways people can respond in life to words or ideas that they don't like. Instead, the teacher apparently simply continued to use the word even though it was clear there was a problem.
Unless the professor of my college American Lit class was wrong (possible he was a liberal), Huck Finn is an attack by Twain on the racist attitudes of the day.
So a liberal is offended by a book against racism?
“Perhaps this is nitpicking, but the character is called “N-—— Jim” throughout the book, just like an antagonist character is called “Injun Joe” throughout the book.”
I don’t think that is the point. You could explain context all day long but it won’t do any good. You could explain that it is an anti-slavery novel. It won’t matter. This is not about any of that.
This is about power.
“I tell you where they could stick that apology and this punk”.
I agree and ditto that comment.
I don’t think that is the point. You could explain context all day long but it won’t do any good. You could explain that it is an anti-slavery novel. It won’t matter. This is not about any of that.”
Exactly. It isn’t about “thinking” or “understanding” — it’s about “feeling,” and if I hear “I just FEEL like...,” one more time, I’ll...I’ll...I’ll just take a deep breath and close my mouth.
“Manipulation” that’s the ticket. Just keep manipulating the system so we can all “feel” better.
Here we go again. Huck Finn is the fifth most challenged book in the country even though there’s no logical reason to do so.
“Daddy’s Roommate” is the second most challenged, but I can understand that given that the book has a gay agenda targeted at preschool kids.
Its not just about pork, and spandex. These people are offended by our very presense. They are constantly trying to pick a fight. I’m amazed no one has noticed.
In our own community, we have a butcher who butchers Halal meats. Around Romedan they descend in droves, driving about seventy miles from Dallas and Richardson, Texas to buy goat meat. They don’t wait to take it home, but break out their bar-b-que? cookers and cook on the parking lot of the business. It’s almost impossible for our buther’s regular costomers to get in. Recently, the man who pumps out our septic tanks on the ranch told us that the last time he pumped out the efluent tanks at the butcher shop they were there with entire families cooking, eating, and praying. The Imam demanded he stop the noisy pumps since it was THEIR time to pray!!! He told them if they knew what was good for them, they’d get lost.
We’re fools if we let these people take over our very way of life, but I see it happening more and more every day now.
So, what's offensive? The word itself? A word is just a bunch of letters to represent sounds. Words are nothing without meaning. It's ridiculous.
It it what the word represents? The bigotry and stupidity? That's reasonable. But in the context of a work that attacks bigotry and stupidity the word should carry no offense.
Then we're left with this bureaucrat saying "n-word." If the word is bad no matter what, then so is using a euphemism for it. Fire this bureaucrat for being insensitive.
“...not enough grey matter...” LOL
I’m with P.J. O’Rourke. He said recently that half the people in the world were stupid as all get out. Unfortunately, he also thought the situation was getting worse.
If nothing else, I could see how that word “hog” could give Ibrahim Mohamed the vapors.
From Huckleberry Finn (one conman to the other):
“H’aint we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain’t that a big enough majority in any town?”
Nice to see that Mr. Clemens is still offending small minded fools after all these years.
No, Huck kills the pig by himself in chapter 7. In chapter 8, after he has escaped to the island, he encounters Jim (whom he had known earlier, of course).
Almost worked for Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004.
Thanks for the correction VR.
I’m conflicted.
I think it’s a “culture thing” with the family. They don’t come from a background of analytical thinking. As a matter of fact, I’m thinking that “analytical thinking” has pretty stiff penalties. As to the educators, I’m thinking something a little less complimentary, as in “dumber than a box of rocks.”
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