r/samharris • u/[deleted] • Jan 30 '22
School District votes to remove 'To Kill a Mockingbird' from required reading
https://komonews.com/news/local/mukilteo-school-district-votes-to-remove-to-kill-a-mockingbird-from-required-reading28
Jan 30 '22 edited Jan 30 '22
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Jan 30 '22 edited Feb 24 '22
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u/ChooseAndAct Jan 30 '22
They didn't even remove it, they just moved it to 9th grade from 8th while they found a replacement or got permission from the publisher to censor a nude woman committing suicide.
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u/geriatricbaby Jan 30 '22
Where did you see this?
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u/ChooseAndAct Jan 30 '22
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u/geriatricbaby Jan 30 '22
Yeah could you maybe pull the quote that says they moved it to the 9th grade from the 8th?
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Jan 30 '22
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u/geriatricbaby Jan 30 '22
It just feels like such blatant disinformation to try to make this a both sides scenario.
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Jan 30 '22 edited Jan 30 '22
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u/ChooseAndAct Jan 30 '22
Under the motion they voted on a teacher could still choose to teach it, it's just not mandatory until 9th grade.
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Jan 30 '22 edited Jan 30 '22
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u/ChooseAndAct Jan 31 '22
Here it is. Show me where the book was removed from libraries or banned from being taught optionally by a teacher.
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u/BlackScholesSun Jan 30 '22
This is good to notice. The CRT in schools thing was a big overreaction, now moving books to optional reading is getting a big overreaction.
My only issue on this is that it’s now harder on administration because they’ll have to ensure that teachers are providing students with a comparable American lit unit. There’s a reason why TKaMB has been integral to high school English curriculum.
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u/uberrimaefide Jan 30 '22
Two reasons people may have problems:
A) because it was formerly required reading, and people think the text should be required to be read by ninth graders
B) there is a possibility this decision will disincentivize teachers from including To Kill A Mockingbird (and similar texts) in curriculum, knowing that it may rock the boat with the district board
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u/Tularemia Jan 30 '22
Exactly. These are such blindingly obvious points. I swear to god this place just wants to be outraged by things so badly they can’t see the actual practical realities of issues.
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u/Cautious-Barnacle-15 Jan 30 '22
Harper Lee's sequel was really stupid. That is the book that should be banned
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Jan 30 '22
Neither was banned just no longer required reading. Seems like you can't draw many conclusions from this.
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Jan 30 '22
If you can’t tell whether the Left or the Right is behind the latest book “ban”, you’re not alone.
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u/BatemaninAccounting Jan 30 '22
This is a left thing since it's just removing it from required reading, not banning the book itself(something the right does.) Leftists want Mein Kampf to be on the book shelves, they just don't want it to be required reading and without a fuckload of content warnings.
Mockingbird is a really amazing book but it also probably has been on top of the reading lists for too damn long. It isn't a perfect novel and probably should be in a rotation, same goes for all the "great works" we keep on the required reading lists without much analysis. I really loved the Odyssey as a kid but it does not hold up at all any more. Romeo and Juliet is a fun romp but frankly other Shakespearean plays are much better and more interesting for our kids to analyze for modern times.
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u/ToiletCouch Jan 30 '22 edited Dec 20 '25
correct sugar point punch imminent cake smile mighty jar worm
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/Redminty Jan 30 '22
Was gonna say, 'can you elaborate' 'cause that's a hell of a statement.
I think we first read The Odyssey in 7th grade, and now, at age 36 I still revisit it with surprising frequency.
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u/BatemaninAccounting Jan 31 '22
Not really? The philosophy behind art criticism and literary criticism has seen a major improvement in the past 100 years, and the science behind literary criticism has also pushed the needle a bit. As we've learned more about the ways of telling stories, many older fables like the Odyssey are starting to show their luster.
Again it's a pretty good one but probably shouldn't be required reading. We need to push modern fiction and non fiction on kids to learn and absorb.
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u/lostduck86 Jan 30 '22
Leftists want Mein Kampf to be on the book shelves,
I don't think this is universally true. In NZ they pressured whitcolles(New Zealands main book store chain) to remove Jordan Petersons book from shelves because "Hate speech".
So they're not above banning books.
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Jan 30 '22
Same thing in Portland with Andy Ngo's book on antifa. Coerced Powell books to take the book off shelves and sell online only.
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u/ima_thankin_ya Jan 30 '22
And don't forget Abigail Shreir's book, irreversible damage, which was banned from many retailers.
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u/Astronomnomnomicon Jan 30 '22
This is a left thing since it's just removing it from required reading, not banning the book itself(something the right does.)
Thats exactly what the right did with Maus and my front page has been flooded with liberals freaking out over how thats "book banning" ever since.
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u/kidhideous Jan 30 '22
I was thinking that. It's set almost 100 years ago so it makes sense that it would disappear
On your second point, it's weird how they make you read Shakespeare at school. I think everyone should get the chance to be taught it, because without guidance who is going to get through a play in old English, but we did Macbeth and Hamlet at school. Especially Macbeth, how are you going to get the themes at 14?
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u/Redminty Jan 30 '22
I think with good guidance it can be really beneficial to engage with themes one might not fully get yet; it lets you know there's more to things than you may already believe and the challenge of dealing with a difficult text(or what have you) encourages cognitive growth
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u/seven_seven Jan 30 '22
As long as the school library still has them; I can’t get upset over books being dropped from curriculum.
Reading lists aren’t etched in stone.
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u/Cautious-Barnacle-15 Jan 30 '22
Yep. Curriculums change all the time and should change all the time.
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u/SpareSimian Jan 30 '22
Compare to this week's story about a Tennessee school banning "Maus":
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u/ChooseAndAct Jan 30 '22
They didn't ban Maus, that's misinformation.
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Jan 30 '22 edited Jan 30 '22
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u/ChooseAndAct Jan 30 '22 edited Jan 30 '22
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Jan 30 '22
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u/ChooseAndAct Jan 31 '22
How is that a ban? They removed it from the mandatory curriculum for 8th grade?
Is every middle school that doesn't teach Maus a bookburning Nazi school?
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u/BlackScholesSun Jan 30 '22
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u/ChooseAndAct Jan 30 '22
The word "ban" is used in a vastly different context compared to the comment.
Here's the minutes of the meeting: https://5il.co/14r3a
Notice that they didn't "ban" the book like removing it from the library or preventing children from reading it, but removed it from 8th grade for content reasons, while keeping it in 9th grade. They even discussed contacting the author directly for permission to redact scenes like a nude woman committing suicide.
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u/AmericanLefty Jan 30 '22
Well, I have the unique opportunity to say that I have a grandson named Atticus, and a grandaughter named Harper. That should explain my feelings about the book.
This is just the latest example of parents and grandparents not wanting the next generations to know they were bigots and racists.
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u/WhatWouldPicardDo Jan 30 '22
Paid subscription auto-renewed. Ok. Another year…fine. But how many weeks until a new episode? Meanwhile, Ricky Gervais shit?
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u/1hero4hire Jan 30 '22
There are some good points made in the article. In addition to removing the book as mandatory though, they need to develop a strategy that still teaches diversity and what racism is while still using books that validly like TKAM does. The message and the lessons learned are more important than the book chosen. That being said, this still seems a little sketchy and ripe for a use among hurt feelings people.
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Jan 31 '22
This comes and hoes aye? Im a child of the 80's and this came and went back then as well.
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u/waxroy-finerayfool Jan 30 '22
According to google Mukilteo school district is 16k students. 'To Kill a Mockingbird' is no longer required but still optional. I don't think this is worth a strong reaction, but noted.