Pacolovestacos
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2016
Yeah because we have to make the whole world "comfortable" The dumbing down of the educational system.
As a decades long school librarian, I'm a little cynical as to whether or not it is still "on the shelves". I have worked in many rural districts, and have noted that many controversial books seem to "disappear" from the shelves.
I do agree with Magpie, that there are many newer books that students that age could relate to, but if this board thinks TKAM is bad, I can't imagine what they would think of the content of some of the newer ones....
Terri
I never read it in school so I don't see this as a big deal. It is still in the school library.
While it may be a classic, there have been many other books written since. Out with the old, in with the new.
If you have never read it, why are you quick to imply it should be hidden away? Erasing history is a failed agenda.
Here's the article from the SunHerald-newspaper out of Biloxi. The district is the Biloxi City School District.
Biloxi superintendent said he doesn’t understand ‘big controversy’ over ‘Mockingbird’
BY KAREN NELSON
klnelson@sunherald.com
OCTOBER 16, 2017 4:48 PM
BILOXI
Superintendent Arthur McMillan, speaking outside the administration building Monday, said the Biloxi School District never removed “To Kill A Mockingbird” from the middle school library or reading list.
And eighth graders who want to study the book now have a choice to attend a special book study.
He would not answer questions about why the book was taken from the regular lesson plan for the second, nine-week term. He went back to his original statement that the school district changes material periodically.
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The school website had “Mockingbird” listed as a book the classes would study in the second term. But a school board member confirmed that after parental complaints, the school district decided to find another book to fill “Mockingbird’s” slot. The issue was a racially charged word that appears in dialogue in the book about 50 times. The book, a popular American classic, is set in the 1930s and deals with rape and racial inequality in a small Southern town, as narrated by a 10-year-old.
The school district was early into the second term when the change was made.
“We decided to use other resources for the second nine weeks,” McMillan said. “We haven’t done away with the book, students still have the book to read. And if students want to, teachers are going to do a book study with them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so the students still have the book and the book is still in the library.”
He told the Sun Herald and WXXV, “I’m not understanding really, what the big controversy is.”
A Sun Herald report that the book was pulled from the eighth grade lesson plan because a few parents were not comfortable with language in the book made national headlines over the weekend. Some media reported Biloxi schools banned the book.
“The deal is, ever so often, we change reading materials to teach state objectives, and that’s what we did,” McMillan said.
He stressed, “teachers will do a book study for the students who want to do a book study ... if the students want to do a book study on it. We’re not going to force them to come do it.”
He said it is still on the schools’ AR reading list, where students read and are tested on books for a special grade.
“It was part of the lesson plan for the first nine weeks and we changed material,” he said.
When asked how many parents complained, McMillan went back to his statement and said, “We’ve changed resources and materials to teach the second nine weeks.”
When asked if he followed school policy and set up a committee to review the complaints, he walked away.
Karen Nelson: 228-896-2310, @NelsonNews_atSH
Here's the article from the SunHerald-newspaper out of Biloxi. The district is the Biloxi City School District.
Biloxi superintendent said he doesn’t understand ‘big controversy’ over ‘Mockingbird’
BY KAREN NELSON
klnelson@sunherald.com
OCTOBER 16, 2017 4:48 PM
BILOXI
Superintendent Arthur McMillan, speaking outside the administration building Monday, said the Biloxi School District never removed “To Kill A Mockingbird” from the middle school library or reading list.
And eighth graders who want to study the book now have a choice to attend a special book study.
He would not answer questions about why the book was taken from the regular lesson plan for the second, nine-week term. He went back to his original statement that the school district changes material periodically.
ADVERTISING
inRead invented by Teads
The school website had “Mockingbird” listed as a book the classes would study in the second term. But a school board member confirmed that after parental complaints, the school district decided to find another book to fill “Mockingbird’s” slot. The issue was a racially charged word that appears in dialogue in the book about 50 times. The book, a popular American classic, is set in the 1930s and deals with rape and racial inequality in a small Southern town, as narrated by a 10-year-old.
The school district was early into the second term when the change was made.
“We decided to use other resources for the second nine weeks,” McMillan said. “We haven’t done away with the book, students still have the book to read. And if students want to, teachers are going to do a book study with them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so the students still have the book and the book is still in the library.”
He told the Sun Herald and WXXV, “I’m not understanding really, what the big controversy is.”
A Sun Herald report that the book was pulled from the eighth grade lesson plan because a few parents were not comfortable with language in the book made national headlines over the weekend. Some media reported Biloxi schools banned the book.
“The deal is, ever so often, we change reading materials to teach state objectives, and that’s what we did,” McMillan said.
He stressed, “teachers will do a book study for the students who want to do a book study ... if the students want to do a book study on it. We’re not going to force them to come do it.”
He said it is still on the schools’ AR reading list, where students read and are tested on books for a special grade.
“It was part of the lesson plan for the first nine weeks and we changed material,” he said.
When asked how many parents complained, McMillan went back to his statement and said, “We’ve changed resources and materials to teach the second nine weeks.”
When asked if he followed school policy and set up a committee to review the complaints, he walked away.
Karen Nelson: 228-896-2310, @NelsonNews_atSH
Hmm... so he caved to parents upset about the "n-word"?
Can't say I'm impressed by his lack of spine.
That said, when I was a kid I might've actually been geeky enough to go for the book study (assuming it was set up something like my English teacher's lunchtime book club).
And I still want to know what the replacement book is!