During the last few years of teaching, I sadly realized that the awe and reverence I acquired for classic literature was missing from some up-and-coming educators. Could I have been misled by my teachers and professors? Are the classics no longer relevant or important? Had I not really recognized myself in the characters I read about? Learned about different people and cultures? Been inspired? My worldview broadened by those books, poems, art pieces, or historical figures?
I tried to think of some of my classic favorites as irrelevant, but each time I tried, I more deeply realized their value. I could not disagree more strongly those teachers who identify as “woke” and believe classics are no longer needed.
My first shock was when I read of a movement to remove To Kill a Mockingbird from the high school curriculum due to the presence of the n-word throughout the story. What? Really? Nothing about this made sense in considering that much of the contemporary young adult books my students were reading contained the f-word every other sentence and provided graphic descriptions of sexual encounters and violence. Many of the books my students were reading came highly recommended, so I tried reading them. I couldn’t make my way through some of them. I found them offensive and shallow. That makes me a prude in today’s society, which is fine with me. We need diversity.
Let me explain, if I still have the right to voice my opinion. (Sorry for the bitter sarcasm).
To Kill a Mockingbird is based on a tragic and true story of racism and white supremacy during the 1930’s: The Scottsboro Trials. If you’re not familiar with that event, look it up unless it’s been removed from the Internet. (Shoot! There’s my sarcasm again!)
I’m not telling you that you must agree with me, but it is my opinion that the main message in To Kill a Mockingbird clearly condemns those who participated in the death of someone based on the color of his skin and hypocrisy of being racist. The life lessons presented in the book far outweigh the n-word, which, by the way, helps the reader experience the horrible impact of true racism during the 30’s. In banning To Kill a Mockingbird, are we not erasing the very messages our country needs to fight racism and classism? I could spend three pages providing examples, but I’m sure you would be bored, and I would lose control and end up reading the entire book to you.
Okay, since you insist, here is one of the lessons. In reading To Kill a Mockingbird, the reader learns from Atticus that it is vulgar and demeaning to refer to someone with the n-word or to treat someone differently because of skin color. As Atticus risks his career and his life to defend a black man in an unjust court of law, his children and the reader learn that portraying honor and love for another person is more important than being popular. By removing Harper Lee’s book and others like it, we are removing a vital life-lesson that is needed now, more than ever. When teaching the book, it is the instructor’s burden to explain why the n-word is incorporated and to teach students that the word should never be part of our vocabulary.
However, when students read the f-word over 100 times in a book, with no message that it is vulgar and offensive to many people. Yes, some of us still cringe when we hear that word, and we don’t want our children and grandchildren using it. Maybe if we had broader vocabulary, we could say exactly what we mean and the f-word would lie dormant. I hear that the dictionary has some useful, specific, and non-offensive adjectives. I understand I’m a prude, but I still have an opinion.
Frankly, there is something offensive to someone in every book if the focus is on being offended rather than learning that our history has tragedy and victory, villains and heroes, evil and righteousness.
As recently as last night, thanks to my son, I learned that teachers are now abandoning Shakespeare because of his themes of misogyny, white supremacy, racism, and classism. What about the bard’s universal themes of love and loyalty, breaking the class barrier, the idiocy of misogyny and discrimination? Who is stronger and smarter in The Taming of the Shrew, Petrucchio or Katherine? Don’t we realize the ridiculousness of a man treating a woman like property in this comedy? What is the result of Brutus’ break in loyalty to his mentor and friend, Caesar to side with the majority? What does Shakespeare say about the abuse of power in Macbeth? I could go on and on and I think I will. Consider Othello, a main character who is black and known for his military skill. Is that a message of white supremacy? In Merchant of Venice, isn’t Shakespeare’s message clear that the difference between Jew and Christian is superficial? These stories are from the 16th century! How are those messages not relevant? Plus, the complexity of Shakespeare’s text provides a cardiac workout for our brains. (I don’t think that metaphor makes sense, so you’re welcome to come up with your own.)
America’s preoccupation with being offended, canceling history, and censoring, (yes, I said censoring) based on one group’s perspective will be our downfall. When we stop learning lessons from those who have gone before, when we cut off exposure to different perspectives, when we stop listening, when we judge a person, artwork, song, or text based on whether we agree, our minds die. We are not simply judging anymore; we are erasing, destroying, and eliminating. The result is a living dead brain.
We need ideas and opinions that are opposite ours. Although many parents, students, and other teachers feel that many YA books are valuable, I still have the right to disagree with them about some specific books. Yet, I still respect those teachers and parents as people and friends as well as the fact that they have an opinion and a reason for their opinion. Everyone doesn’t have to love To Kill a Mockingbird just because I do.
My administrator once asked me why teaching fiction is important. Shouldn’t we only teach nonfiction since it’s the text type we use most in real life? At first, I was appalled and angry. But right in the middle of my small explosion and rant, he assured me that he agreed with me. In looking back, I think I must have been a bit scary the way I passionately enumerated the benefits for students who read fiction. When I calmed down, I realized he had challenged me on why I was opposed to surrendering fiction texts and teaching only nonfiction, which seemed to be the fad for a while. His challenge helped me figure out that I truly believed in the value of fiction and my support for keeping it in my curriculum was well-founded. I also saw the need to incorporate nonfiction and could do so in a way that complemented the fiction.
I love literature; wasn’t that enough? Honestly, no. However, because of that insightful administrator, I discovered that I loved teaching fiction because of its value and the way I witnessed my students interacting with the text at a personal level. Although my blood pressure probably elevated 20 points in the administrator’s office that day, I was challenged, and my teaching was affirmed. I’m thankful for that experience.
I understand that I am no longer an active teacher, but my heart and passion is still in education, so I feel I can still have an opinion. Here it is: In erasing classic literature, art, music, and architecture, we are erasing history and the lessons that formed our nation and our families.
No one is so smart or so “woke” as to have the right to erase the value of the experiences of centuries past, eliminating access for others. At least that is my opinion.
