Switched sides on banning 'To Kill a Mockingbird' after talking to my daughter's teacher

I used to think banning books was always wrong, no exceptions. But last week my daughter's 8th grade teacher in Austin showed me the original edition with the n-word used 48 times. She explained how the text makes her Black students feel attacked, even when the teacher tries to frame it historically. Now I'm not saying ban it forever, but I get why some schools swap it for 'The Hate U Give' instead. Has anyone else seen a copy with the slur count versus a modernized version? What did your school do?

2 comments

2 Comments

nancy_davis15d ago

Ngl, I'm picturing the teacher just standing there tallying slurs on a whiteboard like it's a bingo game. "48 times, Karen, now tell me that's just 'historical context' again." Honestly, switching to The Hate U Give sounds like the move, unless we're gonna start handing out trigger warning spreadsheets with page numbers. Tbh, my school just stuck with the original and pretended nobody noticed the awkward silence during read-alouds.

taylor_flores15d ago

Friend's teacher just stopped mid-chapter and walked out. Never came back.