Should "To Kill a Mockingbird" be taken out of the cirriculum in a school here?

I think that this is crazy! The use of the N word is to show the prejudice and stupidity of the bigotted characters. The book is one of the most touching ever written and should stay in the school cirriculum. My sister read it while she was in school and she loved it! There is a point where people who have concerns cross the line and become aids in intolerance.

Definitely not. That word is used in the essence of the book. To Kill a Mockingbird is a fantastic book, it's shouldn't be banned just because of the excessive use of that word. It's important to the plot and context.. if parents are so against this, then schools should send out signed permission slips to the parents, if they allow their kids to read TKAM or not. And if not, the student can read an alternative book.

Didn't the same thing happen with the Enid Blyton books? That seemed to cause a wave of controversy and yet how long have the beloved Enid Blyton books been delighting children from all around the world and suddenly hey they are banned from schools and libraries? I loved Enid Blyton as a child and it's political madness and pc gone awry! But where does it stop? Other books could be brought into question because of a single word that might seem derogatory to a particular religion, faith, etc... It's a slippery slope to madness and if they indulge taking books out of the library and banning them, where does it end? Words are pulled out of context and taken the wrong way.

No way, if everytime one person complained, a book was taken out of circulation, we would be a bunch of non educated drolls. I mean the barbarians of the Dark Ages would have been better educated. Besides if a book was written at a time when certain words were okay, then it should be read in the context of the time it was written. Look I do not like Harry Potter books, but I just tell kids that they cannot do the things that he does like fly and not get hurt. Now if several parents objected, then it would be different, but just one?

No, I don't, because a lot of books wouldn't be read in school anymore. I don't know why they didn't ask all the parents what they thought. If the majority wanted the students to read it, they could have provided a different book for the others.

no, i saw the piece on the news last night and i think that this is an important teaching tool. kids need to know about the past and how african canadians/americans were treated and in some places still are being treated this way. leave it in the cirriculum.

I think that one parent should have the right to help select an alternative piece of literature for her student, but stay out of what other children get the benefit of learning. I also think that this opposition is going to make kids want to read the book just to be defiant, and that her child is liable to be the first one to sneak out and do it. Words do not hurt you, but how people feel about words do hurt. That word is used in fun and bantering by people of color now, and that removes its power to hurt them. I know not by all, but by some.

Unfortunately, that wonderful classic and many, many others have been banned from schools for quite some time all around the U.S. And I agree with you 100% that it does teach children a valuable lesson. The way I look at it, it was like that back then, and that's how you learn...from past mistakes. These so called idiots who think they are protecting their children by banning all these wonderful books are in fact really hurting them by putting blindfolds on. It's the same with TV, if you don't like the channel, change it, if you don't like the music, change it. If you don't like these books, don't read them, but don't put everyone else in the same category along with you. We have freedom of choice here don't we? Yeh, right, sometimes I wonder who makes up these utterly ridiculous accusations, and sometimes I think it's just power playing just for the sake of it.

bonbon no way that book is a classic and its a good story for'every age, kids would learn from it, as for the N word that is just in'context and not meant to be derogatory but to show what was going on in the era the book took place. it should not be banned because of one idiot.

No, I think it is a really good book. Then again this is also opinion. And no matter where you go there is always that "one parent" who, fore whatever crazy reason you can come up with will want to have something pulled.

Oh NO! I can't believe people would pick on such a wonderful book. To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the few books I ever read purely for pleasure. It wasn't assigned or anything, and I just fell in love with it. The characters were so great and it was just a great book. I mean, duh...it's a classic! If my child's school pulled it from the shelves I would be sure that my daughter read it anyway. It's just too good to miss out on! And you're exactly right, it does teach a valuable lesson.

After reading To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee had become my personal defender of human rights. I believe, too, that the great American president JFK, had made this novel his political handbook. TKAM is the constitution of literary education. Why eradicate such a book that could make a difference to every child's perception of loving your fellowman?

Someone saying the n word in the setting of that book would be like... like.. like a teenage girl in a modern day setting saying OMG. It's natural, it's just how things were/ are done. I've read the book in my class just this year. It is an amazing book. I believe the n word should have been used in the book, not because I'm rascist, but because the characters were. It is a vile and hateful word, the characters were vile and hateful. Such a harsh word is what makes the book so life-like. What if a parent decided to complain because there was murder and rape in the book? Murder and rape were a major part of the book. And let's face it, how long can children and teens be "censored" of the harsh realities of the world. I know form expierance the longer it's put off, the harder it is for them to adjust. In short- censoring books does more harm than any good.

landlord agreed to she idea of

These books are classics and though the N word is used in them as with "Uncle Tom's Cabin, And Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. They were written in a time and day this word was accepted and it is part of our history. People are overly senstive to things. While such a book being written now would be unacceptable and not tolerated we cannot change the fact of history and what was then. We should not be banning such books. Schools and teachers are supposed to be educators and should indeed warn students of the words and why at that time they were used and accepted and why such is not longer the case but No taking the books such as these out of the curriculum of schools is stupid. The kids will sooner or later find and read or hear about such books anyway. I think way to many good books were and have been removed without good cause because some were offended. Next your going to want to remove or ban the bible for words someone does not like. I never did under stand why "Little Black Sambo was taken out of circulation. It is right from Africa and an African fairy tale how a little boy outsmarts the tigers. So leave "To kill a Mockingbird on the shelf and if some parent protests find something else for that student to read.

This is idiotic. This word is used in context and teaches the very lessons that make this word inappropriate in every day life. If you take everything out of books that have anything to do with evil you will no longer have literature. In writing you can't really discuss what is good without discussing what is bad.

landlord agreed to the idea of