Letter to the editor...

October/November 2003 - Our community is debating if it's all right to have books in the high school curriculum that contain racial slurs and other bad language, that portray minorities (including women and the handicapped) in a bad way, or that depict violent scenes.  The idea is that such books would promote racism, prejudice, bad behavior, etc.

The controversy got started after two parents filed formal objections with the local school board, which has the inspiring name of "Unit 5."  They claimed that their kids were offended and hurt by including the book, "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. Specifically they said that the "N" word was used and that African Americans were portrayed as less than masters of their fate (or words to that effect).

Unfortunately the debate quickly polarized as each side forgot that the other side shared with them the goals of an end to racism, a complete education for all children, and a just society.  Disagreements in method were interpreted as disagreement over purpose.

Many parents chimed in, one saying that Unit 5 was pandering "racism in the guise of education." The NAACP showed up saying that Unit 5 was guilty of "insensitivity."  When alternative books were offered, one mother replied; “Unit Five is saying, ‘if you don’t like the back of the bus, get off!’”

One notion that seemed to surface many times is that no white man could have anything useful to say about race relations in America. Not John Steinbeck, not Mark Twain, and not Unit 5 superintendent Dan Steska.  Since the black community has been at the forefront of addressing the problem of racism in America, I was left mystified at the notion of a one-sided dialogue.

Lots of people wrote in to the Pantagraph about the issue. For three weeks I worked on a letter to the editor, starting over many times.  Many writers ably defended Steinbeck and Twain, so I left that topic behind.  What remained was the more dangerous topic of race relations in education itself, which I felt had to be addressed by somebody. Recently I had read “The Language Police” by Diane Ravich and had come to realize that the learning process itself has been deeply subverted by pressure groups from both the right and the left.  That was the jumping-off place (an appropriate phrase) for my letter:

Dear Editor

It's sad that a great book should need defending. To assume that a story which "contains" a racial slur necessarily "promotes" racism reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of literature - the confusion of character with author.   High-school literature class is exactly the right place for the illuminating discoveries that exist beyond that level.

The current overwrought notion of "sensitivity" is a vice posing as a virtue.  It has made fear (of offending anyone) a prime mover of public policy. It drives school curriculum toward inoffensiveness, which is to say innocuous, insipid, ineffectual, not to mention boring.  It cripples insight by ignoring context; "...the part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning."

Kids learn lessons from everything we do, and from our likes and dislikes including our readiness to take offense. Unfortunately that lesson is often:  "Just react to what's on the surface."

Parents, if you want to protect your kids from something harmful, what about superficial thinking?  Kids need practice figuring out from context what ideas are really being presented, lest they go through life with a big chip on their shoulders. There's no seat farther back in the bus than the one marked "self-defeating attitude."

Sure, we can expunge all "harmful words" from school curriculum so kids won't have their feelings hurt. But when they graduate, they'll run smack into the real world where there is no constitutional right of freedom from offense. Then they will need every ounce of contextual understanding we can teach them, along with intellectual patience and emotional durability.  We owe them an education in these things. We owe them the inspiration it can add to their lives.

A good place to start is to read "The Language Police," by Diane Ravitch. And then, maybe "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck.

- George Wiman

I’m working on an extended essay on how “sensitivity” makes an illusion of respect and isolates the “sensitive” person in an archipelago of managed, committee-approved expressions. The best you can expect from enforced language standards is a facsimile of respect. It you want the real thing, you have to achieve something against serious obstacles.

But don’t hold your breath waiting to see that essay.  You see, I wouldn’t want to offend anyone.  So it might take me a long time to write it.

- G

[Home]    [Topic Index]    [A-Z Index]    [Fitness Section]    [Education Issues section]
Contact: george@wiman.us
© 2003 George Wiman All Rights Reserved