Don’t hide the past, teach it

Staff Editorial

There has been an uproar over the Cedar Rapids school administrators’ decision to pull Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer from the list of required readings for eighth-graders. After hundreds of copies had been purchased, an administrator re-read the book and became concerned about its language and depictions of African Americans.

School officials have assured the public that this is not censorship, saying that the books will be available in school libraries. They have also clarified that though it is no longer required reading, teachers may choose to have students read the novel.

We are not comforted by this. First of all, what eighth-grader is going to make a pilgrimage to the library to dig out an old story he has no reason to respect in the way those of us who have read it do?

More importantly, we find it ironic that during Black History Month, efforts are being made to keep kids from encountering racially offensive literature in one of the only settings where they have the opportunity to be taught to respond maturely, to understand the racial tensions that lace their history and culture.

An eighth grader doesn’t have very far to go to find discrimination, even with the progress our society has made. She can turn on the TV or go to a favorite comedian’s web site. He can hang out with friends and hear unedited judgment of others.

What will help a racially diverse, globalized generation like the up-and-coming one is not political correctness or careful steps to avoid offending. If administrators set this standard, they will be pulling every piece of good literature off the shelves.

Students need to encounter the hard reality of our nations’ historical treatment of African Americans. They need to hear certain words in a context where they can be taught what they mean and how hurtful they are. They need to learn about the many cultures that they will be increasingly in contact with as the peoples of the world integrate into a global community. They need to learn to identify the dark anatomy of prejudice so they will become men and women who recognize it and choose respect instead. As is often said, “ignorance breeds contempt.”

This editorial board is of a generation that has recently survived American secondary schools, Tom Sawyer and all, and we hope those coming behind us will have an equal opportunity to escape the kind of ignorance that causes the issues administrators are tempted to tip-toe around.

Tom Sawyer has great value as a basis for discussion of race and culture, literature, history, and religion. It should be taught, especially to eighth-graders.