Sons school banned certain books

[Sadless]

Hi all so my son came home yesterday and said that some books have been banned in school. He said how to kill a mocking bird and mice of men.
I am not a reader so don't know what's in this books to make them be banned in school. Anyone know and any ones else school done the same.

Thanks
Sal

Are you in the US? The UK doesn't tend to ban books. They do sometimes rotate out older books and introduce newer ones or less well-known classics to promote diverse reading.

I studied To kill a mocking bird at school in the 70s. I've heard about it being banned in certain quarters which is a shame as it teaches a valuable lesson about racism

I think Of Mice and Men might be the depictions of a character with learning difficulties. I must say I’m surprised as surely part of studying such a book is to discuss language and depictions of characters.

They are both about racial issues - though to Kill A Mockingbird is clearly anti racist. Possibly the idea of a woman making a false rape complaint which happens in To kill A Mockingbird (which echos the many such cases of white women making false claims against black men during that time) might also offend today.

The truth is every whiner today is listened to so if someone is offended schools will often just ban what offends them lest it blow up into a big deal and give them bad press.

No I am in UK Lancashire. He said someone's parents had complained about the books so they wasn't allowed to use them in school anymore. But I was wondering if it was all over the UK and not just in his school. He said the teacher had planned around three months of work around one book and can't do it now.

Sal

Ds did Of Mice and Men in S4 (Scotland NAT5). Taught well it tackles issues that should not be shied away from.

Are you in the UK? I’ve heard of these books being banned in the States but not here.

I don’t agree with banning books, just because we disagree with things in the past doesn’t mean ignoring them will make them go away.

Of Mice and Men is a fantastic book. We spent about 4 months on it when I was studying for my English GCSE and it was the perfect prep. To ban it is strange. I'd ask the school for their reasoning.

How odd - both books were taught to DC in KS3 in Yorkshire very recently. I’d probably email the school to ask why.

I wonder. They both have use of the racial N word. Could that be the connection?
Ridiculous to ban them though, both great works of literature that are not in themselves racist as they both indicate racism is wrong.

So surprising that a UK school has banned these books, I’ve heard of books being banned in the US. Did the school give their reasoning behind this? We studied Of Mice and Men for ‘O’ levels. I can only think it’s because it PC gone mad.

I will email the school and ask. He said it does have the n word in but he doesn't understand way they can just change it all now. My daughter said mice of men makes people with learning disabilities looks bad. He said the teacher said if we don't learn history it will repeat itself.
He's in year 9 so hope this doesn't effect his gcses for English if they have to start working on another book.

Thanks
Sal

That sounds wrong but seeing what's happening in other part of the world, I can see some parents here may feel the same. But quite disappointing for school to just give in to a parent's complaint without proper discussion.
Can your son and other children do something about it to reverse the ban?

That's a lot of detailed information. Very unprofessional of a teacher to tell a class that a curriculum change was caused by a parent complaint and that they'd scheduled so much work that couldn't be used. After all that detail, did they not tell them what book they will be studying now? How old is your DS?

Also, this is perfect DailyMail fodder. You might want to think about whether you want your school on the front page of the DM website.

He said the teacher said if we don't learn history it will repeat itself.

Precisely.

btw, Both those books are American. I thought Gove had made them be dropped in favour of books by English white dead men.

(as in dropped from GCSE lists)

They are both pretty standard gcse texts, and have been for decades.

No idea why a school would suddenly ban them.

In the months post-BLM both these books were opted out of English classes at our school; not banned, they are still in the Library. But not taught.

Are they actually banned, or just not being studied anymore?
Are they being removed from the library? What would happen if a pupil took a copy in to school?

They both contain the "n" word, which is a reason I have seen given (amongst others) for choosing other texts.

They've not really banned the books then. They've replaced them in response to a complaint. I don't have a problem with schools updating their reading lists.

They've been studying the same books for years. I think there's a strong argument for keeping some classics but adding in more modern classics and more diverse writers.

They won’t be banned. They’ll just not be taught.

We taught OMAM until recently, when it was decided that the portrayal of Crooks and the language around the debate wasn’t perhaps the most relevant way for us to embrace multiculturalism/appropriate in a post-BLM society.

We were finding the book’s use of the N word increasingly hard to justify teaching.

I LOVE OMAM and have taught it for years, to kids who have adored it, but times change, and we don’t think our kids are best served by having their (often) first fictional black character being one who is foregrounded only for his subjugation.

The book isn’t banned. We’re just moving away from using it by default.

I don't agree with banning books so I'm glad you're challenging this, op.

The sequel to Mockingbird was released a few years ago and put a new spin on the Atticus character, it soured many peoples idolisation of Mockingbird and I wouldn't be surprised if its now considered racially tainted and therefore inappropriate.

Yes ,I thought it was Gove who was responsible for taking them off the curriculum.

That doesn't sound like they have banned them, it sounds like they have dropped them as core texts...

It's not always a bad thing to update and refresh these things and choose texts that address the same issues but in a way more meaningful to the students.

I have no problem with either book or studying 'classics' but it's good to broaden horizons.

Banning books means not allowing them in schools at all