to think Of Mice and Men should not be cancelled?

[Florenz]

I read this on the BBC website today. Kids are upset because it contains the N word. I do not think it should be removed from the school curriculum. It's a classic work of literature, one of the few books we read at school that I genuinely enjoyed and read ahead of where we were in class because I wanted to find out what happened. We went to see the film with John Malkovich and Gary Sinise with school as well.

I think it’s the rust if all the Steinbeck books and I wouldn’t be sad to see it go.

I think Steinbeck was a misogynist and it’s an awful book.

I loved that book, when I was younger. Haven't read it for years.

I think the BBC are being irresponsible running a story on what seems to be just one schoolgirl saying she doesn’t think it should be on the curriculum. It puts her at risk of harassment and it isn’t news.

The worst* not rust 🙄

It's not being cancelled, so don't worry about it.

Michael Gove removed it from the GCSE curriculum in England in 2016. It is not being cancelled. There are different books to teach 🙄

There’s a difference between being cancelled or banned and being simply removed from the syllabus in favour of other, arguably better, books. Syllabus changes from time to time are hardly unusual. It’s not a book I enjoyed, despite enjoying some of Steinbeck’s longer works and there’s lots of other “classic” books out there. The fact that you enjoyed studying it or are nostalgic is not a reason to keep it.

Yes it felt a bit Daily Fail sad face with her mum saying her daughter wouldn’t do English A level even though she is really good at it because of that one book, there are other options available!

Just another thread started to whip up indignant outrage, by telling untruths/ outright lies.

This story?

Call to remove Of Mice and Men from GCSE course www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-65700288

It's not been "cancelled". One student and her mother have made public statements calling for it to be removed as one of the seven books available to choose from on the CCEA exam board curriculum. CCEA are in Northern Ireland and Wales.

I think the comments from the student deserve some proper thought and a sensible discussion about the impact of books with overly racist content being used in school settings. Should children have to sit and listen to or discuss racist terms of abuse in order to study English Lit?

There are plenty of modern books that handle similar themes with a more suitable lens. As others have said Steinbeck was a raging misogynist and it would be great to see the theme of race as written by a person of colour.

The fact most of us studied this "modern" fiction 30 odd years ago suggests it's time for a change.

The syllabuses are very light on female authors and post colonial fiction. As the world evolves, so do the books we share with our children.

Should children have to sit and listen to or discuss racist terms of abuse in order to study English Lit?

No they should not, or any other form of discrimination. But it is easy for someone who has not had something like that affect them, wax lyrical about how they loved the book etc, and do not want it cancelled, when that is not even what has happened.

I had every sympathy for her, I'd love to hear some teachers perspectives, perhaps it would be more appropriate for an alevel rather than gcse?

Is there a reason you're misquoting the article @Florenz ? It's not being cancelled at all.

Mumsnet really needs a new rule that you have to actually read, understand, and not completely blow out of proportion, a piece of journalism when you share it here.

💯This!

Agatha Christie's '10 little n' became '10 little Indians' became 'And then there were none'. Didn't change the story, still loved it. If the N word is used in class, I can see it coming back to the playground. Cancel the N word but don't cancel the book.

Find it sad that the N word is the only element of discrimination these kids have picked up on in the books that the BBC have deemed worthy to talk about.

No books should be cancelled.

The Colour Purple has the N word in it, several times, but is about racism by a person of colour. I assume that's ok?
Maybe JS was a mysoginist
Roald Dahl was almost certainly anti Semitic
Dickens was pro empire

Do we not "expose" children to these views because what? They might get upset? They might become racist mysoginists? Books don't always reflect the views of those who wrote them.

Do we study books that are so bland and non controversial that there's barely anything to discuss?

No book has been cancelled. How would you manage that anyway?? Somehow find and destroy all copies of it and somehow find and destroy all electronic/audio copies of it??

Taking a book off a curriculum list because we can now recognise that it's content is not suitable is not "cancelling" a book.

I hated Of Mice And Men but disagree with cancelling books on principle.

It's a bloody awful book. I absolutely hated it. And that's coming from someone who as a teen was such a voracious reader that I would read anything!