this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2023
-1 points (0.0% liked)

United Kingdom

4105 readers
90 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Ruchbah@feddit.uk 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What they are saying in the article that racism can and should be thought (and is!) but it’s entirely unnecessary and off putting for it to be part of English lit.

Part of English lit is encouraging a positive attitude to reading and literature. Yes it delves into the details but it should be encouraging young people about the joy of reading. That’s definitely not going to happen if you are choosing books that alienate your readers when there are plenty of alternatives that would be more suitable

This isn’t about “banning” of mice and men. It’s just about it not being the focus of the class where this hateful racist language and attitudes would be read out.

It’s a very understandable viewpoint

[–] doublejay3000@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

if we're only reading about rainbows and unicorns, it certainly thins the library.

[–] Ruchbah@feddit.uk 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That’s not the point and you know it. A child who already is likely to have experienced racism towards themselves not being comfortable with hearing casual racism being read out in class isn’t the same as wanting books restricted to “rainbows and unicorns”

I’m not saying that I agree with that of mice and men should be removed from the curriculum (honestly I don’t know what the right thing to do is) but I understand and empathise with the girls position.

[–] doublejay3000@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

it is the unavoidable point if you insist English Lit should avoid difficult topics in order to instil the joy of reading, because literature is filled with harrowing stories of people behaving inhumanely towards one another.

at the same time, arguing that difficult topics should not be avoided but taught carefully, does not mean i do not empathise with those affected.