The Duluth, Minnesota, public school district 709 recently decided to remove “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from its curriculum without notifying many of its teaching staff. 

In an article from the Duluth News Tribune, director of curriculum and instruction Michael Cary explained that the decision was due to many complaints over the years about the books’ use of racial slurs.

“We felt that we could still teach the same standards and expectations through other novels that didn’t require students to feel humiliated or marginalized by the use of racial slurs,” Cary said.

The News Tribune article stated that according to the American Library Association, many of the complaints about “To Kill a Mockingbird” have come from black parents who are worried about the use of racial slurs in the book.

Stephan Witherspoon, president of the Duluth chapter of the NAACP, supported this decision.

“It’s wrong. There are a lot more authors out there with better literature that can do the same thing that does not degrade our people. I’m glad that they’re making the decision and it’s long overdue, like 20 years overdue,” Witherspoon said in the News Tribune article. “Let’s move forward and work together to make school work for all of our kids, not just some, all of them.”

Sometimes it is necessary to be uncomfortable in order to learn. If we don’t learn about the past and the issues our society faced, we can never grow from them or move past them. However, the needs of all students must be taken into account.

When I first heard that the books were being removed from the Duluth public schools curriculum, I was both surprised and upset. These are two books revered by many across the world. I personally enjoyed reading both of them, and felt that they taught many valuable lessons.

But upon further reflection, I considered how it might feel for a student of color to listen to that type of language.
I would hope that if these books are being removed, they will be replaced with literature that adequately fills the hole that will be left. Perhaps now there is some room for authors other than dead white men. This would be a wonderful opportunity to include some literature by women or people of color.

It’s not the end of the world that these books are leaving the curriculum. It is disappointing to many, but as long as they are replaced with books that cover civil rights or the African-American experience, students will still learn the necessary lessons.

The real outrage here is that the Duluth school district didn’t consult all of the English teachers when making this decision.

“Contrary to media reports and/or administrative spin, English teachers at Denfeld and East DO NOT support this curriculum change, nor were we consulted at any time,” said Duluth English teacher Stuart Sorenson in a Facebook post. “To celebrate Black History Month, we erase it. Shame on the leadership of Duluth ISD 709.”

Who is better poised to assess the needs of students and the way literature is being received in a classroom than the teachers? It is blatantly negligent of the district administrators to disregard the input of the people directly teaching the material in classrooms.

It is disappointing to see these books removed from the curriculum, but it is devastating to hear that many teachers of ISD 709 were given no say in the matter.

Solveig Rennan can be reached at renn6664@stthomas.edu