I first read Plato (and Shakespeare) at a very young age because they were on my parents’ book shelves, which is a major reason access to titles seems to me to be very important in our responses. The only reason I read Alcott was because the books were available at the local general store where I immediately headed every Friday as soon as I received my allowance. I got enough for one book and one piece of candy and I was never much of a saver. My favorites were Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom. I also bought and read Twain, because I understood he was an “important writer” but I never cared for him. Even at that point in time I was dividing books into boy books and girl books and the boy books never interested me much. For me a boy book didn’t necessarily have to be written by a male, it had to do with perspective and whether it was more a story of manners and the domestic sphere or of the wider world and adventure. Whether it was okay to have pierced ears was a story which mattered to me; whitewashing a fence, regardless of how the task was accomplished, was pretty boring. Last week I painted a fence with pierced ears, so maybe I’m full circle. It has been interesting to me that of the half dozen or so men hired to help me paint fences the last few years, all know that story and all are laughing about it while working.
There is a “clean” version of HF for those that find it offensive in a modern context, but Twain deliberately used that word to help drive the point of the novel. That some people today condemn his novel as racist would be delicious irony to Twain.
As for The Jungle, My Antonia and other period pieces, yes, people can argue that more modern literature can adequately replace these classics. However, today’s kids are amazingly ignorant of history. In addition to being excellent literature, they also provide a window into how people lived their day to day lives well as provide some structure to for followup history lessons. Otherwise, you end up with a college population like that in the following video that can’t answer who won the Civil War.
I am sorry to confess that I haven’t read the Symposium. I like Plato, I have read and taught tons of Plato, and I have no excuse except guilt makes it hard to pick up the book (I even own it).
I should start a thread on Parents’ Cafe where we confess our reading lapses. Maybe JHS could start it as I am off for holiday travels. Happy holidays and good readings. Here is a gift for your holiday travels:
https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/nypl/neil-gaiman-reads-a-christmas-carol
Just to clear @Zinhead I am not condemning the novel as racist. Obviously, there are aspects of the novel which are just the opposite. But much of the language will be offensive to people today, now matter what the intent was. If Twain were living today, surely he would understand this.
If I hadn’t had to read *My Antonia * my freshman year in high school I might have liked it better. 
I should probably give it another chance some day. Hey if JHS thinks I should like it, I probably should. 
though I think our taste in movies is more aligned than our taste in books.
I really love the story of the English Department and the what I’ve never read game. In American Lit the one I’m always embarrassed by is not having read *The Sound and Fury * or any other Faulkner except “The Bear” which was in the Norton Anthology.
They are a window into how a certain group of people lived their day to day lives, but completely ignore how many others were living. It is a very lopsided view. It is one version of history. There are many versions. imho
Right. Which is an argument for offering multiple narratives, not for excluding individual texts for (necessarily) offering a limited perspective. All perspectives are limited.
This is one perspective http://www.tolerance.org/article/teaching-huck-finn-without-regret Granted, I think he was teaching in the mid-90’s.
Despite being a gal, I have never read Little Women. All the middle school girls loved it and I was contrary. But I insisted my girls read Pride and Prejudice. Put me in the group that adores it, for the spunk and the romance. (Spunk got me with HF, too. And, Catcher in the Rye.)
At a young age, I was reading plenty that was bleak, but My Antonia…I don’t know if I could read it again.
The point of whitewashing the fence (Tom Sawyer) was how he manipulated. An early life lesson in “spin.” 
I’m sure many know that World History is now much more multi-cultural than when we were in school, no longer just the western world.
I did not mean to imply that you were saying that. Unfortunately, in today’s society there is such a rush to judge and condemn historical figures that history is being erased because it offends modern sensitivities.
So you would rather teach nothing?
zinhead: how on earth do you get that out of what I wrote? I am advocating for teaching many versions.
That is not clear from the post. I read it as an attack on teaching history, or on using HF as a way to teach history.
In my opinion, those readers need more education, not accommodation. Should we take the Diary of Anne Frank off the list because the Nazis behave in such an offensive manner?
For me the obvious difference is that Diary of Anne Frank is not written by a Nazi.
And to be very clear, I am not suggesting that all white men are Nazis. I am not saying Twain was a Nazi. I am not offering an opinion on whether he was racist, just pointing out he was a white man writing from his own experiences.
I believe that is why mamalion wrote: I would rather students read Our Nig or Life of a Slave Girl for a perspective that isn’t so old fashionally crafted from white, male privilege.
ETA: Since it is impossible for me to believe you don’t see the difference I have to believe this is just one of your “provocative” and posts. I am looking for the clues. Help me out?
The characters in Huckleberry Finn use the n-word. I may be mistaken, but I don’t recall Twain using it when writing in his own voice.
According to the article “This week, a Montgomery County school removed Huckleberry Finn from its curriculum after a group of students said the book made them uncomfortable.”
It wasn’t banned. It was removed from the curriculum.
They can teach only a very limited number of books, and have chosen to remove that one.
I still love the book, but that’s not the issue. They aren’t teaching that book, they’re replacing it with another.
Sorry, I see this as a total non-story.
The key words are “after a group of students said the book made them uncomfortable.” There are many valid, innocuous reasons to take a book out of a curriculum, including “I just wanted to teach book X more.” Avoiding student discomfort is not one of them.
^while I absolutely agree, it might also be possible that these “lists of great books” tend to become etched in stone, and no one really thinks about whether they are still the best books for the educational purpose. Perhaps the complaints prompted a re-analysis of the reading list and a decision to change. I guess I’m just not the sort to look for bad motives under every rock. And certainly there are thousands of worthwhile books, and any book that is removed in favor of another is likely to engender outrage of some sort.
I guess there’s an age before which a kid might not be able to understand that language used by a character in a novel doesn’t mean that the author is promoting that language. It really ought to be before high school, though, and probably before middle school.
To put it bluntly, removing Huckleberry Finn from the curriculum because its language makes some students uncomfortable is catering to ignorance.
The little bit of insider knowledge I have about this situation suggests that some of the conflict was between students after the faculty wasn’t clear (or consistent) about how to handle the “n word” in class. Some instructors may have neglected to inform their classes that they should not use the offending word, even if it was in context, which led to misunderstandings and accusations.