Quote:
Originally Posted by Lance Levens
Sam's right. It's exhausting--if for no other reason that you as teacher realize how deeply confused and ill-informed our kids are. I've taught it several times, but I often spent so much more time preparing the linguistic and anthropological groundwork for the "N" word that the story received short shrift.
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I have to disagree with you, Lance, on your basic point. First of all, Mr. Gwynn, as I stated in an earlier post in which I criticized his position, is teaching at the college level. Based on the information contained in the linked article, I can only conclude that he is bailing out, taking the path of least resistance, surrendering to a declining academic culture. If teaching
Huck Finn in colleges and universities is too exhausting and difficult, then we should run up the white flag on all of our academic institutions.
And as concerns doing the groundwork for the word
nigger as used in the book, I don't know how much time other teachers in other high schools spend on the novel, but I would often take anywhere from four to six weeks on the entire novel, from start to finish. Just how much time is needed to deal with the language issue? If a teacher allows each class period for days or weeks on end to be consumed with the book's use of the word
nigger, then I question the classroom management abilities of that instructor.
Finally, a question has occurred to me that I can not answer. In the way in which Twain's
Huck Finn is viewed or approached, is there a significant difference in attitude between the northern and southern areas of the country? I don't know.
Richard