Twitter (Part 1)

Could they not be used? Like @TheUlteriorMotive said, cancelling or removing books should be the last resort

Books get added and removed from the curriculum all the time as times change.

Itā€™s just unnecessary to subject kids of any colour to the word in junior cert English, especially in the times we live in

I disagree.

Iā€™d also say removing books, or any form of art in any scenario, because a minority (or a minority of a minority judging by how many complaints were received) is a bad road for society to go down

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If that are no black kids in the class can the book be used? A simple yes or no will suffice.

You disagree English can be taught at a junior cert level without using that word?

White kids donā€™t need to be subjected to the word either pal and may be equally uncomfortable having to read it out in class

No thatā€™s not what I meant and Iā€™m fairly certain you know that at this stage.

I disagree with the book being removed solely because it contains a word

It isnā€™t. Itā€™s been suggested to remove it because that word is still very much in use and very much causes distress to people.

Racism didnt get fixed because people read to kill a mocking bird.

Imagine getting called that on the way to school, then hearing a school friend using it in English from a book that was written about last century. Man thatā€™s depressing as fuck

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Did it get fixed cos they didnā€™t read it?

Itā€™s commonly regarded as the great American novel. Would you pull Shakespeare.

Shakespeare is much more racist

Iā€™ve never said anything should be pulled.

The discussion needs to be had though. Blithely dismissing it and hiding behind cancel culture isnā€™t the way forward either

The 16th and 17th century will do that to a man.

Itā€™s an English course. To study the great works. Once you pull on the thread of what is acceptable to read and study a lot of things unravel.
There is a follow up book written years later from perspective of the daughter. That could be studied too.

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With respect, itā€™s fairly clear that the lads here are happy to have the discussion, the problem just appears to be that the discussion has ended with a conclusion that a few posters donā€™t agree with.

What unravels if you remove books that have that word in them from junior cert English?

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The poor fucking white kids too! Generations of traumatised white kids who had to read the N word in TKAMB

There are plenty of serious critics who spent their life arguing that great literature had to have a moral purpose.

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I didnt have to read it in the times of black lives matter mate.

People are a lot more socially aware now than they have ever been.

Remove it from books and then the kid puts in his ear phones on his journey home and listens to a load of black fellas using the word.

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NWA arenā€™t on English syllabus as far as I know and what a person chooses to indulge in is different from what is prescribed on a curriculum