UK: Teachers are urged not to read out the N-word when teaching To Kill A Mockingbird and Of Mice And Men

Secondary school teachers are being urged not to use the N-word when reading from two classic novels. More than 100 academics, campaigners and parents have signed a letter sent challenging the reading out of the racial slur used in To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men.

Campaigners say reading the slur from the books 'adds nothing to the lesson'.

The open letter, organised by anti-racist educator Marsha Garratt, asks all the schools to stop teachers reading the racist slur out loud. It follows reports pupils at two Teesside schools challenged the use of the word during lessons on the two books.

Ms Garrat said the two young pupils, both of African heritage, challenged teachers saying the word was racist.

She told the BBC: 'In both cases the teachers said it wasn't racist because they were using it from a text and because of the situation.

Once a corner stone of the English GCSE syllabus, Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird make reference to race and contain racial slurs including the N-word.

To Kill a Mockingbird, written in 1960 by US author Harper Lee, is a fictional book set, set in the state of Alabama, about the trial of a black man, Tom Robinson, accused of raping a young white woman.

He is represented in court by a white lawyer, Atticus Finch, who agrees to defend Mr Robinson despite protestations from the local community.

For agreeing to defend Mr Robinson, Mr Robinson is called a 'n****r lover'.

Race is as a key theme to the Pulitzer prize winning book, which has won plaudits for its portrayal of the topic.

US Historian Joseph Crespino described it as 'probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its main character, Mr Finch, as 'the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism'.

However the book has been criticised by others for its use of the N-word and its 'white saviour motif'.

Of Mice and Men, a 1937 novella by US Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck, similarly features references to race.

It chronicles the lives of fictional characters George Milton and Lennie Small - displaced migrant ranch workers on the hunt for jobs in California.

The book features a character named Crooks, a black stable-hand who befriends Lennie.

Crooks, a relatable character who provides a sense of rational, is often regarded as Steinbeck's attempt to highlight discrimination in 1930s America.

But the book, which contains racial slurs and disparaging references to Crooks' skin colour, has faced regular criticism for its use of language. It even featured on the American Library Association's list of the Most Challenged Books of the 21st Century.

Both books were once a key part of the English GCSE curriculum. But they were replaced in 2014 by novels by British authors at the insistences of then education secretary Michael Gove.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10080283/Teachers-told-not-read-N-word-teaching-Kill-Mockingbird-Mice-Men.html

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UK: Don't call pupils' behaviour 'good' or 'bad': Headteacher tells staff

Teachers have been banned from calling pupils' behaviour 'good' or 'bad' by a school which is trying to avoid using 'emotional' phrases while managing discipline.

Julian Murphy, headmaster at the private Loughborough Amherst School in Leicestershire, has instead asked staff to describe behaviour as 'skilful' or 'unskilful'.

He is hoping to 'take the emotional heat out of language' at the independent school for children aged four to 18, which costs up to £13,545 a year to attend.

Dr Murphy said he had taken the idea of using the different terms from Buddhism, which teaches that there are skilful and unskilful ways of thinking and acting.

The headmaster, who has 313 pupils at the school, told i: 'While I don't want teachers to be soft, I also don't want them to be shouty and make pupils feel guilty.

'I think it's human psychology even when you're an adult. If people make you feel guilty, then you get angry.

'And then actually that's when you're likely to play the blame game and not to work that well. That's when things get into a bit of a vicious circle.'

He said the school teaches pupils that 'there's a set of rules that are there for practical reasons', adding: 'I'm not interested in making young people feel bad.'

However Dr Murphy also insisted that the school is 'quite strict' and will expel pupils for handing in homework late or dropping litter if they did either enough times.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10080485/Dont-call-pupils-behaviour-good-bad-school-headteacher-says.html

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