Targeting Huck for censorship is really old news though. Demands for censorship might be preferred to what could possibly occur if students like Ibrahim Mohamed learned factual history about slavery in the world. For instance, at the time Huck Finn was published -- thirty years after slavery had been abolished in America -- Muslims were still enslaving Africans. Oddly enough, Jim masquerades as a sick Arab during one of Huck’s adventures.
Factual history, however, rarely furthers the PC agenda or serves to condemn America enough.
In case a reader is merely attempting to find my motive, I will have to spell it out: Teaching critical thinking skills and examining painful history should take precedent to self-esteem and feelings. Accurate historical context often helps to show what makes America a great country. Factual history should also teach us to learn from our mistakes.
On the other hand, political correctness buries facts and cripples students’ ability to think.
We need to quit censoring uncomfortable truths. Twain would have reveled in the sniveling of PC believers, or he might have preferred to order them shot. Twain’s disdain for irresponsible do-gooders and common idiots stemmed from his desire to protect America from further harm that their foolish ideology inflicts on a troubled civilization (ironically a synonym for today’s choice word: culture).
Now, is it really any wonder why Huck hated going to school?
Lee Culpepper is a former Marine and high school English teacher. He is currently working to complete his first book, Alone and Unafraid: One Marine’s Counterattack Inside the Walls of Public Education. Visit Lee’s website at www.leeculpepper.com.