My favorite story about that movie was when a student teacher was worried about “fucking.” We decided she’d use the mute button to blank out that word. Unfortunately, she was a bit late on the button and the nurse burst in to announce: “It’s a fucking!” I had to pause the movie until the kids and I stopped laughing. I had video editing software, but even muting the word that way would have been ineffective, as the kids could clearly read the nurse’s lips. My student teacher decided trying to mute the word might not have been the best tactic.

I also taught Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, arguably the most effective anti-slavery book ever written. It’s a book many try to ban every year. Some just don’t, or won’t, get the satire, Twain’s sharp social commentary. Some object to “nigger.” Others are upset Huck seems to be smarter than adults and often gets the better of them.

That’s why I was always careful to explain to the kids—and when necessary, parents—all those issues. “Nigger” in Twain’s time, didn’t have the same connotations it has today. Trying to impose contemporary feelings on history and literature kills our ability to learn from the past. A few years back, an academic published a “new” edition, replacing “nigger” with “slave.” Not long thereafter, “slave” was declared non-woke/racist. It never ends. Huck is wise in the ways of nature, he’s “street smart,” but he succeeds because he has a good heart–he always tries to do the right thing–but he lacks what Jim, his adult, uneducated runaway slave companion has: experience. There are many passages in the book where Twain, speaking through Huck, compels readers to see the essential humanity of Jim, and through him, all blacks. It’s a cold and evil heart that can’t learn those lessons.

Final Thoughts: In opposing sexual/gender and political indoctrination, it’s not necessary and largely counterproductive, to call people “groomers” or “pedophiles,” even when they clearly are. Keep it calm and rational. Display examples of the materials they want to push on kids. Read aloud passages from the books—there are plenty that would make sailors blush. If school board members try to shut you up because the material isn’t fit for public consumption, all the better.