To Whom It May Concern:

Faculty and students in the English Department at Illinois State University have been having a very valuable discussion concerning the book challenges presently taking place in Unit 5’s high schools. In response to this debate, we would like to offer our input, believing that what happens in the schools is the concern of all.

To begin with, we would like everyone concerned to know that as English scholars, teachers, teacher educators, and parents we welcome and encourage productive parental and community involvement in schools and think that having open dialogue between parents and teachers can be extremely valuable. On the other hand, we believe that once all views are aired and pondered, it ought ultimately to be the decision of professional educators which books to include in the curriculum.

We know that Unit 5 English teachers revised their curriculum significantly in 1995 and moved from a chronological to a thematic approach for American Literature and Composition and continue to consider curriculum changes. We commend these teachers for developing a rich English curriculum that is inclusive of many voices that have previously been left out. Students now read works by Frederick Douglass, Richard Wright, Alice Walker, Jamaica Kincaid, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, Sandra Cisneros, Adrienne Rich, N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, Bernard Malamud, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, Julia Alvarez, Countee Cullen, Amy Tan, Andrea Lee, Maxine Hong Kingston, and others. If the challenged books were to be removed, newly included texts written by authors of color, persons with disabilities, and other minority groups would also be at risk. We have attached a list of the most frequently challenged books published by the American Library Association that shows the wide range of books that get challenged and the complexity of these issues.

We realize that the books being challenged in the Unit such as Of Mice and Men, Huckleberry Finn, and To Kill A Mockingbird, do contain racist and other stereotypes; we understand the concerns parents have expressed. Some of the culturally sensitive issues raised in Of Mice and Men are its stereotypes of African-American people and people with disabilities. The book also uses culturally insensitive language, contains profanity and graphic language, is not uplifting, contains violence, and explores relationships that are complex and nontraditional. These books must be taught, with careful attention not just to the historical context within which they were written, but also to the ways in which we make meaning from those books today and how they might be perceived by young people. There are valid reasons for continuing debate regarding whether or not a work like Of Mice and Men or even The Merchant of Venice encourages racism more efficiently than it discourages it. English teachers here and across the country continue to discuss these issues, realizing there is no one right answer because contexts are always different.

As education professionals and parents who have worked with teachers in this community over the years, we believe that they have the best interests of students in mind when they choose books for their curricula.  Books like Of Mice and Men can be useful.  If taught appropriately, this book can be used to critique stereotypes, open up discussion about appropriate language, challenge the use of violence in society, and help students see life and relationships in multidimensional ways.  It is also a well-written piece of literature that powerfully illustrates an important period in American history, from the point of view and in the language of a group of ordinary working people. Rather than removing controversial books from the curriculum, we should encourage and support teachers who sensitively handle the topics of racism, sexism, ableism, classism, and other social realities as they guide students in critical analyses of texts and of our current society. 

Moreover, as scholars, educators, parents, and citizens of this community we cannot condone the explicit removal of any text, particularly one which can raise important societal issues and encourage students to think critically about the world in which they live. To condone the removal of this or any other text would lead to the suppression of the free exchange of ideas, and to suppress the free exchange of ideas is to undermine the very principles upon which public education is founded. If teachers are to have the ability in the future to make the types of curriculum progress that teachers here are already making in the area of diversity, we must protect their intellectual and professional freedom.

There might be better books than the ones being discussed that can raise important societal issues that young people need to examine, perhaps books with fewer stereotypes and less painful language. Even if these books can be identified, it is important for everyone to realize that cuts in school budgets make it difficult for teachers to continually buy new sets of books for their classes. Meanwhile, educators are working in the schools and through professional organizations such as the National Council of Teachers and English and the Illinois Association of Teachers of English to identify books and ways to teach these books that do not do further damage to young people who live in a society in which not everyone is treated with equity and justice.  Rather than pull this or any other books from the high school curriculum, we propose that the interested parties in this debate come together for ongoing discussions about curriculum or any other school issues. We believe that such dialogue could have a profoundly positive effect on young people today as well as the future.

Thank you for taking into consideration our viewpoint on these difficult issues.

Sincerely yours,

Illinois State University English Department Faculty Members Listed Below: