To kill a mockingbird banned in Scottish school

In her much later book Harper Lee did feel that Atticus was a racist. However, he also believed that Justice was for all which is why he defended this man. He lost as he expected. Jury would have been all-white.

As Gove, when he Education Minister!! banned all books not written by British writers from GCSE syllabus - this is the reason why To kill a Mockingbird and others are not used in Years 11 and 12.

The film of TKAMB is one of the best made - and keeps so closely to the book.

I judge people by their actions. But whatever Atticus thought, he was prepared to put his whole life, professional, personal and community on the line to ensure that someone, who would otherwise go undefended got a proper trial.

To sacrifice his position, career and community to defend someone who he knows will be convicted no matter what, surely transcends any attitudes we consider racist.

I think it is a big mistake to ban this inspirational book.

I have some sympathy with the idea that it does contain some unhelpful cliches - the "white saviour" the uncomplaining black man, etc. Seeing a book from another perspective sometimes makes me think more carefully about the images it contains. The Help is another book with a white saviour protagonist.

I can understand why some black people take exception to these portrayals. There have been many black people throughout the ages who have put themselves at great risk in their fight for equal treatment, and perhaps it would be a good idea to include books written from these perspectives, rather than exclude To Kill a Mockingbird, which I think is an extremely well written and thought-provoking book.

Sad. IMO it’s a great mistake to pretend that attitudes weren’t very often different in former times. This strikes me as PC gone not just mad, but also very misguided.
How are children to understand issues if the past is sanitised for them?

I agree Witzend. It's a ridiculous decision and for all we know there could be some white people who take exception to the portrayal of the jury, the prosecutor and the men hell bent on carrying out an execution before a trial.

If this book is set for an exam in English Literature, it is perfectly reasonable to object to its inclusion. It’s not English Literature, it’s American. That’s obvious.

But it's not been objected too because it's American.

....and its happening in Scotland.....

And it hasn't been 'banned'. ?

Does 'English Literature' mean literature of England or literature in the English language? If so then American literature could be included. I'm not sure what the term means.

We have to read books with an awareness of the context in which they were written. We do young people no favours by pretending that these attitudes did not exist - they are fuel for intelligent discussion and should not be banned.

It hasn't been banned. It has joined the millions of other books that will not be taught on the exam syllabus this year.

It has been removed because of it's subject matter and the depiction of Atticus and the black community. How many of the other "millions" of other books have been removed for the same reasons?

I agree Luckygirl especially as not only did they exist, in some places they still do.

I am in the process of reading the Little House on the Prairie series to my GC whilst they eat their tea when I pick them up from school once a week. I am having to do some explaining because the negative attitudes to the "Red Indians" are a bit of a shock.

It is telling that I thought nothing of this when I read them as a child. However, I am not sucking the issue with them.

ducking!!!

Smileless2012

It has been removed because of it's subject matter and the depiction of Atticus and the black community. How many of the other "millions" of other books have been removed for the same reasons?

I agree Luckygirl especially as not only did they exist, in some places they still do.

No, it has been taken off the current teaching list because of the 'N word' and because of the 'White Saviour' narrative.

I'm not saying I would have done the same, but the headline and the terminology are misleading (although the story doesn't say that the book is banned, just the OP). Banning a book would mean not allowing it on the premises, whereas removing it from the teaching list of one school is just that. The Head of the school specifically says that he does not believe in banning books, just that the syllabus needs to be updated.

The other millions (no need for inverted commas - there are millions of books out there) of books in the world aren't taught (as opposed to being banned) for all sorts of reasons. Mostly because a lot of them won't be very good, probably, but as there are only a few books on a literature syllabus each year, someone has to choose which to teach.

I worry about the way news stories like this are taken out of context - particularly when they have issues of race in them. this is the sort of thing that make people think that saying 'black bin liners' is racist. It's nonsense and it makes discussion about serious issues more difficult.