POLL: When should a book containing the "N" word be banned?

You left out the option, “When written by a white author without respect to any context, such as period written, period of plot, nature of character, etc.”

 

And who the readers are. Big difference between a 1st grader, a high school kid, a college kid and a general
Audience.

 

Pretty much this.

 

I certainly don’t disagree with that, but there are many, many topics where the level of appropriateness changes with age. I mean, that even includes Bible stories.

 

I chose never but I am uncomfortable with the books being available to most elementary school children. I thing discretion on the part of the teachers and librarians is important.

 

Do the book banning parents have any idea what their kids have access to in school with the ubiquitous presence of smart phones?

 

I was just about to mention this

 

If it is part of a biography, like Hank Aaron's, I think that it's important to understand the full context of what he went through. I think that a 5th or 6th grader can understand that.

 

We can't stop fighting the last century's battles

 

Seems like it should depend on the work. I'm sure middle schoolers can handle Huck Finn. In some cases, like with the Conrad novel, lots of newer editions just call it The Narcissus and omit the rest of the original title. Obviously, white supremacist screeds have no place in any library. And ultimately, I'm not sure what kind of work with the n word is traditionally or currently read by elementary school kids, so I dont even know why that's a question.

 

Assuming you mean books in school libraries, never. Racism starts at home and expands outward, if at all, depending upon where one lives. This whole thing is a hurricane Ian in a teapot.

 

This is silly.

It's like saying "who cares if a negligible amount of rat poison falls into the meatloaf, doesnt the parent know how many poisonous chemicals are in the garage? "

The presence of one danger isn't a reason to allow another.

 

Books that are age-appropriate should never be banned.

 

I chose the middle school (jr high)option for basically this reason.

I hesitate though. As the dad of a 12 year old boy, crudeness is a immature reality of the demographic. So It can open some doors for that immaturity to say hurtful things.

Maybe HS boys and middle school girls should be the marker.

Seriously though, I think limiting it to biographical contexts that can be discussed at home can work at that age, but thats the gray area to me.

Elementary is out for me.
HS is in.

Middle school is trickier.

 

Much better said than what I tried to imply. Slaughterhouse Five is banned because the protagonist yells at the chaplain to get down you Christian mfer. Vonnegut said he wrote it that way because that is how it happened in his life experience that he based part of the book on. I read and understood that book when I was 8.

 

"Age-appropriate" is obviously subjective, and the cause of all the problems, people keep saying this as if there is some objective determination

 

There is. It's called the parents. A parent has the say on whether THEIR kid is able to digest it. Not some person who has them for an hour a day with a class of 25 others.

 

I voted never, but Books themselves are becoming obsolete. I cant remember the last time i read one, probably college? The younger generations are quickly phasing them out.

 

Silly is describing books as a danger.