Instead of censoring books, maybe we should try understanding them
MINOT, N.D. — In Fargo, a middle school student has found herself offended to read the term “Indian” in the famed Agatha Christie novel, “And Then There Were None.”
Instead of using the situation to educate this child about language and culture and our always-evolving struggle to find comity on issues of race, the child’s mother took up the beef with Fargo Public Schools.
The school district, perhaps leery these days, like so many educators, of provoking marauding parents capable of summoning vociferously indignant social media mobs, has pandered to the outrage.
The perturbed tot now gets to read a specially printed version of the book with the offending verbiage removed.
The school “has provided her a computer print-out of the revised version for her to read while her classmates read the older one,” reports Matt Henson.
