Censorship?

[mtk62]

I think taking books off a syllabus due to "inappropriate content" according to modern day attitudes is a step too far.
All that should be required is that teachers warn that the content does not reflect modern attitudes.

Classic novel off GCSE list amid racial slurs fear

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cge922jn1z8o

It's John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men - which I thought was a revealing analysis of the US during the depression.

I found that Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn were entertaining children's books.
Though I did read them as an adult.

I can remember encountering a "bull's pizzle" whilst doing Henry IV Part 1 at O'level - 47 years ago.
I would have thought that Shakespeare includes much bawdy content and ethnic slurs.

Banning something because the content is inappropriate today feels like censorship.

[Urbandreamer]

Banning something because the content is inappropriate today feels like censorship.

Calm down. It's not banned, reading it is just not enforced.

Are not books on the syllabus "required reading"?

Personally I found the book a questionable choice. But then I too viewed it by it's content, a story of a world that nobody would ever see or experience anymore, with a depressing plot*.
Rather than as an example of the use of words and language.

Of course if the objective of a book on the literature syllabus is to study writing, than there must be many other similar examples with different content and it's replacement is unworthy of comment.

*In fact that is my abiding memory of ALL the books on the syllabus. Indeed didn't the author Tom Sharpe lampoon the choices on the syllabus in the book Wilt where "meat 3" were forced to read Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

[Lootman]

I would assume that is also all of Faulkner gone then?

[mtk62]

I loved the Tom Sharpe Wilt series - the books are brilliant.
I was reading The Throwback on a train as we were arriving at Coventry on the way to London.
I burst out laughing at the cheese grater scene.
My mum asked me what was funny and I told here that I couldn't explain in a train carriage full of people!

Then again I loved the early P.G.Wodehouse Jeeves & Wooster.
I was pleasantly surprised by the Fry & Laurie ITV series.
I had thought that Fry was too young to be Jeeves but he pulled it off.

[stevensfo]

I loved the Tom Sharpe Wilt series - the books are brilliant.
I was reading The Throwback on a train as we were arriving at Coventry on the way to London.
I burst out laughing at the cheese grater scene.
My mum asked me what was funny and I told here that I couldn't explain in a train carriage full of people!

Then again I loved the early P.G.Wodehouse Jeeves & Wooster.
I was pleasantly surprised by the Fry & Laurie ITV series.
I had thought that Fry was too young to be Jeeves but he pulled it off.

Well before the TV series of Jeeves & Wooster, there was a radio adaptation, though I only discovered this 'after' the TV series. It has Richard Briars as Wooster, which seemed a strange choice at first, but worked very well. The similarity between the radio and TV series is uncanny and I often wonder if Fry and Laurie based their interpretation on the radio recordings.

Most of the CDs can be found on Ebay, mp3s are all on Spotify and I have them all on my computer or USB sticks.... somewhere.

Steve

[mtk62]

Interesting angles on the presentation of Mice and Men in schools.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jan/10/from-racism-to-ableism-of-mice-and-men-still-sparks-a-debate

The Philadelphia letter was especially good.