Is it Time to Kill the Mockingbird?

A 2018 PBS Survey, found To Kill a Mockingbird to be America’s Best Loved Novel.

With that having been said, it’s almost unbelievable that schools across America continue to teach this classic novel in an effort to educate today’s youth about the perils and injustice of racism.  One need only to turn on the news.

The #disrupttexts movement on Twitter takes the time to unpack the fallacies of continuing to hail TKaM as a novel worth teaching.

That is not to say that the novel is without its merits – there are plenty of life lessons and opportunities for critical thinking and learning. However, as an English teacher, and a white woman, I can’t help but feel uncomfortable about lauding a novel (with an unreliable narrator) in order to shed light on the inherent bigotry of the time, prejudice which, unfortunately, continues to rear its ugly head to this day.

But, what is one to do?  One thing is for certain, we need to change the conversations we are having about education and the future of schools.  Arthur Chiaravalli, editor of Teachers Going Gradeless, expounds on this crisis in education in his article, “We’re Having the Wrong Conversations About the Future of Schools“.  After reading the article, I wanted to hug all our disenfranchised students (and teachers).  I couldn’t help but wonder, why should our students even believe us when we say that we are trying to help them when everything that comes down the pipeline chooses to continue to marginalize them?

In the meantime, the show must go on, and I, as your teacher, promise to do better by you.

Thanks for reading. – Ms. Sabbagh