Volume 118 Issue 13
The Record Horace Mann’s Weekly Newspaper Since 1903
record.horacemann.org December 11th, 2020
Feature: Weighing benefits, harms of reading troubling works
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this book and considering how these two themes
Mia Calzolaio and Simon Schackner might work side-by-side, students can transfer this Staff Writers analysis to critique the society in which they are English teacher Jennifer Huang recently finished the book “The Sympathizer” by Viet Thanh Nguyen — which follows a man serving as a spy for Communist forces in the final days of the Vietnam War — with her senior elective. While the book enabled the class to have important discussions about the Vietnam war, biracial identity, and the ethics of representation, Huang was initially hesitant about including the book in her curriculum due to a graphic scene of sexual assault. Ultimately, Huang decided to teach the book because she thought the conversations she planned outweighed the brutality of the specific scene, she said. As her class started reading the book, Huang offered a preemptive trigger warning about the potentially sensitive content, which she felt benefited their later conversation about the explicit scene. “Giving the trigger warning gave students a space to know that they needed to approach that conversation sensitively and carefully, and the discussion that ended up coming out of it felt really productive to me,” she said. Huang’s dilemma and eventual decision to teach the book with a trigger warning is reflective of a common situation: many teachers must assess the value of teaching works or topics that could be deemed offensive and evaluate their technique of doing so. The school’s Statement of Community Norms and Values acknowledges that the complex work students do in the classroom requires encounters with “challenging ideas, texts, and viewpoints.” For this reason, the document contains a set guidelines on how conversations about these topics are to be conducted. These points include avoiding gratuitous use of profanity or slurs, refraining from calling out any member of the community, and never shaming anyone speaking in a group meeting. The document also states that speakers should provide clear context when beginning a discussion about “material that can provoke strong personal reactions from students.” When choosing texts for her courses, English teacher Sarah McIntyre does not necessarily avoid books that may contain offensive material; rather, she thinks about the way in which students will critically approach the matter in the books.
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“Unless we teachers say explicitly to our classes, ‘I have chosen these texts because I would like to be able to talk about these issues,’ then we risk communicating to them that these are works that we only celebrate.” -Sarah McIntyre History teacher Melissa Morales only teaches potentially problematic historical material if she believes it will allow her class to understand a topic more deeply.t She defines offensive content as text or media that has the potential to harm a reader or cause them to reproduce the ideas represented in their own lives. An example of such material that Morales teaches is Thomas Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia,” in which Jefferson tries to scientifically prove that people of African descent are inferior to white people. By the end of the piece, Jefferson acknowledges that slavery is degrading and that God will eventually punish the people of the United States for their acts of enslavement, Morales said. Morales intends for her class to understand the value of Jefferson’s inability to defend slavery and his recognition of its consequences. In order for Morales to teach similarly problematic works, they must be historically significant and influential within their time period, she said. English teacher Dr. Wendy Steiner chooses the material that she teaches carefully and considers potentially problematic or triggering content when making these choices, she said. “I do not shy away from controversy if [it is] within the book, as long as the racism involved is being used to make a point or send some kind of message,” she said. Steiner mentioned Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” as one of these books. “It contains some offensive language, namely the n-word, because Morrison is dramatizing the traumatic horrors of slavery.” Courtesy of HM Flickr
Courtesy of HM Flickr
APPRECIATING LITERATURE Wilson’s ninth grade English class reads “The Catcher in the Rye.” “I try to pick texts that are going to help students Like Steiner, history teacher Barry Bienstock face difficult questions — difficult ethical, political, only teaches potentially harmful material if he human, psychological questions, all of these big deems it vital to his curriculum. While he believes areas — and to give them a field in which to explore learning about sensitive topics such as war and their own relationship to those hard questions,” colonization is often essential, he tries to avoid McIntyre said. depictions of violence as much as he can and says An example of one of these texts is “The that the mentioning of specific violence is often Great Gatsby,” a book that represents paradoxical unnecessary in history class. “I can talk about the ideologies. Author F. Scott Fitgerald addresses oppressive nature of slavery without discussing in racism while simultaneously promoting anti- detail what the white masters did to their female semitism, McIntyre said. He criticizes the way slaves,” he said. in which anti-Black ideology is at the base of Particularly with books containing potentially socioeconomic hierarchies; however, he also uses problematic and difficult subject matter, English anti-semitic stereotypes, denying the extent to Department Chair Vernon Wilson considers which religious prejudices are part of the same whether the literature is substantial enough for a structure he critiques, she said. class discussion. “Is the book strong enough to hold McIntyre ultimately hopes that through reading our interrogation [and] to withstand the pressure
of the kind of discussion we’re going to do in class a certain sensitive topic. about some of that offensive content?” he said. Still, teachers must be attentive to students’ There are books Wilson would not teach experiences reading and discussing a text, McIntyre because they do not meet this criteria. For example, said. “In my role as a teacher, I have a strong Wilson does not teach “Portnoy’s Complaint” by caretaking role,” she said. “In order to be performing Philip Roth — which describes a young Jewish that role well, I have to be attending to students’ man’s coming of age in New York City — due to the emotional well-being.” book’s raunchy nature, including Roth’s frequent use Over the years, McIntyre realized students in her of sexual innuendos and description of sexual acts. class could have emotional responses to a text, hence “I don’t know how much learning in the classroom the need for trigger warnings. “I now understand would be done that would necessitate teaching this better than I did in the early stages of my career that book, where another book that is less purposely intellectual engagement does not prevent people offensive could do the same work,” he said. from the experience of retraumatization as they’re Steiner stopped teaching the book “Heart of reading text,” she said. Darkness” by Joseph Conrad, which discusses a On the other hand, Jaden Richards (12) said man’s experience exploring Africa during the late trigger warnings are not always necessary or 19th century, because some of the imagery in the effective, as potentially sensitive material similar book depicting Africans is plainly racist. While to that covered in class will not always have a the book is certainly a powerful work of literature disclaimer outside of a school environment. with important messages about human nature, Furthermore, a crucial part of the student Steiner said she ultimately decided that this did experience is dealing with difficult content, not outweigh the racially insensitive parts. As years Richards said. “It’s harmful to allow a student to passed, Steiner felt that she should stop teaching it, excuse themselves from a difficult discussion, but she said. also, the entire class is going to have to reckon with Similarly, English teacher Jacob Kaplan would the material anyway,” he said. “What not teach “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov, benefit is there to put a disclaimer a book about before it?” an intimate Ultimately, relationship it is up to the b e t w e e n teachers to a grown figure out how man and a to approach 14-year-old difficult girl, because of content. the pedophilia detailed in the text. While there Contextualizing are books out there a work of that Kaplan wouldn’t literature is an Rachel Zhu/Art Director teach personally, he is a g a i n s t important part of managing its offensive language, preventing certain literature from being taught at Kaplan said. “When offensive language comes up all. “However, the more offensive content a book in Shakespeare, it is almost like a history lesson.” has, the more of a reason I would need to choose When discussing anti-semitism in “The Merchant it,” he said. of Venice” by Shakespeare, for example, Kaplan When choosing material for their classes, tries to explain to his students the meaning of the teachers also have to be careful about the messages offensive language and its use during the time they could be inadvertently sending to their period when the book was written, he said. students, McIntyre said. “Unless we teachers say Historical figures and documents will also explicitly to our classes, ‘I have chosen these texts often use antiquated language, specifically in because I would like to be able to talk about these reference to various racial groups, and Morales issues,’ then we risk communicating to them that conducts conversations in advance to ensure that these are works that we only celebrate.” Trigger students have the proper vocabulary to engage in a warnings help counteract this risk, she said. productive conversation, she said. A typical trigger warning in Huang’s classroom Specifically during discussions about the is straightforward. If the class is approaching a offensive language in a work of literature, Wilson potentially sensitive topic or scene in a book, Huang wants his students to consider why the author is will mention the pages that contain the material in using such words and investigate their significance order to give students a chance to figure out how in the text. “It is especially important to deal with the they would like to proceed through that part of the weight of that language, historical and otherwise, of book, she said. those choices that the author made,” he said. Emily Marks’s (12) English teacher sends out Similarly, it is dangerous for students to simply emails prior to a nightly reading regarding any resign to the idea that offensive language, such as content that might necessitate a trigger warning. the n-word, is not acceptable to use at the school The class will usually acknowledge the difficult without exploring why such language is harmful, material the next day, and her teacher offers to Richards said. “If you’re just taking for granted the speak individually with anyone who would like to fact that there’s words that students should not say discuss it further. without actually reckoning with why they shouldn’t In general, there is no universal way to introduce be said — or reckoning with why they’re offensive these kinds of texts and no finite list of topics and just refusing to address them — then [students that teachers should be sensitive to, Wilson said. are] going to be ill prepared when they come across However, if a potentially offensive topic is central to someone in their lives who disagrees on that issue.” a work of literature, it would benefit the teacher to Through reading and discussing texts as a class, alert the students in order to give members of the students can learn an important lesson: people are class a chance to step out of the room if necessary. experiencing the text from their own subjective Julian Silverman (11) said trigger warnings are positions. Ideally, the result of this community important for preparing a class for a conversation engagement is the development of empathy, for which they might not typically be ready. McIntyre said. “Sometimes, [students] don’t feel comfortable Students can also learn important lessons from talking about these sensitive topics, but a trigger dissecting difficult topics, especially in regards to [warning] lets us know that our teacher wants us to violence, Richards said. “Having students discuss open up,” he said. “I know I need that sometimes.” and understand why [sensitive material] is so However, a trigger warning could also highlight torturous and terrible helps them understand why a student’s uncomfortable feelings, Lucas Raskin they shouldn’t replicate that in their own lives.” (12) said. Warnings that offer for students to leave While it may be difficult to face these the classroom can be inadequate because they put conversations, it is crucial to do so, Morales said. “If students on the spot. Raskin said that as a private you really want to understand who you are — who school with many resources, there could be a better we are — and understand ourselves in this moment, way to connect with students about their feelings on we have to endure our full history.”