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Banning The Secret Life Of Bees Research Paper

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On Banning The Secret Life of Bees from High School Curriculum How many books are banned every year? In 2004 the American Library Association estimated that 547 books were banned or challenged in schools and libraries primarily in the US. Parents challenge books because they don’t want their children to be exposed to explicit material. Explicit material can include anything from violence, harsh language, drugs, sexual situations and death, some of which are present in The Secret Life of Bees. These attributes do not require the book to be barred from educational systems, The Secret Life of Bees is a moving story that should be included in schools because the controlled environment of the classroom and academic view of the material presented …show more content…

Including books that expose students to racism and discussions about the information can provide a deeper understanding of the racial epithets and the connection to history. According to a study done by Kernahan and Davis with Teaching of Phycology after students took a class learning and being exposed to racism the “results showed increases in awareness and in feelings of racial guilt and responsibility.” Discussing racism in a controlled environment like a classroom can change the opinions and attitudes of young adults and create a safer, better learning environment and life for all generations. Without an educated opinion guiding the students through the literature containing racial slurs or being banned from exposure to it, it is likely they would misinterpret it once they are exposed to it. It is inevitable that a student will be exposed to these ideas in some way, if not in the classroom because of how common racism is in politics and the number of racial epithets on social media today. Everyday on Twitter, “10,000 tweets containing a racial slur of some sort are posted” and that is only includes the tweets posted in English (think tank Demos). Including The Secret Life of Bees in the high school English curriculum would benefit students because it would allow students to be educated on …show more content…

“Changing Perspective: How Learning About Racism Influences Student Awareness and Emotion.” SC Discus, Teaching of Phycology and Property of Sage Publications Inc., 1 Jan. 2007, web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=48&sid=fa346fc8-3d5d-4e90a457a3833211c509%40sessionmgr4009&bdata=#db=aph&AN=24232373.

Dockterman, Eliana. “10,000 Racial Slurs Are Tweeted Each Day.” SC Discus, Time Inc., 2014, web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=f91fd948-5135-43cc-a5dc-5f438f07dff4%40sessionmgr4006&bdata=#AN=94423506&db=aph.

Gallo, Laura L. “Professional Issues in School Counseling and Suicide Prevention.” Pdf, Boise State University , 2014, files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1151461.pdf.

“Literature as an Agent of Social Change.” Literacy Today, by Kaity C. Kao, International Literacy Association , 2017, pp. 40–43. The Engaging Classroom,

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Most minority students and English language learners are stuck in schools with the most new teachers.” These differences are outrageous, all due to racism either being encouraged or not monitored enough in these schools. This kind of teaching only appeals to whites, and will embolden blacks towards failure, as well as spur up hatred and criticism towards them. In another article, “‘To be white is to be racist, period,’ a high school teacher told his class,” a teacher by the name James Coursey says in a high school lecture “Am I racist? And I say yea.

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In The book secret life of Bees, lies and deceit are a big theme, the title even has secret in it. Lily lies frequently to avoid trouble. Page 62 “I'm visiting my grandmother” Here Lily lies to the store keeper by saying she was visiting her grandmother. Page 74 “She doesn't have any family but me, so we decided to go up to Virginia to find my aunt.

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This study primarily focuses on the need for school leaders to adopt greater racial awareness through the use of composing racial autobiographies. Gooden and O’Doherty present this as a pedagogical tool in shifting away from racial unconsciousness and colour blindness. The findings from this study outlines participants own disregard to race prior to composing their racial autobiographies. It also further indicates that self-reflection; and being conscious of how our beliefs and perceptions of others with regards to race can shape decision-making, which is imperative for leaders who seek cultural responsiveness. This does however have its limitations, as it seems to develop awareness more so rather than a direct practical application,

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Reading novels that use the derogatory term for an African- American express how they were mistreated and how far they have come today. The novels show a part of history in a way that can intrigue students to want to read and learn more. Novels with racial terms should be taught in classes because it is a learning experience about the past that every student can learn from. Reading the novels teaches the reader about history, to accept everyone, and everyone is a person no matter

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The Secret Lives of People The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is an interesting story that connects human lives to bees. The story takes place in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement and fourteen year-old Lily Owens leaves her abusive father and her home in Sylvan, South Carolina to go to Tiburon with hopes to find information on her mother. Throughout the story, Lily struggles with many internal conflicts and also meets several mother figures along the way.

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In February 2022, fourteen states passed prohibitions on teaching about racial topics that could possibly cause disagreement or hostility between people. (Krebs). Any topic could arouse disagreement; that’s what makes each human an individual. Different states have stricter or broader interpretations of the critical race theory that do not punish teachers for merely teaching a concept that exists without advocating for the truth of the concept. Joshua Gutzmann analyzed the pros and cons from broader interpretations leaving teachers skeptical about which curriculum is allowed to be taught.

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Noliwe Rooks argues “Because of that discomfort and because we haven’t learned the skills necessary to engage in deep discussions on the topic, we avoid them at all costs. And when we look for excuses to close off those discussions, we allow misperceptions to spread”. Students are taught not to discuss race because they are taught not to see race when they interact with people; sadly, that is not the case. When people are not taught what racism is and what racism is not, then misunderstandings start to spread. If teachers properly taught students how to discuss race and racism in class, then students would know how to address it when they come across it.

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It was amazing to see how the children were able to identify their roles as superior or inferior and slip right into behaving according to these classifications. Even when roles switched the children had not trouble taking on their roles as bigots even though they themselves experienced the discrimination just the day before. The children started referring to each other as “brown eyes” or “blue eyes” instead of by names although they may have been friends. One child explicitly referenced this to the use of the “n word” against African Americans. Not only did the behavior of student to each other change in a degrading way but the less superior group began to demonstrate poor behavior such as retaliation to being called names and their academic performance was lower than that of the other group.

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This exercise needs to be conducted before the students become adults because by the time the students are adults they are most likely not to change their prospective and have done the damage of discriminating someone because of their race. Kids need to be traumatized before they become racist. They need to learn how it feels to be discriminated against early on before they are influenced to be racists and act on it. For instance, when I was younger, I didn’t notice my friends by their skin color until when I got older when I was taught about the difference between us. The exercise worked.

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Taylor Norman Ms.Mason ACC English 2 21 March 2024 Should Critical Race Theory be Shut out of the Education System Critical Race Theory is a racial bias that is a major problem, particularly in the legal and social systems, since white individuals felt as if they were superior to other races. This theory is taught in schools, but is trying to be forced out of the education system. The article “If you question critical race theory, crazed ideologues will attack you and hurt your children” by Tucker Carlson, an American conservative political commentator. Carlson states how he feels we shouldn’t teach children about “White supremacy” and “Anti-Blackness” and that we should ignore people who speak on these topics. Overall, students should know their

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If you really want a book not to be read by an adolescent, banning the book will often have an opposite effect. Although it contains sensitive topics and harsh language, The Secret Life of Bees should not be banned in high schools because students are not only mature enough to handle these issues but should, in fact, be exposed to them in an educational environment to help in the development of their maturing minds. Being exposed to course language at too early an age can often have negative effects on adolescent development. Profanity is inappropriate in a school setting so why should students be assigned to read a book that contains it? Most learn curse words at a very young age, and the foul language displayed is not used to promote vulgarity but rather to add a sense of realism to the narrative.

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“A wonderful novel about mothers and daughters and the transcendent power of love” (Connie May Fowler). This quote reflects the novel, The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd because the protagonist in the story, Lily Owens, her mother have died when she was four years old and she didn’t feel loved by her abusive father, T. Ray Owens, until she met the Boatwrights family with the housekeeper, Rosaleen, and stayed with them. The Boatwrights family are the three black sisters who are August, May, and June. This novel took place in Sylvan and Tiburon, South Carolina, where Lily grew up and where she found the answer to her questions.

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Without a doubt racism still has an influence in the education system. Students in school today are still harmed by prejudice in the system and this interview is verification for those instances. My interviewee and I attended the same elementary and high school together. We shared

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