It comes down to teacher preparation and skills. Way back in the day I remember covering Huckleberry Finn. The slurs were not just kind of skipped over or minimized. It brought up several great discussions about historical wrongs, about the problem with judging people outside of the world they live in, changes that have happened since, and how much we still need to learn. I have no doubt that a less skilled educator could do far worse, not addressing the elephant in the room which could make the situation uncomfortable and even hurtful to certain students. In that I agree with you. I just don’t find that a legitimate reason to just ban certain books. It seems like so much bad that has happened with education has been spurred by outside forces deciding what they think education should be.

It is so similar to people who truly believe that they could successfully run a restaurant, based on the fact that they have eaten at many restaurants over the years. Pay teachers better, ensure only experienced and involved teachers teach classes where a softer, more nuanced approach is needed, etc.

I just really have a knee jerk reaction when people want to ban stuff for reasons based on feelings.