BCS Mentor News Story

The End of Slavery: Books Banned in Public Schools

At first, October 6th seemed like a regular old school day at the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies. But

what started out as a normal ELA class soon turned into chaos as soon as Todd Baran, school counselor, made his announcement. Suddenly, students screaming. Books slamming. Shouts of “why?!” Worried faces. The air became tense with confusion and disbelief. Room 408, where Arden Katine and Lauren Gardner teach 8th grade English, practically turned into a the scene of a riot when 8th grade students were told that the Department of Education had decided to ban books about slavery.

How could this have happened?

This news was passed out to teachers earlier in the week. According to Baran, “I found out about the book ban in an email. I was surprised at first, even though I understand that some kids can take the race conversation a little too far.” The Department of Education says that the ban was meant to protect students, not harm them. According to their website, “we want to keep the peace in our schools and we believe the ban will help do this.” This is not the first time books have been banned in schools. In 1885, the first book was banned, called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it used the “n-word” too much (Banned Books Week). Nevertheless, Social Studies teachers now seriously have to re-think their curriculum. According to the New York City Common Core website, students are required to learn American History. So how will they learn it accurately, without discussing slavery? “This is going to be hard work,” said Greg Gentile, 8th grade Social Studies teacher at BCS.

“This is Totally Unfair”

Students at Brookyln Collaborative were very upset about the Department of Education’s decision. Since 6th grade, they have been able to study important topics related to race. For example, in 8th grade students learn about Emmett Till and Nat Turner.  “My favorite expedition we ever did was in 8th grade when we learned about the Eric Garner case,” said current 9th grader Cheyenne Williams. “It would be bad if we couldn’t study things like that anymore.” In addition, some people think students have a right to learn about slavery. According to Gentile, the Social Studies teacher opposing the ban, if slavery is the truth, then it shouldn’t be kept a secret. “This is totally unfair,” he said.

Petitions, Protests and More

Currently, led by 8th grade activist Michael Brown, a petition is going around school to protest the ban. “We have to do something!” Brown explained. This petition will be mailed to the Department of Education once it has 200 signatures. Gentile thinks that another way to fix the ban would be to show the Department of Education all the hard work students have done in the past about slavery. For example, he is going to send them essays that past students have done on Nat Turner’s rebellion. Another possible solution might be to have a student protest in front of the school. If students draw enough attention to this problem, perhaps they might finally get the kind of education they deserve.