CAPS #3

     The N-word is a word with a destructive and painful history and now is a unique word because how it is now accepted by some social groups. During football season while coaching at a predominantly black high school I hear it at least once every day. It's used by teammates, opponents, parents, and occasionally referees. It's used to hurt, greet, degrade, or show friendship. I've always thought about different ways to handle this as a coach, do I tolerate it, prevent it, or talk about the issues of it with my student athletes.


     I had read a teacher's guide on how to handle the reading of "Huck Finn" in the classroom. The use of the N-word is difficult to teach. It was agreed that whether it was used in a right or wrong manner, in an educational setting or for fun, for entertainment or insult, it didn't matter. It was still wrong, it felt wrong.

     The use of the word in a school setting no matter where or how will always be difficult to figure out. In some cases, like mine, it can discussed by looking at the cultural space in which the students grow up, or even where the educators grow up. In another article I read how a teacher used the N-word in his classroom. Lincoln Brown, a white teacher for a Chicago middle school used the word in his classroom. Brown had a random less on the word "nigga" in his classroom. His was suspended for a few days without pay. He tried to sue, but ultimately gave up.

     At the end of the article Brown discussed where and how he grew up. He grew up in the neighborhood he taught in, but all his white friends moved away or sent their kids to private school. His school was racially mixed all through high school. Because that was his cultural space, did that make him feel "qualified" to discuss the N-word with his 6th grade class?

     Is the word ever socially acceptable, especially in a school setting? Professor Neal A. Lester at Arizona State University recognized this is a complex word. It needs to be looked at further and discussed in an educational environment. He had started a class devoted to the N-word. Professor Lester had noticed most be that use it, such as the youth today, don't go to a level of self-reflection or critique. The term is not fully understood. The class is about self-education and critique, it's not designed to control people into a certain way of thinking.

     Professor Lester believes the N-word needs to be in the education system as early as can be. Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was his best example to teaching elementary level students. Then as they can older a teacher can introduce hip-hop as an example. Just like his style of teaching, he thinks it has to be about language and thinking more broadly.

References

Price, S. (2011). Straight Talk about the N-Word. Teaching Tolerance, 40. Retrieved from http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-40-fall-2011/feature/straight-talk-about-n-word

Bogira, S. (2013). A Tough Lesson about the N-Word. Chicago Reader. Retrieved from http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/teacher-lincoln-brown-sues-cps-over-nword/Content?oid=8556801&storyPage=2

(1999). Huck Finn Teacher's Guide. PBS. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/teachers/huck/section1_2.html