www.columbian.com/article/20090208/LIVING/702089992 -
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Published on: 2/8/2009
Last Visited: 2/8/2009
John Foley isn't one to go by the book
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John Foley would prefer teach "Snow Falling On Cedars," another novel about a minority on trial being defended by a white lawyer, than Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird."
(Files/The Columbian)
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Ridgefield High School English teacher John Foley would like the option of teaching "Going After Cacciato" instead of "Of Mice and Men."
John Foley's been lifting weights but says he's nowhere near strong enough to take down Western Civilization.
Yet that's exactly what one detractor accused the Ridgefield High School English teacher of doing after he penned a controversial guest column for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer proposing that certain staples of American literature be removed from required reading lists because they contain racial slurs and perpetuate negative stereotypes of black people.
In the column, Foley called for substituting what he describes as "the big three novels," which are classics by Mark Twain, John Steinbeck and Harper Lee, with newer titles offering what he feels are more balanced portrayals of minorities.
Now that the nation has elected its first black president, it is time to update the high school curriculum, said Foley, a 48-year-old Salmon Creek resident.
"I was struck by the contrast between (Barack Obama), this intelligent, articulate president, and the African-American characters in the big three novels," he said.
The big three, according to Foley, are "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," "Of Mice and Men" and "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Each of these classics makes pervasive use of a derogatory term for black people and depicts them as ignorant, slow and uneducated, Foley says.
"It just seems kind of backwards to be foisting these books on children in the age of Obama," he said.
Shut down
Foley is in his second year of teaching in Ridgefield.
Prior to that he spent seven years in a racially diverse classroom in Everett, where he found that students would shut down when reading books with slurs targeting people of their race.
They'd focus on that word and not the larger themes contained in the novel, he said.
In his column for the Post-Intelligencer, Foley argued that "the big three novels" should be removed from mandatory high school reading lists.
He suggested alternatives he believes capture the spirt and themes of Twain's, Steinbeck's and Lee's works but to which students could more easily relate.
In lieu of "Huckleberry Finn," Foley offered Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove."
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But McMurtry's black character, Joshua Deets, is depicted as intelligent and savvy, not ignorant and gullible like Twain's runaway slave Jim, Foley argued.
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Rather than teach "To Kill a Mockingbird," which has white attorney Atticus Finch defending Tom Robinson, a black man, against rape accusations, Foley would prefer to use Washington native David Guterson's "Snow Falling on Cedars."
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Students in Washington can relate to this book better than Lee's because many have been to the Puget Sound area, and some have grandparents who served in World War II, Foley said.
Though the book contains slurs directed against Japanese-Americans, the offensive language isn't as pervasive as it is in "To Kill a Mockingbird," Foley said.
Set during the Great Depression, "Of Mice and Men" drew Foley's ire in the parallels it creates between Lennie, a mentally disabled character, and Crooks, the black stable hand.
Foley would prefer to teach Tim O'Brien's Vietnam War novel "Going After Cacciato."
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Foley believes the Vietnam War is more relatable to students than the 1930s, because it's a more recent era in U.S. history, although he acknowledges that the sour economy has made the Great Depression a topic of increased interest.
Outrage to disbelief
His column, which ran in early January, attracted dozens of comments on the Post-Intelligencer's Web site and led to radio interviews on National Public Radio and two Canadian stations.
It also prompted the Los Angeles Times to weigh in with a story.
Responses to Foley's suggested reading list changes ranged from support to outrage to disbelief.
Many assumed that his column, like Twain's "Huckleberry Finn," was satirical.
Others accused him of trying to rewrite history, or of being too politically correct.
One reader labeled him a misogynist for suggesting that schools replace Lee's novel with a book by a male author.
He's largely been able to brush off scathing online comments and letters to the editor, but the attacks felt more personal when he went on an AM 640 Toronto radio show and a listener called him a racist on air.
"That was a little more difficult to take," Foley said.
Still, he stands by his argument, although in hindsight he wishes he'd tempered his verbiage.
If he were to do it all again, he'd ask that the curriculum be expanded to give teachers more options instead of calling for the big three novels to be "replaced."
So far Foley hasn't taken any formal steps to make that happen.
The column was based more on his experience in Everett than in Ridgefield, and discussions of "Huckleberry Finn" and the like seem to go over better here, he said.
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Foley said he's received little feedback on his column from colleagues at Ridgefield High School, although the controversy piqued his students' interest.
They recently started reading "Huckleberry Finn," and Foley's brush with fame helped launch the lesson.
"It prompted excellent classroom discussions," he said.
"It got people talking about books, which is always a good thing."
Reflecting the times
Foley's hardly the first to suggest certain books are inappropriate for classroom reading.
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Both Bryant and Foley are opposed to banning books.
Foley noted that he's a proponent of free speech and has even written a book which contains a racist character who uses the very derogatory term he criticizes in Twain's, Steinbeck's and Lee's novels.
The difference, he says, is that the word isn't as pervasive in his book, and his book isn't required classroom reading.
While Foley may not want to teach what he deemed the big three novels, that doesn't mean he doesn't want students reading them.
"I'd love for them to read them," he said, adding "you can learn a lot reading a book in class, but some are better to absorb and enjoy on your own."
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