NBC: Alaska school board pulls 'Great Gatsby' from curriculum

[Ana]

Alaska school board removes 'The Great Gatsby,' other famous books from curriculum for 'controversial' content

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller, "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison were all taken off an approved list of works that teachers in the Mat-Su Borough School District may use for instruction.

"Caged Bird" was derided for "anti-white' messaging," "Gatsby" and "Things" are loaded with "sexual references," "Invisible Man" has bad language and "Catch-22" includes violence, according to the school district.

Several books that were not removed from classrooms also came under harsh scrutiny.

"The Jungle" and "A Christmas Carol" could be interpreted as advocating for socialism, while "A Street in Bronzeville" was called into question for showing too much "realism" in describing racism against African Americans, according to a district memo

"If I were to read these in a corporate environment, in an office environment, I would be dragged into EO," an equal opportunity complaint proceeding, school board Vice President Jim Hart said. "The question is why this is acceptable in one environment and not another."

Even though students are still free to read the books on their own, Hart said, it would be unfair to ask teachers to have to navigate their pupils through the complicated subject matter.

"These are teachers, not counselors," Hart said.

Alaska school board pulls 'Great Gatsby' from curriculum

Bookstores are fielding requests for works removed from Mat-Su Borough School District classrooms.

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