But, isn't that why we have teachers? Isn't it better to have a teacher explain to a class ahead of the reading assignment that they are going to encounter this language, and put it into context? Isn't it better to have the kids talk about it?
Ideally? Yep. You bet. In a perfect world, the book would stay the same, and teachers would use it as a catalyst to talk about American history and the volatile place that race has always had in it.
But given an imperfect world, if the choice is between "teaching a modified version of Mark Twain's books" and "not teaching Mark Twain's books at all," I think the former is probably preferable to the latter.
