Starting last school year, 11th grade English teachers were given a new choice: whether or not to teach “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

This choice resulted from a curriculum change. Previously, all juniors read “Death of a Salesman,” “The Great Gatsby,”  “Song of Solomon,” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Now teachers can pick any three of these books.

Despite this choice, all 11th grade teachers have taught or plan to teach “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” this year, with the exception of Rachel Reagan and co-teachers Pete Rittenberg and Anthony Meyer, who have not decided yet.

The change was made because 11th grade English teachers felt reading all four books was too time-consuming, especially for standard-level courses, English Curriculum Coordinator Mary Burchenal said.

English teacher Nicholas Rothstein said he believes teachers need to thoroughly consider whether reading this book is worth the emotional impact it may have on their students.

“Any teacher who thinks, hands down, this is an American classic and all kids need to know this,” Rothstein said, “has not taught it enough to black and brown children and looked into their eyes as they are reading the n-word over and over.”

Rothstein’s own reasons for teaching the book have evolved. In the past, he has thought that the book should not be taught.

“I don’t know that we need to teach it for some sort of skill or some sort of literary importance but it’s important now because it’s so ingrained in our culture. I would argue we teach it because it’s a cultural landmark,” he said. “I taught it this year because I’m at that point now, in the weird twist of my own hypocrisy, that I teach it because going off to college without that knowledge might be damaging too.”

Junior Elijah Elmore, who is the only African-American student in Rothstein’s A-block American Literature Honor course, said Rothstein prepared them well for reading the n-word by incorporating seminars, PowerPoint presentations and discussions about its use as well as about race in general.

According to Elmore, because Rothstein only used the n-word when necessary and monitored its use, he mostly felt comfortable with it being said in class as long as it was in the context of learning.

Elmore said that while the book sparked interesting conversations, it was sometimes awkward.

“Sometimes if we got into deeper conversations about race, a lot of people would kind of look to me to see what my opinion was, instead of other peoples’ opinions,” he said.

Junior Kaija Bariss, who is also in Rothstein’s A-block class, said she thinks the book should be taught at the high school.

“It’s an American classic and it represents different values of a lot of different people,” Bariss said.

Like Rothstein, English teacher Rob Primmer is teaching the book this year. Primmer said he embraces the discomfort that reading this book involves.

“Education isn’t always comfortable,” Primmer said. “There are moments when it’s important to understand what is causing tension: ‘Why do I feel this way? How do I give voice to it in some way?’ And the conversations about the tension are important.”

Junior Ryan Cullinane, who is in Primmer’s F-block American Literature class, said the lack of students of color in the class negatively affects class discussions of the book.

“It takes something away from the discussion because it ends up just being a bunch of white people talking about race and that’s not always the most interesting or best conversation,” he said.

Like Bariss, Cullinane said reading “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is crucial for students.

“It’s a very important piece of American literature and I don’t think we could have the English curriculum without it,” he said.

Reagan said she chose not to teach the book last year after taking a poll in her classes. She has not yet decided if she will teach the book this year and said she wants to gauge her classes’ interest before making a decision.

Like Primmer, English teacher Sarah Westbrook said she likes how “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” forces the class to have difficult conversations. She said she thinks students are able to gain a lot from reading the book.

“I think that they take away more articulate and nuanced ideas about what some of the prevalent stereotypes about African-Americans were at the time,” Westbrook said. “I think they are able to explain satire in a more sophisticated way and analyze some of the writing techniques that go into satire and I think that it does force them to think about whether our society has changed, whether Huck changes at all and if that is satisfying to them or not.”

At the end of the unit, Westbrook holds a structured debate about whether or not the book should be taught at the high school.

“It’s a relevant question because it’s a book that can really shut students down,” Westbrook said. “Especially, if it’s the only book you’ve read in high school where you have a black character, I think that’s when it’s a problem.”

Sarah Gladstone can be contacted at [email protected]