A Virginia school teacher is receiving backlash from parents and students for a class lesson that highlighted various uses of the n-word but the school district is standing by the teacher.
11th graders at Heritage High School in Leesburg were reading Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” when the teacher decided to use the opportunity to discuss the different uses of the n-word and which is considered offensive, reports Fox 5.
One parent, Elaine Jenkins, said her child told her, “It spells out the n-word and I think it’s like three different ways and what it means. I just don’t understand how they can think this is appropriate to be teaching something like this in class.”
Another parent added to Fox 5, “As of Tuesday, my understanding was that they were trying to give instruction to a word that is so demeaning to our culture and normalize it. The kids were offended – white, black, Hispanic, Indian, Asian – they were all offended.”
Loudoun County Public Schools spokesperson Wayde Byard said the incident may be taking out of context, “You have to put it in context. Was this a teacher yelling this at a student to degrade them? No. She was trying to explain a work of literature that has been honored as one of the greatest works of American history.”
The principal has since apologized while the teacher added that it was never her intentions to offend anyone.
A few of the parents have filed a formal complaint to their local NAACP chapter and school district.
