[DennyWilson]

I recall a 1950's live "Climax" TV adaptation of "Huckleberry Finn" where the replaced Jim with Tom Sawyer!

[narfstar]

That is the mark of a good teacher Roy. Of course the other worry is the teachers who put too much of a slant on a story to suit their mores. Valid opinions must be allowed and not demeaned, unfortunately too few adults are capable let alone a class of teens.

[Astaldo711]

I think it would make an excellent teaching point. The teacher would give the kids a book to read or movie to watch and use it to show how we've progressed as a society in that respect.

[DennyWilson]

I had an english teacher in my Freshman and Senior who liked to use the more popular works to encourage his students to seek out the classics - H.G. Wells War of the Worlds,Dracula and Frankenstien,etc.

As I recall, I was an "A" student those years

[Astaldo711]

That must have been hard Sky. Shows dedication and how much you must care about his education. I wish they had made us read those books when I was in school. I was able to read some of the classics as my dad had some. I wasn't even interested in them until my brother brought me home a copy of Tom Sawyer when he was on leave from the Marines. That opened it up to me. A friend of mine from work recently cleaned out his attic and brought me some old books of his. I love that musty smell.

[Astaldo711]

Awesome! Tough love can work. My oldest daughter had a tough time as well. After raising her myself for 17 years with no help from her mom, and getting into lots of trouble with school it was decided that she needed a change of scenery to get away from the "friends" she had around her. She moved to south Jersey and did terrific in school. She joined the Navy and is now in college.
She liked the movie War of The Worlds and I got her to read the book. She really enjoyed it and it caused her to branch out to other classics.

[slingsla]

Besides comics, I want to read a textbook on microbiology.  There's so much new science that I just don't know

[skybandit]

My kid hated it until he got to the part where the landlord came out of his room while "buckling up his pants and ejaculating."  Odd how the meaning of words change in just a brief century!

[Astaldo711]

Just for those who are rereading sky's words; to 'ejaculate' at one time meant to shout or cry out. Gay and queer also meant different things.

[skybandit]

   Later in the book the narrator's brother gets a "douche" in the face, which mean ANY spray of water back then, not the PARTICULAR one we think of now.

[narfstar]

This has been a really interesting thread. I enjoy the personal life anecdotes. You could also read old books where old people were still quick meaning alive and still capable of intercourse (talk-communication).

I loved to read but refused to read what the teachers assigned. In general I disagree with forced reading selections. I think it tends to turn kids off to reading at a critical time when they should be enjoying. I think kids should have to read but it should be within a range of a lot of selections and genre.

[narfstar]

In sixth grade I was the classroom dictionary. We had a terrible teacher whose idea of teaching reading was telling us to read a story and look up all the words we did not know. He never checked what we did but was acting like he was doing his job. Difference between now and then is that in some ways it worked. The kids back then conscientously did what they were told. They did learn, however, that they did not need the dictionary they would just ask me what the words meant. I never had many on my list because i was an avid comic reader who had developed a pretty good vocabulary.

[Astaldo711]

My parents always did that "look it up" thing to me. It actually helped quite a bit because when I'd look up the word I wanted, I'd find another interesting word. In high school English was the only subject I got an A in. I had a terrific teacher that really made you want to read and learn.
Even now at work, if a co-worker needs to send a professional email to a customer, they ask me to proof read it.

[Jedifish]

Alter Ego is great. Every issue has a must read and stuff I want to read but don't seem to get to. The High Camp section covers my oddball SA addction

I'm a bigger fan of Back Issue, since that's the era I grew up in. But, I took advantage of that 50% off sale Twomorrows had back in December (?), and picked up a ton of Alter Ego magazines. Now if I only had time to read them.

[slingsla]

I never knew that about "ejaculate".  It is funny how a word's meaning can narrow down to just referencing one thing over a span of only 50 years or so.  At least most people know that gay and queer has a broader meaning as used in the past.

[Roygbiv666]

I never knew that about "ejaculate".  It is funny how a word's meaning can narrow down to just referencing one thing over a span of only 50 years or so.  At least most people know that gay and queer has a broader meaning as used in the past.

"Intercourse" Ha!  It can mean "conversation".

[Roygbiv666]

oh, I got an illustrated "Origin of Species" . That I haven't started yet...

[JonTheScanner]

   Read Mark Twain and ERB's Tarzan (in the early editions) to find out that the n-word used to be a simple descriptive of the subsaharan African peoples, derived from the French word for "black."

Yes definitely in Mark Twain -- particularly in Huck Finn.  I read that book to my son when he was in 3rd grade and he asked me not to use it.  We agreed I'd try to remember to translate it to "slave" as I said it out loud. 

But are you sure about ERB?  I only recall Negro used there, though, I suppose I could have been reading Bowdlerized versions.

[skybandit]

   You have to dig pretty hard to find original copies, but yeah, Tarzan's been "updated" several times over it's printing history.  Pretty soon he's going to be lording over the endangered species in the gumdrop forest next to the chocolate river attended to by the infinitely gentle and wise people of color.

[DennyWilson]

   You have to dig pretty hard to find original copies, but yeah, Tarzan's been "updated" several times over it's printing history.  Pretty soon he's going to be lording over the endangered species in the gumdrop forest next to the chocolate river attended to by the infinitely gentle and wise people of color.

Some of the "Hardy Boys" and "Nancy Drew" Books (Especially the early ones) were very much of their time period and has re-writes of most,if not all,ethnic and racial elements  - something as small as a buttler or cook,to a major plot element like an evil Chinese Laundry owner or an Irishman!

[Astaldo711]

Maybe they should re-write every comic, novel, pulp, etc. and make everyone a gender neutral stick figure with androgynous names like Pat or Chris.