To Kill a Mockingbird, other books no longer ‘recommended resources’ at Surrey Schools

The Surrey school district says it isn’t banning books like To Kill a Mockingbird. Rather, it’s recommending teachers use other pieces of literature to ensure anti-racism and culturally responsible education is at the forefront of what they do.

In addition to Harper Lee’s novel, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and John Ball’s In the Heat of the Night are “no longer recommended” by the district.

“They’re still available, teachers can still use them, but they’re not recommended,” Ritinder Matthew, who speaks for Surrey Schools, told CityNews Thursday.

Matthew says the district has not directed schools or educators to remove the books, making it clear “no book has been banned.”

Instead, she says what the district is doing is updating its recommendations for resources, as it does across subjects like math and science.

She says various “lenses” are considered when it comes to resources, such as whether they are current and whether they relay themes to students in the best manner.

“One of the key pieces when you look at some of these resources, they were published in 1960. And when you talk about racism and racial injustice, there are so many other books that have come forward that might resonate a little bit better with our students, right? So looking at it from that lens alone, there are resources that are better suited for our classrooms,” Matthew told CityNews.

“We also look at, do they give agency and voice to characters from historically racialized or marginalized or underrepresented groups and put them in positions of power, strength, and resiliency, as opposed to hearing about someone’s experiences through someone that’s not a member of that community’s eyes. So, taking a look at it from that equity lens, as well.”

Matthew notes this move comes after the district met with a panel of scholars a year ago, to “contextualize what we mean by anti-racism pedagogy and culturally responsive pedagogy.”

“And based on that, they identified the criteria. We then took that criteria, recruited a team of teachers — 12 teachers. They were each provided that criteria and they did independent reviews and came together as a group, created a review document, which was then shared with the district for review,” she explained.

Lizanne Foster, the First VP of the Surrey Teachers’ Association, is also making it clear there is no ban on the aforementioned books, adding this is “a correction of process.”

“These books were maybe 20, 30 years ago considered classic books, but that was before there was general awareness of the harms of racism, of colonialism,” she told CityNews Thursday.

“I started in the Surrey school district in 1996. At that time, these were just the books that you taught — the curriculum was different. The curriculum today is very, very different. It focuses on learning outcomes, it focuses on critical thinking, it allows us to use our professional autonomy. We fought very hard for teachers’ professional autonomy, and as a union we will protect that.”

District responsible to ‘ensure content is brought forward responsibly’

Matthew says the aforementioned books are still “readily available” in Surrey school libraries, refuting claims that they aren’t accessible.

“There is 114 copies in our 21 secondary schools in the library, there’s over 5,000 copies in these book resource rooms and we’re not even done counting all of the ones in every school yet,” she said, noting teachers can sign them out when they’d like.

“Our requirement is that you need to do so responsibly. We expect our educators to provide the appropriate guidance, context, and support to help students understand the historical and social context of the literature, the harm caused by racism, and, for these four books, the harms caused to Indigenous and Black communities, and the impact on historically marginalized communities. This is our responsibility as a school district, to ensure this content is brought forward responsibly,” Matthew added.

Foster says the district “wouldn’t go anywhere near banning books,” highlighting instances during which the books can be used for educational purposes.

“For example, To Kill a Mockingbird can be used to teach what white savior complex looks like,” she explained.

“Different things are happening in schools now. Books have to be reviewed all the time. And even though books are reviewed all the time … the resources that are available don’t actually keep up.”

Foster is doubling down that teachers who want to use these books need to make a case to do so responsibly and take into considerations the potential impacts the specific piece of literature could have on students.

She says this move presents an opportunity for teachers to explore issues of racism in stories that centre the groups most affected by them.

Matthew says the school district reviews resources “on a regular basis,” no matter the subject.

“A resource from 1960 — not to say that it doesn’t capture that, and some teachers actually do a wonderful job of using that resource to bring these issues to the forefront — but there are some resources that might be better suited for our students, especially depending on their grade level,” she added.

Surrey Schools taking ‘measured approach’: professor

Florian Gassner, an associate professor of Teaching at UBC who researches the history of censorship, says he finds it interesting that Surrey Schools chose a “very measured approach.”

“The books will remain on shelves and students will continue to have access, so it seems in this level, they tried to create a discussion and get stakeholders to provide input to simply update the curriculum to meet the needs of the school at this time,” he told CityNews of the Surrey school district’s decision.

While some people have referred to the move as a sort of censorship, Gassner points out schools are places where students don’t just “encounter literature.”

“We use literature to teach certain lessons and there’s an argument to be made that while, for example, To Kill a Mockingbird is a great instructional tool to inform young people about the history of race relations and contentious discourses about it, we are now two or three generations later, so chances are that another book has been written that allows the teacher to address these topics in a way that’s more attuned to current times and, moreover, doesn’t run the risk of victimizing students again,” he said.

“At the same time, it strikes me that there is no province-wide process for how to amend the curriculum. While it strikes me that the school district in Surrey had this very measured approach … the fact there isn’t a clearly outlined province-wide or even Canada-wide process raises the issue that other school districts could develop rules or processes that are not measured, and that are, indeed, arbitrary or cater only to one community.”

Gassner says he wouldn’t call what Surrey is doing censorship “in any way,” despite some raising this concern in the public. He notes teachers are still able to use the books, if they so choose.