This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Take of mice and men out of the school curriculum
In the school curriculum, we were made to read a book called 'of mice and men.' This book, quite obviously, stated the N word more than once. The government should replace this book in the school curriculum with a more appropriate one.
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When I was at school, we were told to read the N word out and told that it was ok by a WHITE teacher. As a kid, this is very contradicting and is teaching kids that it is ok to say that word when it is not. It has made the black community feel unsafe and disrespected. A white teacher has no right to state what is ok and what is not when it comes to racism and they're very clearly not the race that was targeted by that word. A lot of kids nowadays feel it is okay to say the N word when it is not.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not directly responsible for.
We understand you're concerned about the content of books which can be taught in schools in England, however the individual books taught as part of the exam specifications for GCSE and A-level are a matter for the relevant awarding bodies such as the AQA and Pearson, not the UK Government or Parliament. You can read the GCSE English literature content mandated by the Government here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/254498/GCSE_English_literature.pdf.
You could have a petition calling on the Government to review the English literature specifications for GCSE and A-level to ensure students are not required to read works containing depictions of racism, if that is something you'd like to see happen.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.