I’m a high school junior. Why are schools across the country banning books such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn? 

I agree with many of my peers that teachers must teach sensitively instead of banning books. However, what does this sensitivity look like? 

In her 1994 book Teaching to Transgress, bell hooks observed that teachers’ reluctance to address “race, sex, and class is often rooted in fear that classrooms will be uncontrollable, that emotions and passions will not be contained.” 

Accordingly, teachers structure lessons around the notion of a “safe” classroom, lecturing to students who speak only when called upon. Yet, this approach shortchanges students by ignoring the classroom’s role as a sacred space where young people can reflect on their histories and identities. Safety, in this view, breeds silence and complacency. 

Rather than “control” students’ emotions, sensitive teachers embrace them. By staying attuned to students’ needs as historical and political learning unfolds, teachers can flexibly lead lessons while acknowledging systems of power and cultures of both joy and resistance. Sensitive teachers challenge students to offer perspectives informed by personal experience and research. To curb student ostracization or tokenization, sensitive teachers invest in every student. 

Optimal learning happens when teachers and students alike are courageous, committing collectively to the promise of experiencing emotion in a shared space.