Broken in Twain

New editions of Mark Twain's iconic Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, characterized as "school friendly" are about to be published. These versions change every use of the word "nigger" to "slave" and every "injun" to "Indian." Because, of course, those words are politically incorrect.

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Supporters of the editions claim they will make the frequently censored classics readily available to students. I heard one educator assert today on public radio that high school students are not mature enough to read the unexpurgated versions and to assign them would give teachers the impossible task of trying to teach the novels to their diverse student populations.

Thank heavens our children are being shielded from the unvarnished dialect of our most American of writers. How fortunate that their sensitive souls are protected from a forthright portrayal of racism in pre-Civil War America. The fact that not all black people of that time were slaves is a minor point conveniently to be glossed over.

Changing Twain's words to slave and Indian may disrupt the perfect replication of his subjects' dialect, but surely this is a small price to pay for a wider readership and more comfortable students and teachers.

Education is supposed to be challenging, you say? What a preposterous concept in 21st century America.