Row as classic anti-racist novel is banned from being taught in Welsh schools because it contains racial slurs

Martin Shipton

A former chair of Wales’ school examinations board has strongly criticised a decision to remove John Steinbeck’s great anti-racist novel Of Mice and Men from the GCSE curriculum, calling it a fundamental assault on Welsh and British values.

The Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC) has left the book out of a new syllabus that merges the old English language and English literature GCSEs following complaints that the book, set in the United States in the 1930s, contains racial slurs.

The decision was backed by Children’s Commissioner Rocio Cifuentes.

Anti-racism consultant

When devising the new syllabus, the WJEC employed an anti-racism consultant “to help us ensure our qualifications reflect a modern and inclusive Wales.” The body added: “We have provided a choice of work from writers of diverse backgrounds, nationalities, genders, and communities.

“We believe this new selection will enrich the educational experience by providing a choice of texts that explore themes that will resonate with learners.”

Of Mice and Men was described as a masterpiece when Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.

The highly respected US online learning programme Study.com says of the book: “The story follows two migrant workers, George Milton and Lennie Smalls, during The Great Depression. The two men travel together throughout the Salinas Valley of California to find steady work. George is tasked with looking after Lennie, a large man with a mental disability. Lennie continuously gets into trouble because he doesn’t learn from his mistakes.

“The story begins with the two men getting assigned to work as ranch hands in Soledad, California. “Most of the characters in Of Mice and Men reflect racism. Steinbeck shows the realities of the time and the struggle characters face through discrimination. Most of the ranch workers display their feelings of racism against the only black worker, Crooks.

““Crooks lives in the barn away from the rest of the ranch workers and sleeps in a makeshift shed on a bed of straw under a window, with a pile of manure outside. When the men go into town after a long day of work, Crooks is left alone in his room in the barn. He is disrupted first by Lennie and then Candy and doesn’t want to let them in because he believes their prejudice will contaminate his space. A migrant worker once beat him for entertainment. When Candy and Lennie begin discussing their hopes of buying a farm together, Crooks realizes he may also have some hope for a better life. When [a white worker’s wife enters and threatens to [falsely] accuse Crooks of rape, his hope quickly dwindles.”

‘Exposed racism’

Jeff Jones, a former chair of the WJEC board and ex-Labour leader of Bridgend County Borough Council said: “It is outrageous that Of Mice and Men has been banned from the syllabus. Steinbeck was a left-wing writer whose work exposed racism. Of course there are racial slurs in the book. He was writing about how things were at the time.

“Books should only be removed from the syllabus on educational grounds – never for political reasons, and certainly not out of some misconceived politically correct approach.

“I see this as a fundamental issue that touches on our values. Censoring books is always wrong and against Welsh and British values.”

Welsh Conservative Shadow Education Minister Natasha Asghar said banning the book was counterproductive and limited educational opportunities.

She added: “Instead of banning Of Mice and Men, we should teach it within its historical context, showing students how overt racism and sexism was commonplace and accepted in the past and why this was harmful and wrong.

“Censorship doesn’t solve the problem; it prevents young people from confronting and understanding these prejudices, some of which sadly continue.

“Sadly, even in 2024 we continue to see racism and sexism in society. If we want to tackle this then instead of banning a classic text, we would do better to challenge media companies that produce music containing misogynistic language and words with racist connotations.”

Harmful

The Children’s Commissioner Rocio Cifuentes told BBC Wales that having to discuss the book in class had been “psychologically and emotionally” harmful for some black children.

She said many black children had “specifically mentioned this text and the harm that it caused them” when she spoke to them as part of research on racism in secondary schools.

Ms Cifuentes added that it was important to have “opportunities for positive, constructive, informed discussions on race and racism” but there were “alternative texts available, which could still offer the same opportunities but in a less directly harmful way”.

“It’s not censorship,” she said. “This is safeguarding the wellbeing of children who have told us how awful those discussions have made them feel in those classrooms.

“They’ve very often been the only black child in that classroom when discussions all around them are focusing on very derogatory, negative depictions of black people.”