LETTER: Substitute teacher fired for putting N-word on board

Regarding your April 13 article on the firing of a substitute teacher after he wrote the N-word on the chalkboard: I’m curious what the context was because, as a former teacher, I have had numerous discussions in class over the same word. Whether we were discussing its use in a book or simply discussing whether it was appropriate for the students to use in referring to each other (a common practice in every school), it was necessary to talk about it.

By shying away from a word, we are doing students a disservice. They need to know that it was used in the past, the negative connotations of it and how others may perceive them for using it. This word is used constantly in our society — in the everyday lives of students by adults they interact with and in songs and social media.