ROCKWALL, Texas – A Texas middle school teacher was placed on administrative leave after she gave students an unapproved lesson on the N-word that some found offensive.

Utley Middle School seventh-grade social studies teacher Rebecca Cook recently handed out a 1997 article from the Chicago Reader to her students titled “The N-Word and How to Use It” in hopes of sparking a classroom discussion, CBS DFW reports.

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According to the Dallas Morning News:

The lesson used a 1997 article titled “The N-Word and How To Use It.” The subtitle says “It’s what blacks have always done since we hit America’s shores: we take what’s given us and we find a way to make it our own.”

In the Chicago Reader piece, Bennie M. Currie details how the word’s usage and meaning have changed throughout history. He also discusses his personal experience with the word and how he’d describe it to his children. The N-word is repeatedly used throughout the text.

“I’ll never forget the first time I accidentally used that word in mixed company. It was 20 years ago at the University of Missouri, and I was engaged in lighthearted chitchat with Kent, my white roommate, when I casually called him a ‘nigger,’” Currie wrote.

“For a second I’d forgotten that I was not among my black friends in my old neighborhood in Saint Louis, where calling a buddy ‘nigger’ was synonymous with calling him ‘brother’ or ‘man,’” he explained. “I was barely conscious of my accidental utterance, but there was nothing casual about Kent’s reaction. His eyes widened, and his body flinched as though he’d just absorbed a boxer’s jab.”

Cook’s lesson at Utley Middle School last Thursday seems to have provoked a similar reaction.

“I don’t think it should be discussed in schools because to me it’s a racial slur. It’s the same thing if you called a white person ‘honky’ … you’re not going to teach that in school so why would you teaching something about another culture using slang,” a white parent identified only as Linda told CBS DFW.

School officials seem to agree with Linda. After placing the teacher on paid administrative leave and launching an investigation into the lesson, officials issued a statement to the media.

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“A Rockwall ISD 7th grade teacher at Utley Middle School was placed on administrative leave Thursday morning after the district learned of a Civil Rights lesson that was intended to provoke discussion about society’s use of a racially derogatory term,” the statement read.

“District personnel have begun an investigation. Three 7th grade classes read an article and discussed society’s use of the N-word. While the teacher has expressed that the intent of the lesson was to provoke discussion, the teacher did not seek prior approval from the campus or district,” it continued.

“This lesson activity and article are not part of Rockwall ISD’s curriculum and racially derogatory terms have no place in our classrooms or district.”

School officials refused to discuss whether other district-approved texts use or address the N-word.

At least one parent, Mike Conway, doesn’t necessarily think that teaching students about the N-word is a bad idea.

“I don’t use that word either and have not for many years,” he said. “I think it’s appropriate for there to be a conversation for it to be presented in school. It seems like information kids ought to be aware of if it’s presented appropriately.”