The upcoming film “Band of Robbers” imagines Mark Twain’s classic characters Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer as modern-day dysfunctional adults. About a quarter of the dialogue is taken directly from Twain’s works.

Not that many kids would recognize it even if they heard it.

For example, prestigious Philadelphia prep school Friends’ Central recently announced it has removed Twain’s classic anti-slavery tome “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from its junior curriculum.

Friends’ Central’s reason for dropping Huck Finn is that “the community costs of reading this book in 11th grade outweigh the literary benefits.” The community cost in question: discomfort caused by Twain’s liberal use of the N-word.

This isn’t a new issue. In 1988, it was the subject of a two-part episode of “Family Ties.” In the sitcom, the teachers eventually stand up for the educational value of Huck Finn. But a lot has changed since then.

Almost as bad as the decision not to teach the book is the way the decision was announced.

The teachers could have just turned down NPR for a few minutes in the faculty lounge and made a private decision. They could have determined that some other book with less baggage would be a better fit this year.

If asked why, they could have truthfully said that great, important books move on and off curricula all the time, for myriad reasons.

But that’s not what they did. They put poor old Huck Finn and Mark Twain against the wall, stood in a line and yelled “fire.” They didn’t simply leave the book off of the curriculum; they put it on a blacklist. They told their students — and, eventually, the media — that this is a dangerous book.

This is especially troubling given that Friends’ Central is an elite, $30,000-a-year school that has great influence on the wider educational system. Going forward, many schools considering whether to teach Huck Finn will look to this needlessly public decision in reaching their own conclusion.

One silver lining that comes from these kinds of challenges to “Huckleberry Finn” is that some students, as kids are wont to do, will view the prohibition as an invitation. Many of our most beloved books have been banned at some point for some reason or other.

People want what they aren’t supposed to have.

And frankly, the kids might be better off reading Huck Finn on their own. Not in a classroom where questions about modern social justice would likely overshadow its historical realism and literary greatness. Those kids will come to adaptations and references to Twain’s work better prepared to understand them.

Adaptations like “Band of Robbers” often change classic characters’ race, gender or age. In this case, the writers chose to make the villain Injun Joe into a white man obsessed with Native American culture.

Was that a nod to political correctness? Maybe, maybe not. It does, however, send the message that while Twain’s story plots and clever quips are fine, his frank depictions of historical racism are a problem for modern audiences.

But all adaptations can be best appreciated when people have actually experienced the original.

This isn’t the first time Huck Finn has been officially prohibited. In the 19th century it was widely banned for depicting a close friendship between people of different races. It’s quite an accomplishment for a book to get challenged both for being too racist and not racist enough.

But that dualism speaks to the enduring nature of the book. It’s a 12-year-old’s adventure story and a challenging, complex adult novel. Its words are simple, but its message is profound. As with much of Twain’s work, it rewards re-reading.

Twain’s American classic has endured moral challenges for more than a century. Friends’ Central’s ill-advised attack on it won’t dislodge it from the American canon. The current fads of safe spaces and trigger warnings will pass, and Huck and Jim will still be there.

That’s reassuring, because whether it’s crossing the boundaries of 19th-century racism or 21st-century political correctness, it is always a good time to read “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

David Marcus is a senior contributor to the Federalist and the artistic director of Blue Box World, a Brooklyn-based theater project.

Twitter: @BlueBoxDave