Uneducated Education

So I came across an article on the Huffington Post’s website that confused me to the point that I’m still unsure how to feel about it. The article, found here:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/08/examples-of-slavery-in-school-worksheet_n_1192512.html?ref=mostpopular

is very upsetting. In an effort to combine social studies and mathematic lessons at the Beaver Ridge Elementary School in Norcross, GA, several 3rd grade classes received math word problems that made references to slavery and beatings. According to school officials the references of slavery were incorporated in an effort to teach students about racism and other historical events. Instead these new questions were the cause of uncomfortable conversations between some of Beaver Ridge’s students and their parents. After contacting the school with their concerns a few parents contacted the local news station to report the new curriculum’s offensive nature and lack of historical contact. In the schools defense, an official agreed that the examples were not appropriate nor did they provide and history lesson. The papers have since been collected and shredded.

I have never lived anywhere else but in NYC (which in itself is a melting pot) and the furthest South I have traveled is Virginia and Maryland. Race and slavery are very sensitive subjects. Although times have changed the issue of race is still a very prominent one, but no matter the severity that doesn’t excuse this happening in Georgia in 2012. The South was a very different time during slavery, Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Movement, etc. and people migrated North because of the changes that came sooner there than in the South. My grandparents in Maryland lived and breathed every aspect of racism as children of the 1920's. These day when I visit it seems to be more unified but they still come from a very different time; a time that can still muster an occasional "white folks" comment and the idea of "us vs. them".

As a mother I cannot imagine how I would explain this to my child. I want him to know his history and to be educated, but conversations such as this should not only come at an age appropriate time (which I have no clue when that will be) but I’d also prefer it come from home. The two fathers that contacted the school and reported their outrage can never erase the conversations regarding the assignment from their children’s minds. I do believe that the media attention forced the school to act upon the parent’s complaints but the fact that this was done is unjustifiable. Teachers are supposed to shape the minds of the young and impressionable. What does this say about the teachers who are creating their own curriculum in a uneducated way?