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History is embarassing

Could have been handled better, and should have, given the known proclivity to completely ignore all negative aspects of mainstream culture, which is holy, greatest, and god-blessed. The transition from the map below until today also merits at least some form of explanation, preferably including discussion of mineral "rights" and "Manifest Destiny." At minimum, Custer's Last Stand should be celebrated as just deserts for criminal actions, including war crimes.

Ownership of the Black Hills was determined by an ultimatum issued by the Manypenny Commission according to which the Sioux were required to cede the land to the United States if they wanted the government to continue supplying rations to the reservations. Threatened with starvation, the Indians ceded Paha Sapa to the United States, but the Sioux never accepted the legitimacy of the transaction. They lobbied Congress to create a forum to decide their claim and subsequently litigated for 40 years, and the United States Supreme Court in the 1980 decision United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians acknowledged that the United States had taken the Black Hills without just compensation. The Sioux refused the money subsequently offered and continue to insist on their right to occupy the land.

Puts today's bully pipelines in perspective. There's no turning back the clock, but slavery and ultra-violent land theft are as American as apple pie, and should at least be mentioned as often as Johnny Appleseed, for crying out loud. US history is as mixed a bag as that of, say, Germany, but remains wrapped in racial myth. Someone forgot to own up to the factual past (and present) after WWII, and it ain't the Nazis. Thus, Trump, and alt-right pride. Shameful.
 

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I'm not in love with having kids making posters for a slave auction. I'm not sure they need to act out playing apart in an auction to learn about it. That's not to say this isn't a good topic for a history project.
 
"A school in the US state of New Jersey is under fire for an assignment that asked children aged 10-11 to create posters depicting slave auctions."

Parents getting upset over depictions of actual history seems weird.

Your idea of what learning is all about for what was an injustice legal at the time seems weird too. Are you certain that your ancestors did not have slaves too? Is one supposed to reject their ancestors because they had slaves?

Were any of their ancestors illegitimate? Do you think children ought to draw posters of that too? What about ancestors who were horse thieves or murderers? Are they supposed to draw posters of that, as well?

Why would anyone want to burden young children about something over which they had no control?

It wasn't all about the US in the slave trade business, other Countries had a part in that too. Why is it necessary to provoke a sense of guilt in children for something over which they had no control by having them depict that in posters. Do the teachers want to invoke a sense of guilt? I could go on and on about the sense of provoking guilt in children, but why bother. You don't understand how history is to be viewed. We all learn from it, but there is no need to smear children's faces in it.

The parents are justified even in New Jersey for objecting to this.
 
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"A school in the US state of New Jersey is under fire for an assignment that asked children aged 10-11 to create posters depicting slave auctions."

Parents getting upset over depictions of actual history seems weird.


It's a very weird assignment.


But one caregiver at the school, Andrea Espinoza, told the ABC 7 channel: "It's part of history, of course. It happened. I think it's good that they know."


Knowing? Yeah. Recreating? Come on... What's next? Have the children play the role of Nazi officials and write up execution orders for Jews? Maybe put on a play where some of the children lead their classmates into a "gas chamber"?
 
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I wonder if they were instructed to draw scenes depicting some of the 300,000 black African slaves shipped to America over a period of 250 years, or the 20,000,000+ slaves of all ethnicities alive in the world right this very moment.
 
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Your idea of what learning is all about for what was an injustice legal at the time seems weird too. Are you certain that your ancestors did not have slaves too? Is one supposed to reject their ancestors because they had slaves?

My ancestors are definitely candidates for 'biggest bastards in history'. My ancestors stole most of Africa. most of Australia, committed near genocide in Tasmanian, were deeply complicit in the slaves-cotton-goods triangle and also nicked most (some) of America from the natives.

I mean, we had help from other bits of northern Europe, but no, my ancestors are a million miles from squeaky clean. I would never get upset about my children being taught the horrific past of my country. How about you?



Were any of your ancestors illegitimate? Do you think children ought to draw posters of that too? What about ancestors who were horse thieves or murderers? Are they supposed to draw posters of that, as well?

Yup, if it's history. I certainly wouldn't get upset about the accurate teaching of the history of my country. Would you?


Why would anyone want to burden young children about something over which they had no control?

Ask the Japanese why the Chinese hate them so and you'll answer that question. Those that do not learn from history are destined to repeate it, I think is the phrase. Why would you not want children being taught the truth?

It wasn't all about the US in the slave trade business, other Countries had a part in that too.

They did. I was taught this and would encourage the teaching of this to children so that they might learn the lessons of history. Why do you think they should be shielded from historical facts?


Why is it necessary to provoke a sense of guilt in children for something over which they had no control by having them depict that in posters. Do the teachers want to invoke a sense of guilt? I could go on and on about the sense of provoking guilt in children, but why bother. You don't understand how history is to be viewed. We all learn from it, but there is no need to smear children's faces in it.


Who said anything about guilt? the Geneva convention prohibits anyone being punished for the sins of their ancestors. Any guilt will be felt because of the continuing and stark racial divide in the USA, not from the acts of their forefathers. Why do you think this is about guilt? This is about history.


The parents are justified even in New Jersey for objecting to this.

Because they don't want their children learning the true history of the country in which they live and prefer to propagate the ever growing myth of the formation of the USA?
 
Could have been handled better, and should have, given the known proclivity to completely ignore all negative aspects of mainstream culture, which is holy, greatest, and god-blessed. The transition from the map below until today also merits at least some form of explanation, preferably including discussion of mineral "rights" and "Manifest Destiny." At minimum, Custer's Last Stand should be celebrated as just deserts for criminal actions, including war crimes.



Puts today's bully pipelines in perspective. There's no turning back the clock, but slavery and ultra-violent land theft are as American as apple pie, and should at least be mentioned as often as Johnny Appleseed, for crying out loud. US history is as mixed a bag as that of, say, Germany, but remains wrapped in racial myth. Someone forgot to own up to the factual past (and present) after WWII, and it ain't the Nazis. Thus, Trump, and alt-right pride. Shameful.


Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah TRUMP! :mad:


History is embarrassing.
 
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It doesn't seem to be about the posters themselves so much as they were posted up in the hallway without any sort of context or labels explaining what the project was. Some people saw a hallway full of pictures of slave auctions and said WTF.

And a stupid little error of omission gets blown out of proportion to the point where it's even covered on BBC.com.
 
"A school in the US state of New Jersey is under fire for an assignment that asked children aged 10-11 to create posters depicting slave auctions."

Parents getting upset over depictions of actual history seems weird.



http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39242443

First, this is a lot better than the stories of miseducation I've heard from some people. As in, slaves were well-treated, the Civil War was fought over States' Rights, Eli Whitney was black, and so forth. So I do agree with the school on that.

*However*, I'm not so sure that this is the best way to go about it. And I do worry that they're moving to teach what many slaves actually went through at a bit of a young age. A lot of the stories, including what went on at auctions, were pretty horrific.
 
My ancestors are definitely candidates for 'biggest bastards in history'. My ancestors stole most of Africa. most of Australia, committed near genocide in Tasmanian, were deeply complicit in the slaves-cotton-goods triangle and also nicked most (some) of America from the natives.

What you are referring to as your ancestors is TOTAL BS. The entire Country were not you ancestors. This is a total cop out of the definition of an ancestor. Everyone did not participate in the slave trade.

I mean, we had help from other bits of northern Europe, but no, my ancestors are a million miles from squeaky clean. I would never get upset about my children being taught the horrific past of my country. How about you?

Note I didn't object to the teaching, I objected to the requirement to draw posters.

Yup, if it's history. I certainly wouldn't get upset about the accurate teaching of the history of my country. Would you?

I made no reference to the teaching of history. I made reference to the poster depiction of slave auctions.

Ask the Japanese why the Chinese hate them so and you'll answer that question. Those that do not learn from history are destined to repeate it, I think is the phrase. Why would you not want children being taught the truth?

Total unadulterated strawman.

They did. I was taught this and would encourage the teaching of this to children so that they might learn the lessons of history. Why do you think they should be shielded from historical facts?

Another strawman. I never objected to the teaching of history at all. I objected to what the parents objected to. That is the requirement to draw posters of slave auctions. I still do. You haven't changed my mind at all.

Who said anything about guilt? the Geneva convention prohibits anyone being punished for the sins of their ancestors. Any guilt will be felt because of the continuing and stark racial divide in the USA, not from the acts of their forefathers. Why do you think this is about guilt? This is about history.

The requirement to draw posters is all about guilt and the parents recognize this, regardless of whether you do or not.

Because they don't want their children learning the true history of the country in which they live and prefer to propagate the ever growing myth of the formation of the USA?

This issue has nothing to do about learning about History. It has everything to do about so called "liberal progressive" idiots wanting to destroy everything good about the Country in which I live and have risked my life to preserve and defend.

Thank God the people of New Jersey recognize this.
 
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I wonder if they were instructed to draw scenes depicting some of the 300,000 black African slaves shipped to America over a period of 250 years, or the 20,000,000+ slaves of all ethnicities alive in the world right this very moment.

Which one do you think teaches you about history?
 
I don't blame you at all for failing to respond. You have nothing to defend.

Of course he doesn't, and neither do you - history managed to happen without yours or 3point14's input!

There is not a country on this earth that doesn't have a brutal past, acknowledging that does not lessen any of us, it is simply the way the world was and sadly often still is, but perhaps a bit less than in the past.

All you and 3point14 can do anything about is now. Such as treating each other with respect and acknowledging people will have differences of opinions without it making them less than you are or a person bad.
 
Of course he doesn't, and neither do you - history managed to happen without yours or 3point14's input!

There is not a country on this earth that doesn't have a brutal past, acknowledging that does not lessen any of us, it is simply the way the world was and sadly often still is, but perhaps a bit less than in the past.

All you and 3point14 can do anything about is now. Such as treating each other with respect and acknowledging people will have differences of opinions without it making them less than you are or a person bad.

I actually agree with you. This precisely why I disagreed about why the the OP was wrong about the parents objections. Thanks for making my point valid.
 
You're right, focusing on what constitutes less than 1% of historic slavery is 'history', the rest is irrelevant fluff.

I'm not sure I understand your point. Your alternative was to teach them about the present. I'm not sure that teaches them even 1% of anything regarding history.

As for the point you're making now, you can't teach history without teaching them all of it at the same time? I guess they won't be learning about the American Civil War, either. I mean, that would be focusing on what constitutes less than 1% of historic warfare, right? You have to teach everything, at the same time, including wars that are going on right now!

Because teaching 10-11 year olds in America about the slavery of Africans is pointless and isn't relevant to them unless you teach about all slavery, from the dawn of man up to the present day and give it equal importance, right? During their education, you should never slow down and teach them about specific historic instances - it always has to be about the big picture.

That's your point, right? That's how American preteens should learn history, right? Because if it's not, I don't know what point you are trying to make.
 
It's a very weird assignment.


But one caregiver at the school, Andrea Espinoza, told the ABC 7 channel: "It's part of history, of course. It happened. I think it's good that they know."


Knowing? Yeah. Recreating? Come on... What's next? Have the children play the role of Nazi officials and write up execution orders for Jews? Maybe put on a play where some of the children lead their classmates into a "gas chamber"?

Caregiver? What does that mean?

We still call educators for 10-11 year olds "teachers", right? This is neither preschool nor retirement home.
 
The requirement to draw posters is all about guilt and the parents recognize this, regardless of whether you do or not.

This issue has nothing to do about learning about History. It has everything to do about so called "liberal progressive" idiots wanting to destroy everything good about the Country in which I live and have risked my life to preserve and defend.

Thank God the people of New Jersey recognize this.

I don't understand how you reach the conclusion that drawing these posters is about guilt. Why? What specifically about this method of teaching do you feel goes beyond an average school project on any number of topics?

This is another idea that children need to be coddled from realities of history. We can all have differing opinions on what ages are appropriate for what lessons, but I see no issue with things being taught in a way that might bring about a more realistic view of what happened.

People often need to be exposed to things in different ways to fully grasp and learn. You could learn about the Holocaust in a simple text format that goes into the numbers of people killed, how and why without ever really driving home the realities of what happened. Is having the students also view historical film footage from the camps, letting them read stories such as Anne Frank and doing projects on these things going too far?

I'm sure we all have a line that needs to be drawn here, but creating posters would not be mine.
 
I am constantly amused at the notion that slavery and other problems of the past are somehow ignored or glossed over in American history classrooms, in an era when Zinn's The People's History of the United States is one of the most-commonly assigned textbooks.

It's kind of like assuming that the Germans never learn about the Holocaust, or the English about workhouses, or the French about the purge of the aristocrats during the French Revolution.
 
I actually agree with you. This precisely why I disagreed about why the the OP was wrong about the parents objections. Thanks for making my point valid.

Are you under the impression that this assignment was intended to teach children that they were bad?

I'm sure that at age 10, I knew that slavery had happened. I'm sure that I thought slavery was a bad thing. I don't believe I ever thought it made me bad, simply because I live in a former slave-owning nation and may (or may not) be descended from slave owners.

If, of course, the lesson included a kind of collective guilt component, then this is a bad thing. I haven't heard that, so I suspect you're leaping to conclusions.
 
I teach 10 and 11 year-olds. This poster assignment is on par with showing "Schindler's List", or having an abortion debate. It's not appropriate for that grade level.
 
I teach 10 and 11 year-olds. This poster assignment is on par with showing "Schindler's List", or having an abortion debate. It's not appropriate for that grade level.

I will defer to your expertise. I certainly don't know bupkiss about teaching 10- and 11-year olds.
 
I am constantly amused at the notion that slavery and other problems of the past are somehow ignored or glossed over in American history classrooms, in an era when Zinn's The People's History of the United States is one of the most-commonly assigned textbooks.

It's kind of like assuming that the Germans never learn about the Holocaust, or the English about workhouses, or the French about the purge of the aristocrats during the French Revolution.

My 5th grade social studies book certainly talks about slavery and how Native Americans were treated.
 
I am constantly amused at the notion that slavery and other problems of the past are somehow ignored or glossed over in American history classrooms, in an era when Zinn's The People's History of the United States is one of the most-commonly assigned textbooks.

It's kind of like assuming that the Germans never learn about the Holocaust, or the English about workhouses, or the French about the purge of the aristocrats during the French Revolution.

But glossing over history does occur in some countries' schools. Japan and Turkey spring to mind.
 
We want to teach the kids, not scar them for life.

Confused on this one. What specifically about creating a poster recreating actual history of slave auctions is scarring? Of things that are most likely discussed this actually isn't a terribly graphic thing to visualize.

Did a quick overview of 5th grade unit plan on slavery and don't see how this would be a sticking point. Looking at it, there is much more harmful information being discussed, at least to me. How do you discuss the middle passage without pointing out the large loss of life suffered during the trip?

Add to that teaching the harsh working and living conditions and the attempt to stop the retention of traditions from Africa and I would say the slave auctions are probably the most vanilla of the lesson.
 
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Are you under the impression that this assignment was intended to teach children that they were bad?

I'm sure that at age 10, I knew that slavery had happened. I'm sure that I thought slavery was a bad thing. I don't believe I ever thought it made me bad, simply because I live in a former slave-owning nation and may (or may not) be descended from slave owners.

If, of course, the lesson included a kind of collective guilt component, then this is a bad thing. I haven't heard that, so I suspect you're leaping to conclusions.

What I find particularly interesting is the (unstated yet obvious) assumption that the students, and/or the upset parents, are white. nmI can see a very obvious objection from, say, the parents of a black first grader, to images of slave auction presented without context in a school hallway.
 
How is it going to scar them for life?

Is it going to realistically depict slave auctioning? The branding that went on before the auction? Naked slaves being poked and prodded? Slaves with open sores? We wouldn't want to whitewash any history on account of hold old the students are.

A great followup activity would be collages of old timey photos of scarred slaves. And, of course, the unit could culminate in a mock castration of a slave who got a little too friendly with the plantation owner's daughter.
 
Is it going to realistically depict slave auctioning? The branding that went on before the auction? Naked slaves being poked and prodded? Slaves with open sores? We wouldn't want to whitewash any history on account of hold old the students are.

A great followup activity would be collages of old timey photos of scarred slaves. And, of course, the unit could culminate in a mock castration of a slave who got a little too friendly with the plantation owner's daughter.



I don't think any of that's scarring, to be fair. it's not like there's video footage. We certainly covered much more harrowing things in school when I was 11 - mustard gas, the holocaust, that sort of thing.
 
I teach 10 and 11 year-olds. This poster assignment is on par with showing "Schindler's List", or having an abortion debate. It's not appropriate for that grade level.

My 6th grade class in the early 70's had an ongoing and spirited debate about legalizing medical abortion (Washington state legalized it before Roe v. Wade). We also talked about the Holocaust and the bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. We were just ordinary 11 year olds in a public school. It was perfectly appropriate then. What's the difference now?
 
It is not that they were taught about slave auctions, it was that they were asked to actually recreate advertisements for the auctions!

That is idiotic.
 
I don't think any of that's scarring, to be fair. it's not like there's video footage. We certainly covered much more harrowing things in school when I was 11 - mustard gas, the holocaust, that sort of thing.

A mock castration would not be scarring? I was being facetious, but you are apparently not kidding. I will now give your opinions on what's appropriate for children the due consideration they deserve.
 
I'm not sure I understand your point. Your alternative was to teach them about the present. I'm not sure that teaches them even 1% of anything regarding history.

So you think these 20 million slaves just appeared yesterday? Or might the number of slaves in the world be enormous and have been increasing for dozens of generations, i.e. historically?

As for the point you're making now, you can't teach history without teaching them all of it at the same time? I guess they won't be learning about the American Civil War, either. I mean, that would be focusing on what constitutes less than 1% of historic warfare, right? You have to teach everything, at the same time, including wars that are going on right now!

You know as well as I do that education on slavery in the US revolves around the African slave trade that ended over 200 years ago. As if nothing has happened since. As if the rest of the world doesn't exist. As if there aren't 60,000 slaves in the US right now. You find me one school kid in the US who's been taught that.

Because teaching 10-11 year olds in America about the slavery of Africans is pointless and isn't relevant to them unless you teach about all slavery, from the dawn of man up to the present day and give it equal importance, right?

Bravo, you got there in the end, even if you thought you were being sarcastic.

During their education, you should never slow down and teach them about specific historic instances - it always has to be about the big picture.

Tell you what, you go ask a few school kids about slavery. Not what they learned in their history lesson this morning, but what they know about slavery as a topic. I bet they can speak about the African slave trade that happened between 200 and 400 years ago and nothing about the other 99.9% of slaves who have been exploited in the time since.

That's your point, right? That's how American preteens should learn history, right? Because if it's not, I don't know what point you are trying to make.

No, you're right, Americans should only learn about what happened in America. Heaven forfend that they understand there's actually a world beyond their own shores.
 
My 6th grade class in the early 70's had an ongoing and spirited debate about legalizing medical abortion (Washington state legalized it before Roe v. Wade). We also talked about the Holocaust and the bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki. We were just ordinary 11 year olds in a public school. It was perfectly appropriate then. What's the difference now?

How spirited was the debate? Did you guys learn about D&C's? Were photos of aborted fetuses displayed by the pro-life side? Did the pro-choice side go into gory detail about coat hanger abortions and their aftermath? I'm guessing the debate you had was mild and glossed over the unsavory details of actual abortions (medical and back-alley) and the complications that can happen.

But let me ask you: did you draw posters depicting abortions?
 
What I find particularly interesting is the (unstated yet obvious) assumption that the students, and/or the upset parents, are white. nmI can see a very obvious objection from, say, the parents of a black first grader, to images of slave auction presented without context in a school hallway.

That is actually the best point I've seen brought up here. Although I don't have an issue with the assignment itself, having it displayed in the school hallway without context is definitely an issue in a school that serves kindergarten through 5th grade.
 
A mock castration would not be scarring? I was being facetious, but you are apparently not kidding. I will now give your opinions on what's appropriate for children the due consideration they deserve.


And the effects of mustard gas aren't?

Seriously, we studied in fair detail a number of thins as harrowing when I was 11. None of my classmates were notably scarred for life. Maybe we were just particularly tough, but I doubt that.
 
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Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah TRUMP! :mad:


History is embarrassing.

Hilarious, we're going to see deraangement syndrome like never before.




Let them teach history, just don't blame me for it.
 
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