Re: Slavery, Civil War, Civil Rights movement, genocide...

[Queen Mamadala]

So, in talking about recent events with my 7th grader, she stated her history teacher asked the class which was worse, slavery or the Holocaust. WTF!?! Who does that!? Dd felt very uncomfortable that two atrocities were brought up for comparison rather than addressing the issue of white supremacy itself.

Not only that, but when her 6th grade teacher briefly mentioned the Civil Rights movement, she just basically said it was about fighting for civil rights. Not Black people's rights, just civil rights. Say what? It was my daughter that stated it was about fighting for civil rights for Black people. Dd said her teacher gave her a weird look when she corrected her.

What do y'all teach these kids? How are these topics covered? I supplement a lot of their education because I know it won't be taught the way it needs to be taught. The whitewashing of history is why I make damn sure they're properly taught about Black history, white supremacy, systemic racism, colonialism, genocide of indigenous people, etc.

I'm feeling less confident about how history is taught in the public school system. There's so much to fuck up, whitewash and flat out gloss over. Dd even said she's wondered if she'll get in trouble or a bad grade for speaking the damn truth if it doesn't align with the curriculum and teacher's own biases. That's some bullshit. 

[UMaineTeach]

I think you will do a much better job than school will, and unfortunately you will have to keep undoing and improving on what she learns. And keep teaching her to correct the teacher. Especially if the teacher is white.

I don't really teach history, so I can't speak much to that. I took 2 college history class (and maybe you can give half credit for the folklore class, but it was definitely white European folklore).

Sadly, everything I have learned about being black in America has been from GBCN and the articles posted. I do put that knowledge into action at school when I can.

[imimahoney]

I teach hs history. We spend about 2.5 months on WWII and the holocaust in 9th grade. BUT we also run out of time every damn year. I never make it through the cold war.

I also spend about 8 weeks on the civil rights movement but I do it very differently, I trace reconstruction through the CRM. This is done in 11th grade.

In my district they would read Number the Stars and meet with a survivor in 6th grade ela. The social studies is ancient civ and geography until 8th grade when they do civics. Civil rights is usually woven through ela and the social studies classes.

[flamingeaux]

It's also not always down to the teachers choice, how they address certain things. My first year of teaching, I remember getting an email, that specified how we could address the holocaust at each grade level. At 6th grade we were only allowed to focus on heroes. So if it was part of discussing a hero, we could mention Nazis, Hitler, etc., but we weren't allowed a full discussion on them.

[imimahoney]

What does your state standards say in regard to social studies curriculum? Some are very broad and others are super narrow. Of course, interpretation is up to each district which can allow for whitewashing and vagueness in teaching.

I HATE when teachers fuck up history. It's so important and yet gets such little attention because of multiple reasons (testing, lack of interest, whitewashing, etc).

[erbear]

Public schools are hard that way. The curriculum is sometimes so regimented (and the people who write it aren't always the best and most thoughtful educators...) so it almost becomes a subversive act to teach history straight up. I teach in private school so I have a ton of freedom but I am currently developing an anti-racism class for 7th graders, and I try very hard in my history classes to speak truth to power, so to speak. I try really hard not to white wash, I talk about racism and privilege every chance I get. I'm lucky though; I'm fully supported by the administration in this work, and the kids come to me from lower school very well-versed in the language and ideas of racism and anti-racism.

That must be incredibly frustrating. I would encourage my kid to keep speaking up in a thoughtful way. If a teacher can't be challenged in thinking in a respectful manner by a kid, something's wrong with that teacher.