Posted on 06/09/2005 1:59:34 PM PDT by americaprd
Three decades after students demanding African-American studies in city schools clashed with police, the district will require all high schoolers to take a full-year course on the subject.
Philadelphia, whose public schools are two-thirds black, may be the first U.S. school district to require the class.
"I think it's a promise that we are many, many years late in filling," said Cecilia Cannon, an assistant superintendent for curriculum. "We have the opportunity ... to do something under our watch that is really going to do right by our students. To say, 'We've come from some pretty great places.'"
The course in African and African-American studies, now offered as an elective at 11 of the city's 54 high schools, has captivated students who have taken it, teachers say.
At nearly all-black Strawberry Mansion High School, a top student in the African-American studies class was chosen as the subject of a $360 genetic test designed to help blacks trace their roots back to Africa. James Sullivan, a senior, learned the bittersweet news that his maternal family descends from the Ibo tribe in Nigeria, and that they came to the U.S. as slaves.
"There were tears in his eyes, but joy also," said Principal Lois Powell Mondesire, who said other students are now interested in genetic testing.
National education groups said they did not know of other districts that require black studies, now a high-profile academic field on college campuses such as Harvard and Cornell.
But urban school leaders will no doubt be watching the Philadelphia experiment. School districts in California, Massachusetts and elsewhere have called to ask for details, Philadelphia officials said.
"School districts all across the country try all kinds of different things to engage the kids and improve student performance," said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, which represents 65 large urban school districts. "So this will be of interest, but it won't necessarily create a stampede in this direction."
Philadelphia students must take three other social studies courses to meet state requirements and five electives to graduate. The new class, designed for 10th graders, will be mandatory and reduce the number of electives to four.
"I think if we have to take African-American history as a mandatory class, that we should have it open to other cultures: Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans," said Briggitte Rodriguez, 14, a freshman at Philadelphia High School for Girls, which is 62 percent black. "It's a big world. You have to think about everyone else, too."
Some schoolmates disagree.
"They usually just focus on African-American history in February, and it should be all year-round," said Victoria Pertell, who is black.
The push for African-American studies in the city dates back to at least November 1967, when a few hundred students demonstrating outside a school board meeting clashed with police. Under the direction of then-Police Commissioner Frank L. Rizzo, officers clubbed some of the singing students after a few climbed atop cars.
The district's 210,000 students are about 67 percent black, 14 percent Latino, 14 percent white and 5 percent Asian. Three years after a state takeover that brought reform-minded schools chief Paul Vallas from Chicago, test scores are up and new buildings are planned to replace crumbling schools, although violence continues to erupt.
School leaders hope the course will not only keep black students interested in their academic work, but also give other students a more accurate view of history.
"It has an impact on our African-American children, but it also affects children from other cultures. Their perception is often skewed," said Sandra Dungee Glenn, a member of the five-person School Reform Commission that unanimously approved of the requirement this spring.
With a better understanding of each other and history, students will have the "opportunity for better understanding in schools and in the community."
That's my problem with these courses. The intention is good but they'll probably read more WEB Du Bois than Booker T.
Unfortunately, I will wager that they will only learn some radical's "politically correct" version of evil stupid whites and noble black geniuses.... I'd bet a hefty sum that this course will grossly distort history and feed the pointless victim mentality of today's left.
I think there is already TOO MUCH black history being taught in our government schools all across the country.
Despite the fact that blacks are only about 12%-14% of the population, black historical (some, HYSTERICAL) figures, have pushed, from our textbooks, great generals, battles, and other happenings in our great history, particularly where the civil war (known where I live as the "War of Northern Aggression") is concerned.
Some black history is fine, but not when their representation and importance in our textbooks FAR OUTWEIGHS their actual percentage of membership and contributions in our society.
The worst thing is that this disproportionate amount of black history being put into our kids history books, requires that other great American heroes, who happen to be mostly white, are jerked out of the books, and our kids are not taught about them in schools we pay for.
It's a sad, maddening, and disgusting situation.
"has captivated students who have taken it, teachers say."
I'm sure they were both thrilled.
The title says it will be required.
Sloppy journalism and editing.
Actually and this may surprise those here who know me as being pretty un-PC about race in general.
I think it's fine to offer it as an elective.
I think it would be doubly fine if the course is candid and truthful.
But...given where it is and who's teaching it...that is doubtful.
Which brings me back to Cyborg's post.
That's not just history...
Hell, in Africa, they are doing all of those things TO THIS DAY.
They will probably also be taught that the Egyptians were Black.
So is Jesus and Santa Claus.
Well they won't like Cleopatra being Greek if that's the case....not to mention the library issue.
How is this bittersweet ? He should take a long hard look at that country and ask himself "Should my family have stayed?"
In Philly, it's probably really ALL-black, but they SAY it's "nearly" all black, because there's one brother that looks like Michael Jackson.
Also, I bet this school USED to be something like, "George Washington High School".
Which is why I wrote about kings with no appreciable effect on this country. I studied lots of them in high school. I love history, so I found it quite interesting, but as I said, if you're going to do that, might as well tell me about some other cool people and places. Basically, we didn't study anything but American and European history, the rest of the world was left out.
Back to slavery?
Actually, I could stand some good reading in black history. Problem is, history books these days have difficulty distinguishing themselves from fiction, and human character does not seem to be getting much better. I hope these classes are not used to foment hatred.
Will that course be taught in English or in Ebonics?
Logically speaking, there is of course as much African history as any other place. The problem, I think, is that there is so little written record. The only parts of Africa with a well-developed historical record are North Africa and Egypt (and perhaps Ethiopia), and those are better-suited, thematically, to a course on Near Eastern or ancient history, because they had relatively little contact with sub-Saharan Africa.
The other problem is that "Africa" is, aside from a geographical definition, a meaningless concept. You could teach the history of the Arab emirates on the Zanzibar Coast, or the history of the Zulus, or the history of Ghana, or the history of Leopold's Congo, but none of these had much to do with *each other*. European history works as a subject because at least, thanks to the Greeks and Romans, there was so much significant interaction between groups. (Note, however, that "European history" classes deal much more with Northern Italy or the Rhine Valley than, say, relatively isolated Latvia or Ireland.)
That said, there's plenty of African history, especially in modern times, which belongs in any world history curriculum. Unfortunately, there are also a farrago of charlatans who are in the business of inventing "African" history from thin air. (See, for instance, Black Athena.) That, I suspect, would have the strongest influence in the Philadelphia course.
I think you're absolutely right... I have an interest in Scottish history disproportionate to its world importance because of my ancestry; it makes sense that other people would have an interest in American black or West African history for similar reasons, and that a school with such an ethnic composition would do well to offer such a course. The question, of course, is whether it's actually a history course, or some kind of Palestinian-style "Grievances 101".
This is America -- it is not Africa! Because America has been great, many are here to celebrate freely and fearlessly their identities and their origins. Because Africa is not and has not been great, many fake Africans are HERE trying their best to create heroic legends that have little or no basis in fact. Enough is enough -- A solid reality alert is called for here!
Heh... kind of reminds me of Irish-Americans' version of Ireland.
What about English-Scottish-Swedish-Americans like me? Would I get my own special 1-year course on Northern European history, even though I don't feel bittersweet that I'm not living in England, Scotland, or Sweden?
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