Lesson in slavery is venture into uncharted waters for eighth-graders, teacher

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | April 26, 2003

[Missouri]

Some students at Francis Howell's Barnwell Middle School in St. Charles County will have their hands and legs bound Monday to learn about slavery.

[Missouri]

Didn't some teacher in California try this on his/her students and it made the news?

[Bogey78O]

I don't get the point. s the teacher looking for something to amuse herself?

[yooper]

I hope some cop in Missouri has the sense to arrest whoever came up with this cockamamie idea. No child in this country will ever have any idea what slavery was like using such foolish symbolism....

[Bogey78O]

Really. Not every slave spent their life in chains. If you want to let them feel what it's like to be a slave you'll need to do better than chaining them up.

The horror of slavery wasn't solely the physical conditions you lived in. It was something that a week couldn't capture.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Chopping cotton would be better-useful too!

[Missouri]

From what I know about the Francis Howell School District is that the school board is dominated by NEA types. A few months ago a father/cross-dresser went on a field trip with his daughter decked out as a women and some parents protested (this was actually on the "O'Rielly Factor") The school board voted to allow this behavior.

[Missouri]

No child in this country will ever have any idea what slavery was like using such foolish symbolism...

I would never let anyone tape my kid up for something he wasn't responsible for. If the school district my kid went to tried this, both the wife and myself would be raising alot of hell. I'm sure something will be brewing out in St. Charles County.

I don't know what this teacher is up to but it no good.

[wardaddy]

Hell,

If you really want to drill it into their little mushminds, take them to North Central Africa and let them observe the TransSaharan slave trade firsthand.

For a closer to home and more subtle slavery just have them observe mommy and daddy closely around April 15th of each year. It's an invisible yoke but a yoke none the less.

[Missouri]

Chopping cotton would be better-useful too!

How about bringing in 4-H to teach these kids how to grow a tomato?

Really, don't you think the public schools should work a little harder on teaching kids how to read, write, do math, build and produce things of use?

[rebel85]

bump

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

On a serious vein I agree with you. However, schools have been so politicized-They ain't coming back!

[sistergoldenhair]

Lofton said a note went home with students Tuesday. The note explained the lesson and asked that parents who objected to it sign the form so their child could be excused from lying on the floor and being bound. She said she had not heard any objections from parents.

Parents are sometimes made to feel they are making their children "stick out" or "embarrassing" them.
What parent whats to listen to an eight grader moan.

[eddie willers]

LOL!

[Susannah]

Why do our children have to learn about slavery anyway? I am not born of Royalty; so just because the worst of what happened to my ancesters didn't happen in America, my grandchildren have to learn about the "evils of America"?

For those who didn't know, America did not invent slavery. In 1562 the English seaman J.Hawkins began diret slave trade Guinea and West Indies. By 1600 the Dutch and French were also trafficking slaves.

And, by the time the first 20 Africans arrived in Jamestown aboard a Dutch slaver, a million or more black slaves had been brought to the Spanish and Portugese colonies in the Carribbean and South America.

Now, with the Democrats rallying the black voters to get their next civil rights benefit, I have to ask "How long does America have to pay for slavery?"\

[RLK]

By any chance will any of the students be taught to calculate, read, or write?

[Susannah]

The basics of past education are not as important as teaching children why they must be liberals. If you want children to learn things that will help them survive after schooling, you're best to do that on their free time.

[LoveBushLongTime]

"For those who didn't know, America did not invent slavery."

True. The people who invented slavery are the people who sold slaves.

[templar]

Really, don't you think the public schools should work a little harder on teaching kids how to read, write, do math, build and produce things of use?

That would leave a lot of frustrated young adults when they tried to put these skills to use. NAFTA, GATT, etc. have reduced need for such skills in this country. Frustrated young adults are a danger to a regimented society, while ignorant and unskilled ones are not.

[Susannah]

My advice to parents of non-black children: (total sarcasm here) ;-)

African-American is NOT a RACE, it's a NATIONALITY! Anyone who wishes to reap the superior benefits of African-American could check that whenever a form asks for race. If questioned, they could reference 'mitachondrial DNA' research which currently traces all of human race back to Africa.

There will be no equality until race=human.

[Arpege92]

"By any chance will any of the students be taught to calculate, read, or write?"



I doubt it....our children are the slaves now to the PC in this country!