Am I just looking for trouble? (possible inflammatory, deals with race)

[guihong]

Hi, all:

The background: My 8 year old daughter is in the third grade.  I get along well with her teacher, and Holly seems to enjoy class.  The teacher, 90% of the class, and in fact most of the school is African-American (we are white).

It all started right before Christmas, when I noticed that Holly was doing a lot of assignments about Kwanzaa (an African-American observance between Christmas and New Years').  At the holiday party, the class got up in front of the parents and sang songs about their "homeland" and "overcoming struggle", things like that, besides Christmas carols.  The teacher also had them talk about what each day of Kwanzaa means, and had the candleholder there.

When she went back to school after the break, she received an assignment to research a prominent African-American and write a report on him or her.  I noticed on the teacher's web page that students are encouraged to bring in copies of Jet and Ebony magazines (both African-American in scope).  There was a unit recently on Martin Luther King, Jr., but I understand that most schools do that around his birthday.

I don't have objections, obviously, to Holly learning about cultures and prominent people that are often overlooked.  I have no objection to learning to research and write a paper.  There's just something about this that bothers me, although it doesn't bother Holly.  I just feel that if you're going to discuss prominent people, that race shouldn't be part of the story.  Why not Hispanics (of which there are many in my city)?  Why not Asians (ditto)?

This makes me sound like a racist, though I don't know exactly how to put it into words.  My question is, do I:

1. Do nothing
2. Talk over my concerns with the teacher first, and if so, how, without really putting my foot in it?
3. Call a conference with the (African-American) principal and the teacher?

What would everyone else advise?  Is my thinking wrong?

gui

[ShadesOfGrey]

I just feel that if you're going to discuss prominent people, that race shouldn't be part of the story.  Why not Hispanics (of which there are many in my city)?  Why not Asians (ditto)?

This makes me sound like a racist, though I don't know exactly how to put it into words.  My question is, do I:

1. Do nothing
2. Talk over my concerns with the teacher first, and if so, how, without really putting my foot in it?
3. Call a conference with the (African-American) principal and the teacher?

This can get tricky.  I think the point that you are making here is that the history seems to be entirely too focused on one race (but not upset about the particular race itself)? 

In a broader context, history has been VERY focused on 1 race - the race that wrote the books/held power.  And that history is VERY prevalent throughout our culture.  It would be nice if people could be color blind when discussing accomplishments, but unfortunately US history does not allow for that (yet!)

I am going to venture a guess that this teacher wants to make sure that the students know that there were lots people of other ethnic backgrounds that contributed significantly in history, namely one race that is particularly overlooked (for their contributions) in US history.  And it's a fair goal (obviously not to the exclusion of others, though). 

In this situation, nothing overtly wrong has been done.  However, if you have concerns about what your daughter is learning, I think it is fair to have a conference with the teacher directly (going over her head first makes it seem like you definitely think she is doing something wrong).  I would ask general questions about what the cirriculum covers and what figures they are learning about (and what they are learning about them).  If it becomes apparent in THAT discussion that things are definitely one-sided/focused on a specific ethincity, I would say that a general question about other historical figures being covered would be in order.  Something along the lines of "Wow, how great that you have such a thorough cirriculum on African history.  What other figures will my child be learning about? I would really like to reinforce her education about these things at home."

Give her every opportunity to show you a fair and balanced cirriculum, and dont assume that this is a 'revisionist' cause unless there is very good reason to.  It could be that she is just in a section about African-American history, and a few months from now, your daughter will have lots of projects on Native American history all at once. 

I would definitely sit down and think about exactly what the problem is, what your goal is before having this conference, and what results you want, and what you would say if X or Y happened, and what you want your daughter's education to look like.  Any good teacher should be able to explain her cirriculum and have valid choices for selecting certain subjects and discarding others. 

let us know what happens. 

[DottyG]

I just feel that if you're going to discuss prominent people, that race shouldn't be part of the story.  Why not Hispanics (of which there are many in my city)?  Why not Asians (ditto)?

This makes me sound like a racist, though I don't know exactly how to put it into words.  My question is, do I:

1. Do nothing
2. Talk over my concerns with the teacher first, and if so, how, without really putting my foot in it?
3. Call a conference with the (African-American) principal and the teacher?

This can get tricky.  I think the point that you are making here is that the history seems to be entirely too focused on one race (but not upset about the particular race itself)? 

In a broader context, history has been VERY focused on 1 race - the race that wrote the books/held power.  And that history is VERY prevalent throughout our culture.  It would be nice if people could be color blind when discussing accomplishments, but unfortunately US history does not allow for that (yet!)

I am going to venture a guess that this teacher wants to make sure that the students know that there were lots people of other ethnic backgrounds that contributed significantly in history, namely one race that is particularly overlooked (for their contributions) in US history.  And it's a fair goal (obviously not to the exclusion of others, though). 

In this situation, nothing overtly wrong has been done.  However, if you have concerns about what your daughter is learning, I think it is fair to have a conference with the teacher directly (going over her head first makes it seem like you definitely think she is doing something wrong).  I would ask general questions about what the cirriculum covers and what figures they are learning about (and what they are learning about them).  If it becomes apparent in THAT discussion that things are definitely one-sided/focused on a specific ethincity, I would say that a general question about other historical figures being covered would be in order.  Something along the lines of "Wow, how great that you have such a thorough cirriculum on African history.  What other figures will my child be learning about? I would really like to reinforce her education about these things at home."

Give her every opportunity to show you a fair and balanced cirriculum, and dont assume that this is a 'revisionist' cause unless there is very good reason to.  It could be that she is just in a section about African-American history, and a few months from now, your daughter will have lots of projects on Native American history all at once. 

I would definitely sit down and think about exactly what the problem is, what your goal is before having this conference, and what results you want, and what you would say if X or Y happened, and what you want your daughter's education to look like.  Any good teacher should be able to explain her cirriculum and have valid choices for selecting certain subjects and discarding others. 

let us know what happens. 

I could respond to the OP, but I'm not sure I could say it any better than the above did.  So, I'll just say "I agree."

[Sharnita]

Wow, you could be talking about my school - minus the Asians and Hispanics:) I know what you mean. Every dance and drama performance the kids do are about African-American culture, breaking the chains of the white man, hearing the drums of Africa...

It gets a little uncomfortable for the white teachers and kids to hear the references to the ubiquitous "they" (white people) and how "they" did this and "they" did that.

What is more sad is that my kids have so little exposure to the cultures of other groups, including other minorities. They were shocked to find that the KKK also hated Jews and Catholics. They think it is the neatest thing when I teach them the few German words I know.

They reach a saturation point when they get sick of hearing African American references.

I don't know what advice to give you. Saying anything to anyone might be tricky. Please let us know what you did and how it turned out.

[kingsrings]

I don't think that doing anything in school that denigrates another race or ethnic group is appropriate at all. Sure you must teach history and what happened, but just leave it at that and don't do dances that are about 'breaking the chains of the white man' because that is insulting and uncomfortable for the decent white people that go to school. Prejudice and hate is just that no matter what race or ethnic group you are talking about, and it should never be tolerated.

[ShadesOfGrey]

I just want to point out that the teacher in the OP's post has not done anything wrong (according to the post).  She did sing christmas carols in addition to Kwaanza celebration songs, and she hasnt made any racist remarks - According to the OP, she is just focusing on one historical perspective.

Perhaps in the next grade/semester, they will choose another perspective from which to view history, we dont know yet.

In high school, my history book was written by Howard Zinn (that was taught along with my professor's perspective on history).  Look him up if you aren't familiar with his work. 

OP-this is the type of attitude and remarks you have to avoid in your discussion with her - assuming that she is racist/has taught racism/inaccurately portrays other groups. 

[Lisbeth]

I remember when I was a member of Toastmasters and one of the other members of my club, who was black, gave a speech titled "Diversity Works For You."  I was supposed to evaluate the speech.  The point she wanted to make was that people of all races have contributed to the improvement of society, but all the people she mentioned in her speech were black.  I mentioned that while the speech was good otherwise (which it was), she might have wanted to include people of other backgrounds in her speech to really drive the message home.

I guess what I'd do is ask the teacher about her lesson plans, and if it turns out they're really heavily skewed for the entire year toward blacks and no other backgrounds, you might bring it up in a nonconfrontational way, as in, "I notice that you have the class doing a lot of work on black history.  I think it's great that this is getting attention, but I'm wondering if the class will also cover the histories and cultures of other races and backgrounds.  It seems to me that this is a good way for all the students to learn respect for people and their achievements of all backgrounds."

[ShadesOfGrey]

you might bring it up in a nonconfrontational way, as in, "I notice that you have the class doing a lot of work on black history.  I think it's great that this is getting attention, but I'm wondering if the class will also cover the histories and cultures of other races and backgrounds.  It seems to me that this is a good way for all the students to learn respect for people and their achievements of all backgrounds."

this is great wording!

[merkay]

I work in a library in predominately white neighborhood.  Most kids are of Polish or Italian heritage.  And, this month, they've all been coming into the library looking for information on important African-Americans.  The reason: February is Black History month.  I would bet that most of the kids in this country are doing a unit on African-American history right now.  You don't mention that this was a problem for you before Christmas, so I would wait and see if they move on to women for Women's History month in march, or Native Americans or whatever.