Politically Correct Homework Assignment in Texas Enrages Parents

[PainIsLIfe]

I never had a "pro/con" list in school where I couldn't name several pros and cons for each. This is an idiotic assignment.

Especially since this one seems to be from the slaves point of view:

The Life of Slaves: A balanced view​

 

[The Diplomat]

She didn't create this assignment. She lifted it from a textbook.

I'd wager she's a textbook gopher. She was seeking to do as little work as possible. Xerox, hand-out, check emails for one hour. They litter our high schools. It's difficult to hold her responsible for disseminating a lesson that has to be on a formally pre-approved list of textbooks for the curriculum.

Often, these assignments, when I was in school, would have a mirror. So there would be a separate list asking the pros/cons from the point of view of slaveowners. Therein, your students built an exhibition demonstrating just how unequal the different stations were.

If she just lazily copied from the textbook without even proofreading or raising the question to superiors, that's an issue. I'm guessing there is some sort of discretion she could have used to prevent this whole fiasco from happening.

But there's a bigger issue of why an assigned textbook (I'm presuming assigned?) has this material, and it hasn't been taken out yet. Because she is the one being reprimanded for using what is in the book.

 

[Fawlty]

Why aren't we being presented with the raw material? Also, why the decision to remove it?

"The worksheet in question was not created by, endorsed, or encouraged in any way by Pearson," Director of Media Relations Scott Overland told mySA.com in an email. "We do not support this point of view and strongly condemn the implication that there was any positive aspect to slavery."

I noted in my OP that Pearson doesn't appear to be involved.

 

[Rod1]

Probably because after the Texas revolution, the state of Texas put it into their constitution that not only was slavery legal, but each slave owner had to have the consent of congress to free any of their own slaves. Doesn't look good on them

This is a really looked over point from the point of view of the Texan revolution.

Texans revolted over Mexico banning slavery, and then revolted again when the US elected an anti-slavery president.

Texas is a state that revolted twice over having slaves in the course of less than 50 years. But people try to claim that it wasnt over slavery, it was over ""muh freedoms""

 

[xcvbn]

So I just went and watched the video attached to the article to see if it had more. The one line it shows from the textbook said, "Give 3 good reason and 3 bad reasons for slavery."

Wtf that's even worse!

 

[The Diplomat]

This is what I'm unclear about. I think that's important to the story.

" The textbook for the course, "Prentice Hall Classics: A History of the United States," was removed from use and will be audited.

"If we deem this textbook imprudent, we will permanently remove it and replace it with a history book that accurately reflects our values," Kindel's statement reads."

If it's in the textbook, then something should have been done long ago.

 

[xcvbn]

This is a really looked over point from the point of view of the Texan revolution.

Texans revolted over Mexico banning slavery, and then revolted again when the US elected an anti-slavery president.

Texas is a state that revolted twice over having slaves in the course of less than 50 years. But people try to claim that it wasnt over slavery, it was over ""muh freedoms""

It's okay. We still have Mexican slavery in central valley California. Texas should be proud.

 

[Madmick]

This is what I'm unclear about. I think that's important to the story.

Unfortunately, ABC is going down that road where we have to watch video to get the full story.

I added in an edit above. The GUI template for her overhead appears to lifted from a textbook or some teacher .doc template. She actually rendered the assignment-- relative to how the textbook worded it-- far less insensitive from both a linguistic and material point of view. She also transposed it from "slavery" to "life of a slave".

I noted in my OP that Pearson doesn't appear to be involved.

Well, that would appear to be wrong.

And that's why I quoted that...because everything about the article implied otherwise. I had also initially scrolled through the jpegs before I got to the video, but that only added to my confusion because many of the quotes didn't come from this specific textbook, and some were just irrelevant old civil rights photos.

Trying to teach about slavery with a "pro/con list" is absurd and deeply problematic.

No, it has major potential for teaching the correct ideas in a powerful way as I've illustrated in a few of my posts. The important thing is that our teachers make clear it isn't intended to equate the positive and negative aspects of slavery, but to get the children to think about it.

The school and ABC appear to have their signals crossed. ABC is going after the textbook company while the school looks like they're not sure if their best play is to throw this teacher under the bus.

 

[DespicablePeep]

Stolen culture

 

[The Diplomat]

No, it has major potential for teaching the correct ideas in a powerful way as I've illustrated in a few of my posts. The important thing is that our teachers make clear it isn't intended to equate the positive and negative aspects of slavery, but to get the children to think about it.

Yes, but the question was the positive aspects of slavery from the point of view of a slave.

 

[Fawlty]

Unfortunately, ABC is going down that road where we have to watch video to get the full story.

I added in an edit above. The GUI template for her overhead appears to lifted from a textbook or some teacher .doc template. She actually rendered the assignment, as the textbook worded it, far less insensitive from both a linguistic and material point of view. She also transposed it from "slavery" to "life of a slave".

Well, that would appear to be wrong.

And that's why I quoted that...because everything about the article implied otherwise. I had also initially scrolled through the jpegs before I got to the video, but that only added to my confusion because many of the quotes didn't come from this specific textbook, and some were just irrelevant old civil rights photos.

No, it has major potential for teaching the correct ideas in a powerful way as I've illustrated in a few of my posts. The important thing is that our teachers make clear it isn't intended to equate the positive and negative aspects of slavery, but to get the children to think about it.

But the school and ABC appear to have their signals crossed. ABC is going after the textbook company while the school looks like they're not sure if their best play is to throw this teacher under the bus.

I'll try to add more confusion, as the video in the story from the OP is about a different incident involving a fourth grade class, while the article itself is talking about an eighth grade class at a different school.

 

[nostradumbass]

Slavery is easily the most important part of American history, so it should be "harped on."

Calling this politically correct is taking a jab at southern thought. I think you can work that out.

Thanks for your brilliant insight into "southern thought". Would love to hear your take on other kinds of regional thought.

Since slavery is "the most important part of American history", you know, rather than the revolutionary war, the constitution, or anything that actually affected everyone or still matters today, I wonder if your boy Manu or any of the other little scholarly experts on slavery know the percentage of slave owners in the country or that there were black slave owners. Do you think they even know when it was abolished?

 

[Fawlty]

Thanks for your brilliant insight into "southern thought". Would love to hear your take on other kinds of regional thought.

Sure. Secession for the purpose of advancing slavery was a regional thought. I think that was bad regional thinking. That region should not have thought those things.

Since slavery is "the most important part of American history", you know, rather than the revolutionary war, the constitution, or anything that actually affected everyone or still matters today, I wonder if your boy Manu or any of the other little scholarly experts on slavery know the percentage of slave owners in the country or that there were black slave owners. Do you think they even know when it was abolished?

This seems to be a good-faith line of questioning!

 

[Madmick]

I'll try to add more confusion, as the video in the story is about a different incident involving a fourth grade class, while the article in the OP is talking about an eighth grade class at a different school.

Ah. My mistake. Thanks for catching and clarifying.

So, in essence, we're being fed our opinion before being fed the facts.

 

[Prime Rib]

If she just lazily copied from the textbook without even proofreading or raising the question to superiors, that's an issue. I'm guessing there is some sort of discretion she could have used to prevent this whole fiasco from happening.

But there's a bigger issue of why an assigned textbook (I'm presuming assigned?) has this material, and it hasn't been taken out yet. Because she is the one being reprimanded for using what is in the book.

The educational textbook industry is very lucrative and can insert/excerpt whatever the buyer wants.

 

[Limbo Pete]

No, it has major potential for teaching the correct ideas in a powerful way as I've illustrated in a few of my posts. The important thing is that our teachers make clear it isn't intended to equate the positive and negative aspects of slavery, but to get the children to think about it.

 

[Fawlty]

Ah. My mistake. Thanks for catching and clarifying.

So, in essence, we're being fed our opinion before being fed the facts.

I'm happy to serve up my opinion about the utter failure of this teacher to communicate the lesson in a way that would have the desired impact. But I'm still open-minded to the possibility that this was more than just an unfortunate miscalculation (Texas).

 

[Mark Hunts FIST]

Yeah that's bad. I went to Texas schools, we were never taught that there were good aspects of slavery for the slave.

 

[Madmick]

And this is exactly why we need these critical thinking experiments that demand we stretch our minds. I realize you're being lighthearted, but your reaction here indicates just how narrow and emotional your reading of that is.

First, to "think" about the "positive and negative aspects" of slavery, as for a pro/con list, does NOT entail that you arrive at any positive entries. This is what we call dialectics. Negativity itself is one half of a binary concept, so to not consider the possibility of positive aspects renders the ability to perceive anything as negative impossible.

Furthermore...

Anyone who has ever posted this, or even laughed at its cold, ironic truth...has one for the "pro" column.

This is why we have teachers. Their job is to understand and frame the question. This helps kid understand why slavery comes to be. It piques curiosity about the nature and sprawl of slavery. What about the cotton industry? Was slavery not positive for the cotton industry? What else? Did slaves live better lives than free people anywhere else? If so, why?

If this teacher is being placed on leave for incompetence, that's one thing, but I fail to see any inherent racism in this. Pro/con lists are not inherently anything. That's the point of them.

 

[nac386]

And this is exactly why we need these critical thinking experiments that demand we stretch our minds. I realize you're being lighthearted, but your reaction here indicates just how narrow and emotional your reading of that is.

First, to "think" about the "positive and negative aspects" of slavery, as for a pro/con list, does NOT entail that you arrive at any positive entries. This is what we call dialectics. Negativity itself is one half of a binary concept, so to not consider the possibility of positive aspects renders the ability to perceive anything as negative impossible.

Furthermore...

Anyone who has ever posted this, or even laughed at its cold, ironic truth...has one for the "pro" column.

This is why we have teachers. Their job is to understand and frame the question. This helps kid understand why slavery comes to be. It piques curiosity about the nature and sprawl of slavery. What about the cotton industry? Was slavery not positive for the cotton industry? What else? Did slaves live better lives than free people anywhere else? If so, why?

If this teacher is being placed on leave for incompetence, that's one thing, but I fail to see any inherent racism in this. Pro/con lists are not inherently anything. That's the point of them.

Making a pro/con list about something as obviously atrocious as slavery is just dumb and indefensible. It really doesn't matter if someone ends up benefiting from slavery, that does not make it a well-framed school assignment.

That's like making a pro/con list about rape just because it exists because somebody wins.

If they want to teach the concept of slavery and explain why it existed, there are a hundred ways to do that without something this stupid.