Comments on: Civil What?

By: Sarah Prince

Sarah Prince — Thu, 03 May 2018 23:37:42 +0000

3There is defiantly a lack of education within the school system on topics like slavery and on the important topic of slavery being the central cause of the civil war. This would for many people create an uncomfortable situation within the classroom, so therefore teachers tend to follow the academic protocol. Teachers want to avoid bringing this up and it may be because they don’t feel equipped to have a discussion about race in the classroom or they don’t want to make people feel uncomfortable. Most of what I learned about slavery within the civil war and in general was at home and watching educational films and having discussions as well as asking questions to my parents. I can’t even remember learning about slavery within the classroom setting but I do remember watching films like “Roots” with my family.

By: Mia Shmariahu

Mia Shmariahu — Tue, 01 May 2018 01:27:49 +0000

The academic protocol is absolutely something I have been actively thinking about since we learned about it in class. The fact that we are supposed to be so emotionless and objective in learning slavery is unrealistic. The way “slaves” are spoken about in the school system is dehumanizing. Perhaps “people-first language” could partially remedy the situation – calling them “people who were enslaved” instead of “slaves” gives them their individuality and humanity back. I don’t know if this would have helped me recognize the weight of slavery earlier, but I think it is a strategy that may have some merit.

By: Caroline Whiting

Caroline Whiting — Sun, 22 Apr 2018 17:24:26 +0000

I really like this post Benjie. This reminds me a lot, too, of the positive image surrounding the story of Christopher Columbus. We glorify him in our school systems as a hero who got us where we are today, who discovered our country; none of which is actually true. We celebrate Columbus day as a national holiday. We essentially celebrate millions of deaths and the enslavement of indigenous people who lived here before us, who actually discovered this country. Just like you mentioned in your post about the Civil War, the public education system is not pulling its weight when it comes to teaching about Columbus and his history. We are taught that he is a good man who sailed his ship here and started what our country is today. The parts we are missing includes all of the underlying racism involved in his expedition. He and his counterparts stripped the land from these people, lied to them, killed them, raped them. Yet, we are not taught any of this; it makes me wonder how much of history we do not know, because the public education system leaves out information that it wants to forget about our past. I really liked your questions around how kids are expected to grapple with and understand the Black Lives Matter movement if we have such a skewed system around our understanding of slavery and oppression to begin with.

By: Tovia Marinstein

Tovia Marinstein — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 15:49:04 +0000

I remember being shocked when I learned about the racial underpinnings of America’s founding. It was something that wasn’t touched upon until late in my high school history courses. It wasn’t until I was in college that I learned about the motivation behind the Constitution- as it was largely based in efforts to preserve a racial caste system while affording political and economic rights to white citizens. I wonder if, as you mentioned, if this is a displacement of responsibility.