The Education Wonks
"According to administrators, the rationale behind the new requirement is that African and African American history had been neglected for, 'too long.'"
OK, I'll be the first to bite:
"So has US History"
I blogged about this yesterday. Philly schools are having a tough enough time with the basics -- and now they want to mandate AA history?
**Shakes head**
I read a news story about this in the newspaper this a.m. It was mentioned that this is part of an effort to keep African-American kids in school and interested. It will be interesting to see HOW this class is taught, HOW much political correctness is tossed into this stew and what facts of history are omitted (Muslim - Arab involvement in the Black African Slave trade, tribal leaders selling their own people into slavery, the spread of African culture to South America, the Caribbean ....etc. )
The local high school taught a Latin American History class as an elective. IF it is offered, there is only one class and it has trouble getting enough students to request it. And this high school is 85% Hispanic! Lets keep an eye on this NEW Philadelphia Experiment.
Yes, AA history is very important, as is the history of other cultures. However, we have enough "civil rights" bullcrap going on in our schools; why bring it to the doorstep of the kids? If a student WANTS to use an elective credit to take the AA course, then great! However, if the student would rather take PE or something in place of it, then they should be allowed to do so.
It's cultural socialism. ack.
I actually went to public school in Philly (and one one of only a few other white kids). I would say that I'm all for this. I wager the students will appreciate it, and do well in the class. Maybe that will encourage them to do improve in others.
Terrible idea on a number of levels.
First, one of the whole problems with high school education right now is the very fact that we have a plethora of "niche" courses that stray off of the basics. Students come to college with a knowledge base that's a mile wide and an inch deep, if they even make it to college in the first place, and then the kind of education that colleges are supposed to be providing can't take place because the basic content has to be remediated everywhere. Can the Philly school systems honestly say that they are preparing each student thoroughly and effectively on the basic subjects, and therefore have room to trim the basics back to fit in a required course in Black history (or oceanography or basketweaving or...)?
Second, it's a subtle form of racism against students of non-white and non-Black ethnic backgrounds -- Asians, native Americans, and so forth -- to force them to take a course in Black history while not requiring others to study THEIR cultures. What makes blacks so much more worth studying than, say, the contributions of Asian-americans or 20th-century European immigrants to our present culture? Having a required course in black history communicates to kids like my daughter, who is Asian, that their culture matters and yours doesn't.
Third, where exactly is the evidence that this requirement is necessary or even slightly beneficial? All that's mentioned is that "it's been neglected for too long" (does not having a required course in something equal "neglect"?) and that it's "new". Didn't they say the same thing about the New Math?
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