Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Criticism grows as legislatures press for courses on races

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Criticism grows as legislatures press for courses on races

    Boston Globe
    Oct 2 2005

    Criticism grows as legislatures press for courses on races
    By Michael Gormley, Associated Press | October 2, 2005

    ALBANY, N.Y. -- State legislators are directing schools to teach
    students more about the struggles and triumphs of different races and
    ethnic groups, and some critics are objecting.

    A mission in New York will examine whether the ''physical and
    psychological terrorism" against Africans in the slave trade is being
    adequately taught in schools.

    The commission is named for the slave ship Amistad, which was
    commandeered by slaves who eventually won their freedom in a US
    Supreme Court ruling.

    The recommendations could mean rewriting textbooks, which may
    influence educators in other states, according to the National
    Council for the Social Studies.

    Other states have approved similar measures, the National Conference
    of State Legislatures says.

    In Illinois, an Amistad commission was also created this year, and
    lessons on the Holocaust were added. In New Mexico, the Legislature
    required that Indian education lessons be bolstered in kindergarten
    through Grade 6.

    In 2001, New Jersey created an Amistad commission, as well as a
    Commission on Italian and Americans of Italian Heritage Culture and
    Education to advise those involved in making policy.

    In California, a Cesar Chavez Day was created in 2000; schools were
    directed to include lessons about the farm labor activist. Also in
    2000, schools in Rhode Island were directed to teach about genocide
    and human rights violations, including the slave trade, the Irish
    potato famine, the Armenian genocide of the early 1900s, the
    Holocaust, and Benito Mussolini's fascist regime in wartime Italy.

    Virginia directed schools that year to teach about the
    accomplishments of people from different backgrounds and races.

    But while most legislatures approve curriculum changes recommended by
    education departments, teachers, and researchers, New York's Amistad
    Commission is a case of the Legislature trying to circumvent the
    state's policy-setting Board of Regents, according to the law's
    cosponsor.

    ''We feel there is, indeed, a void in our education curriculum in New
    York state when it comes to the issue of slavery and the
    dehumanization of Africans," said Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr., a
    Brooklyn Democrat.

    Critics say that the goal of the commission is laudable but that
    teachers have limited time to teach history. They also say educators
    are needed on the panel to determine feasibility.
Working...
X