My coworker, who’s in his early thirties, told me about how they acted out “slavery” in his middle school. This involved a bunch of the kids having black bags put over their heads and they were led around by a “slave master” (my coworker) with ropes around their necks. I was in such disbelief that he actually brought in his yearbook to show me pictures of the event. This is in the Bay Area and yeah, it made it into the year book.
9 Likes
The Washington Post (this happened in D.C.) wasn’t more specific than her having said these words, but that was as of whatever info they had when they went to print overnight.
But as of that writing, this was a school staff member, not a teacher. Also no explanation (then) as to why the staff person was leading the class but I can imagine the high Covid infection rate in the area could have had something to do with it… (Where I am, just outside D.C., in-person school is already closed* due to increased transmission)
*(While the rest of the country is already, properly, on winter break, but I guess that’s neither here-nor-there)
Unless it was supposed to convey tragedy? (Pure speculation on my part.) There really isn’t a good explanation, I don’t think, just bad or worse.
4 Likes
7 Likes
maybe after their investigation it’ll turn out the teacher stopped halfway through, and said: okay kids this is bad, here’s why, i am so sorry.
it’s also possible i may get a pony for christmas.
sometimes people make terrible life choices. it’s okay to acknowledge that, and call them out when they do. to me this doesn’t seem like a situation that needs defending or defusing
more curious is, how does the school now help the kids through the harm this caused?
5 Likes
I hope you don’t think anyone here is defending the teacher or suggesting that this was a good (or even sane) lesson plan!
(All the best with the pony, btw)
1 Like
when you offered a scenario that paints a way for the person teaching the class to have mitigated their actions - you are, intentionally or not, offering an excuse for their behavior.
specifically, what you wrote reads as: they didn’t mean to, and they realized they were wrong.
that’s not part of the reporting. that seems to be just a thought of yours.
5 Likes
Many school curricula have a unit on the Holocaust. It is an important part of 20th century history, and provides a good focus for examining western history stretching into the distant past and extending to the present. It is hard to do right, and there are certainly fewer people who are really qualified to teach it than tasked with the job. This story is horrific.
My son’s program was excellent, with a solid but depressing reading list, though I wish it had spent more time on things people really need to know, for example why some superficially innocent tropes that pop up all the time today are exactly the same ones that were promulgated in Europe prewar and taken together helped make what happened possible.
6 Likes
From the article, near the end “The entire class met with the school’s mental health response team after the incident”
Which is a good start
7 Likes
Well I suggested that it might be the case that the teacher was merely a fool rather than a fascist fool. Yes, my thought, not reporting. But if you have got some solid evidence otherwise, let me know!
as i said to start with, that’s as likely as me getting a pony.
not to get too far off topic, but is there any reason why your first reaction to the story was to propose that a person who came up with the idea of students terrorizing each other while using anti-semitic language maybe didn’t mean it?
(eta)
i missed that. thanks!
4 Likes
Same, I saw the headline and totally expected to read about a ham-fisted, misguided attempt to teach compassion a-la the Jane Elliot experiment.
The description of this exercise sounds like… not that. Holy heck.
Which is an indication that even the instructor knew that what they did was wrong. You don’t ask children to keep secrets unless you’re either planning a surprise party or committing some kind of abuse.
8 Likes
Well that isn’t reporting either – it’s like, your opinion.
The answer is in my first post. The scenario reminded me, as it did WedgeAntilles – oh, and Brainspore! – of Jane Elliot’s roleplaying exercise where she tries to fight discrimination by getting kids to bully and discriminate one another on the basis of eye colour.
I said the headline made me wonder if someone was ineptly aping Jane Elliot’s exercise in an attempt to teach tolerance, the quoted excerpts and the article itself made it absolutely clear that this was something else entirely.
8 Likes
jane elliot never said she was wrong, in fact she repeated it herself, and was asked to repeat it elsewhere.
the main criticism with elliot, so far as i understand, was around the age of the students involved. that’s entirely different here because this is also about the specific things that the teacher forced the students into doing.
it leads to a significant difference in intent by the teacher, and of thoughtfulness on their part
for those reasons, i dont see that as a great explanation for your downplaying of the teacher’s behavior. but if that’s your reason, that’s your reason. thanks for trying to explain it
(eta)
not directly addressed to me i know, but yeah. i have been using “teacher” as “one who is teaching” not “one who is licensed to do so”. cause it wasn’t clear to me who they were…
6 Likes
Since this was in D.C. – if it weren’t for Covid they could’ve gone to the Holocaust Museum (right now it’s open only to groups of 6 ot less)
I was going to point out, again, that the school employee leading this activity is/was not a teacher. Unfortunately it may have been a librarian.
5 Likes
Well yeah, like I said. This teacher seems to be a fool (on the most generous assessment). I make no judgement about Elliot here.
Holy shit! What the hell was she thinking! That is unbelievably stupid, and if this is accurate she should lose her teaching lisence. Wow.
4 Likes
Ah well, I’m not convinced of the clarity. You might be right, that it was nefarious; I think there is still the possibility that the attempt at secrecy was a panicky and ill-conceived attempt to cover up a classroom disaster.
This line:
the staff member said it was “because the Jews ruined Christmas.”
Pretty much seals that question.
The devil called; he doesn’t need an advocate.
11 Likes
Yes, except now both you and I have repeated those very words … so … I still want a little more context.
Besides, if you’re getting calls from that guy …
