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Councilors propose making black history part of high-school curriculum
By adamg on Tue, 04/10/2012 - 7:57pm
The City Council tomorrow considers a request from Councilors Tito Jackson (Roxbury) and John Connolly (at large) for a hearing on making black history a mandatory part of education for students in Boston public high schools.
In their request to hold a hearing, the two say that with so many black students in local public schools, "it is critically important for young people to know where and whence they have come and the full story of the accomplishments of their ancestors."
The weekly city-council meeting begins at noon in the council's fifth-floor chambers at City Hall. They're also aired live on Comcast channel 12, RCN channel 82 and on the Web.
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Comments
So I supposed these same
So I supposed these same counselors would have no problem dedicating time to teaching the growing population Asian students about their heritage as well?
well, that's useful, for 25% of residents
"it is critically important for young people to know where and whence they have come and the full story of the accomplishments of their ancestors."
Technically he's correct, as we're all descendents from African early humans - but somehow I don't think that's what he means.
I'll be curious to hear how black history teaches young Latino, Asian, Native American, and Anglo kids about their history, though.
Seriously?
I think you're missing the whole point about how one learns from history if you think we best learn about ourselves by only learning about people like us.
Pandering, and a bad idea.
Just include more of it into their regular history class.
February is already
February is already
March should be Irish month!
March should be Irish month!
OH! I forgot about that!
x2 for this idea.
Well, both
Yes, I too yearn for a day that there doesn't need to be "Black history" because the media and the curriculum are actually balanced and include depictions of everyone. But since this isn't the case right now, we need to make efforts to include underrepresented groups.
Simply ridiculous
Why not represent the Latino kids too? We do have an entire month, starting in September, which is devoted to many South American countries. This is also the time when Mexico's independence day is celebrated (not Cinco de Mayo as many people think it is).
Why stop here? Why not also mention the Guanche people? Some scholars believe them to be part of the Nordic bloodline, fair skinned and are even thought to have had red and blond hair. Where are they now? Well, they were simply wiped out due to the slave trade. The Portuguese or Spanish did them all in before they moved onto the blacks of Africa.
http://mathildasanthropologyblog.wordpress.com/200...
City Council Public Meeting Electronic File and Dictionary File
a) Intermediate file from an .sgstn
What's the intermediate file that can be made?... from this .sgstn
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/broadcastcap...
b) Alternative decoding methods
How do you deal with this .sgstn the Diamante Stenograph record of the public meeting of Boston City Council?... with a misguided reply !
>"...attached please find the electronic file created from the last City Council meeting (4/4/2012). In your request you had asked for the dictionary file associated with the stenographic software. Please be advised that the dictionary file is part of the proprietary software and is not something that the City Council contracts with the stenographer to produce, the stenographer uses this file for all of her clients and it is her intellectual property. As such, it is not a public record.Thank you.
> Ann H. Braga, Esq. MPA Staff Director
> Boston City Council
> Boston City Hall, 5th Floor
> One City Hall Square
> Boston, MA 02201
> Office 617 635-3625
> Fax 617 635-4203
> Cell 617 828-3170
> email
city.council at cityofboston.gov
http://cityofboston.gov/citycouncil
> Have a great day!"
c) Advocating
How do you advocate for Closed Captioning or Open Captioning ?... for folks with hearing loss that the public meeting of Boston City Council can be more readily available to the greater communities' constituencies, stakeholders. Ordinary avenues of advocacy tried haven't panned out or haven't panned out yet !
...the hell you talking
...the hell you talking about?
And who upvoted it
Five times as of this post? Yikes.
Eurocentric History
The real problem is that it all should be taught.
The Americas get their day in the schools, but the curriculum frameworks contain very little about Africa, the impact of slavery and colonialism on Africa, slavery in the Americas ... and not much about China or India, who were superpowers in their day and "civilized" long before Europe was.
The entire curriculum needs an overhaul - not just little pieces. This is a part of what is missing, but the eurocentrism is obvious and way overblown.
Then again, adding such histories might lead to critical thinking - oh noes! Can't have that! USAUSAUSAUSAUSA ...
Times have changed.
Most Massachusetts High Schools have plenty of African and Colonialism History in their curriculum. All of 9th and half of 10th grade should be World History and this would include colonialism, slavery in the Americas, and Native American history. Then American History has heavily included impact on Native American cultures as well as Civil Rights and slavery. This is also reflected on AP US History exams as well as the MCAS. "Black History" is a very important part of national exams and should already be taught in Boston public school classrooms.
As for senior year it would be great to have entire subjects dedicated to the area.
Whitewashing history
I have been out of school for a little while, but all of my history classes were very Eurocentric. The only real mention of other regions in "world" history classes involved European colonization.
Hopefully things have changed and students now are getting a more world view in world history.
The real problem is that none
The real problem is that none of it should be taught.
The problem isn't that we teach the wrong "truth", it's that we fail to teach the methods to discover the truth. History is a method, not some facts. Teach the method, let the truth reveal itself.
Know your school population and your school texts
In the BPS classrooms I've worked in, as well as the schools my kids attend, the largest population is Dominican. Haitians, Puerto Ricans and African Americans are in a tie for second. I've often wondered what the kids from the D.R. make of all of the fuss over one group while next nothing is said about their heritage. Seriously, have these guy visited a middle or high school lately? MLK and Obama posters are everywhere. Nearly every novel the kids study is about black history, I'm not kidding, and none are about Latinos. Never mind that by the time these kids reach high school they can practically recite "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by heart. I'm all for a more inclusive curriculum, so long as it includes the kids that actually in the schools and not just one group.
I applaud the Councilors'
I applaud the Councilors' efforts to educate young people about the plight of African-Americans and the racism they have faced and still face on a daily basis. I think that we should expand that concept and include a history of the gay rights movement.