Unnecessary' Black History Requirement

It seems that there is a requirement that high school students must take and pass a course that covers only Black History.

he speaker of the state House urged the city school district to reconsider what he called an "unnecessary" requirement that high school students take an African-American history course in order to graduate.

How is it a requirement that anyone has to learn the history of any ethinc group in order to pass high school? That is like saying they must study the history of a religion (take your pick which one) in order to pass.

I have to agree with this guy in that our students must first learn how to read write and do mathematics, then learn history of the US before going into an ethnic based history which to my mind should at most only be an elective and not a requirement.

Lawmaker Wants School Requirement Changed

While I whole hartedly agree with you, I can tell you it wont matter. You are about to be labled a racist for even thinking such a thing. The next reply will be , ' But the rest of history is white history '...........

If the kids have to study an ethnic history, I say give them a choice of studies. Dont just narrow it down to Black or White. Let them study ALL ethnicity history. Oh, wait, that would be history class wouldnt it?....

Kind of figured that the lable of racist would be attempted to be applied to me. People would be surprised as to my ethnicity as well as that of my wife.
I am 3/4's Cherokee, !/4 Greman. My wife is 1/2 Korean and 1/2 Chinese. Wonder how they can hang that lable on me

But the rest of history is white... Sorry, had to.

So black history is required? Why do we think so little of our Mexican friends, or our Asian friends, or our Indian friends?

Now, I'm not going to SAY racist, but honestly, why is this an issue with you?

I'm personally a history major, and I think that 'Black History' is a misleading title. Basically all that people end up studying during this 'Black History' period are stories about slave ships, slavery, the civil war period African culture, and reformation, and a brief stop off at the Harlem renaissance and the Civil Rights movement.

that's -IT-.

So, you end up studying about your country. No big deal.

Now I took an African Studies course a semester or two back, and I learned a -LOT- about African culture that I would have never had a clue about from 'Black History' things in high schools.


Bottom line is that it really is and should be considered a non-issue.

Ok Loki, Here would be my response to you.
If it is a requirement to attend and pass a class on Black History in order to graduate high school, then why is there no requirement to learn the history of the Native Americans, or the history of the Chinese or any other ethinicity for that matter.
The requirement that all students have to learn the history of any ethnic group is of itself racist albeit reverse racism.
If the course was an elective, I would have no problem. If the history of all other ethnic peoples were a requirement as well then I would not have a problem. But to target just one race and then require that all have to learn about it is to me a no no.

This as I said in the begining of this thread is similar to saying that it is a requirement to pass high school to learn the history of a religion. Going by what the majority of posters on ATS have held the last few months, If the story was that a legislator was fighting to end a requirement to attend christian classes, then everyone would here would be be nearly 100% behind that.
How is any of the above different?

Kenshiro2012 I in no way think you are a racist but how does you or your wifes race have to do with you or her being racist. Just because you/she isn't white doesn't mean you/she can't be a racist.

There are requirements to pass these courses, they're just not called 'Indian awareness week', or 'have lunch with a chinese man day'.

You've got a pretty heavy emphasis on Native culture in your colonial American period history classes (in my experience), and while I agree with you about Chinese history, in that we don't study enough of it, I do remember studying Confucius for a farking whole week in my philosophy class.

And here it is, the sad truth is that High Schools teach for the assessments. You're 1000x more likely to run across a question about Sojourner Truth than about Sacajawea or the battle of Tippecanoe.


And the worst part about it is that it's not likely to change. You've got a gaggle of reluctant teachers, teaching a gaggle of militant students about crap they don't want to learn about. High School education reform is a VERY uphill battle, and will be for some time, but we'll see how it turns out.

Perhaps the better solution would be to simply include the history (regardless of race) into the regular history curriculum, no?

History is history...no matter who made it.

Originally posted by Kramthenothing
Kenshiro2012 I in no way think you are a racist but how does you or your wifes race have to do with you or her being racist. Just because you/she isn't white doesn't mean you/she can't be a racist.

Wel, when people are called racist for bring up such a topic, the author is normally white, which is why I brought up my and my familie's ethnic make up before the acusations started to fly.
Sort of a premptive stirke so to speak

I too get my dander up at such 'forced' educational political-correctness, which much of it in fact is. I find it difficult to believe that the decisions to foist such topics came INITIALLY from concerned educators and not pandering politicians.
However.... I am an avid (if belated) student of history, and am aware that what is incorrectly labelled as 'white history', is sadly lacking in a thorough coverage if it ignores the contributions of other ethnic groups.

The subjects should be US History and/or World History. The pages therein should contain the facts, not the pigment of the peoples presented.

Shouldn't it all just be history not these peoples history not another peoples history just all peoples history. Claiming we have different histories creates seperation yet they say we are suppose to be equal. It doesn't seem equal to me, if we seperate our history how do they expect these kids to look at each other as the same.

Gaz, that is my point exactly. History itself should be taught and should be the requirement. A history course that is racially based though should be offered but not be a requirement for graduation.
One thing though that I just thought of that actually may actually make sense for such a requirement. The article does not mention the make up of the students. I do promote that people should and need to learn their own culture as well as their cultural history. That maybe (and I only am saying maybe) why the district made this rule.
Also, this school district is the only one (according to the article) that has this requirement. What is required for one district should also be required for all the districts thus standardizing the ciriculum (sorry for the spelling )

When "Black History" was finally taught in my high school as a mini-course in the early 70's EVERYBODY wanted to take it. Sometimes though you have to take courses you are not interested in. They made me read fiction. I DO NOT LIKE READING FICTION, but they made me do it , so I did in order to graduate. Since graduation, however I only read nonfiction.

Somehow I feel it is important for people to know of the black struggle. Somewhere some self centered little punk is going to have their eyes opened and I believe that will be a good thing.

It should be a requirement for every NON NATIVE American to read " Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown. You will learn a lot about your country.

I agree everyone not just black people should learn about the struggle of the african american but it shouldn't be called black history it should just be a big section in the history book

History is a big topic. You can briefly cover a broad range of topics, our delve into depths with them, but the fact remains there's a lot. US History is a one year course - be glad, in Russia their history is a seven year process.

There's nothing wrong with offering specific courses in various histories, just like there's nothing wrong with offering Big Bang/Black Hole and Our Solary System or Fiction Writing and Women's Voices. Don't make any of it a requirement (unless the major dictates it). Make a course type a requirement, and let them chose. That's far more effective.