We should discuss racism in schools

a reply to: seasonal

This is simply more BS liberal identity politics.

It's all they have.

a reply to: 3daysgone

Very well put? Nearly the whole post is filled with ignorance. Jus straight up ig'na'ent.

a reply to: seasonal

It's interesting that I read your post originally as "if schools should teach racism."

Because that's what they do, in my dealings with public education.

Maybe they should start teaching about equality.

A thought..

a reply to: seasonal

All I can say is our son is 5 years old. We've watched him playing with kids in the park and interact with kids in the library, "mommy and me," nursery school, pre-k and now kindergarten. We live in a diverse part of the United States so he and his peers have been exposed to people of all sorts of ethnic backgrounds.

Race has NEVER, EVER been an issue. Sure there are some rotten kids but at this age I have never seen anything even resembling racism.

You wan't to end racism in a single generation? Leave the kids the hell alone.

Want to keep racism alive and well? Fill their heads with this crap.

a reply to: seasonal

Our Schools are full of racism, children understand the concept just fine so discussion seems rather redundant to a point.

Socioeconomic circumstance plays its part with regards to racism not just in our schools but also in just about every other walk of life.

Fact is most people with half a brain can see the misplaced hatred for what it is and manage to move past it in the realization that people are more similar than they are different.

a reply to: GreyScale

Or perhaps classes should focus on the core of their content and not get side tracked by some constant opinionated discourse on socio-political ideas.

Most classes in the public school system will never go over the topics of race or gender because they do not need to. Now, the few that do will gloss over them so as not to step on anyone's toes and get a lawsuit by someone's parents. The kids themselves will already have opinions on these issues shaped by their families and the social media they have been exposed to.

If a child is raised by a white supremacist and constantly bombarded with messages of hate, a one-time lesson or race and equality will do nothing to change this student's mind.

Students are not blank slates and teachers are not there to program students with information. The real goal of an educator is to facilitate a student with the abilities to learn and understand an academic subject.

originally posted by: seasonal
Should our school systems be responsible to teach what racism is and what should be done to address it? How do we keep the political beliefs out of the discussion?

Well, if you are concerned that political beliefs could enter into the discussion...I think you've already started to define the problem. Here's a fairly long article that I read this morning and I think it is germane to this discussion, but it ain't gonna win me a lot of stars.
An Insider's View: The Dark Rigidity of Fundamentalist Rural America

how about we just forget about racism. let not talk about it. its a mad made concept. and we just keep feeding it.

a reply to: seasonal

I don't see that working terribly well. At all! Plus, its really rather destructive. Think about it. The largest school districts are, generally speaking, near 100% POC. So.........what's to discuss? Or rather, do they really need any MORE indoctrination about the evil white devils?

Then there's the smaller suburban school districts, which in my state are about 50/50 White/POC. So, the way the educators are trained to talk about race these days, they talk about how all white people are evil racists and voila, you've got random acts of violence against the white kids or worse, as we've seen in my state, full blown race riots in the cafeterias.

In a country where one "race" has been labeled inherently "racist", discussions about race and racism are less than helpful, they're incendiary.

originally posted by: hubrisinxs
a reply to: GreyScale

Or perhaps classes should focus on the core of their content and not get side tracked by some constant opinionated discourse on socio-political ideas.

Most classes in the public school system will never go over the topics of race or gender because they do not need to. Now, the few that do will gloss over them so as not to step on anyone's toes and get a lawsuit by someone's parents. The kids themselves will already have opinions on these issues shaped by their families and the social media they have been exposed to.

If a child is raised by a white supremacist and constantly bombarded with messages of hate, a one-time lesson or race and equality will do nothing to change this student's mind.

Students are not blank slates and teachers are not there to program students with information. The real goal of an educator is to facilitate a student with the abilities to learn and understand an academic subject.

Quoted for truth.

100 stars for you!!!!!

a reply to: eluryh22
I totally agree with you. When children first go to school there is not an ounce of racism or bigotry. ALL of the nasty bits comes from adults and what adults teach them.
It's exactly the same with religion, kids no nothing, it's the adults that indoctrinate them. So don't try to indoctrinate when there is nothing to indoctrinate against.
As an aside a certain Herr Hitler said something like "give me your children and I'll give you the man". In other words children are really blank canvases and they can be made into anything one wants, that's for good or bad.

a reply to: crayzeed

Thats not always true..... I went to school with animals, cause human beings dont do this to each other. The things I saw on a day to day basis made my skin crawl.... made me afraid to even goto school. I dont have hatred.. I have fear

originally posted by: crayzeed
a reply to: eluryh22
I totally agree with you. When children first go to school there is not an ounce of racism or bigotry. ALL of the nasty bits comes from adults and what adults teach them.

...and it doesn't cross your mind that it could be their parents that indoctrinate them?

a reply to: seasonal

Parents should teach the "why" of racism. Why racism exists.

They should be the ones to teach why some people hate.

Everything about this subject comes from home. I would never want my child to get a glossed over version, or a teacher with a vendetta trying to prove a point.

Race relations in the late 90's and early 2000's were just fine, and all but handled in most areas (excluding social economics). Having our first black president who was a hardcore liberal ruined that. Instead of talking of equality and togetherness, he only went to black funerals, talked about above average black people, and told the black community that it was ok to revile their white counterparts. It's almost like him having something to prove was handed down to the black communities, and then told it was their issue to prove as well (reverse racism).

If you want to teach something in school, teach culture. Another poster touched on this subject, but let me elaborate.
Talking like a moron, is not your culture or mine. Being rude to LEO's until they beat you within an inch of your life, is not your culture or mine. Breaking the law because music and other media glorifies it, is not your culture or mine.

Lets teach kids dressing for success still exists. It is something that will never go away. Lets also teach kids how to speak proper English, and make a major focus shift to grammar. This is American culture. Not breaking the law is everyone's culture. Being a productive member of society where the sky is the limit, is American culture. This is no longer reserved for the special few or one race. That mentality is long gone.

I am an employer. If you walk in wearing a jersey and Nike's to your interview, you will not get the job here. And on a side note, when you do find a job that will hire you dressed like that: I don't like pickles on my Big Mac.

originally posted by: cenpuppie
a reply to: 3daysgone

Very well put? Nearly the whole post is filled with ignorance. Jus straight up ig'na'ent.

That is your view on the matter.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: seasonal

Parents should teach the "why" of racism. Why racism exists.

They should be the ones to teach why some people hate.

SHOULD - - is a very "big" word.

originally posted by: Annee

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: seasonal

Parents should teach the "why" of racism. Why racism exists.

They should be the ones to teach why some people hate.

SHOULD - - is a very "big" word.

So is chrysanthemum.

But the state/public school system does don't trump a parents right.

originally posted by: DBCowboy

originally posted by: Annee

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: seasonal

Parents should teach the "why" of racism. Why racism exists.

They should be the ones to teach why some people hate.

SHOULD - - is a very "big" word.

So is chrysanthemum.

But the state/public school system does don't trump a parents right.

Do you even support public school?

50.4 million students will attend public elementary and secondary schools in 2016.

This is their first social environment, spending about 5 hours a day within the school system - - - away from their parents.

SHOULD - - is a very week argument.

a reply to: Annee

Schools should be teaching reading, writing, arithmetic.

Parents are responsible for anything else. Actually parents are also responsible for their children actually learning reading, writing, arithmetic also.

But we, as a society, abdicate so much responsibility to schools, governments, authorities any way.