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S.C. teacher on administrative leave after KKK-themed homework assignment

K

KSweeley

Member
WTF, just WTF..... Look at this "homework assignment" given by a South Carolina teacher:

Screen%20Shot%202017-09-19%20at%2011.15.44%20AM
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Links to news articles about this: http://www.wbaltv.com/article/south-carolina-fifth-grade-assignment-ku-klux-klan/12443457

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ter-kkk-themed-homework-assignment/680107001/

http://www.islandpacket.com/news/state/south-carolina/article174114126.html

The Island Packet reports that Lexington-Richland School District 5 says it's "taking this matter very seriously" after Tremain Cooper posted a picture of his nephew's assignment on Facebook.

"This is my little 10-year-old nephew's homework assignment today. He's home crying right now," he wrote. "How can she ask a fifth grader to justify the actions of the KKK?"

The assignment asked fifth-grade students at Oak Pointe Elementary to imagine they were a member of the KKK and provide a justification for the KKK's treatment of African-Americans. It also asked students to imagine they were newly freed slaves and explain if they were satisfied with their lives.
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T

thecouncil

Banned
The answer to the question about being a member of the KKK was erased. That answer would probably tell you a lot about what the teacher is telling the students.
 
M

Measley

Junior Member
Why the hell would you create an assignment where 10 year olds have to justify racist and terrorist acts? It woukd be like asking a child to justify Nazis gassing Jews or bulldozing thousands of people into mass graves.
 
R

Raylan Targaryen

Member
Ignoring the racism, who thought it was a good idea to ask a 10 year old to justify any action? They can’t even justify their own actions let alone another person’s
 
Raptomex

Raptomex

Member
Schools are becoming seriously scary places. Like bullying, shootings, and pedofiles weren't enough. What the fuck?
 
D

Downhome

Member
I obviously don't mind the KKK and their atrocities being taught in school, it all should be since it is a part of our history. At first I thought you guys were jumping to conclusions and making a big deal out of it all for no reason. Then I scrolled down and saw the part where they are asked to imagine they are in the KKK and to justify what they did. I don't understand that a single bit. Wow. I can't even fathom what the teacher was thinking.
 
B

BriGuy

Member
I wonder how that question would be graded if a student responded with "Because I'm a fucking lowlife, inbred idiot."
 
M

Mr. X

Member
Downhome said:
I obviously don't mind the KKK and their atrocities being taught in school, it all should be since it is a part of our history. At first I thought you guys were jumping to conclusions and making a big deal out of it all for no reason. Then I scrolled down and saw the part where they are asked to imagine they are in the KKK and to justify what they did. I don't understand that a single bit. Wow. I can't even fathom what the teacher was thinking.
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Sympathize or rationalize as well as recruit.
 
J

jph139

Member
In a college or possibly even high school setting this is a good question - understanding the roots and motivations of extremist groups is an important part of learning about said groups - but this is way beyond the ken of a 10 year old.
 
B

BatDan

Bane? Get them on board, I'll call it in.
Maaaan that's messed up

While it is important to teach kids about the KKK and the horrors they've committed, THIS IS NOT HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE.
 
I

ISOM

Member
jph139 said:
In a college or possibly even high school setting this is a good question - understanding the roots and motivations of extremist groups is an important part of learning about said groups - but this is way beyond the ken of a 10 year old.
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It is not acceptable in anyway. It's like you're saying a history course asking the question why the Nazi's genociding Jews was justifiable. In no way is that an acceptable way to approach that type of question.
 
D

docbon

Member
I feel like I need more information about the teacher here.

I'm going to be charitable here and assume she wanted the students to get in the head of bigots in order to better understand why they act the way they do, but I don't think most children that young can handle something this sensitive.

Add parents into the mix and you have a powder keg of bad PR.
 
Z

Zaraki_Kenpachi

Member
But guys violence and outing Nazis/white supremacists isn't the answer, someone think of their family!

Only on leave too, gotta review this tough issue.
 
B

Banzai

Member
How is being put on "administrative leave" a thing?
At my job, if I shot black people some tuesday afternoon or told my employees to get justifications for being in the KKK on my desk by monday I'd be fired on the spot. I would say rightfully so.
 
W

weekev

Banned
Maybe the teachers intention was to get the kids to all agree that racism in any form is wrong. This was not the way to do that though and this is a disgusting assignment.
 
L

Late Flag

Member
jph139 said:
In a college or possibly even high school setting this is a good question - understanding the roots and motivations of extremist groups is an important part of learning about said groups - but this is way beyond the ken of a 10 year old.
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This is spot-on. It is enough to teach 10 year-olds that the KKK existed, that it was a hate-based terror group, and that it has no place in civilized society. Kids that age aren't prepared for and shouldn't be expected to take a deeper dive into this stuff.

Banzai said:
How is being put on "administrative leave" a thing?
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Teachers are unionized, which means you can't just call them into the office and summarily fire them. They're entitled to due process as part of their contract. Administrative leave is what you do when you want to get them out of the classroom while working your way through the termination process.
 
I

impirius

Member
jph139 said:
In a college or possibly even high school setting this is a good question - understanding the roots and motivations of extremist groups is an important part of learning about said groups - but this is way beyond the ken of a 10 year old.
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Yeah. Given the right context, plenty of discussion, and a capable audience, these could be rephrased into good thought exercises that help inoculate students against dangerous influences and develop a more rigorous thought process. I don't think a typical fifth-grader is quite there, and I doubt there was time for a robust classroom discussion around this.

My guess is that this exercise was shoehorned into a standard format for learning about historical groups and events (e.g. "Imagine you are a Loyalist...") without too much thought.
 
Allonym

Allonym

There should be more tampons in gaming
I like that you can see the child's answer for imaginatively being a KKK member has been erased. I don't think the first 2 questions are bad and are actually doing more to promote awareness for kids but the last 2...hmmm maybe just the third is questionable.
 
M

metalslimer

Member
jph139 said:
In a college or possibly even high school setting this is a good question - understanding the roots and motivations of extremist groups is an important part of learning about said groups - but this is way beyond the ken of a 10 year old.
Click to expand...

Explaining how the typical person in a hate group felt would not be phrased like this. I took a bunch of history courses in college and were never asked stupid questions like justify the Armenian genocide. I mean having a discussion about how the constant presence of white supremacy affected the upbrining of many of these people would be useful, but this is beyond a 10 year old anyway
 
D

DonShula

Member
You are there... You are a South Carolina elementary school teacher in the unemployment line because you sent ten year olds home with a KKK assignment. How do you defend your actions?
 
W

Wafflecakes

Member
First half of the assignment I understand, but the last half is definitely gross, particularly with the wording chosen.

As a middle/high school history teacher myself, a far more effective question to check the understanding of students relating to the KKK would be a question like: "What are the factors that led some southerners to engage crimes, abuses, and discrimination against African Americans by joining the KKK". The answers to that question could include systematic racism in their culture, resentments from the civil war, etc.

I don't know the details of this case, but I could definitely see an inexperienced history teacher making mistakes like those in the OP. Especially if similar assignments were used to compare other groups that were less.... deplorable, and the teacher just copied it over to the next unit.



...or the teacher could just be a scumbag.
 
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