What is worth learning?
In today's schools, history is one of the main subjects learned, but the way it is taught is not always correct. Although curriculum violence can occur in a lot of subjects in school, I feel that history is the main subject that it happens in. For example, when slavery is talked about in schools, teachers just throw the word around and talk about it like it was just another event in everyday life. This is inconsiderate because topics such as slavery can have a lot of emotion and even trauma behind it. As educators, we need to be aware and empathetic because we do not know every single student's background in depth enough to know what topics will trigger them emotionally. In an article titled "Ending Curriculum Violence" written by Stephanie P. Jones, a student states "what happened to me that day in school was not a type of violence involving physical harm but rather a type of emotional destruction legitimized as teaching". This shows how teachers must be careful with the way they teach emotional topics because it could affect a student in a way that no one is aware of. Of course, issues that occurred back in the day such as slavery are important to talk about so that history does not repeat itself. With this being said, it is important that we teach topics like this in such a way that we are obviously bringing awareness to the issue and not traumatizing or emotionally harming any of our students.
Hi McKinley, I enjoyed reading your blog this week. Thank you for incorporating the image as well. It tied in nicely with your key points in your blog. I agree with you, history has to be one of the main, if not the main subject that curriculum violence occurs. You give a good example, slavery. For some it can bring up stories that their great grandparents shared with them. The difficulty they went through and for a teacher to talk about it so camly, no emotion, brush it under the rug. Could affect the student, because to them, their grandparents story showed passion, pain, sorrow. So yes, teachers need to be considerate of when discussing certain history topics.
ReplyDeleteHi Angelica! Thank you for your response. I agree with your point on how learning about slavery can effect students due to having family that might have been effected by slavery. I think this point goes unnoticed in classrooms as educators usually don't think about this.
DeleteHi McKinley, I really enjoyed reading your blog it is well written! I agree that most teachers do not teach slavery well in history and it is a very sensitive topic but it is so important for students to learn about. Slavery should be taught in schools because it is a core aspect of American history and if teachers were to avoid teaching about it they can impact a students understanding of the foundation of America and provide them with less comprehensive education. And as you said, we need to teach about it so history will not repeat itself. I think the main reason teachers do not know how to teach slavery to their students is because they believe it to be irreverent in society today so they feel no need to bring it up and another reason can be that they just are not sure how to teach it or introduce the subject to their students.
ReplyDeleteHi Jacie! Thank you for your response. I agree that slavery is a core aspect of American History and needs to be taught in schools, I just think that the way it is taught needs to be addressed. I also agree that some educators might not know how to introduce the topic to their students. It can be an extremely emotional topic for some.
DeleteHi Mckinley! Right off the bat of reading your blog post, I could not agree more! History is definitely the main subject in this topic. We all know that history is not always taught the way it should be, just like you mentioned. I also agree with the fact that teachers need to be more careful when teaching certain topics. We truly never know if the way we are teaching is affecting a student. Personally, I myself have noticed how teachers tend to teach these topics in such a calm matter or with no emotion. It's important that teachers be considerate of their students no matter what. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and ethnic groups, so of course it's important to be careful and cautious of the way us educators are teaching. Bringing awareness is the best solution. A teacher showing that they care and showing consideration will most definitely turn things around.
ReplyDeleteHi Ashley! Thank you for your response. I have also noticed that teachers tend to teach the topic of slavery with no emotion as if it was just another normal day, which is not the case. I agree that bringing awareness this situation is the best solution at this point as this issue is not addressed enough.
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