Parents in Utah school opt their children out of Black History Month

OldWiseGuy said:

Maybe that I have studied the subject in some depth (what you do after you win the lottery is most important).

I think those parents didn't want a guilt trip laid on their children.

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I studied Black and Native history. I don't feel guilt . I was mad, with what Black people and Native people went through. But if teaching history makes you feel guilty. Then there's a reason why. Pretending this evil happen, doesn't make it go away. And makes thing worse. This is why there's so much chaos. One group tries to ignore the problem. With the internet they will find out their parents betrayed them with lies.

SummerMadness said:

Parents wanted to opt their children out of Black History Month. A Utah school 'reluctantly' let them.

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Then the kids grade should be marked down. And the kids should be told why.

OldWiseGuy said:

Maybe that I have studied the subject in some depth (what you do after you win the lottery is most important).

I think those parents didn't want a guilt trip laid on their children.

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SHOCKER!
Oh man. It would have been really hard for white folks to have a class that wasn't (gasp) about them. Good thing they can turn it back to being about them by feeling GUILT...as though black folks want you to feel guilty about it.

Jaedan said:

Okay,

And why do you think the black students (that you heard of) are not interested in the founding of America by Europeans?

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It's not their history.

rambot said:

Just sorta hoping he will have a quote to support that black kids "don't much like white history".

I'm not even saying you're wrong. Why would they be interested in hearing about a history that has consistently devalued, marginalized, beat, bombed and arrested them?

I wouldn't be super pumped about that.

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You nailed it.

rambot said:

SHOCKER!
Oh man. It would have been really hard for white folks to have a class that wasn't (gasp) about them. Good thing they can turn it back to being about them by feeling GUILT...as though black folks want you to feel guilty about it.

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Remember that we're dealing with impressionable kids here.

rambot said:

I've heard that looking directly at the sun during a solar eclipse is an incredibly intelligent thing to do.

Do you have any kind of citation to back that up?

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I searched but my source disappeared (this often happens). I don't save all my sources in my 'favorites', just ones I don't want to lose.

The closest I could come was a site that mentioned that some schools don't teach American history because they don't want to offend anyone.

rambot said:

Well the good stuff you mean of course right?

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rambot said:

Just sorta hoping he will have a quote to support that black kids "don't much like white history".

I'm not even saying you're wrong. Why would they be interested in hearing about a history that has consistently devalued, marginalized, beat, bombed and arrested them?

I wouldn't be super pumped about that.

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On the contrary, that is the history that they know well.

Old Lady said:

Hearsay.

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Lots of that going around.

essentialsaltes said:

Utah parents drop Black history curriculum opt out request
Parents who sought to opt out their children from learning Black History Month curriculum at a charter school in northern Utah have withdrawn their requests

“We are grateful that families that initially had questions and concerns have willingly come to the table to resolve any differences and at this time no families are opting out of our planned activities and we have removed this option," the statement said.

Discussions held with the parents will not result in a change to the Black History Month curriculum, which is based on Black history instruction using state social studies standards, Hirokawa said.

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If true this thread is dead.

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN said:

I studied Black and Native history. I don't feel guilt . I was mad, with what Black people and Native people went through. But if teaching history makes you feel guilty. Then there's a reason why. Pretending this evil happen, doesn't make it go away. And makes thing worse. This is why there's so much chaos. One group tries to ignore the problem. With the internet they will find out their parents betrayed them with lies.

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When do you think blacks and other minorities will leave the past and move into the future? As I said they won the lottery. Now they must decide how to spend the money.

durangodawood said:

Poor excuse for avoiding reality.

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durangodawood said:

Poor excuse for avoiding reality.

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Au Contraire. That 'reality' is an imbroglio.

When did history classes become optional in any school?

Meh. A period to concentrate on black history was created by a black man for black people at a time that nobody black expected anybody white to get involved, much less "celebrate" it. And it was that way for half a century.

To some extent, we see belated white recognition of Black History Month as a way of virtual posturing without really solving any problems...the cheap and easy way to say, "We've done something." If there was really an interest in black history, it would be presented in the textbooks, not sequestered as part of something separate.

I have the same feelings about the Smithsonian African-American History museum. All of those exhibits should have stayed in the American History museum.

OldWiseGuy said:

When do you think blacks and other minorities will leave the past and move into the future? As I said they won the lottery. Now they must decide how to spend the money.

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Won the lottery?

OldWiseGuy said:

When do you think blacks and other minorities will leave the past and move into the future? As I said they won the lottery. Now they must decide how to spend the money.

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What lottery did they win? And they are still being abused in America. Black history is a part of history. It's not my problem if you're afraid of it being taught. And it should be taught. Along with Native history .

CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN said:

What lottery did they win?

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The "Mostly not living in Utah" lottery?

Brigham Young (supposed prophet of the Mormon religion and the first governor of the Utah territory following its incorporation into the United States in 1850) shares his views on slavery before the Utah legislature:



Synopsis: B.Y. was a very strong supporter of slavery.

I don't mean to imply anything bad about the kids who just may happen to be going to the school in question (they probably have very little choice in the matter), but when I hear things like the above it's not exactly a shock to me that Utah has such a miniscule population of black people in it to this day. There are plenty of places in the USA that had racist politicians in them (and still do), but I don't know of any wherein said racist politicians are openly revered as prophets of God and get universities named after them. Usually it's one one or the other.

OldWiseGuy said:

When do you think blacks and other minorities will leave the past and move into the future? As I said they won the lottery. Now they must decide how to spend the money.

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So you do not believe the subject of US or world history should be taught in schools? Kids should only be taught to look to future rather than learn anything about their past? Or is it only the history around minorities that should be ignored?

Either way, what a great way to ensure we continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

It's Mormon Utah... it doesn't surprise me in the least. LDS history is chock full of the sort of white Christian nationalism that has been discussed by culture critics in the last 4 years, the sort of stuff that fuelled Trump's rise to power. Indeed, Mormonism is incredibly low in emphasizing traditional Christian doctrines (or even openly heretical, in fact.) but that's relatively unimportant in terms of what makes this type of nationalism tick. As Knowing Better puts it, Mormonism is American Exceptionalism turned into a religion: