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Parents: White Teacher Should Not Teach Black History

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Mr. Clutch, Jul 29, 2003.

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  1. Mr. Clutch

    Mr. Clutch Member

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    OBERLIN, Ohio, Updated 1:33 p.m. EDT July 28, 2003 -- A group of parents said they will fight a possible decision to allow a white teacher to lead classes in black history at Oberlin High School.

    NewsChannel5 reported that a scheduling conflict could cause the district to reassign the black teacher who has taught the course for seven years.

    Using a white teacher at Oberlin High School would send the wrong message to black students, said A.G. Miller, an associate professor of American and African religious history at Oberlin College.

    "The message is that we are not concerned about the importance of your historical background ... that that is less important than a schedule conflict," said Miller, whose three children graduated from Oberlin High School.

    Jaqui Willis, a black Oberlin parent, said the teacher is a role model and that removing him from the class would be detrimental to students.

    The parents have protested the move to the school board, but the district's superintendent, Beverly Reep, has not commented on the case. Reep told parents at a school board meeting that scheduling issues would be addressed this week.

    Schools and community leaders in the Cleveland area are split over the issue of whether blacks should be the only ones to teach black history.

    In Cleveland, white and black teachers teach black history. A black teacher teaches black history at Shaker Heights High School, but a white teacher handles classes on oppression and human relations, both which deal extensively with race relations and slavery.

    Little research has been done to determine whether same-race teachers lead to higher achievement by minority students. Ronald Ehrenberg, director of Cornell University's Higher Education Research Institute, said many researchers steer clear of the topic out of fear of being attacked.

    Michael Williams, interim director of Cleveland State University's black studies program, said schools should choose a black teacher if that person is most qualified, not just because the teacher happens to be black.

    If two teachers are equally qualified, Williams gives the edge to the black teacher.

    "That person still has the advantage of the culture," said Williams, who is black. "They understand the nuances of the culture."

    Phyllis Yarber Hogan, a member of the Oberlin Black Alliance for Progress, said a white teacher wouldn't be well-suited to teaching students about subjects like slavery.

    "When you talk about slavery, students need to understand it is not our fault," she said. "Our ancestors did nothing wrong to be enslaved.

    "How do you work through that when the person teaching it is the same type of person who did the enslaving?"
     
    #1 Mr. Clutch, Jul 29, 2003
  2. Rocket River

    Rocket River Member

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    There *is* a difference.

    I think these parents need to step up and SUPPLEMENT
    the teachings.

    History is more than mere facts
    Presentation of the facts make an *ss load of difference.

    Rocket River
    some history is better than no history
     
    #2 Rocket River, Jul 29, 2003
  3. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"
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    #3 B-Bob, Jul 29, 2003
  4. mrpaige

    mrpaige Member

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    Well, then I feel cheated that I don't have an actual Frenchman teaching my French class this summer. How can he truly teach me all the nuances of the language if he grew up in a small town in North Carolina?

    And what's with all the non-Arabs being allowed to teach Math?

    I tell ya, this is my new crusade.

    And it's no wonder I don't remember anything about the various Native American tribes who used to inhabit Texas, I had a white guy teaching me. Absurd!
     
    #4 mrpaige, Jul 29, 2003
  5. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"
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    What exactly can the average whitey teach anyway?

    potato farming?
    cod fishing?
    the Norman invasion?
    Viking history?
    Sunburn 101?
    Crop circles?

    I better get out of teaching. I don't anything about any of those topics!
     
    #5 B-Bob, Jul 29, 2003
  6. SpaceCity

    SpaceCity Member

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    I find this somewhat disturbing.

    Why can't all of the history classes be integrated? There's Texas history, American history, and World history.

    If histroy books weren't so biased to begin with we wouldn't be having this issue.

    Why "black" history and not Afican history?
     
    #6 SpaceCity, Jul 29, 2003
  7. RunninRaven

    RunninRaven Member
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    Tea preparation
    Tactfully being appalled
    Stealing native's land?
     
    #7 RunninRaven, Jul 29, 2003
  8. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"
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    Well, you'd have to make sure the whitey teaching that was of French origin.

    By the way, I am 1/16 native american, so can I teach 1/16 of a course in native american history? :confused: Or just one out of every 16 students?
     
    #8 B-Bob, Jul 29, 2003
  9. Mr. Clutch

    Mr. Clutch Member

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    LOL, don't forget "Enslaving."

    "How do you work through that when the person teaching it is the same type of person who did the enslaving?"
     
    #9 Mr. Clutch, Jul 29, 2003
  10. mrpaige

    mrpaige Member

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    I had this problem when I took a criminal justice class. We were talking about the crack epidemic and gang warfare and drive-by shootings in South Central Los Angeles and all that, and I had an African-American professor. The whole time I was thinking, "How do I work through this when the person teaching the course is the same type of person who committed these crimes?"
     
    #10 mrpaige, Jul 29, 2003
  11. across110thstreet

    across110thstreet Member

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    i don't get it.
    looks right to me...

    anyway, it's not therapy, it's history. let the facts present themselves
     
    #11 across110thstreet, Jul 29, 2003
  12. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"
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    was being big time smartass. It just didn't sound like "progress" to me, that's all. :)
     
    #12 B-Bob, Jul 29, 2003
  13. Mrs. JB

    Mrs. JB Member

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    Home Economics grad course: "Ritz or Saltines? The Eternal Cracker Dilemma."
     
    #13 Mrs. JB, Jul 29, 2003
  14. across110thstreet

    across110thstreet Member

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    gotcha, thought you were calling out a typo.




    who gave Stevie Ray Vaughan that guitar anyway?
    damned fool doesn't know a thing about the blues:cool:
     
    #14 across110thstreet, Jul 29, 2003
  15. rezdawg

    rezdawg Member

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    In college, I took an African American History course. The professor was black. It definitely would not have had the same effect if the professor was white.

    There is no way a white person could have lectured about slavery the way my professor did.
     
    #15 rezdawg, Jul 29, 2003
  16. Oski2005

    Oski2005 Member

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    Dude, this pretty f*cked up right here.


    Sorry, don't feel like adding anything constructive. I didn't need a greek or a roman to teach me about western civ.
     
    #16 Oski2005, Jul 29, 2003
  17. Easy

    Easy Boban Only Fan
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    OMG, all of my European History classes were taught by Asian teachers. We should have protested! No wonder I slept through most of it. How could that "type of the people" know anything about Europe?

    Oh, yeah, we should sue the Rockets for getting a whitey to talk Chinese with Yao. That's really disgusting. The Clippers hire a guy who was born in the US for Zhi Zhi. But at least they are sensitive enough to get a Chinese guy.
     
    #17 Easy, Jul 29, 2003
  18. Mr. Clutch

    Mr. Clutch Member

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    I understand that. But some of them are saying white people can't teach because they are "the same type of people that did the enslaving." That's racist.

    People identify way too much with the group they are in. There's that gay school in NY for example. And everything controversial that happens in sports gets tied into race (whether it's Sosa or Yao). It's getting old.
     
    #18 Mr. Clutch, Jul 29, 2003
  19. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"
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    Exactly. Since many Africans owned slaves and sold them to Europeans and Americans, I demand that no people of African, European, or American descent ever be allowed to teach anything about slavery! Only people of eskimo blood will be allowed to teach it, or if we can't find anyone with a completely clean blood line, let's just not teach it. Then we can just forget it ever happened.

    Mrs. JB, that cracker line was priceless and made my day. I will work on a course outline, but it may be inappropriate for me to teach that class since I prefer Ritz.
     
    #19 B-Bob, Jul 29, 2003
  20. bamaslammer

    bamaslammer Member

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    Why should it matter what the teacher's race is? For that matter, why should there be a separate history class? Why can't be all look at ourselves as one American people? This balkanization of people along ethnic and racial lines is going to lead to us becoming another multi-ethinic, hate-filled cesspool sooner than we think.
     
    #20 bamaslammer, Jul 29, 2003
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