Nephew's school assignment-what do you think?

[Linnie The Pooh]

My nephew (10) is in the 4th grade and part African American. He had an assignment to write a nasty letter to Christopher Columbus and tell him how he feels about Columbus not really discovering America, but actually looking for slaves. DN's first line was "Dear Columbus, You are a jerk for what you did. You made people slaves and were mean, etc." I just wondered if this is what they are teaching in the schools in your town and what you think. I thought it was a little over the top. He did get a good grade on his letter though.

My brother didn't want to make a stink about it b/c his son isn't actually supposed to be going to this school-it's a whole big custody battle with his ex, but the kids have gone here since day one so he wants to leave them there until he finds out if he gets custody or not. He's afraid if he goes in to complain, they'll make him pull his kids out and send them to the school nearest his house and that would be really hard on them with everything our family has been through recently. (2 deaths, his mom was beaten up by her boyfriend, mom had a new baby, the nasty custody battle and the list goes on...)

 

[chris1gill]

This is definitely the most off color assignment I've ever heard of, particularly for a fourth grader, do they have their facts correct? I'm thinking they might have missed a few steps

Don't know what to say other than maybe homeschooling might be an option to be thought about....

Oh, I did have one suggestion... why don't you buy your nephew a history textbook that includes the travels of Christopher Columbus... that might help to shed light on the subject... Still, this really does seem off color

 

[punkin]

I thought he was looking for spices. As far as I know, India (spices) did not trade in salves with Europe.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Completely not acceptable...

Not on any level.

However, not much you can do.
The schools do not care.
Unless you are ready for a big-time battle, just have to put up with the schools inappropriate actions.

 

[Cindy B]

Sounds like the teacher recently read this book/text:

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen

This book is very interesting and presents a totally different mindset that what we were taught. I actually thought the book was fascinating about the sanitized versions of history that has been taught in schools.

That book actually talks about how Columbus was looking for slaves, and has many reference/citations to back that claim up.

However, as a future teacher, it was wrong for that student to write a POV from only his heritage. If I were the teacher, I would have presented the material as such, let the students come to their own conclusions, and let them express it themselves. To sort of "exclude" the student because he was African American is wrong. ... what can't any other race be upset about slavery? Why only him?

I understand the anger by the nephew... its so totally different than what we have been taught and it does get you angry. This book is a textbook at my University (a respected teaching university so it does have credibility)

I recommend everyone to read this book.. its very interesting. The author also has an eye opening book on Jim Crowe laws as well... its not just about the civil rights movement. Racism is still alive and well in communities and the author shows this in his Jim Crowe book.


Adding that 4th grade is a bit young to do that particular assignment. It involves questioning status quo/critical thinking/understanding ulterior motives. I would do that assignment, if my board of ed allowed me.. in either 7th and 8th grade or even high school.

I could then talk about how as students and teachers we have been deceived by Lies.. and how these Lies change history.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Slavery was practiced EVERYWHERE at that time.

I do not object to delving into "history" but if you do it then you must teach perspective and time relevance.

I would sit with my kid and do so. I am sure I would learn right along with him since I was force fed history garbage growing up as well.

 

[agnes!]

Not much your DBro can do, OP, in this situation but IMO this latest "History Revision" does as much a disservice to the facts as the previous/sanitized version I was taught in the '60s/'70s/'80s.

I'm sure in another 10 or 20 years that someone else will come along with *their* version of what actually happened with Columbus.
And they'll probably not get it completely right *either*.

agnes!

 

[JennyMominRI]

Not much your DBro can do, OP, in this situation but IMO this latest "History Revision" does as much a disservice to the facts as the previous/sanitized version I was taught in the '60s/'70s/'80s.

I'm sure in another 10 or 20 years that someone else will come along with *their* version of what actually happened with Columbus.
And they'll probably not get it completely right *either*.

agnes!

I don't know about revisionist history...There are primary souce documents by Columbus and his biographer and shipmate and Preist Bartolomew De Las Cases talking about his *governance* of hispainola and the eradication of the Natives living there...
I think 4th grade is way to young to talk about it though
Writing 49 years after the New World discovery , the Dominican priest Bartoleme de Las Casas recorded that on the island of Hispaniola the population went from an estimated 3 million to 200. He reported similar depopulations on Cuba, Puerto Rico and Jamaica.

While it is true that at the time of the first voyage, Columbus made an attempt to prevent his men from stealing from the natives or otherwise taking advantage of them, it can mainly be seen as an attempt to gain the needed initial cooperation of the natives. It would become standard practice for Columbus later to regularly have natives kidnapped wherever he sailed so that they could be used as interpreters or as sex slaves for his men. The gloves would come completely off by the second voyage, when many more ships and armed troops arrived to subjugate their new colonies. Pillaging, raping and slaughtering became the norm in the decades that followed. As the Spaniards swept further inland, the natives stood no chance against musket fire, armored men with pikes on horseback and their "dogs of war" trained to run down and maim or kill fleeing natives.

One of the few natives to actively resist the Spaniards was Hatuey, a Taíno chief on the island of Hispaniola. When the Spaniards neared, he fled to Cuba with 400 of his people and there carried out a guerilla-style resistance to the Spaniards. After three months, Hatuey was betrayed and captured and put on a stake to be burned to death.

 

[rie'smom]

Columbus was a man of his time. Most European men thought of themselves as superior to everyone else so they weren't big into treating other people as equals. Remember that to these same men women and girls -their own flesh and blood- were nothing more than bartering tools used to increase the men's wealth or position. So they were supposed to treat strangers with more dignity?

 

[JennyMominRI]

Columbus was a man of his time. Most European men thought of themselves as superior to everyone else so they weren't big into treating other people as equals. Remember that to these same men women and girls -their own flesh and blood- were nothing more than bartering tools used to increase the men's wealth or position. So they were supposed to treat strangers with more dignity?

Oh I agree..He was exactly what people of that time were...The sad thing is a lot of people think humans as a whole are more brutal now than we were then.

 

[Tiffer]

I think it's obejectionable. True or not. I think then we need to teach how many molestations occurred on those long boat trips, how many woman were raped when they got to a new land, how Africans sold and traded other Africans, one ship of fools didn't enslave an entire polulation by themselves.

It's an outrage and I wouldn't allow my child to do the assignment. That's a college course, not 4th grade.

 

[JennyMominRI]

I
It's an outrage and I wouldn't allow my child to do the assignment. That's a college course, not 4th grade.

A large segment of our population never goes to college...I agree it's not an appropriate topic for elementary aged kids,but I have no problem teaching it to High Schoolers...We also teach the Holocaust at that age.

 

[grinningghost]

Sounds like ultra-liberal BS to me.

 

[lovingthemouse]

As a teacher I have taught both sides of the Columbus issue to my 6th graders. The age group seemed to have a better understanding, and they had many questions too. Presenting all sides of an issue may seem overwhelming, but it is the most fair, impartial way of presenting an historical event.

The wording of the question, as you remember it, was negative in nature and automatically directed the students towards the type of response your nephew gave. He really did seem to follow the teacher's directions!

Personally, I find this assignment as one I would not give to 4th graders. While the concept behind the question might be good, the wording is not. I would want to know how much background information was disseminated before the assignment was given.

 

[Tiffer]

A large segment of our population never goes to college...I agree it's not an appropriate topic for elementary aged kids,but I have no problem teaching it to High Schoolers...We also teach the Holocaust at that age.

That's a big part of the problem. Alot of people don't go to college.

Nontheless, even presenting it to high schoolers in the way OP wrote it, write a nasty letter to Columbus telling him what you think about him really trying to trade slaves...

I would be upset with that as well if my hough schooler came home with that assinment. PRESENTED in that manner. As the teacher below posted, I agree with trying to educate on all sides of a topic, but the manner in which it is being presented is ridiculous, even to a high schooler. They are not yet adults.

 

[JennyMominRI]

That's a big part of the problem. Alot of people don't go to college.

Nontheless, even presenting it to high schoolers in the way OP wrote it, write a nasty letter to Columbus telling him what you think about him really trying to trade slaves...

I would be upset with that as well if my hough schooler came home with that assinment. PRESENTED in that manner. As the teacher below posted, I agree with trying to educate on all sides of a topic, but the manner in which it is being presented is ridiculous, even to a high schooler. They are not yet adults.

Ok,I'm not neccessarily talking about the specific assignment,but more about teaching the issue at all.. I don't think I like the nasty letter idea..Maybe a discussion about the brutality of The time ,and how Columbus's treatment of the Taino's shows that. I think you can teach *both* sides of the issues...I'd also like to see other discovery hypothesis discussed,such as the idea that Africans and Vikings were possibly here before COlumbus

 

[Robinrs]

Man, I think children should have a few years that they are somewhat minus the anguish the rest of the world has waiting for them, why subject them to this now???

My son is 13 and I'm still shadowing most of the crap the world has for him, anger in writing in the classroom? Not necessary at 10.

It is objectionable on so many levels at this age. I remember my parents sheltering me for so many years and then reading about what happened and how it traumatized me. It should be taught gradually and not in a way that is angry. I have a real problem with that.

Sounds to me like this family has WAY bigger problems than a class project.

 

[paigevz]

Oh I agree..He was exactly what people of that time were...The sad thing is a lot of people think humans as a whole are more brutal now than we were then.

I used to try to bring that up when people started with "what is this world coming to"...........but no one seems to be able to hear a dissenting opinion, so I gave up!

I don't like the way the assigment was given.........a more open-ended, "write a letter to Columbus" assignment would be better, then the child could choose for himself what to address in his letter.

 

[lovingthemouse]

Actually Tiffer- presenting this topic to middle school students is not out of the question - as you did say, it is the manner in which the question is phrased. Having taught middle school for close to 30 years, I have found that the information I teach now is different in nature than what I used to teach. My approach to literature is more intense, I look for more higher order thinking skills on the part of my students - and higher order thinking, which many kids do not actively use, leads to topics similar in nature to the Columbus one.

And as to the Holocaust - our sixth graders read "Freidrich" which is such an incredible approach to the Holocaust. Not graphic in terms of death, it is a young boy's view of what is going on around him.

 

[Crankyshank]

Absolutely inappropriate. 4th grade is far too young to understand the complexities of slavery and trade in 15th century. While I don't think they should be taught the same sugar coated "he wanted to prove the earth wasn't flat" crap that I was fed back in the 70's and 80's, I think there is a much better way to approach the realities of trade and seas exploration of that time to children. I think 6th grade is a much more realistic age to introduce the subject to.

I'm a history major and my specialization is on the exploration of the new world and even amongst my peers there are heavy debates on the nature of Columbus' journey and his interactions with the natives.

Ditto on the "Lies My Teacher Told Me" recommendation. Fabulous book - very eye opening but entertaining enough to keep the interest of those who really aren't all that into history.