Cobb teacher under siege for “slavery game” tells her side (White: design, activity)

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by AfternoonCoffee

Reading the article would help immensely in your search for the words that will explain it to you.

You may dispense with the condescension, and you may see post #30.

[dblackga]

Originally Posted by jero23

The black female student and her parents were offended, so intent does not mean much. It all boils down to the fact that there are other creative ways to doing this without having them experience being enslaved.

The black student (one of four) was just fine with it, until she told her grandmother what they did in class that day and her grandmother hit the roof. Bet that's the last time SHE tells Grandma what they did in school that day! Poor kid is probably so embarrassed by all the fuss . . . she even told the teacher that the game was fine -- "but it was about slavery." Since when did slavery become a forbidden topic?

The kids weren't "enslaved", for God's sake. They weren't picking cotton for every single daylight hour in the broiling sun, they weren't keeping the house of their owners, they weren't performing dangerous chores such as making tar and logging, and they weren't being used as brood mares and studs. It was a study of a particular aspect of slavery: The Underground Railroad. They rolled dice and the random roll of the dice determined their next move to a different station -- where they either kept moving steadily away and succeeded in escaping or was captured and sent back. It emphasized the random nature of many of the escapes, the luck involved, and the dread the slaves had of being sent back. Should they have been told that the slaves that got sent back got sent to bed without supper? No -- the consequences were severe, and so were the stakes. The child was one of half of the class that escaped to freedom, she wasn't singled out because she was black.

10 year olds can handle the truth. Shielding them from the truth means they grow up with rhetoric, not facts. I wonder if there would have been all this fuss if the teacher had been black? I suspect she would have been lauded for imaginative teaching.

[dblackga]

Originally Posted by JoeTarheel

Oh I thought the article said one. I must have misread it. I wonder if it would have been okay if the entire class was white? Or if the teacher was black? There are a lot of variables that might make the perception of racism disappear.

No, you didn't misread it -- unfortunately, a lot of media reports on this incident didn't do much fact-checking and have reported that she was the only black child in the class.

[arjay57]

To me this sounded more like a role playing exercise, not a game in the sense of people playing for entertainment.

Role playing can be a very instructive teaching technique but it has to be approached with sensitivity. Maybe the teacher should describe the scenario in advance and ask the students if any of them are uncomfortable and would prefer to opt out.

[AfternoonCoffee]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

You may dispense with the condescension, and you may see post #30.

Hmm...

Originally Posted by toll_booth

I do not see what the teacher did that was justifiable and excusable.

She made the only black child be the literal target in her classroom "game."

If you can't see what's wrong about that, I'm not sure if there exist words that can explain it to you.

Opinions can, will, and should vary, but you repeatedly posted and referenced incorrect information. And then shamed posters who disagreed with your assessment.

[GoingGrey]

This story reminded me of something my girls did while in 5th grade.

My girls, now a college freshman and high school junior went to Morningside Elementary. Every year the 5th graders took a multi-day trip to the Blue Ridge Outdoor Education Center. As part of their trip they all participated in an Underground Railroad activity. I just looked up the website to see if this activity was still offered since it has been several years since my girls went. Here is a link to the website with a description of the activity. Evening Classes - Blue Ridge Outdoor Education Center

So it seems that the idea of "role playing" the Underground Railroad is not something new. I wonder if there have been complaints about this program as well?

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Excuse me. I read the article. And not only that, I read other articles:





I think that's the million-dollar comparison. If institutional racism had been abolished centuries ago, then maybe, just maybe, this slavery game might have been justified. But that is not the reality we live in.

I stand by my assessment despite the faux outrage. This teacher seems to be a creative, hard-working person, and I hope she is not fired. But she cannot just walk away with a slap on the wrist, either.

You're citing the article that has the misinformation. The one posted in the first post in this thread has the correct information.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by AfternoonCoffee

Hmm...



Opinions can, will, and should vary, but you repeatedly posted and referenced incorrect information. And then shamed posters who disagreed with your assessment.

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

You're citing the article that has the misinformation. The one posted in the first post in this thread has the correct information.

Please cite exactly what I said that I was incorrect AND the PROOF that it was incorrect.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Please cite exactly what I said that I was incorrect AND the PROOF that it was incorrect.

The article you linked to and quoted was incorrect. Again, the corrected information is in the link in the first post of this thread: Cobb teacher under siege for class “slavery game” shares her side | Get Schooled

For example, newspapers reported Bunch-Keemer’s granddaughter was the only black child in the class; the girl was one of four African-Americans out of a diverse class of 23 that includes Hispanic children. Reports stated the girl somehow ended up back at the plantation six times in the simulation– implying some nefarious plot that kept routing her back there. But the journals students filled out on their journey around the room showed the child, like every other student, visited almost every station and was among the half of the class who found freedom.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

The article you linked to and quoted was incorrect. Again, the corrected information is in the link in the first post of this thread: Cobb teacher under siege for class “slavery game” shares her side | Get Schooled

Alright, so the number of African-American students in the class was misreported. Noted.

But what of the activity itself? It did happen, right?