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Gentle nature......blah blah blah......have you read what it says about Indians in the US Declaration of Independence? What about cannibalism? scalping (do you think that only started when whites showed up)?? Let's get real here. The amerindians were warriors, just like any other people, past, present and future.
People have to understand where the Spanish were coming from. They had just finished up a brutal centuries long war to OUST MUSLIMS out of the Iberian peninsula. They didn't live in a peaceful time or neighborhood, and their culture was based on frontier wars (Arcos de Frontera etc.). THOSE WERE THE TIMES. So big deal.
I wonder how many other amerindian villages were wiped out by other amerindians? Nobody is crying over that. The entire anti-Columbus thing just provides cover to racists and White-haters, America haters and Western Civ haters, it's a joke.
Cannabilism sure as hell did take place among those savage peoples. Look it up.
It did in the Donner party, too.
So you approve of Columbus' ethnic cleansing? Anything bad he did is negated because the people he slaughtered did bad things, too?
AND, if he did these things why don't you want them mentioned if you don't think there was anything wrong with them?????
My thoughts? There are all sorts of different views of Columbus and this teacher has one. Other views have probably been spoon fed to you kid since kindergarten. Stop trying to control everything that happens in your teenagers life and stick to the important things. Your kid is just a few years away from being an adult and will be faced with all sorts of thing and there will be nothing you can do about it. Better start stepping back now so you don't go crazy when you kid gets to college. Just wait until you hear about what goes on there!
If I was interested in your opinion of parenting, I might have posted this thread in the parenting forum. Yet again, the geniuses of CDF come forth.
If I was interested in your opinion of parenting, I might have posted this thread in the parenting forum. Yet again, the geniuses of CDF come forth.
Some people are ignorant of their own ignorance.
Getting a little tired of your insults to people with whom you do not agree. Let's take a look at your OP:
Quote:
Yesterday I spoke to a mom in another school district and she told me that they are observing Columbus Day today in their district. Found out from my son that his HS is not observing it, and as a matter of fact, his English teacher of Nicaraguan descent formally informed his class that Columbus only brought disease and war to the Americas and that there is nothing to celebrate about Columbus. Mind you, the student population is Hispanic majority (about 70%) at my son's school.
I am incensed so I had best not contact the school just yet. Would love to hear some other opinions about this before I lambast the administration. Your thoughts?
The main point of your first paragraph is the non-observance of Columbus Day. Your comment about the Nicaraguan teacher was in support of your main point.
Your second paragraph simply says you are incensed, which the reader correctly assumes is due to the main thought of your first paragraph. You then ask for "Your thoughts." But, when you get thoughts on the non-observance of Columbus Day - the main point of your post - you resort to commenting on the poster's intelligence for missing the point of your post, which, of course, they did not. Perhaps you should work on your writing skills with an emphasis on topic/supporting sentences.
Yes indeed, some people are ignorant of their own ignorance.
I taught in a high school for 37 years --- don't remember Columbus Day ever being observed. There might have been a few brief sentences during morning announcements, but I really don't have a recollection of that happening.
How do you think high schools should "observe" Columbus Day?
Missed the point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ray1945
Actually, when I discussed this with my husband, who was also a teacher, we decided that I was incorrect in my original post. The teachers' contract allowed for only 10 paid holidays and when Martin Luther King's b-day became a nationally observed Monday holiday (1983?), Columbus Day got dropped. Consequently, Miami-Dade schools have not observed Columbus Day since the early 80s.
Missed the point - yet again, even after I added subsequent posts, further elucidating my point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ray1945
Getting a little tired of your insults to people with whom you do not agree. Let's take a look at your OP:
The main point of your first paragraph is the non-observance of Columbus Day. Your comment about the Nicaraguan teacher was in support of your main point.
Your second paragraph simply says you are incensed, which the reader correctly assumes is due to the main thought of your first paragraph. You then ask for "Your thoughts." But, when you get thoughts on the non-observance of Columbus Day - the main point of your post - you resort to commenting on the poster's intelligence for missing the point of your post, which, of course, they did not. Perhaps you should work on your writing skills with an emphasis on topic/supporting sentences.
Yes indeed, some people are ignorant of their own ignorance.
Thank you for illustrating the workings of your mind. I can sleep better tonight now that you have explained what I really thought/meant in the first place.
(Yet another hint: the main point of my post was the teacher's comments about Columbus, give that she is an English teacher giving her students her own version of a History lesson that is not part of her class curriculum. Perhaps as a teacher you would know that such things would be frowned upon, not only by parents. I prefaced that information with the conversation that led up to my son's revelation for context and did not intend to complicate anyone's train of thought.)
I wonder why you and a select few others are the only ones who fail to grasp the point of this thread. If there is still any confusion on anyone's part - my solicitation for CD members' thoughts was pertaining to my plans to approach the school administration about a rogue teacher's thoughtless comments - not on the topic of how to parent my son, nor on the topic of how Columbus Day should/should not be observed. Everyone is welcome to have their opinion - but if they want to discuss how to celebrate Columbus Day or how I need to parent my son, then I suggest they begin another thread about that subject instead of polluting this one with their sundry off-topic comments.
Columbus Day is a stupid reason to have off school....sheesh, how many damn Mondays will schools close? No wonder American kids are so far behind the rest of the world.
The teacher, WHO CANNOT AND DID NOT KEEP THE SCHOOL OPEN was right...Columbus was no saint.
Should education perpeptuate myths?????
Or tell the truth????? I vote for truth.
What myths are you referring to. Are you saying that he never sailed the ocean blue in 1492?
Are you saying he didn't open the new world to the imaginations of a Europe fatigued by the 1,000 years that marked the dark and middle Ages?
I never learned in any of my years of education in American schools that he was a saint.
This is all guilt-ridden claptrap!
This is a sad case of a teacher taking their personal beliefs and intertwining it with HISTORY. There are probably some negatives to Columbus, as there is to any person. But Columbus Day is to celebrate his discovery of America. A great achievement and a historical FACT.
It's not called "Columbus Day only if you like him". Teachers are overstepping their bounds more and more. It's not a teacher's job to educate kids on their ethical stance, or lack thereof.
Columbus did not "discover" anything, that is a historical fact. He wasnt even the first European on the continent. That is historical fact. Columbus's own expedition wiped out much of the native populations around where he landed and made contact. That is historical fact.
If I sailed to Spain, would that mean I "discovered" it? How do you "discover" a land that has hundreds, if not thousands, of thriving civilizations.
That is why over 20 STATES do not observe the day, and none should at all.
This is a sad case of a teacher taking their personal beliefs and intertwining it with HISTORY. There are probably some negatives to Columbus, as there is to any person. But Columbus Day is to celebrate his discovery of America. A great achievement and a historical FACT.
It's not called "Columbus Day only if you like him". Teachers are overstepping their bounds more and more. It's not a teacher's job to educate kids on their ethical stance, or lack thereof.
You can't "discover" a country that already has people living there.
If I was interested in your opinion of parenting, I might have posted this thread in the parenting forum. Yet again, the geniuses of CDF come forth.
Some people are ignorant of their own ignorance.
You get what you get. I stand by my post. By all means call the high school and ***** and tell them you only want your kid to learn nice, pretty stuff about history.
Columbus's own expedition wiped out much of the native populations around where he landed and made contact. That is historical fact.
Are you going to blame the plague that wiped out 50% of Europe in the 14th century on an expedition of evil fleas?
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