Teacher Binds Girls' Hands and Feet to Teach About Slavery

Would this story even be flagged if the teacher was African-American and the students were white?

You asked if this would have been flagged if the teacher were african american and the child black.. It would be national news!! Race always seems to be a "issue" in this country. A lesson learned is a lesson one can take and pass on, but placing fear or trama into a child in order to teach a lesson is pure abuse and if it were here in NYC that teacher would have been jailed and charged with corporal punishment.

Where were the administrators/supervisors going INTO this lesson? I'm a teacher and my supervisor has a copy of my plans in advance - if there is something I should not be doing in my class, I'd expect him/her to stop me or let me know "I see what you meant but this may not be a wise idea". Are the administrators being punished too? Do we know how long this person has been teaching?

Hey JUNIOR... an African-American teacher would never be so STUPID as to do what this teacher did... call it race -- or call it EMPATHY...

Elise,

Here in New York City, it seems a lot of parents take everything that teachers do to the extreme. They fight them on almost everything, yet most of these kids are not on the level they should be. They at times this places limits what an educators can do. This is why I will NOT teach in the New York City public schools. I rather go to school for a few extra years and become a college professor where I can have the extra slack to teach.

I totally agree with you, L. There is an amazing children's author by the name of Julius Lester. The book is called To Be a Slave. Had the teacher read just one chapter from this book, students would have definitely understood the horrors of slavery. In addition, there are wonderful videos put out by the History Channel that also address the issue in a tasteful, but educational way. As an educator, one has to be careful, especially when recounting the horrors of history (and there are MANY). Live demonstrations are not necessary.

JR you KNOW it would not be!!! only bc they were black and teacher was white, or we would Never have seen this story

It's pretty obvious to me that the only reason that this is even an issue is that this mother is looking for her payday and plans on suing the school. Why else would she have brought a representative from the NAACP along to the meeting ?

You are most definitely not a history teacher, let alone an historian! If you want to make apoint, be honest and make the point! I will not be more inclined to believe you if your background is related to the topic.And I know you are wondering...hmmm, how does this person know the truth about me? Well, I just typed the hint! Figure it out on your own!

Not everything we learn makes us feel good at first. Sometimes we need to learn something by having some firsthand experience. The student wasn't in shackles, pushed by armed men, taken from her village, put on a ship with little to no food for weeks, or flogged. But she or he was given some idea of what it may have been like for a few minutes. Not the hours, days, or weeks that slaves endured. To me, as I was a student once also, I may have felt vulnerable for a time - but the lesson would've taken on new meaning. I do not believe this student was threatened, physically or mentally, in any way. Life is tough, some of our questionable history is tough, but with "firsthand" teaching like this - maybe our children will realize what a life they have vs. what those before them have had to endure. Bravo!

Sadly, yes I guess this parent is looking for a payout. But I am sure their Department of Education has great laywers to prove that no damage was done to any of the children. Like I said before I work in a school and I have heard of some parents making up things in an attempt to sue the school. Not much holds up in court because the truth always comes out.

Can we all just take a breather for a minute? When I was in school we were blindfolded to learn about being blind. We had our hands tied behind our back to learn about being disabled, etc. Some lessons are learned best by getting actively involved, not just sitting at a desk listening to a teacher drone on and on. I don't think this teacher did anything wrong. I think those girls know more about how it felt to be a slave than they might otherwise have learned. This whole county is so politically correct that it scares me. We are raising a generation of kids who won't know reality from a video game. Enough said.

Hey Billy, why do you say I am not a historian? I have a BA and will be obtaining my Masters in American History this spring then I will be on my way to obtaining a PhD... So... smart guy how am I not a historian? Why?, because I don't study the feel good history of the past? The history that makes the most evil people in history look tamed and heroic?

Do we reward her for using hands-on creative lessons, or criticize her for embarrasing students and not demonstrating respect for history? My vote is for the latter.

Hall Monitor
http://detentionslip.org

They actually brought in the NAACP?? Come on... this only an issue because the teacher is white & students weren't. No wonder good teachers leave the business.

There are very few white students in that school. The majority are blacks and hispanics. Most classes do not have any white students.

African-Americans have been known to enslave people in their past.Whether you believe everything in the Bible or not it is true that Egyptians(therefor africans) used slaves to build the pyramids.Every race has committed horrible acts against another race at sometime in their past.

I like how most say it was whites enslaving blacks, while that is a true statment for this countrys history, slavery is wrong no matter what. ALL races have enslaved not only other races but there own also. LOOK AND READ HISTORY IT IS THERE!!! a lot of the blacks that where brought to this counrty where first enslaved in africa by other tribes when there tribe lost a battle