A central Ohio school district has apologized after an elementary school Social Studies lesson turned into a mock slave auction. Nikko Burton said during an American history lesson at Gahanna's Chapelfield Elementary School, the class was divided into slaves and masters.
"I ended up being a slave," said Burton, 10. "At first I didn't care, but after people were bidding on people it kind of made me a little mad and stuff." Burton said that the students who were playing the part of master were told to feel the students playing slaves to see if they were worth buying.
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"The masters go to touch people and do all sorts of stuff," Burton said. "They got to look in your mouth and feel your legs and stuff and see if you're strong and stuff." Burton's mother said that her son was humiliated. "He felt degraded, he was hurt and the kids picked on him later," Aneka Burton said.
"I feel like that was totally inappropriate; it was racist and it was degrading." She complained to Gahanna-Jefferson schools. School officials declined to comment but did issue a statement that said, in part, "As soon as the concern was brought to our attention, school officials acted promptly to speak with the parent." A district spokeswoman said the slave auction was part of state required curriculum and that it was a one-time lesson.
6 comments:
I guess he didn't get a good price then.
We really like living in Ohio. It's very pretty. The weather (once you get used to the snow) is nice. The cost of living is low.
We're moving because the people are so overwhelmingly racist. I don't want my kids going to school here.
There was a teacher who did something similar every year, segregating children with blue eyes and brown eyes. One group was given privileges and the other was harassed and treated poorly. The next day the roles were reversed. It taught the kids how horrible discrimination felt, and after everyone had gone through it no one was going to tease anyone about it.
But the article? That's just insane and it doesn't teach anything good.
People should know it is an important history lesson and not blame racism for every problem they have!
On what grounds were the students divided into slaves and masters? Were there white slaves and black masters? If yes, where's the racism?
It was a thoughtless way to deliver the lesson. Slavery was degrading and tragic, and it was obviously going to be distressing for a black child to have to pretend to be a slave and have people re-enact that abuse. I'm not sure what the child "learnt" from having people poke and prod him and joke about whether he was worth buying.
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