History

Today when Shelly got off the bus she complained that her legs hurt from sitting so long. On the bus? "No, we had a assembly." I asked what they talked about and she said Black History. Oh, what does that mean? "I don't really know. Famous people?" I asked her if the famous people were black, trying to connect the dots for her, but she didn't know. She had no idea what Black History even meant. So I explained to her "black skin" and "white skin" and she named some kids from her class with those colors skin. Yeah, I told her, but we don't call them that, we don't say to them that they're black. She shared with me the song she sang in the assembly, a song about "Martin Lufer King." That's right, she says "Lufer." And its the cutest thing ever!

I think its great that Shelly is learning about important people in our country's history, but it got me wondering if we really should be segregating our history that way. Didn't black Americans fight for equality, for NOT being segregated? Why are we still doing that today? Why are we teaching it to our children? Through "celebrating" a group's history, are we perpetuating segregation, or even the idea of describing someone by their skin color? Shelly doesn't think about skin color when she's learning about these "famous people" at school. In order for her to understand the point of the assembly I had to teach her to look at people's skin color before looking at who they really are. That makes no sense to me.

On another note, a few weeks ago Archer brought home a Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser form. When I asked him what it was for, what it meant, he had no idea. First we discussed "fundraiser." Asking people to give you money. Then we discussed the current cause, Jump Rope for Heart. So what are we raising money for, Archer? "I don't know, sick people?" What kind of sick people? What's wrong with them? "Um, like breast cancer maybe?"

Really. I think for the most part the schools my kids go to are doing a great job, they're learning to read, learning math, learning to get along with others. But there are some places where they're completely missing the boat. The fundraiser went into the garbage with all the other junk mail (don't worry, there'll be another group asking for my money next week), and the lesson about noticing people's skin color before their achievements has also been passed along. A mom attempting to fill the educational gap. And somehow, I don't feel so comfortable in that role.