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The Dismal Color of Education
By Matt Margolis | July 28, 2003
The perversity of education today is now the topic of two blog entries today. First it was a gay high school, now it’s white teachers not being able to teach black history…
A group of parents said they will fight a possible decision to allow a white teacher to lead classes in black history at Oberlin High School.
NewsChannel5 reported that a scheduling conflict could cause the district to reassign the black teacher who has taught the course for seven years.
Using a white teacher at Oberlin High School would send the wrong message to black students, said A.G. Miller, an associate professor of American and African religious history at Oberlin College.
A.G. Miller, you see, is a racist. That’s right. A racist. History is history. Math is math. Science is science. Who cares who teaches it?
“The message is that we are not concerned about the importance of your historical background … that that is less important than a schedule conflict,” said Miller, whose three children graduated from Oberlin High School.
Jaqui Willis, a black Oberlin parent, said the teacher is a role model and that removing him from the class would be detrimental to students.
I am led to believe that the scheduling conflict is not really what is bothering these people. Plain and simple, they’re racists.
The parents have protested the move to the school board, but the district’s superintendent, Beverly Reep, has not commented on the case. Reep told parents at a school board meeting that scheduling issues would be addressed this week.
Schools and community leaders in the Cleveland area are split over the issue of whether blacks should be the only ones to teach black history.
These people pervert education, they pollute the minds of today’s youth, and the just destroy the progress made by the civil rights movement. You can’t have a color blind society if you can’t even recognize the fact that education is color blind. It’s the same history being taught, however, a couple of bigots have decided that Whitey can’t teach black history.
Michael Williams, interim director of Cleveland State University’s black studies program, said schools should choose a black teacher if that person is most qualified, not just because the teacher happens to be black.
So why did he say they should a black teacher if they’re qualified, instead of saying the school should choose the most qualified teacher to teach it? Even that is a little be sketchy, come to think of it. Why are they so concerned about the quality of black history education, and not the quality of the whole education? Why is black history more important than History? Or Math? Or Science? Or English? Why all the fuss about black history?
If two teachers are equally qualified, Williams gives the edge to the black teacher.
“That person still has the advantage of the culture,” said Williams, who is black. “They understand the nuances of the culture.”
Phyllis Yarber Hogan, a member of the Oberlin Black Alliance for Progress, said a white teacher wouldn’t be well-suited to teaching students about subjects like slavery.
Why can’t a white person teach students about slavery? White people played a role in abolishing slavery; we should be more than qualified to teach it. We’re the ones who should be teaching it in that respect. Lots of white men died for the emancipation of the slaves.
“When you talk about slavery, students need to understand it is not our fault,” she said. “Our ancestors did nothing wrong to be enslaved.
So, what you’re saying that slavery is my fault? Or the white teacher’s fault? Newsflash, Ms. Hogan, blacks were sold into slavery by other blacks. Blacks are still in enslaved today in Africa by other blacks… So who the hell is really more qualified?
“How do you work through that when the person teaching it is the same type of person who did the enslaving?”
What’s that? A dead white person from the 1800s? I don’t quite follow you. Slavery is over! Black people today have no more ability to empathize with slavery than white people today. Sorry, but that’s the truth.
These people sicken me. They’re racists, and they are contributing to the destruction of equality in education.
Topics: Thoughts |
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July 28th, 2003 at 10:55 pm
so, since the black people say they need black history month because regular history is like “white history”, does that mean that black teachers can’t teach history??? How about Black teachers can’t teach white math? or white english???
July 28th, 2003 at 11:32 pm
my HS (alma matter) was actually mentioned in that article
(it’s a part you didn’t quote…don’t worry)
July 28th, 2003 at 11:34 pm
here’s what I posted at RWN on the topic:
I have to say that in response to the article, being a person from NorthEast Ohio (thankfully not from Kucinich’s district)
Oberlin is an extremely, extremely liberal city, so this isn’t that suprising to hear.
And as for the article, regarding something Matt didn’t post
As an alum of Shaker Heights High School, I know who this teacher [being referenced] is, and he’s a very bright and talented man.
Many of my friends and my sister took his course “Opression”–and it deals with three main topics: Slavery, South African Apartheid and the Holocaust. It’s a very popular course–and in fact, many Blacks and Jewish kids enroll in the course. (Note, the HS is about 55% Black 45% white)
Human relations on the other hand, is more of an intro to sociology type of course. Still, a very good one. He doesn’t try to indoctorinate students, but just throws out ideas and facts.
And I have faith that his Asian studies course will also be a quality class.
What’s my point? One need not be from a certain race to teach a subject. It’s all about qualification.
July 29th, 2003 at 8:34 am
There is the argument against Affirmative Action… can’t we get into schools and jobs based on qualifications, not based on the color of your skin?
July 29th, 2003 at 8:42 am
Jaws,
Thanks for pointing this out. Perhaps I should have quoted that part of the article, but nevertheless, clearly you were in a better position to discuss it than I am.
July 29th, 2003 at 1:58 pm
My very best teacher who discussed such issues as slavery, legacies of colonization, and other suchlike was a woman of color. She had firsthand experiences which gave her teaching a depth and richness which even my excellent white teachers did not have.
(Bias: I’m a liberal white guy.)
July 29th, 2003 at 2:06 pm
FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE?? Was she a slave?? Unless she was of conscious mind before 1863, she has no first hand experience with slavery. She’d be stretching it to she hand second or third hand knowledge.
July 29th, 2003 at 2:08 pm
Alternate history-
If you thought that group of parents was racists…
“A group of parents said they will fight a possible decision to allow female or minority teachers to lead classes in history, science, math, physical education, music, English and Geography at Oberlin High School.
NewsChannel 5 reported that a scheduling conflict could cause the district to reassign the white male teachers who have taught the courses for several years.
Using minority teachers at Oberlin High School would send the wrong message to students, said A.G. Miller, an associate professor of African-American History at Oberlin College.
“The message is that we are not concerned about the importance of your historical background … that that is less important than a schedule conflict,” said Miller, whose three children graduated from Oberlin High School.
“Look at the vast majority of historical achievement, most important inventions and decisions have been made by white European males. Who better to teach these topics, then, than another white male? It’s all about understanding the nuances of the culture.
” Who invented calculus? Newton and Leibniz, two white males. The giants of science, Newton, Faraday, Einstein, Galileo, Copernicus, Mendel- all white males. Literature- Shakespeare, Milton, Dante, Cervantes, Twain, Dostoyevski- all white men. Who has written most of the world’s academic work and textbooks- that’s right- white men.
So you see, since white men dominate the curriculum, it is only natural to hire only white men to teach it. Could a woman or an Asian really understand the culture of these historical figures or events? Sure, we bring in an African-american guest lecturer to talk about slavery and the civil rights movement, you know, things that his “blackness” makes him a natural expert in. And, we have only women teach Home Ec. But for the important stuff, only a white man will do.
“When you talk about history, students need to understand it is not our fault,” another parent said. “Our [European male]ancestors did nothing wrong when they colonized the rest of the world.
“How do you work through that when the person teaching it is the same type of person who, when all these things were happening, was either in the kitchen cooking or in the cotton fields?”, he concluded.
July 29th, 2003 at 2:23 pm
To be serious for a moment…
Women and minority groups are getting worried that their “own” space, women’s studies and ethnic studies, might not be so safe after all. These departments came about as a thinly veiled form of affirmative action. Not qualified to be a professor of history? Well, then, teach Asian-American Studies or Chicana/o-Latina/o studies (that is how it was really listed at my university). These faculty positions are basically set aside specifically for these interest groups. They have a major vested interest in defending their monopoly. Of course, at the same time they are decrying the lack of diversity in the (free-market, merit-based)general section of academia. You have a paradox:
1. Women and minorities are better able to understand and teach women and minority issues. (This sounds pretty reasonable to many people at first glance)
But, that means that women and minorities are different from white men in significant way (else they would not be more qualified in these fields).
So, either you are saying that a) minorities and women have the same skills, qualifications and experience as white men PLUS something extra (which reminds one of the feminist insight that women are considered men minus. In this case, women are considered men plus)
OR you must assume that more competent in there heiritage, which, according to the same groups, is violence, greed, hate, etc. Who better to teach history (violence), economics (greed), etc?
And clearly, both views are racist. The fact that I have korean blood coursing through my veins does not qualify me to teach Korean history or literature. The fact that I have testes does not confer upon me the knowledge and experience of all men who have gone before me. I am qualified to teach a course in zachary-american studies, since my experiences make me uniquely qualified to teach about myself. But that is a far different thing (or should be, sometimes these classes can turn into autobiographical or confessional sessions.)
July 29th, 2003 at 3:04 pm
I think having a black teacher for black history is mandatory. It would be having the history of African-Americans taught by a person just like the people who sold the students’ ancestors into slavery.
What could be more apt?
July 29th, 2003 at 5:20 pm
They ran a story on this on Fox news today. Quanell “X”, some asshat from the “New” Black Panther Party was crying about how the African-Americans just want to be free from whites. So why are they still in the USA, if all it holds is oppression and racism for them? Maybe the lack of machete-weilding cannibals in the streets? The illegality of slavery here, as opposed to back home in Africa? The fact that Black Americans have the highest standard of living of Africans or African descendants anywhere on Earth?
July 29th, 2003 at 5:28 pm
you don’t like the freedom here, get the fuck out.
July 29th, 2003 at 9:09 pm
matt–don’t worry about not quoting that part of the article. If I hadn’t gone to school at Shaker Heights High and didn’t know the teacher being referenced, I would’ve gloseed over that point too.
I don’t think it’s fair to say that whites can’t teach African American history. The claim is made along racial lines. But what if, the white teacher in question is the child of a family that immigrated into the US in the 20th century? THey have no ties to slavery, etc. So that argument is bunk.
This debate about only having women teach womens’ studies, blacks teach afro-american studies, etc. sounds a lot like the crap that Edward Said and his chronies whine about.
The target in that case is Bernard Lewis, who is one (if not the most) prominant scholar of Islam and the Mid East at the present time (over 20 books published!) Lewis speaks Arabic, Farsi, Turkish, Hebrew, all the romance languages and more. He also has spent time researching and reading in the archives of many different ME countries. (He’s beyond brilliant).
Yet Said and others claim that since he isn’t from the Mid-East originally, he can’t be a professor or educator in the field. Does that make much sense?
July 29th, 2003 at 11:56 pm
Dimmitt, what color would that be? Maybe she was just a good teacher (few in the government schools), why do you “think” race had anything to do with it? Are you unable to tell the difference between race and culture? Why are you such a tool?
July 29th, 2003 at 11:59 pm
Dimmitt did you go to primary school in Hawaii? Was this teacher Miss Haunani Trask by any chance?
July 30th, 2003 at 12:42 am
Blacks only teaching Black Studies
Women only teaching Women’s studies
Arabs only teaching Middle East Studies
Let’s be honest… it’s leftist agenda mongering on the tax payers dime revealed by their group-supremacy self-serving requirements.
July 30th, 2003 at 12:47 am
Bigots, Every One.
Here’s the post Misha actually pointed at. MattMargolis.com: The Blog :: The Dismal Color of Education. It’s incredible the impact…
July 30th, 2003 at 1:03 am
The war against slavery has been settled, in America at least, but the war against RACISM is continuing, and every poster here is fighting that war, today!
I’m on the side that recognizes that ‘White-Man Disease’ afflicts people of every race and age and sex.
RACISM is a matter of looking at a situation AS IF race somehow allows, causes or reinforces some significant, outward reality.
I was born caucasian and male. I’m on the FBI’s List of Known Heterosexuals. But I’ve learned Korean well enough to teach it for the US Gummint, nearly married a lovely Korean woman, DID marry a lovely Thai/Lao woman, and AM the father of two wonderful, mixed-heritage children.
If, as has happened, people ‘of color’ see me as first and foremost ‘racist’ (because I’m white) they indict themselves of racism. I have lived all my adult life believing and acting as if HUMANS can share and impart knowledge. You’re a human? You’re teaching about (THIS subject)? Bring it on, Ma’am. Let’s do it, Sir!
I respect first, listen carefully, and refrain from fault-finding, complaining, back-biting and nit-picking because I’m selfishly in favor of using my precious, wonderful life to share something FAR MORE VALUABLE than whining, sniping and carping.
Me, racist? Could be… vestiges… but my sons and wife (who speaks only Thai) would take you to task!
July 30th, 2003 at 7:14 pm
I completely agree that anti-racists are sometimes the worst racists. All of my personal experience has shown me this. (The skinhead brutality of the Anti-Racist Action Coalition is what really cemented the idea for me.)
However, your article did not acknowledge the academic basis for having blacks teach Black History. The subject is rooted in “Marxist” or Conflict Sociology — the theory that social issues are predominantly rooted in class warfare. The intellectual foundation of Black History is the idea that blacks have not been robbed of their own history by the white upper class.
I cannot imagine an academic who focuses on Black History supporting the notion that whites should teach Black History. It may be racist, but I think it’s rooted more in academic dogma.
July 30th, 2003 at 7:17 pm
Just noticed a serious typo. It wasn’t a Freudian slip. Hopefully everyone will understand what I was trying to say.
July 30th, 2003 at 11:05 pm
neocon, are you at all familiar with the field of African-American Studies? As someone (a white Englishman, no less) who’s read quite widely on the subject on an academic level, I can only assume you are grossly ignorant of not only the field itself but it’s formation and goals.
Students of African-American Studies focus on both the insular culture and wider representation of the black American diaspora. At it’s very essence it is an attempt to put into a historical context the culture, literature, art and music of contemporary black America.
The idea that the field originated, as you claim, as a form of affirmative action within the academy is not only ignorant but does a gross injustice to many of it’s most notable scholars. For example, Henry Louis Gates Jr, chair of the W.e.B Dubois Institute at Harvard graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with a B.A. in English Literature then went on to earn both an M.A. and a PhD in English Literature and Language from the University of Cambridge. Before taking up his position at Harvard he taught at Yale, Duke and Cornell. He is one of today’s most preeminent scholars in the liberal arts and in 1997 was recognised by Time Magazine as one of the ‘25 Most Influential Americans’. Cornel West, possibly the best example of a black public intellectual alive today holds a B.A. from Harvard, an MA and PhD from Princeton and has taught at Yale, Princeton and the Union Theological Seminary. He is currently based at the Dubois Institute at Harvard, and teaches mainly religious philosophy. Hardly underqualified.
November 4th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
Buon luogo, congratulazioni, il mio amico!