Dateline Cerritos — Three teachers at Whitney High School have been enveloped in controversy due to a simulated slavery ship enactment they intended to hold during their 8th grade class time.
Some people are extremely angry. Others, including many former students, are defending the program.
Three teachers sent this letter to parents about two weeks ago:
By Kevin Harp
Dear 8th Grade Parents:
In the coming days, Mrs. Olson, Mr. Jeans and I will be teaching our students about the slave system in colonial America.
In order to help students understand the psychological impact on Africans brought over to this country, all of us do a simulation activity in our classes that tries to recreate the voyage that slaves went on across the Atlantic Ocean, on their way to the New World.
We will be acting as slave ship captains, and your son/daughter will be pretending to be a slave.
Specifically when class starts, we will sternly tell them to line up outside the room, use masking tape to “tie” their wrists together, make them lie on the ground inside the room (which will be dark), shoulder to shoulder with each other (boys and girls will be in separate rows), and then while they lie there, have them watch a clip from the film ‘Roots.’”
The teachers sent the email entitled a “Unique Learning Experience,” informing parents of an upcoming exercise that would expose students to the horrors of slavery.
There was an issue about the tape the teachers used. But Hews Media Group-Community Newspaper was told it was masking tape, easily broken if the student wanted to release their hands, it was not duct tape.
Students were not going to be told, but some learned from 9th grade students.
Whitney High mother Sharde Carrington was outraged. She contacted an online news outlet about the story.
Expressing Her Unhappiness
“As the mother of a black child,” Mrs. Carrington said, “I feared that my son’s participation would lead him to experience trauma, perhaps at the cellular level, and have a visceral reaction of anger and fear during the exercise itself.”
Derek Jeans, chair of the Social Studies Dept. at Whitney High, attempted to explain to Mrs. Carrington the simulation and the positive impact it has on students.
“Thanks for reaching out to us and letting us know how you feel about this assignment,” Mr. Jeans wrote.
“I brought this exercise to Whitney about 10 years ago. I have had almost universal appreciation for it in the way that we do not minimize the experience of slavery, but rather attempt, in a very small manner, to bring a more personal understanding to such tragic and terrible events that occurred in our history.
“This exercise is from a nationally recognized supplier of curriculum designed to bring experiences into the classrooms vs. just discussions,” he wrote.
“This is not something we have added to our course of study lately. We take this day as one of the most important opportunities of letting the students try to experience a situation, that in times in the modern world, can seem distant and over discussed, but poorly understood.
Better Understanding Is the Goal
“While I agree with you that being black in this country currently is difficult for reasons that it should not be, I respectfully submit that this assignment is designed to immerse a student population that is not majority black, into the harrowing world that your ancestors suffered through so as to gain better insight into their plight, and hopefully come out with a stronger resolve to never allow something so heinous to ever occur again in this country.
“We would never want to traumatize your son, but I believe that in our current climate as a country we need to take a hard look at these times in our path, and we as a department, think that this is a very valid and appropriate way to bring history out of the textbook and into the lives of our kids.
“The reflective essays that our students write about this activity, which is the homework that they must do after being a part of this exercise, would make you better understand the positive impact that it has on their understanding and caring for the poor souls that had to suffer through this terrible historical reality.
“If you wish to talk more feel free to write back or if you would like to speak to me in person I would be more than happy to do that as well,”
Mrs. Carrington did not allow her son to participate in the lesson.
Super Defends Teachers
Dr. Mary Sieu, superintendent of the ABC Unifed School District, told us the 8th grade history lesson is “an experiential exercise.” She said designed to enable students to understand what Africans experienced when they were enslaved. Parents were informed in advance of this exercise and given the opportunity to opt out if they were uncomfortable with it. Whitney Principal John Briquelet is fully aware of the feedback from the postings. He has shared them with his history teachers.
“He recognizes that times have changed since these exercises were developed. He will be working with his teachers on Monday morning to discontinue this exercise in the future and look for more updated lessons in regards to the slave history.”
Cerritos Mayor pro tem Mark Pulido told us, “I am outraged. I had no idea. this must end.”
Trustee Area 3 candidate Daniel Fierro said, “This is outrageous. It is in complete opposition to the principles of inclusion and diversity that the Whitney family and the ABC Unified School District hold dear.
“Under no circumstances should students be restrained, especially without any forewarning or discussion to provide context. I spoke to the president of the Board of Education as soon as I learned of the incident. I look forward to the District rectifying the situation and improving its communication processes. This program has no place in our schools.”
Former Whitney students chimed in on social media.
“Those history lessons were all about immersive experiences,” one wrote. “When we learned about the Boston Massacre, for example, we were assigned to play roles: prosecution, defense, witness, or jury, and argued the case in a mock trial exercise to cement our understanding of that pivotal event in our country’s history.
“When we learned about the slave trade, we were packed like sardines on the floor of the classroom for 30 minutes while watching the very accurate depiction from ‘Roots’ of the reality of the slave trade.
“All these years later, I still remember what I learned that day about what people experienced during the slave trade.
“Being uncomfortable lying there for 30 minutes gave us a marginally better insight to what being held in the hull of a slave ship for three months was like.
“Nobody was ever offended by this before, because it was understood that it was an effective, if unorthodox, teaching method. Mr. Harp was an effective teacher.”
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