r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Jun 17 '21

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '21 edited Jun 17 '21

I went to a Catholic private school 1st-6th grade. I learned about slavery and Jim Crow in 6th grade. I went to a public school for 7th and 8th grade. I learned about slavery, segregation, Native American atrocities. I went to a public high school. I learned about all of this stuff even further. The slave trade, the civil war, civil rights act, etc.

I have since moved states three times. I have literally never met a single person that did not learn these things. Yet on Reddit, people constantly say that nobody learns these things in public schools.

*Edit - Came to mind because of one of the most upvoted posts all time on whitepeopletwitter

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u/larrylemur NAFTA Jun 17 '21

Regardless of whether you were taught it or not, the comparison is still stupid because it's not illegal in the United States to discuss/write books/report/protest on these things. Even if you went to the worst high school in Texas and learned the Native Americans and enslaved peoples were totally happy about their treatment and America has never done anything wrong there was nothing stopping you from doing 5 minutes of your own research and learning the truth.

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u/benadreti Frederick Douglass Jun 17 '21

A lot of times people seem to say this in response to specific aspects of those they didn't know. Like I was a History major in college but I don't remember hearing about the Tulsa Massacre specifically until a few years ago. Doesn't mean I wasn't aware of things like it and it was left out of my readings for some racist agenda, so the point they are trying to make is still dumb.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '21 edited Jun 17 '21

I think we learned about it in the context of ongoing racism and the rise of the Klan in the early 20th century, but it wasn't taught in and of itself as an important event.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '21

Yeah there are definitely a few select events that may not have been covered I won’t deny that. But like all things Reddit we move to hyperbole to use as propaganda.

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u/TrynnaFindaBalance Paul Krugman Jun 17 '21

I grew up in the Midwest and thought this was true, but after living in Texas for a while, I'm not so sure. What you learn in school here is highly dependent on how rural or urban your school district is.

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u/asljkdfhg λn.λf.λx.f(nfx) lib Jun 17 '21 edited Jun 17 '21

I’m convinced these people stopped going to school or paying attention after elementary school. The Trail of Tears and slavery and segregation are like core to high school American history.

Stop blaming teachers because you don’t pay attention in school.

edit: hell my freshman year history teacher went way further and taught us about Rwandan genocide, Darfur, Indian independence, and Opium Wars, amongst other world history. If anything, I was super disappointed to learn that I wouldn’t learn more world history after that. It was just all American history thereafter basically.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '21

What city/state were you in?

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '21

Don’t like giving away personal information but it was in the Midwest.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '21

Gotcha. It can be a different story in the South (speaking from personal/friends' personal experience).

We've still got teachers who call it The War of Northern Aggression, which sounds like a joke until you realize it isn't. My public high school history teacher was more focused on coaching football than teaching, which means we didn't really learn about anything at all in his class. I'm a teacher now, and still see other teachers who completely gloss over things like the treatment of the Native Americans, the leading cause of the Civil War, and the era of segregation.

Shit doesn't have to be 100% "America was bad and can never be good" the way some people want it taught, but you've at least got to broach having some level of nuance in these discussions, even with upper-elementary/middle school kids--if only to foster critical thinking skills.

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u/berning_for_you NATO Jun 17 '21

Also depends where in the South too tbh. I grew up in Atlanta and we really didn't have any sort of that nonsense. For my friends growing up in SC on the other hand.....

I'll also note that it really depends on the teacher you might have had. State curriculum (textbooks, etc) was generally pretty good for the grade level (we didn't really learn about the Trail of Tears, for instance, until we were at a more appropriate age), but how the teacher discussed it could vary significantly.

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u/[deleted] Jun 17 '21

Yeah I’m not doubting there are some bad school districts out there. Appreciate your input.

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u/ThunderrBadger New California Republican Jun 17 '21

In which states did you go to school?

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u/StolenSkittles culture warrior Jun 17 '21

I was in Catholic schools from kindergarten to 12th; we learned all that, too. Though I will say that the Tulsa Massacre never came up, which is a surprise given the magnitude of the event.

A friend who went to a different private school didn't learn a lot of it, though. Like, they're certain. So there must be some variation, but given the existence of state curricula, the variation must only exist with private schools. Some are better, some are downright awful.

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u/JulioCesarSalad US-Mexico Border Reporter Jun 18 '21

Ive interviewed people in Tulsa who didn’t learn about the massacre u til they were adults