[transformed]

Is black history month a good thing or a bad thing in terms of having a dialogue regarding race with my white children?<br><br>
Do you think that it's a good thing to have in our schools?<br><br>
I will be homeschooling them so I just wonder if it really needs to be confined to a certain "month."<br><br>
I have never heard anyone comment on this in particular so just curious.

 

[purplegirl]

<div style="margin:20px;margin-top:5px;">
<div class="smallfont" style="margin-bottom:2px;">Quote:</div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="99%"><tr><td class="alt2" style="border:1px inset;">
<div>Originally Posted by <strong>transformed</strong> <a href="/community/forum/post/10281850"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a></div>
<div style="font-style:italic;">Is black history month a good thing or a bad thing in terms of having a dialogue regarding race with my white children?<br><br>
Do you think that it's a good thing to have in our schools?<br><br>
I will be homeschooling them so I just wonder if it really needs to be confined to a certain "month."<br><br>
I have never heard anyone comment on this in particular so just curious.</div>
</td>
</tr></table></div>
I don't think you should judge it in terms of "good" or "bad". It just is. If I were a white mama homeschooling her children, I would include significant parts of American history including black people and their contributions to culture, society, education, science, etc. It would be as "normal" as say, teaching the American revolution.

 

[wonderwahine]

i personally think its a good thing but also a bad thing. If your homeschooling i would make it a point to educate your kids about things all year round, and do extra relfelection and more indepth studies in black history month when you can take advantage of museam exhibits, or tv programming. The downside i see with it is that public schools and society in general squeeze it into just the one month.

 

[muttix2]

I'm homeschooling my children. Black history is/will be taught all year long along with everything else. We will take advantage of the added resources in February though. I see no reason to confine it to one month a year. It isn't a holiday, it is a specific race of people whose contributions to society are ignored all year round and then children are taught of two or three black people in one month and it is supposed to make up for it.<br><br>
In schools I can't say whether this is good or bad. Until they start using curricula that includes the contributions of black people throughout the course of history in terms other than a small chapter on slavery, I see it as a good thing. Children need to learn about black history as well. However, I also see teachers that take it as a pass to not teach any black history the rest of the year which makes it bad.<br><br>
Optimally, black history would be taught all year long no matter the situation.

 

[angelpie545]

Well, ideally, we shouldn't have to have a black history month because black history should be taught all year around and with just as much emphasis as other historical events. However, the current climate and history of the US makes the need for black history month very apparent, and I support it completely. If it weren't for black history month, there is quite a lot about African-American history that I wouldn't know. I found it to be interesting and very eye-opening. It is absolutely critical that our children are educated properly about the plight of our African-American citizens and everything they have had to push through. If I homeschooled my children, I would participate in black history month by putting an extra emphasis on black history that month, but I would teach it all year around of course.