Modern African families are curious and like to meet visitors from afar.
Posted on 06/09/2005 7:49:35 PM PDT by FeeinTennessee
Philly Schools to Require African History Class to Graduate NewsMax.com Wires Thursday, June 9, 2005
PHILADELPHIA -- City high school students will be required to take a class in African and African American history to graduate, a move that education experts believe is unique in the nation.
The requirement in the 185,000-student district, which is about two-thirds black, begins with September's freshman class, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Thursday.
The yearlong course covers subjects including classical African civilizations, civil rights and black nationalism, said Gregory Thornton, the district's chief academic officer. The other social studies requirements are American history, geography and world history. Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, an advocacy group for big city school districts, said Philadelphia appeared to be in the forefront with such a requirement.
"Courses on the subjects are offered as electives in other cities," he said.
Some parents opposed requiring the course, including Miriam Foltz, president of the Home and School Association at Baldi Middle School.
"There are other races in this city," said Foltz, who is white. "There are other cultures that will be very offended by this. How can you just mandate a course like this?"
While acknowledging it would be better to have courses adequately reflecting all cultures, district officials said African and African American history had been neglected too long.
"We have a whole continent that has been absent from most of our textbooks," said Paul Vallas, the district's chief executive officer.
© 2005 The Associated Press
--Fee, a black conservative (I'm not an 'African-American'. I was born in the USA and am proud of it)
Will the textbooks be written by Louis Farrakhan?........
I was required to that that class in college. The instructors were too bigoted to be objective in the least. We need to put our foot down now.
Hateing Whitey 101
I wonder why it wasn't offered as an elective? Hmmm....
Way back when I was in the 3rd grade in the 70s I found a hero in George Washington Carver. It's strange that I would learn about the man way back in those dark and evil days before we learned anything about black history.
Sounds like a good idea to me. They can start by studying Zimbabwe and Angola.
oops, that's 'take that class'
darn surgical eyes...
That's right...we can learn about great black Americans who have contributed something to this country. Don't need to get into African studies. Makes no sense.
Sounds like a good idea to me. They can start by studying Zimbabwe and Angola
...which is a HUGE mess right now!
I'm seriously glad I left the public school system in 2001. I could not have graduated at a better time. By the time I have kids they'll be forced to take all sorts of pathetic "diversity training" and what not- and I'm sure it'll focus entirely on one or two "underrepresented minorities", while leaving all the other ones out to dry.
I bet the Philadelphia school system will place more emphasis on this crap than actual American history.
Will the textbooks be written by Louis Farrakhan?........
What I meant to say in response to your comment....GAG!
Louis Farrakhan stirs up too much hate. He's not one to be admired at all!
Modern African families are curious and like to meet visitors from afar.
Got you beat. I was in third grade in 1953!
Don't remember exactly when I was taught about G.W. Carver but it was sometime during grammar school - St. Rose of Lima in Freehold, New Jersey.
Also learned about Ralph Bunch who became UN Undersecretary in 1955 after winning Nobel in 1950...OK, I did a quick google on Bunch re: the years but I remembered the UN & Nobel things!
BTW, my Catholic grammar school did not have one black kid enrolled although a "black street" was just a block away and we all played basketball/football/baseball together nearly every day.
Exactly!
LOL
I learned about Carver, MLK, Harriet Tubman, slavery, the revolution, the civil war and on and on in American history period.
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