Diversity Gets Divisive In the Schoolroom
by Jim Moore

02/16/2003

Michael is 17 going on 20. Smart kid. But he didn't get his smarts in school. Quite the opposite. He got it at home. If Michael's parents hadn't taken him out of school, by now he probably would be 17 going on 14.

It all started when Michael came home one day and told his parents he spent two weeks in class learning about Kwanza, an African philosophy, and he got tired of it.

The climax came when, in the middle of doing his homework one evening, Michael looked up and said, "Hey, Mom, what state is Pennsylvania in?"

That was it. Michael's parents took him out of public school and began a comprehensive home schooling program that educates kids the way schools used to.

Michael will soon go to college, intellectually far ahead, I suspect, than most freshmen. 

Among the first things Michael learned at home were the names of each state and its capital. He read about every American president, and what years they were in office. He found out that the Constitution was more than just a ship in a harbor. And, oh yes, he discovered that Pennsylvania is not in Ohio. 

Instead of being indoctrinated by a culturally obsessed education system, Michael was now learning what every kid in America should be learning: after reading, writing, and arithmetic, the history of our country and its progress, and the heritage of individual freedom that made it possible. And only THEN can they study geography, the people, and cultures of other nations around the world.

I know this happened because Michael is my grandson

I was reminded of this incident when I stumbled onto an article by Michael L. Betsch, a CNSNews staff writer, in which he discusses a controversial, federally-funded, African-American initiative called, "Let it Shine", which may be added to public school curricula across the country as early as September, 2003.

According to Dennis Smith, a Wisconsin teacher, and part of the "elite group" chosen to teach in the Let it Shine program, "A lot of African-American kids have no idea of their culture. They have no idea what part of Africa they came from." 

How knowing where in Africa you come from relates to learning about the American principles of freedom and independence that our forefathers died to give us, I fail to grasp 

As one of the diviners of juvenile indoctrination, educator Smith said the new school curriculum would rely heavily on African-American historical resources furnished by the Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. 

Force-feeding kindergarteners the history (if any) of black Africa isn't enough, they also have the temerity to resurrect the "H" word, presumably to suggest that slavery is analogous to killing six million Jews. 

Even if I were black I would find that one hard swallow

"The Holocaust Museum", Smith babbles on, "is our history, just like slavery is our history, just like hip-hop, just like the Temptations or Elvis Presley." (Funny, I didn't realize Elvis was black.) "African kids have to know and take ownership of that history, as well as white American kids must know African-American history."

My question is Why? Why must black kids "take ownership" of their history? And why must white kids know African-American history, when it is learned by subtle indoctrination instead of real education? 

I find brainwashing of young children detestable. Not because it isn't to their benefit to learn about all kinds of people and cultures-which should be a legitimate part of any school curriculum, but by concentrating on one race and culture, children are being cheated of objective, unbiased learning As what almost happened to my grandson, Michael, in the example I gave..

But even more important, the pre-occupation with African-American history has serious flaws which helps neither the children nor the society.


Flaw One - Culture Clash

Instead of first teaching children the culture of America, then the pluses and minuses of ALL cultures, thereby bringing them more together, the tendency for impressive minds will be to think that "some people are better than others." Thus, diversity becomes divisive.

Flaw Two - Civilization Lost

Africa may be the "cradle of civilization", but historically it's hardly something for black kids to be proud of. It wasn't until it got to the western world that "civilization" became civilized, and progressed accordingly. We don't call Africa the Dark Continent for nothing.

Flaw Three.- Black Baggage

Treating hip hop, slavery, the Temptations, and Elvis Presley as black history, carries with it the baggage of rap music, debasing language, and a disproportionate amount of street crime, drug use, fatherless children, and prison incarceration. Black historians, take note.

Flaw Four - Catch-up

The "Let it Shine" program and Black History Month have the same objective: an attempt by African-Americans to make the black race something it is not…special. 

In America, in case you're unaware, no race is special. We each do our own thing. By trying to play "catch-up", black parents demean themselves and leave their children an unhealthy legacy

Flaw Five - Pay Me

Reparations for real or imagined hurts is today's cause celebre. Jews got reparations.for Nazi atrocities. Japanese got it for internment during WWII. American families were compensated for horrors inflicted on 9/11. So why shouldn't African-Americans pick our pockets for slavery? Strange. Black people don't know their history. But they demand payment for what they have no memory of. 


These are the flaws I see when children learn things in school that tend to separate them from others in class. Instead, if they were taught to concentrate on being good, honest citizens, and to work hard like everyone else, so they can share in our nation's bounty, we would need to celebrate only one kind of month.

America Month


Jim Moore
Jmoore1819@aol.com

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