Show of hands: How many teachers have allowed students to dress as the Klan? Do robes meet dress code?
Maybe it’s time for a show of hands among teachers: Who has allowed students to dress as Klan members, Nazis (Sandra Bullock’s lunkhead husband excluded) or Salem witch burners?
Second question: Who cares?
With the fresh news that a Gwinnett teacher also allowed her students to dress in Klan costumes, it may be time for an audit of how often historical reenactments are used in schools and whether there should be guidelines to student attire.
I suspect we are likely to hear of more students wearing Klan costumes for re-enactments in Georgia schools. I also fear that we will never see another class re-enactment of anything but “Goldilocks” after all this hoopla.
I still maintain that the costumes are appropriate if the lesson requires dramatizations of real-life events and if the point is to show the true nature of these hateful acts.
I still don’t get the outcry and the rushed conclusion that these teachers – one of whom is black — did something terribly wrong and that summits must be held and careers threatened.
A spokeswoman for Gwinnett County schools told the AJC that Stephanie Hunte, an 8th-grade social studies teacher at Sweetwater Middle School in Lawrenceville, allowed her students to wear KKK robes as part of a re-enactment last Thursday. Another teacher saw the students preparing for the re-enactment and told an administrator.
“The administrator told [Hunte] that this type of activity was not appropriate and would not take place,” spokeswoman Sloan Roach wrote in an e-mail.
However, school officials learned this week that Hunte had allowed “this same activity” in another class the day before, according to Roach.
“As a result of this information, we have launched a Human Resources investigation into the matter,” Roach told the AJC. “Ms. Hunte, who has been with GCPS since August 2006, was told to report to the Central Office this morning.”
Today is the last day of school. No disciplinary action has been taken.
Roach wrote that the re-enactment occurred as part of a social studies curriculum that covers “parts of our nation’s history, including Reconstruction, key political and social changes and the civil rights movement.”
The Gwinnett and Lumpkin cases are notable for their similarities, but also for one key difference: Hunte is black; the teacher in the Lumpkin County incident, Catherine Ariemma, is white.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
117 comments Add your comment
V for Vendetta
May 26th, 2010
12:10 pm
I have filmed reenactment of To Kill a Mockingbird. The students used the N-word. Tom Robinson was shot.
What a horrible person I must be. I should be fired, and, for good measure, Harper Lee should be set on fire.
You Asked
May 26th, 2010
12:11 pm
How about a show of hands by preachers and activitsts who have gone on TV news to “react” to a situation about which they don’t even know the details?
I find the issue mongering much more offensive than a teacher’s failure to keep the reinactment in the classroom and out of the cafeteria.
You Asked
May 26th, 2010
12:12 pm
V-
Just don’t get caught putting on a production of The Sound of Music, or West Side Story.
Vince
May 26th, 2010
12:16 pm
Oops! When I was in the classroom I had students dress as Vikings for a reenactment. It was not my intent to offend people of European descent whose ancestors may have been victimized by the Norsemen.
I hope that my name will not be dragged out in a public forum for all to hear of my heinous deed.
Proud Black Man
May 26th, 2010
12:16 pm
Ms. M listed a good link on why this type of pedagogy should be avoided. Interesting though to note the number of closet tea (insert the name that cannot be mentioned} that came out in support of this “exemplary” teacher. As for the black teacher? Throw her under the bus too.
http://www.adl.org/education/Simulationinteachinghol.pdf
You Asked
May 26th, 2010
12:19 pm
@ PBM – We’re these classroom reinactments simulation activities (as per the ADL notice)?
I was under the impression they were reinactments. A much different type of instruction from simulations. The simulations put students in the role of holocaust victim. In the case of the KKK reinactment I do not think this was the case (putting students into the role of victim).
RJ
May 26th, 2010
12:19 pm
The only question I have is who read the lesson plans and failed to speak to the teachers prior to the classes?
Vince
May 26th, 2010
12:22 pm
Oops! I once had a few students dress as Vikings for a role play situation. It was not my intent to offend anyone of European descent whose ancestors may have been victimized by the Norsemen.
I certainly hope my name is not dragged through a public forum for such a heinous misdeed.
You Asked
May 26th, 2010
12:22 pm
RJ – lesson plans prepared prior to instruction. What a novel idea!
HS Teacher, Too
May 26th, 2010
12:28 pm
PBM, you are trying to extend the ADL’s perspective on HOLOCAUST classroom issues to any and all classroom re-enactments. You should know better. Though I disagree with you, I think your argument would be stronger if it were — I don’t know — accurate. Then, perhaps, we could have an intelligent discussion on pedagogy, what went wrong, and how to correct it.
I agree with V and You Asked. “Issue Mongering” is such an apt description.
LSH
May 26th, 2010
12:28 pm
Maureen:
maybe now you have a tiny idea of how politically charged schools are and how one little miss- step no matter how small or well intentioned can land a teacher into such a position. Even if this teacher does not lose her job, she will be watched and checked on every minute of every day. Who would want to work in that enviornment? Will this popular, creative and award winning teacher have to submit detailed lesson plans to an administrator for approval every week? Any parent can get their panties in a wad and if you even look at someone the wrong way, your job can and will be threatened. I have never been so glad to be out of this. Run teachers- RUN!
Barney Fife
May 26th, 2010
12:29 pm
Maybe the schools should do an reinactment of the black slave traders who sold the africans into slavery in the new world. Oh, by the way, there is still a slave trade in Africa today.
As for the school teacher, I think whatever happens to the Lumpkin Co. teacher should be appropriate for the Gwinnett Teacher too.
SallyB
May 26th, 2010
12:29 pm
I’m with RJ…
Teachers are required to turn in lesson plans a week ahead,,,,[at least everywhere I have taught that was the case ] If the lesson plan was not read/scrutinized/perused by someone in the administration, and/or their designee, we now know where the buck SHOULD stop.
Courtney
May 26th, 2010
12:33 pm
idiots….idiots all. People are complaining about racism being taught in schools? NAACP needs to do the honorable thing and disolve. Then those complaining can go get real jobs.
Hmmmmmmm
May 26th, 2010
12:34 pm
I suspect that you will not get the same media frenzy in the gwinnett county issue. Thank GOD the teacher is black, otherwise we would have two good teachers concerned about their JOBS…. This is SO ridiculous!
I still maintain that the costumes are appropriate if the lesson requires dramatizations of real-life events and if the point is to show the true nature of these hateful acts.
That statement is CLASSIC! Maureen, it sounds like you need to run for office. Spoken like a true politician….
Hmmmmmmm
May 26th, 2010
12:35 pm
BTW, Maureen, I would bet that you voted for Obama………. Just Curious…
K Teacher
May 26th, 2010
12:36 pm
The reaction to theses teachers shows how stupid administration, parents, news media, and community activists really are.
How sad for education when valid means of pedagogy are so dissed by so few. Yet, they usually win and the kids lose once again.
Hmmmmmmm
May 26th, 2010
12:39 pm
Proud Black man, Sounds like you have tempered your anger….. Could it be because this teacher is black….. Surely what is good for one is good for another…..
Political Spectator
May 26th, 2010
12:40 pm
It is idiotic to defend any teacher (Black or White) for reenacting Klan behavior. What is next- having children dress as Hitler? What about having students reenact killing Indians? Better yet, allow children to dress as massas and other kids to dress as slaves.
This teacher is as foolish as the teacher that made OJ a person to admire as part of the Black History celebration.
The teaching profession will never be revered as long as we are defending fools!!!!!
catlady
May 26th, 2010
12:41 pm
So, are we to expect, from here on out, warning announcements that:
“All animal lovers, we will be conducting dissections in the science lab. Students are also advised that frogs will be dissected in the other lab.”
“Vegetarians, beware, as the grounds crew is cutting the grass. The lunchroom is also serving beef tacos today.”
“Those of you who are sensitive to violence, the football team will be practicing at 3.”
“Feminists, the cheerleaders and dance squads will also be practicing at that time.”
And on, and on!
BTW, the robes are against the dress code if you are male. Girls are allowed to wear dresses. However, the head covering is banned for everyone, even if you are having a bad hair day.
Perplexed
May 26th, 2010
12:41 pm
I’ll post this for a third time:
If Ms. Ariemma is such a great educator, why didn’t she educate her students that the Ku Klux Klan are domestic terrorists? How or rather WHY did she think students dressed in white robes and hoods was a teaching tool/moment? Anyone this side of the Mississippi knows that the Ku Klux Klan should not be emulated. I wonder if she thinks Andrew Jackson was a racist, considering what happened to Native Americans. I mean really, where does it end? Her mantra is ‘racism exists and if we don’t talk about it, it’s like we condone it.” Talking is one thing…dressing as a Klansman, entirely another.
catlady
May 26th, 2010
12:43 pm
Maybe we SHOULD be just a babysitting service.
V for Vendetta
May 26th, 2010
12:43 pm
Next year I’m doing a reenactment of Revelations. At least I could get a job in Texas . . . .
Vince
May 26th, 2010
12:48 pm
@perplexed and political spectator
These students were making a film. Tell me, was it wrong for the director in “O’ Brother Where Art Thou” to include scenes of actors in klan robes? Is it wrong for actors to portray Hitler, Malcolm X or any other hate mongerer in a film…and to dress the part?
Katie
May 26th, 2010
12:48 pm
V for Vendetta,
Your ignorance is showing. There is no such book as Revelations. It’s REVELATION, please.
Hmmmmmmm
May 26th, 2010
12:50 pm
Political spectator
The only thing IDIOTIC, is to believe that these teachers did anything wrong! You can spin this however you wish. Teaching our kids history, accurate history, will only help to put a bright light on OUR problems, and help educate to the real hatred that was, and IS the KKK…
and then there was Perplexed, good grief, how do some people walk and chew gum at the same time!
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
12:52 pm
How would you all feel about a re-enactment of 9/11? Or how about the Oklahoma bombing? Better yet, let’s have our kids re-enact the murders of our troops over in Iraq and Afghanistan since we’re all about teaching lessons and what not. I mean after all, it was a part of history and it DID happen, right?
Does ANYONE have any tact these days??
I cannot believe that people are condoning any of this!
“Second question: Who cares?”
The children of the families who were affected by it, that’s who! How insensitive!
RCS 7/30
May 26th, 2010
12:52 pm
I’m sure these kids suffered so much having to perform this activity. You know, the same kids who after school is out will probably play video games such as Call of Duty where they will go around in the middle-east blowing up everything and everyone in site for 4 hours straight. But hey, why would we want them to learn US History and how we got to where we are now? Dumb, dumb, dumb…Please don’t tell me we are going to lose more great teachers. I mean, its one thing b/c of down sizing, but another bc they were actually teaching!
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
12:55 pm
“I have filmed reenactment of To Kill a Mockingbird. The students used the N-word. Tom Robinson was shot.
What a horrible person I must be. I should be fired, and, for good measure, Harper Lee should be set on fire.”
V, was the movie itself not good enough or something? Are we insinuating that our kids are too stupid to grasp what the books and movies are telling them by providing re-enactments?? Have mercy!
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
12:58 pm
Someone help, I taught for seven years and always found innovative ways to integrate history into the curriculum without having to resort to controvesial re-enactments that might be offensive to some of my students. There was always enough literature, film, etc to do that alone. I’m not understanding how this is okay.
Maureen Downey
May 26th, 2010
12:59 pm
@Yelp, What families, plural? My understanding is that one complaint triggered the Lumpkin County probe. In Gwinnett, it was a teacher who told the administration that the costumes were used by a colleague.
There is no evidence that there was a lot of upset students. That shouldn’t be the criteria for whether an action is right or wrong, but it does point to the fact that there are not a lot of folks complaining about this in the actual settings.
Maureen
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:01 pm
“The only question I have is who read the lesson plans and failed to speak to the teachers prior to the classes?”
In the case of the Gwinnett teacher this lesson was not approved but she did it anyway, even after being told by an administrator that it was inappropriate and not to do it. That insubordination, why does she still have a job? Furthermore, considering the demographics of Sweetwater Middle I don’t know how she could have thought this was smart???
Angela
May 26th, 2010
1:02 pm
Good After Noon All,
I am a very liberal teacher and mother. I believe that any question asked deserve an honest answer. I am not at all sure how the teacher’s inner thoughts and lesson was meant however, the truth about the KKK, Black Panthers, Skin Heads, etc, are facts and in many places still exist. Many still tend to deny that African Kings sold their people into slavery before they begin just being taken. (And, the question would/should still be were African’s ever just really taken)? Even today child slavery is still going on not only in Africa but also in Haiti. These are all facts and should not be swept under the rug.
Do I agree with how the teacher implemented the lesson, not exactly. But, as a high school teacher she had more leverage than I would have in elementary school. I might would/should ask her the question “How in-depth did you explain the lesson, and what was the reason for the students to walk among other students with the robes, and exactly what was to be learned morally, and was it morally comprehended?”
mike
May 26th, 2010
1:02 pm
Why not have a good ole Sunday lynching if you really want to see and know history. Most of you bloggers know that it was a family affair with kids and picnic baskets in the local park or town square. We can next have a production of how the Columbus and those other illegal immigrants came to this country and tried to exterminate the Native Americans. You know white folks seem not to remember that part. Or maybe next year a teacher can have the students dress as Native Americans and do The Trail of Tears. Now that is real Georgia history sanctioned by a president.
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:05 pm
“Even if this teacher does not lose her job, she will be watched and checked on every minute of every day.”
Which teacher? The white one or the black one? Seems the folks in Dahlonega don’t mind what happened, including the superintendent.
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:07 pm
“Many still tend to deny that African Kings sold their people into slavery before they begin just being taken. (And, the question would/should still be were African’s ever just really taken)? Even today child slavery is still going on not only in Africa but also in Haiti. These are all facts and should not be swept under the rug. ”
What is your point? The only time I hear this come up is to justify the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to the Americas. Slavery dates back to before Christ. SO WHAT IS YOUR POINT?
Proud Black Man
May 26th, 2010
1:08 pm
Both of these teachers acted stupidly. Should they lose their jobs over it? No.
H
May 26th, 2010
1:11 pm
“Show of hands: How many teachers have allowed students to dress as the Klan? Do robes meet dress code?”
Show of hands: How many SCHOOL SYSTEMS still allow students to dress like “gangsters” and “thugs” who are equally as bad as Klansmen? Do baggy pants, gold grills, Gang colored affiliated shirts or apparel meet the dress code??? …I’m sure PBM will have a great response to this.
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:12 pm
When I was in school, a white kid wore a short with a swatiska on it to school, and he got his tail kicked…by other white kids. Call it freedom of speech all day long, but unless everyone is privvy to your idiotic lesson plans and intentions you are treading a fine line with a child’s safety, ESPECIALLY if you haven’t made the parents privvy.
Clearly these kids know full well the implications that these radical organizations have had on our history, otherwise the kid in Dahlonega would not have been upset to see klan garb paraded around the lunchroom.
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:14 pm
Baggy pants and suspicious gang-related attire is a direct violation of school dress code and is dealt with accordingly (the student is sent home and referred to the school resource officer. Did any of that happen to the kids in Dahlonega?!
Again I ask, WHAT IS YOUR POINT?
Proud Black Man
May 26th, 2010
1:16 pm
@ H
“Do baggy pants, gold grills, Gang colored affiliated shirts or apparel meet the dress code??? …I’m sure PBM will have a great response to this.”
I don’t put up with this nonsense and neither do the OVERWHELMINGLY MAJORITY of the parents at the title one school my children attend. Find another stereotype/straw man to bander about racist.
Robin
May 26th, 2010
1:16 pm
Is it any wonder that our society can’t seem to get past racism? For the love of God, these teachers were trying to teach their students about bigotry and racism in American History. Should some parts of history be removed from our children’s education, because some might find it offensive?? Should we remove slavery from American history because it was deplorable? Should we do away with Black History month in case it offends non-black students? Should we skip over the Halocaust (sp) so no Jewish students are offended? Should we leave out the 9/11 terrorist attacks because a student of Middle East origin may be offended????
GET A GRIP PEOPLE!
Leaving parts of history out is a horrible omission and diservice to our students, and to the people that lived and died during those historical events. Just because it might possibly offend someone, is no reason to leave it out.
These teachers should be commended for their creativity. Their students actually ‘got’ the lesson.
Booklover
May 26th, 2010
1:19 pm
Klan wardrobes are a bad idea, but should either teacher be fired? No.
I have taught To Kill a Mockingbird several times to different grade levels. Every time, we read Atticus’s comments about the n-word as a class and discuss it. I have a set speech about the language in the book: “It’s here, but you don’t have to say the word out loud it it makes you uncomfortable.” I myself refuse to say that word.
Part of being a high school teacher–if you are really applying your lessons to meaningful real-world experiences–is that you will occasionally have to have an awkward conversation. I’d like to hope that we teachers, as professionals, can deal with those sticky situations in a successful way, but sometimes it is difficult, depending on the group of students and the personality of the teacher.
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:20 pm
“I suspect that you will not get the same media frenzy in the gwinnett county issue.”
Shouldn’t you be glad about this?? Weren’t you all crying foul about how these things are blown out of proportion anyway? I think the outcome would have been the same if the Gwinnett teacher had done what the Daholenga teacher did (flaunted the kids around the school) Considering the demographics of the Sweetwater cluster I actually think the outcome might have been worse! If anything, the Gwinnett teacher should lose her job for insubordinance. The superintendent of Lumpkin County said this was no big deal. The Gwinnett teacher was given a direct order and proceeded anyway.
H
May 26th, 2010
1:23 pm
Find another stereotype/straw man to bander about racist.
Ugghhhh- You think that’s a stereotype? Go visit some other predominately black schools…but you are right, nothing is gonna change with that until blacks start changing it…”Yelp” made a point about the white kid getting beat up by other white kids for wearing a swastika…maybe blacks should do the same to those who embrace this culture
Angela
May 26th, 2010
1:28 pm
@Yelp,
“Many still tend to deny that African Kings sold their people into slavery before they begin just being taken. (And, the question would/should still be were African’s ever just really taken)? Even today child slavery is still going on not only in Africa but also in Haiti. These are all facts and should not be swept under the rug. ”
What is your point? The only time I hear this come up is to justify the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to the Americas. Slavery dates back to before Christ. SO WHAT IS YOUR POINT?
****************************************************************************************************************
My point is that it is all history and it is a fact that the KKK is an organized group of people who spread HATE. Again, I am not sure what the teacher’s intent was however, it is fact and let’s not forget that the KKK is still alive and well. The one thing that they are now doing is forcing their follower to get advanced edcuation they no longer persue the poor white trash (so to speak) that they could just tell to do anything and they just did it. They have a whole new angle and strategy in mind. Again, it is still alive and let’s stop denying that it is not or we should not discuss it. And, yes, perhaps we don’t bring up Slavery until something of this sort comes up. But, I teach all facts all year long not just in Feburary and not just about Blacks in slavery but about all history positive or negative.
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:33 pm
We sit here and tell one another to get over racism, slavery, the holocaust, etc and live in the here and now. But in the same breath we are okay with re-enactments of these things as part of teaching history? Which is it? Get over it, or re-live it?!
Just a Thought
May 26th, 2010
1:36 pm
I also have a question for the board: Show of hands please if you or someone you love has ever been terrorized by the Klan? Please you guys, stop trying to dismiss the legitimate concerns regarding this situation.
I do not support sensationalism from either extreme. I do feel both sides are taking this out of proportion but for totally different reasons. No she should not lose her job. I don’t know enough about the culture of the school to say that diversity training is not warranted. Unless you work there you really don’t know what the school culture is regarding diversity.
But yes…a parent or student who saw this has a legitimate concern. I don’t think anyone should downplay that aspect of it. Where is the follow up dialogue with the students that goes beyond damage control? Where is the real push for understanding each other and WHY someone might be deeply offended by this?
Why were kids giggling if this was supposed to be about the seriousness of racism? The teacher said herself that students started giggling. I don’t see a real effort to make this a teachable moment. I just see everyone wanting to prove they are right about whatever their view is on this.
Robin
May 26th, 2010
1:37 pm
Yelp@
Learning about these events is NOT re-living it. Role-playing, re-enactment, etc. , is JUST that. A excellent tool and method to get/keep kids interested in the lesson being taught. Playing the part is not actually living the event.
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:40 pm
“I’ll post this for a third time:
If Ms. Ariemma is such a great educator, why didn’t she educate her students that the Ku Klux Klan are domestic terrorists?”
…….
Proud Black Man
May 26th, 2010
1:42 pm
@ H
“Ugghhhh- You think that’s a stereotype? Go visit some other predominately black schools…”
Weren’t you the bigot that “profiled” me as a white conservative but yet here you are mouth a frothing the white rights sacred shibboleths about how they REALLY FEEL about minorities? Go see a neurologist tea (insert the name that cannot be mentioned}. Your filthy habit seems to have damaged your frontal lobes.
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:43 pm
“Unless you work there you really don’t know what the school culture is regarding diversity.”
I interned at Lumpkin Cty middle and frequented the high school. There are all of maybe 10 black kids between the two. I would venture to say a diversity training is unnecessary and likely highly unwelcomed.
Angela
May 26th, 2010
1:44 pm
@Yelp,
You continue to ask “WHAT IS OUR POINT.” I might ask you do you have a comprehension problem? Neither, teacher should lose their job. We work under contracts not on GP. In order for the teachers to have brought up these lessons they had to be listed in the curriculum somewhere.
I was written up once for indulging my students in conversation about a well known minister and his church. I did not bring up the subject however, the lesson in the text was about religion. And, the parent that called to complain was the mother of the student who begin the conversation and questions.
The only thing that I learned from the write-up was to allow students to communicate among themselves when it comes to certain topics and to perhaps ask my principal how far can I indulge the conversation. THE POINT IS – No one should be denied knowledge on any level!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:49 pm
“My point is that it is all history and it is a fact that the KKK is an organized group of people who spread HATE. Again, I am not sure what the teacher’s intent was however, it is fact and let’s not forget that the KKK is still alive and well.”
So we’ve established that:
1. “The KKK is an organized people who spread HATE”
2. “The KKK is still alive and well” (ESPECIALLY in North Ga)
3. “I am not sure what the teacher’s intent ”
All these things known, I beg again: HOW COULD ANYONE THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?? Furthermore, how could anyone say the black kids “blew this out of proportion”, considering the aforementioned??
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:52 pm
“I also have a question for the board: Show of hands please if you or someone you love has ever been terrorized by the Klan?”
The second question (let Maureen and others tell it) is: “WHO CARES?”
Yelp
May 26th, 2010
1:53 pm
No one answered my question about a re-enactment of 9/11 or the OKC bombing? Is this okay, too? It is history.
Maureen Downey
May 26th, 2010
1:58 pm
@Yelp, If the re-enactment taught students in a more meaningful and lasting way how the Klan terrorized people, isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that what we all should want — a searing and permanent lesson on how hate and terror once lived comfortably in our midst and good people stood by?
Maureen
H
May 26th, 2010
2:02 pm
PBM-Yes I am the bigot (if you’d like to call me that)…I just like calling you out because I know how race sensitive you are…it all boils down to you being angry at your father!
Maureen Downey
May 26th, 2010
2:05 pm
@H, I have heard of using a person’s handwriting to analyze them, but using their blog posts? I am not angry at either of my parents, but I still am not happy that my older brother squeezed toothpaste all over my clothes. (He was trying to teach me to put the cap back on. He failed as I still forget to cap the Crest.)
Does it show in my postings?
Maureen
Proud Black Man
May 26th, 2010
2:10 pm
“@H, I have heard of using a person’s handwriting to analyze them, but using their blog posts?”
The white right is not above using pseudo-science when it fits their agenda.
plc
May 26th, 2010
2:14 pm
@yelp:
He blew it out of proportion when he called in Markel Hutchins.
The teacher made a bad decision by allowing it, but an even worse decision by taking the kids through the school. Should she be fired? No. Especially since the entire situation has been sensationalized. I also don’t see how the Gwinnett teacher deserves the same treatment if she turned in lesson plans, was told no, and then did it anyway. The AP teacher wasn’t going against a direct order and teaches AP – a college class, where a different level of maturity is required. Neither should have happened, but isn’t worth the jobs of 2 good teachers.
Me
May 26th, 2010
2:23 pm
What is really funny about this is that the Lumpkin High School mascot is a horrible racial stereotype – The Indians – and we get to see it spelled out in huge letters in front of the school on the news every time this story is broadcast.
Vince
May 26th, 2010
2:25 pm
@Yelp.
I would have no problem with a reenactment of the events of 9/11, Pearl Harbor or the OKC bombing. There have been, in fact, movies made about those events…and people actually dressed as the real life characters. Remember, this was a film project.
catlady
May 26th, 2010
2:27 pm
Yelp–how do you know she didn’t teach her students that the KKK is a domestic terrorist organization?
plc: do we KNOW the Gwinnett teacher was a “good teacher?”
Vince
May 26th, 2010
2:27 pm
@ Me
OMG! With that over the top politically correct comment I am obliged to leave this forum in utter frustration.
Tweets that mention Show of hands: How many teachers have allowed students to dress as the Klan? Do robes meet dress code? | Get Schooled -- Topsy.com
May 26th, 2010
2:30 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Alexis Gary, Krissy Thompson and Krissy Thompson, Maureen Downey. Maureen Downey said: Show of hands: How many teachers have allowed students to dress as the Klan? Do robes meet dress code? http://bit.ly/cH2WL1 [...]
Proud Black Man
May 26th, 2010
2:31 pm
I’ve changed my mind. These two “teachers” have severely disrupted the learning environment of their students for no good reason at all. And for those tea (insert the name that cannot be mentioned) please take into consideration the concept of diminished returns when contemplating both teachers career at their school.
H
May 26th, 2010
2:39 pm
Hahaha…Downey, I knew there was something about you but I just couldn’t put my finger on it! It all makes sense now! It’s the whole reason you took up journalism!
Me
May 26th, 2010
2:49 pm
@Vince
Sarcasm – look it up buddy.
FREE THINKERS
May 26th, 2010
2:51 pm
The last time I checked the KKK was a terriot group why not have the children dress up as Bin Laden and his group and re enact the World Trade bombing, better yet why not have the children dress as Nat Turner who lead a uprising and killed his white oppressors, just as a re enactment
Hmmmmmmm
May 26th, 2010
2:52 pm
Yelp, what color is the sky in your world???
Wishful Endings
May 26th, 2010
2:56 pm
Enter your comments here
Angela
May 26th, 2010
2:57 pm
@Yelp,
So we’ve established that:
1. “The KKK is an organized people who spread HATE”
2. “The KKK is still alive and well” (ESPECIALLY in North Ga)
3. “I am not sure what the teacher’s intent ”
All these things known, I beg again: HOW COULD ANYONE THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?? Furthermore, how could anyone say the black kids “blew this out of proportion”, considering the aforementioned??
******************************************************************************************************************
I never said in any statement that I have made that the lesson approach was a good idea however, as Maureen mentioned re-inacting or demonstrating the lesson is one way of getting the students to truly comprehend the lesson.
I might ask you a question Yelp, what makes you so angry about the lesson and its approach?
You ask has anyone been terroized by hate groups of any kind – I cannot say that I have however, my daughter has been a victim of a racial wrong. To make a long story short – it was a banking issuse over a 100.00 salary check. My daughter at the time was about 15 and went to cash her check in the bank and was told that because she did not have that amount in her saving that the policy was not honor the payroll check. Well, my less than tactful self ask for the bank manager so that she could provide that information to me in writing and I left that bank. I took my daughter around the corner to another branch of that bank and with no questions ask her check was cashed. I then in-turn returned with my daughter to the former branch ask for the manager again and contacted her boss in front of her and needless to say that was address immediately and my daugher was given a written apology.
If I were to be confronted with such hate I would laugh because I know just like PBM that those people don’t know any better. Their hate has been taught to them and it all come from a sad childhood. Now if I am touched bodily by one of such hate I would make it a point not to return the touch but I will press some HE– of a charges and hire a top attorney. It would not be for money but to let people know that I don’t have to accept this type of behavior in any form and they should learn self-control and discipline.
the prof
May 26th, 2010
2:59 pm
PBM isn’t black. It’s starting to show badly in his posts…
Wishful Endings
May 26th, 2010
3:08 pm
Oops, Hit enter.
How do we expect these roots of hate to be weeded out if we do not reconize why they are wrong? We cannot turn our backs in denial of what has occured in the past. What is more important than the costumes is the lesson and content. No where have I heard a report on what the re-enactment was. Let our children learn of the past in detail so they do not make the same mistakes in the future. No can be blindly and completely proud of every aspect of their heritage, but I bet they are aware of it. The good and the bad.
We are getting to be very weak and squishy people, with no ability to tolerate or handle offense in a analytic style. Find the root of the message, and if you are still offended more power to your cause. However, if you find offense to an outward visual, you will continue to be offended, unhappy and uncomfortable in life. Be prepared to have your feelings hurt for the rest of your adulthood, and shame on you for making everyone else’s life hard and uncomfortable due to your lack of tolerance.
V for Vendetta
May 26th, 2010
3:13 pm
Hmmmmmm,
There is no sky in Yelp’s world; it must be falling. With a name like “Yelp,” are we surprised that he/she is reacting in this manner? Seriously, this is hysteria on a grand scale. My class thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of filming certain scenes from TKAM. They filmed them as they thought they should be filmed since the Gregory Peck movie takes some creative license with certain scenes. I was especially proud of the courtroom scene.
Katie,
Oh, and I apologize for putting an “s” on the end of Revelation. I didn’t realize a typo qualified me to be “ignorant.”
Angela,
What did you say about religion that caused such a fuss? When we read the Epic of Gilgamesh, students often ask how it can contain a flood story that is almost identical to the one found in the Bible–even though Gilgamesh predates the Bible by more than a thousand years. I tell them the truth: The story of Noah is an amalgamation of Deluge Myths from around the world, and the Hebrews and Babylonians crossed paths multiple times–most notably when the Hebrews were enslaved. Were you written up for telling students FACTS? Only in Georgia (and maybe in Texas) . . .
s2k
May 26th, 2010
3:15 pm
@Me – utterly hilarious!! That this high school is the home of “The Indians.”
Proud Black Man
May 26th, 2010
3:34 pm
Glad to see my faithful fans!
Maureen Downey
May 26th, 2010
3:40 pm
@H, And I thought it was the glamour and free pencils that lured me to journalism.
Maureen
Warrior Woman
May 26th, 2010
3:50 pm
@Yelp – As George Santayana once said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” That’s a major reason for studying history. Using a variety of learning methods, such as readings, lectures, reenactments, art, etc., helps ensure student learning and retention. These teachers were doing their jobs and should not be punished. And regarding the Gwinnett case, Hunte was told not to do the reenactment AFTER it had been done. Are you claiming she was insubordinate because she doesn’t have a time machine to go back and undo the past?
Natasha
May 26th, 2010
4:02 pm
Maureen ~ in answer to the your second question, may I humbly submit that so many people care because this situation is a readily exploitable easy target with a quick fix that does not require any sacrifice by anyone, and that fits neatly into a 30 second news story or 750 word news column. The state budget ~ and by extension the state school budget ~ requires thought, sacrifice and a willingness to honestly tackle hard issues starting with the need to raise taxes to a level that will allow us to sustain ourselves before we implode.
Unfortunately, since we seem to be firmly entrenched in a cycle of bread and circuses, the chances that substance will win out over spectacle any time soon are about the same as the proverbial snowball’s. And, until we as a society decide that we are ready to deal with substance, I am very much afraid that the circuses will continue.
Writer Gal
May 26th, 2010
5:02 pm
Some of the teachers commenting here are too high-brow for their own good. You, Maureen, and some of your fans continue to pooh-pooh the event in Lumpkin County as that of many over-reacting. Leave your affluent neighborhoods in the metro area and actually spend time in some of the northern counties of this state. Try going out in the moonlight with an African American pal and see if you do not have some shivers run up and down your spine. My point is this. I am lily white but this sort of behavior offends me and disgusts me. When I was 17 years old, I spent a weekend in Gainesville, GA to accept a scholarship from Brenau University. I rode to the mall with some college girls who were hosting me that weekend. There I had my first encounter (and sadly not the last) with Klansmen wearing the robes and hoods shoving their askewed literature into the open lid of the convertible. I was horrified and I have never forgotten it. What a shameful attribute of the North Georgia town where I was to spend the next four years. Don’t jest about the foolishness of this outrage. You think Klan activities are sparse and passe? You might as well mire your head and your intellect into red Georgia clay. Get off your high horses and open your eyes. As usual there is no realistic competency of what goes on in Georgia outside of the metro area. Personally I feel the AJC stopped “covering Dixie like the dew” a long time ago and you as writers and teachers are terrribly out of touch with the racial struggles that inhabit this state every day. And honestly, to scarcastically compare the literary Pulitzer Prize winning work of Harper Lee with the simply foolish actions of this “educator” reveals your lack of ability to “get” Georgia and the undercurrents. If someone attended a play based on Harper Lee’s work, then they KNEW it was a play and were informed of that fact before attending. You should stare down the hate filled eyes of a Klansman in your lifetime–an actual one. Those of us who have would never wish it upon you, the blue-stockinged Atlanta-office ensconsed crowd of know it all liberals who deny the hate is still rabid and rampant in a great majority of Georgia acres. I normally agree with you Maureen on most issues, but I have to say with this issue I believe your jest and inability to see things as they really are–things we deal with all the time in North Georgia is so very very sad and pathetic.
doh
May 26th, 2010
5:32 pm
The 8th grade and 10-11th grade standard for GA requires students to “describe the KKK”
In 8th grade I do it this way..
KKK..racist organization that terrorized blacks, Jews, Catholics, etc. They hung, lynched, and terrorized people from reconstruction onwards. They organized and protested because of the lack of support whites didn’t receive from the Federal Government after the Civil War.
Ok, next standard.
This isn’t about racism…its about stupidity, and if this AP US History teacher thinks what she did was acceptable, then she shouldn’t be teaching AP. What’s next, she going drag out the goose stepping costumes and recreate the Nuremberg Rallys?
Cobb Parent
May 26th, 2010
5:34 pm
This is so sad on many levels. In this climate could a teacher like Jane Elliott be allowed to explore racism in her innovative lesson involving blue-eyed/brown-eyed children? Image the uproar that would ensue about the harm to students while ignoring the overall meaning of the lesson. Get real people and get beyond this
doh
May 26th, 2010
5:36 pm
Not to hijack the thread, but the real problem is the STUPID CRCT SCHEDULE!!!
WHY, WHY, WHY do kids go to school for an additional 4-6 weeks AFTER CRCT testing? I have taught in 5 states, most do 1-2 weeks at the most. But for some reason the idiots of Georgia, decide that we should stay for an additional MONTH after testing. This garbage happened because the teacher probably had nothing else to do after her AP testing, and now we hear of a similiar incident with 8th graders. STUPID GA!!!
Kaye
May 26th, 2010
5:40 pm
Why have pretend KKK when you can just ask the Oconee Co. Klan chapter to provide “real life” re-enactments? The KKK IS STILL ACTIVE IN GEORGIA, that’s why it is absurd to have a re-enactment as if it were dead history and we all know better than to behave like that now.
Lindsey
May 26th, 2010
5:44 pm
Last year, my daughter’s 5th grade teacher explained slavery thusly: “I am so glad that most slaveowners cared for their slaves and gave them food and shelter.” Would you want her re-enacting her vision of slavery with her class? I called the principal and demanded a public retraction by the teacher to her class, and you know what, he said I was the “only parent” who had complained, not just this year, but any year, to this presentation of slavery. One family may have more common sense than the whole school district. The KKK “re-enactment” was wrong and there is no proof it taught racial sensitivity or instilled a sense of “never again.”
ScienceTeacher671
May 26th, 2010
5:53 pm
We don’t really play dress-up in my science class, unless you count wearing lab aprons and goggles a costume. Some students seem traumatized.
Teresa
May 26th, 2010
5:56 pm
Maureen – Please explain why American kids wearing t-shirt with U.S. flag emblems and sitting quietly at a lunch table was “understandably” upsetting to Mexican-American kids celebrating Cinco de Mayo (which is not even a national holiday in Mexico), but white kids wearing KKK robes and strutting through the cafeteria at lunch should not be upsetting to African American (and white) kids? On the one hand, you are all over the Mexican/ Mexican-American story in favor of those offended (by a U.S. flag symbol displayed in the U.S.!), but not favoring those offended by KKK? Is it because a teacher said it was okay, so that makes it okay for you?
30327
May 26th, 2010
5:57 pm
“Maybe it’s time for a show of hands among teachers: Who has allowed students to dress as Klan members, Nazis (Sandra Bullock’s lunkhead husband excluded) or Salem witch burners?
Second question: Who cares?”
Third question: Who blogs about issues they could care less about? If this isn’t a big deal and we want the masses to “get over it” then do us all a favor and stop giving it attention by way of blog, opinion columns, etc.
Ole Guy
May 26th, 2010
5:59 pm
Maureen, I don’t think the public outcry is necessarily over the need for summits and the the ostensible threat to careers. As with many controversial aspects in life, the question, at least in my military mind, is one of appropriateness. As a former flight instructor, I would never introduce a novice student pilot to any but the most basic maneuvers. After a period of demonstrated competence and maturity in judgement, I might consider introducing the student to more complex manuevers and situational variations.
The same concept, I would imagine, applies in educating young minds in the ebb and flow of history, particularly a period of American History so wrought with emotionalism. If the students’ have demonstrated a “stoutness of emotion” whereby they can benefit from the primary intent of the productio…well and good…break a leg! However, I, and I am quite certain a good number of your readers, have reservation as to the levels of maturity and psychological receptiveness of a student body of teens who, by their very ages, may not be ready for a play of this magnitude.
In defense of the decision to go forward with this play, it is often said that, lest we understand the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat history’s failings.
As to meeting the dress codes, while in costume…I feel this is an entirely superflous issue. The custume is just that…attire which is meant, not to meet the “uniform of the day” standard, but to aid in portraying a sense of times past, and of the attitudes of that time.
Thanks for the thought-provoking discussion.
30327
May 26th, 2010
6:00 pm
@Lindsey: That’s the exact same way I was taught slavery, also in 5th grade, in Muscogee County (Columbus). Imagine my dismay to learn the REAL story…in college! I didn’t re-enactment to ‘get it’ either, but hey.
Teresa
May 26th, 2010
6:02 pm
Wait – how can you say Mexican and Mexican-American students are justified in being offended by American students sitting quietly and wearing t-shirts with flag emblems, but African American and other students are not justified in being offended by students strutting through the cafeteria in KKK robes? Is it just because a teacher said it was okay?
Writer Gal
May 26th, 2010
6:10 pm
@ Lindsey: I completely agree with you. I have to re-teach history provided in my son’s school all the time with actual facts. My son was not allowed to hear President Barack Obama’s sppech encouraging schoolchildren last year. I complained, and they told me that for every parent that felt the way I did–that my child should be able to hear his president speak–that there were two hundred other parents that felt the opposite way. I told them it was censorship pure and simple. They honestly did not care that I felt this way, no matter who was the president, donkey or elephant, black, white, red, blue, brown….but the children of metro Atlanta were allowed to hear him speak. Not in North Georgia, folks, never. They actually deny that he is our President!! So I answer Maureen, when you ask “Who Cares?” Well, I do. I CARE. I’m not the only one. I would like to suggest that the teachers read A TUGGING STRING by David T. Greenberg. It is a novel about growing up during the Civil Rights Era. It is on the list of Georgia Book of Nominees and is one of the finalists for Georgia Book of the Year for 2010-11. My son has already read it. This is one of the books for the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Competition sponsored by DeKalb County. Guess What? My North Georgia county will no longer allow students like my son to compete. They won’t buy them for the school libraries. I bought them myself and he is reading them whether or not he will be able to compete. This is what I talk about, Maureen, when I say don’t put your head in red Georgia clay. Censorship, racism, the KKK, and all its connected entities are alive and well in North Georgia. Geographically, we are only ninety minutes away from Atlanta. Have a don’t care attitude and watch the insanity spread quickly to the big city and its suburbs. With attitudes like this, it probably won’t be long until you’ll be covering in backyard Decatur or Kirkwood.
30327
May 26th, 2010
6:12 pm
“The KKK “re-enactment” was wrong and there is no proof it taught racial sensitivity or instilled a sense of “never again.””
———————————————————————————-
These kids don’t need reenactments of the KKK, they live in Dahlonega for crying out loud.
The outrage is overblown on both sides. She is on PAID leave and based on the statements of the Lumpkin County super I highly doubt she will lose her job. So all parties can “get over it” collectively.
Writer Gal
May 26th, 2010
6:21 pm
@ 30327—try getting over it in say, zip code 30501 or 30720 — big difference b/w Buckhead’s fancy subdivisons and the poor cousins to the north.
30327
May 26th, 2010
6:31 pm
Hey Writer Gal- I actually agree with your sentiments and it boggles my mind that people are condoning these actions, well not really. I am very familiar with the dynamics of North Ga and other areas where the klan still have influence. I simply think the people defending this teacher need to take their own advice and “get over it”. She still has her job and is on paid leave. Sounds like early vacation to me so what’s the big deal?
Yeah. . .I'm that guy
May 26th, 2010
7:56 pm
These kids simply borrowed their fathers’ robes until they themselves will become the Grand Goblin and Imperial Wizard of the Klan. What a bunch of rednecks! That teacher would be fired in a cultured county (or should I say state).
Proud Black Man
May 26th, 2010
8:27 pm
“Maureen – Please explain why American kids wearing t-shirt with U.S. flag emblems and sitting quietly at a lunch table was “understandably” upsetting to Mexican-American kids celebrating Cinco de Mayo (which is not even a national holiday in Mexico), but white kids wearing KKK robes and strutting through the cafeteria at lunch should not be upsetting to African American (and white) kids?”
I have been wondering the same thing too. But I’m really not surprised; so-called liberals are some of the most racist people I have ever met.
Legend of Len Barker
May 26th, 2010
10:04 pm
Considering that the students were accompanied by a teacher in Dahlonega, I dare say that no student would have felt threatened by their presence. If one of the comments yesterday was correct, it sounds like the problem was moreso the reaction of other students to the ones dressed up.
If that is indeed the case, the Klan isn’t being taught enough. Instead of being a punchline, the kids need to get an understanding that the Klan isn’t just a hooded group that sometimes marches in towns and hands out literature. That has been the public image of the Klan over the last generation, with J.B. Stoner being a punchline within a punchline.
There have not been many movies made in this regard. The only one I can think of where the KKK had a prominent role was one that inspired their revitalization in 1915, Birth of a Nation (This, combined with the lynching of Leo Frank, whose case is a fascinating study in race, religion, and geographical differences and played out in Georgia).
While many know that they are a hate group and were responsible for lynchings, it seems that something is missing. It isn’t that the Klan didn’t do all these things. They and and various mob essentially controlled minorities since Reconstruction with Black Codes, Jim Crow, and lynch law. This control continued through the 1960s as hate groups were still trying to persuade blacks in Sumter County not to register to vote in 1969.
Just about anything these teachers can do to create an understanding of how these groups operated is fine with me. As long as we don’t cross the line to actual physical violence or real mental torture, do what you can to enliven a lesson. A kid reading a report off of a sheet of paper isn’t going to resonate as much as actually seeing it.
If we ignore the past, we’re not going to learn from it.
Fericita
May 26th, 2010
10:10 pm
From Teresa: Wait – how can you say Mexican and Mexican-American students are justified in being offended by American students sitting quietly and wearing t-shirts with flag emblems, but African American and other students are not justified in being offended by students strutting through the cafeteria in KKK robes? Is it just because a teacher said it was okay?
—-
What was actually said in the posts was that it was problematic if the students wearing the patriotic garb did so with the intent of mocking the Mexican students. And, more recently, IF the point of including costumed KKK members in a video was to show the true nature of hateful acts in a dramatic way, it showed poor judgment in not obtaining prior approval, but it isn’t inherently wrong. I agree. I don’t see how those two opinions are in conflict.
Proud Black Man
May 26th, 2010
10:46 pm
More white right jibba jabba.
Teresa
May 26th, 2010
11:01 pm
Georgia and Mississippi accounted for more than 1,000 lynchings of black Americans between 1882 and 1962. That is nearly 30% of all lynchings of blacks during that time period ( http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingsstate.html). Have the students who participated in the re-enactment actually studied history, such as the history of the organization and its influence on politics (Eugene Talmadge), civil rights, and human rights in the South and Georgia (for example, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai3/segregation/text2/lynchingcrime.pdf)? Or is this just another bit of brain candy that is fun for the students, easy for the teacher, and can be passed off as education?
teach me!
May 26th, 2010
11:12 pm
After your first year teaching in Gwinnett, lesson plans are not submitted for approval. County sequential lesson plans are provided to use as a basis to expand upon and APs don’t have time to review every single lesson plan. However, I would err on the side of caution and get permission for an event like this…..and keep it in my class, not in the halls, etc. They only thing the teachers should of done is kept it in their rooms.
s2k
May 27th, 2010
8:17 am
Just read article, about how this particular high school, formerly, “The Rebels,” and its students, don’t get what the fuss is surrounding the Confederate flag. Seems like they could really use a real-world lesson in what that flag meant then, and what it appears to mean now. Oh – wait!
http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO142987/
Dose of Reality
May 28th, 2010
11:59 am
It’s a part of history, and students should be afforded any educational opportunities to learn about it so that they never forget. Get off the P.C. bandwagon and return to the days of not sweeping inconvenient history under the rug. FWIW, the atomic bomb was the best thing that could have happened for both the U.S. and Japanese during WWII, and it’s absurd that an apology was issued. Slavery, the Trail of Tears, and many other atrocities throughout the history of America. It’s as much a part of who we are today as baseball, freedom of speech, and the right to vote. If re-enacting historical events engages the students’ interest, then I say it’s a positive. Try quizzing your co-workers about important historical events (throw in some geographical questions as well) and see what they know. By and large, our society is IGNORANT to the history of our country and world- and they sure as heck couldn’t point out where any of it occurred on a map!
Teresa
May 28th, 2010
4:15 pm
Dose of Reality – But what did the students actually learn by walking around in KKK clothes? Did they study anything about the organization and historical contxt, or what it just fun to play pretend in school and call it learning?
Timothy Oliver
May 28th, 2010
11:46 pm
A Teachable Moment
It’s very interesting to me the great lengths teachers conduct so called “Teachable Moments” in our history. The effort to authenticate the totality of realism is understood. Nonetheless I do believe that a respectable educator is capable of accomplishing such a task without offending others by dressing in Ku Klux Klan garb. I wonder if they would encourage their history class to explore the reaction of their fellow classmates of four white girls dealing with the after shock of being brutally raped. Walking the victims through the cafeteria in torn clothing, disheveled hair, a missing shoe, bleeding and staring straight ahead with emptiness filling their eyes. Or maybe four students dressed as Nazi Soldiers laughing and making small talk amongst themselves with a couple of holocaust prisoners walking behind them. Heads shaved, bare feet, humiliated by exposed body parts that should only be shared by their own husband or wife’s eyes. Spirits broken by witnessing the murder of family and loved ones. I wonder if faced with such a “Teachable Moment” would she find outrage unwarranted? Would it be a big nothing to do about nothing? or political correctness gone crazy? Would someone speak in her behalf and say “what she was trying to do is not a bad thing” I wonder if those who once encouraged her previous intentions would view such atrocities as a “Teachable Moment”. As a man of color I understand the quote “Never Again”, which was attributed by a Soviet officer in command of troops that liberated Auschwitz. I abhor any kind of violence, racism, abuse thats used against men and women. Never being raped yet understanding that such a violation is evident in my family tree. I’m indulgent with the effort of those who try to come to terms with such histories and the chasm that continues to wedge this country from being what our Forefathers saw her to be.
Yet I question, why offend in order to demonstrate a “Teachable Moment”?
OTOH
May 29th, 2010
2:37 am
Way back in the 70’s when I was in HS, my entire US history class went to a screening of Birth of a Nation as part of the section on Reconstruction. It was a powerful teaching tool, although I think it reinforced a few of my classmates’ anti-southerner prejudices.
Students do need to be taught the history of the KKK; how evil and how powerful it was and how evil but pathetic it is now. It is progress that the Klan is so ridiculed today. How far the mighty have fallen . . .
Sarah
May 30th, 2010
1:15 am
Both teachers are well respected. The high school course is a college level course. Any projects have to be factual. Students should not have paraded through the cafe. Administrators on the local and county level need to become educators. They need to support their teachers! Investigate before you speak. They all ruined teachable moments for all. I say remove the administrators for a lack of support and failure to properly investigate a situatino before reacting. Keep the teachers!
J.S. Redivivus
May 30th, 2010
11:32 am
Writer Gal’s observations are correct, especially her first post on page one of the discussion.
I was born and raised in Dahlonega, Ga. and returned as an adult after university. Then I left for several reasons, one of which I could no longer tolerate the attitudes, including the racial ones.
The deeper problem with the coverage of this incident (including AJC’s) is that it touches the tip of an iceberg without doing any investigative reporting into the underlying structures and beliefs of the community. The teacher apologized – but in Dahlonega’s local paper online, there has been an outcry of anger anyone cares about racist attitudes in the community in the first place, and an attempt to white wash (no pun intended) the long-standing beliefs of the majority in that area.
In Lumpkin County, there are churches that are segregated – they do not allow minorities to join as members. There are influential organizations that bar black membership. The government and police force are largely white. The school system seems to make no effort at minority recruiting. Housing remains mainly split into black communities and white. Racial epithets flow like water.
The beliefs of the majority of the locals are racist in one way or another — whether they are also wearing Klan sheets or not, and they see nothing wrong with it.
The county would make a rich study for any real journalist who wanted to make a study of overt and covert racism in southern communities.
Art School Graduate
May 31st, 2010
2:46 am
If you have children, take a look near your TV. Chances are, there’s a magic white (or black) box there with a small plastic handle nearby. Power that box and your TV up, take that handle into your and you can be: a Modern Warrior, fighting terrorism as an elite combatant around the world and in different time periods; a Sports Hero (in any sport you desire, even the Olympics); a pilot of an advanced starship (which probably would require some advanced astrophysics degree in the real world); a gunfighter in the Old West, et cetera ad infinitum. Now look in your pocket or purse. There’s a small box there, which can link you instantaneously with the Internet, a person halfway across the world, or any number of similar games.
This is what teachers have to compete with. Gosh, how boring books on World War Two must be when you can LIVE the Normandy beach landings!
Modern brain science tells us that the more multi-modal (e.g., the more senses we can stimulate) in addition to increased emotional engagement will lead to stronger and more powerful learning experiences.
But, for any number of reasons (more than I can begin to list here), teachers can’t bring an Xbox and Call of Duty into a classroom- despite the fact that most students already own one and/or both.
Teachers are then forced to find the next best thing- Saving Private Ryan, or in the case where there is a lack of films- simulations.
This is all without considering the issues that students in high-poverty schools face- inadequate or nonexistent nutrition, parents who are too tired from working two-plus jobs and/or lack the experience and knowledge and/or language skills to help with homework or be involved with school, emotional issues due to lack of support, et cetera ad infinitum.
We want our students, graduating and preparing for careers at least 6-10 years from now, to be able and unafraid to take risks and color outside the lines from time to time.
But when their teachers do exactly this, for a legitimate educational reason, what happens to them?
What would you rather have- teachers who create “off-script”, powerful learning experiences for students- with the students talking about the material for weeks after the lesson, debating in the hallways, and getting involved with the issue through activism or volunteering; or bored students falling asleep at their desks with a teacher doing sudoku at the front as a video narrated in a monotone voice with a montage of black-and white photographs drones on in the background?
Education in America is in a crisis, but not for the reasons most people think of. How we deal with these issues will define us as a country for the next 100+ years.
linda two shoe
May 31st, 2010
8:29 am
People don’t you get the significance of KKK, how many Black people were killed by KKK and how many people today still shutter at the name KKK. Get real, it’s not a joke. How would you feel if you looked up and say a “white robe” coming toward you and its not angels. If the schools want to have an enactment, then inform everyone, and bring in the “bodies of those hanged and tortured. That will give the impact.
Steve Warren
May 31st, 2010
2:44 pm
I wore a Klan robe once, as an extra in the HBO movie “Boycott.” I wouldn’t have done it if the Klan had been portrayed in a positive light. I also marched on Washington with Dr. King in 1963, having learned my lessons about racism in high school. Without as much overt racism around today, students have to learn from history; and we should celebrate the teachers who are brave enough to teach it (other than by example).
Glenn Dowell, Ed.D.
June 1st, 2010
9:31 am
Maureen……
Your comments below are shocking, coming from a person who has the literary license to present their opinions in the print media. Only “one” complaint and in your subliminal message it is OK to demean those who have suffered incalculable harm.
I was a member of Atlanta’s Black/Jewish Coalition years ago and I admired the Jews because they say “never again” to injustice, no matter how small the insult or injury, whether psychologically or physically. History should tell you that people not complaining about atrocities happening to them does not mean crap-which is what you appear to be espousing.
@Yelp, What families, plural? My understanding is that one complaint triggered the Lumpkin County probe. In Gwinnett, it was a teacher who told the administration that the costumes were used by a colleague.
There is no evidence that there was a lot of upset students. That shouldn’t be the criteria for whether an action is right or wrong, but it does point to the fact that there are not a lot of folks complaining about this in the actual settings.
Maureen
Marilyn P.
June 23rd, 2010
5:08 pm
Some commentators are confusing banning kids dressing up in Klan robes to re-enact Reconstruction with banning teaching about the Klan or about Reconstruction. So far as I see it, nobody is banning the teaching of accurate history. I don’t come from the South, but we had the Klan up North in the 1920’s and 30’s, and it was not pleasant to be a Jew, a Catholic and certainly not an Afro-American in those days. Mind, I think students should have a well rounded view of racism both after the Civil War and the Great Depression. Both times were very scary for people who lost their homes and incomes due to the destruction of war or the plummeting economy. When you’ve lost your secure anchor, your whole way of life, you lash out at a perceived enemy. The Jews in various times. The former slaves. That’s what the students need to think through. Can grade 8s or grade 10s do so dressing as the Klan, or [sorry for the stereotype] cringing and saying “yassuh, boss” like Steppinfetchit? Not, I think, without a lot of teaching beforehand about what Reconstruction involved, about living under martial law, living under slavery and being emancipated. About making a living under radical changes. When you’re young, and you have the opportunity to role play, you act up. You pretend be Darth Vader or a super-hero or villain. You’re not thinking about what why adults were wearing such costumes and terrorizing their neighbors. So, before letting them re-enact, the teacher should impress upon her charges just what was going on back then.
Todd
July 23rd, 2010
1:04 am
I once got suspende from school for a shirt that sai hertitage not hate and had a confederatet flag on i and I was out for 10 days and had to make them days with after school and saterday school