Comments on: KKK Robes: Why Were They Allowed in the Classroom?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:32:49 +0000

I think the teacher used poor judgement and insensitivity in letting the students parade around in clothing that portrays such hatred and ignorance. She should have passed this idea of her to the administration before this action tooked placed. It it one thing to make us aware of history whether good or bad, but not demonstrate the same actions that have caused such separation. That being said, if she has been a good teacher beyond this slip of judgement I don’t think she should be fired.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:27:14 +0000

After reading all this I can see both sides. I know for myself in high school re reacted the boston massacre of the civil war. There are some people that learn better by doing then listening or reading. I know I very strong right brained and will always learn better doing something.
As for the teacher yes she should of though it out more, but we as Americans with one of the most diversity countries out there need to move on from all things in the past. We should be able to look back on it with a new light not the one that it created. As some of the post I have seen from African Americans that have moved on it shows that they are the bigger people. Yes it happen get over it and be able to look back on it, with understanding of what not to do!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:20:25 +0000

I am a, soon to be 52 yer old, Black male who currently works a a predominantly white school of higher education. While I certainly can understand the need to teach history and I too am one who leans toward being creative , this teachers appears to have made a terrible error in judgement. Just seeing people wearing these robes could offend the students but could also stir some awful memories and feelings for some of the educators on that campus. I agree with an earlier writer who noted that he had never heard of Nazi uniforms being worn in school to highlight that particular part of world history. We must use care and be sensitive when we are trying to teach about a portion of our history that was tragic and still affects our society today. I do not know whether this teacher should be fired for using poor judgement but this could be a good teaching moment for her and the rest of the school.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:22:13 +0000

It is so good to live in America. We can form our opinions and only be punished by contrasting opinions. So, I lend mines as well. History is history. You can’t change it, but you can add to it to make more history. Either we learn from its contents to prosper or do good, or we learn from it to do bad again. I didn’t read all the comments out here, but I read the story. I’m sure this isn’t the full story, but enough is given to intelligently comment on. We need to judge the teacher’s action by her know character. After we find that out, we need to know the purpose for the reenactment. It is my understanding that the teacher was trying to show a bad part of history, which never should be repeated by her students. I believe she did a good job given the fact that so many white people are upset about bringing this costume back into focus. Although perfect wisdom may not have been applied, I believe that reenacting a part of history is part of our hypocrit (name for the first leading actors) theatrical freedom. To say that acting this part of history will resurge the KKK is dumbfounded. But, this is just one Black Man’s opinion.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:15:45 +0000

After reading all the comments I really agree witht the earlier ones. Do we really need to wear Nazi uniforms and swasticas to study aobut World War II and Nazism? Or reeanact lynchings and Klan meeting to understand racismin US history? This behavior see to reinforce and may lend a kind of macabre ligitimacy to terrors from the past.(eg A white student asking ablack friend if they’d mind being lynched for the Klan renactment… Oh Please).
It is distinctly different to study religion or cultur orr more nuetral histocal event through acting because then we are placing children in roles that are socailly acceptable to safe for all to explore rather than ones we hold collectively as debased. I have a really hard time seeing the educational value in role playing figures an organization that represent such historical atrocities-I just don’t get it. If it had been my son who received the request to be lynched by his classmate-I would have sued the school.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:39:12 +0000

I have 4 adult children. Three were fortunate enough to have the same social studies/history teacher in middle school. Her method of teaching was similar to that of the two teachers whose teaching style is under intense scrutiny but her subject matter (at the time) wasn’t nearly so emotionally charged. For a whole year this teachers students would study in group activities various peoples and their histories. During the course of these studies they would do a great deal of play-acting culminating in dressing up at the end of a segment and acting out a moment of the history they had been studying. My children came away with a much more in-depth appreciation for those topics because they had been engaged in their learning. One topic that they spent nearly 1/3 of the year on was Islam. They learned about culture and history and even did ongoing role-playing culminating in a pilgrimage to Mecca. This was before 9/11. Would that topic now also be too taboo to see the light of day?
While I believe that the teachers should have involved the rest of the school, or at least informed them of the project their students were working on, I don’t see how we will EVER get a handle on wiping out Racism if we can’t even talk about it without offending people. Watching something (film, documentary, etc) is rarely as involving as DOING something and I, for one, applaud these teachers’ attempt to make that dark time in our country’s history something their students will never forget!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:50:09 +0000

I think that we as Americans have to be able to discuss race openly and honestly instead of hiding behind being politically correct. The teacher should not be suspended or terminated, I think that she was actually trying to do her job and “teach”. Yes I am an African American female who deals with racist views often.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:53:12 +0000

What exactly is the learning opportunity in dressing up in KKK robes? Is it to understand the fear it invokes in others or to understand the power that fear gave to KKK members? I find it interesting that there are no black students in this class and that their perspective wasn’t even considered.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:07:41 +0000

Had the project been disclosed, in advance, administrators might have enlisted buy in from the students and parents. They might have included participants who were later offended by requests. The teacher’s judgment may have been affected as she focused on the bravery it took to endorse a film about a volatile subject.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:36:32 +0000

I am not surprise that the teacher surpported it.I know of a black student who was always racially abused by his teachers is class.Despite the fact that the evidence was clear,during the case some kind of tactics were used by the defendant’s lawyers and the student lost the case,and the teachers were free.