Did H.S. teacher screw up by allowing student to give KKK historical perspective?

[astro]

Per this story is the parent being too sensitive or is the teacher giving students too much leeway in this exercise? Would a student dressed as Hitler and justifying the Third Reich as a historical perspective exercise be a good history lesson, or a crassly insensitive slap in the face to Jewish students?

Teacher learns lesson from ‘Klan’ incident

Blackman High School history teacher Mickey Vanzant said yesterday that he thinks students cannot fully understand what people experienced during a particular period unless they become them.

But when one of his students dressed up as an infamous Ku Klux Klan leader for a project in one of his honors classes last week, Vanzant acknowledges he got a lesson in sensitivity.

The parents of Khym Wilson, who is black, criticized Vanzant for permitting a student to dress as Hiram Wesley Evans, the national organization’s Imperial Wizard in the 1920s. The depiction was part of a class project in which students depicted famous people who made an impact on American culture in the 1920s.

Vanzant said he never intended to offend Khym Wilson when he accepted the student’s choice of Evans, but he does not know yet how he is going to change his teaching methods.

He said he also fears that being too sensitive might stifle creative ways to teach American history, which students historically have considered a boring subject.

‘‘What should our methodologies be?’’ Vanzant said. ‘‘Do we use worksheets, or is there a more dynamic approach that will enlist students’ interests? I want students to feel the period, not just the facts.’’

The depictions will continue, said Gary Nixon, Blackman High School principal. ‘‘We’ll just fine-tune (the methods) to find what’s appropriate and what’s not,’’ he said.

In the project, students picked a famous person who influenced American culture. After researching the person for nearly three weeks, students presented their historical characters in five-minute speeches dressed as those persons, and also submitted 200-word essays. Because the project involved 85 students in three classes, the depictions took four days last week to complete.

To avoid duplication, Vanzant had students sign a sheet listing their historical figure. He said he initially was concerned with the student’s choice, but decided not to censor him because other students were depicting unsavory characters.

‘‘I also figured they were going to follow the rules,’’ he said. ‘‘They had to choose someone that had an impact on America, good or bad.’’

The student, whose name was not disclosed, wore a white robe and white hood during his presentation, but did not wear it outside the classroom.

''Before the student started, he said, ‘I don’t believe or support any of this,’ ‘’ Vanzant said.

Nixon received a call from Khym Wilson’s father last Thursday, and said yesterday that he told him the school would be more mindful of what is being depicted.

[Marvel]

Maybe I missed something, but did the black student have a problem with it, or was he okay and his father freaked out? Parents can be hyper-sensitive to things their kids shrug off - such was the case with a health texbook used when I was in high school (the issues was it had a chapter on sex and reporduction, which half the class didn’t read anyway).

I thought the student giving the report handled it well by stating from the get-go that he didn’t buy what Evans was selling.

Patty

[tomndebb]

Without more detail, I don’t have any problem with the teacher’s basic approach. I think presenting the perspective of the Klan could be really useful–and Evans was a powerful figure for a period in the 1920s. I would not want Evans’s words to be delivered with no context and with no chance for challenge or rebuttal. Since the teacher reviewed the character selection before the presentations, he should have had ample time to provide context.

However, barring evidence that the Klan position was put forth as a good thing, I put the reaction to the presentation in the same class that I put opposing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because it includes the word nigger. (Classes in which the students are called upon to read aloud the parts in Huck Finn which I find odd for those grades, anyway where some poor black kid is singled out to “be” Jim can create bad situations, but banning Huckleberry Finn is stupid.)

[Horseflesh]

So it was only the imagery that Wilson’s parents objected to? At least they weren’t trying to stifle history itself with their objections. I wonder what their reaction to a mere photo of a Klansman would have been?

It might be tough for Vanzant to evaluate each student’s choice and decide if it’s going to offend even one student or their families. He’d have to know the cultural/ethnic background of all of his students and their parents as well as their sensitivity levels on each historical subject. A daunting task indeed.

While I agree that researching a period costume can be very informational for the student, perhaps just photos or drawings depicting their subjects would suffice (might be cheaper for the student as well). It might be the safe bet for any history teacher in this highly charged PC day and age.

[hypnoboth]

If a student cannot see this material in a classroom, and see for him/her self that it is bullshit, and why it is bullshit, then what will happen when that student is faced with it in real life? Are we to send students into the world totally unprepared? What would the parents have teachers do? Not present such material in realistic situations? What happens then, when students meet a “sympathetic skinhead?” Is it any wonder that students, without meeting such material and discussing it, and figuring out why it is bullshit, are being seduced, and Nazism is on the rise?

Parents who are offended by this are shooting themselves in the foot. Students must be exposed to such material, to understand why it is bad on its face.

[don_t_ask]

When my son was in highschool he prepared a presentation on the recruitment methods of the KKK. He had shared what he was doing with me while he wrote it and it was bloody fascinating. I got the impression that hearing something like that would forewarn likely recruits how these groups/gangs go about it.