My daughter was so excited her teacher let her have this book today and bring it home. I rejoice in that her teacher is generous.
So we took a look at history together. The following is a discussion with a friend. But I deleted her part of the discussion out of respect for her family.
Just had a heart to heart with Ellie on a Scholastic book on Chris Columbus. We talked about inflammatory word use in "history" books as inappropriate.
Good for you!
And the complete lack of respect for the dead the book portrayed of him.
And I asked her could we get away with talking about people in our class that way? No!
I didn't even touch on right or wrong ideas. I told her to bring me more books like this so we could discuss. I also asked her a ton of questions, like, "Did you put that Spanish flag on America? "
She said, "No."
I told her, "Then don't take responsibility for it. Don't ever let someone make YOU feel guilty about it, because of the color of your skin."
"And what did we call our town before we moved here?"
"Our new town."
"Yes. And so was it ridiculous that they called it the New World? "
"No."
"But do you see this wording leads the reader to mock them?"
"Are we allowed to mock people in class? No? So why is it okay when they are dead and we disagree with them?"
"Because who will they choose to mock next? Do we know? No. And so we do not associate with mockers."
Back to now:
My beef, as you see, is the tone with which this book was written. I don't think I can judge anyone. I'm told not to, actually.
And I am certain I cannot judge someone I have never met, anachronistically, against whom history rails like the fifth grade bully. And even this: how can a school teach respect, when respect toward someone who is even dead is not a value?
And I am not a historian, but I am a mom.
That means my BS meter is fantastic.
It also means I have a responsibility to teach my girls the way Ms. Portwood taught me about journalism, the power of the phrase, the use of leading questions and leading sentences.
I must activate their BS meters early.
So at the end of the evening, I told her, "Bring books home. Let's just sit here again and ask tons of questions. I will try to have a more level head next time, okay?"
