In April, an unnamed eighth-grade teacher at Great Hearts Monte Vista High School in San Antonio, Texas sent his students home with an assignment entitled, The Life of Slaves: A Balanced View. The assignment required students to list the negative and positive aspects of the enslavement of African and indigenous peoples during the Atlantic Slave Trade.
The homework assignment enraged both students and parents alike as an image of the assignment was posted on social media by one of the student's parents.
The unidentified teacher was placed on administrative leave following the incident going public but, apparently will be re-instated following mandatory sensitivity training instructed by the school's district. Great Hearts Texas Academies Superintendent, Aaron Kindel, stated the following in a letter to parents of the school's students,
"After conducting a fair and thorough review, we found that, while the assignment was certainly not consistent with Great Hearts philosophy, there was no harmful intent on the part of the teacher and the broader context of the treatment of slavery in the course left no ambiguity regarding its immorality... As such, the teacher will be reinstated after training is completed."
Kindel also added that there is 'no debate about slavery,' apologized for the insensitive assignment, and stated that the district would be getting rid of the textbooks associated with the worksheet entitled, "Prentice Hall Classics: A History of the United States." But, the textbook publisher, Pearson, vehemently stated they had nothing to do with the controversial homework assignment.
Hopefully, educators will have enough sense than to try to get their students to justify something as catastrophically destructive as slavery. Children are impressionable and could be swayed by the beliefs of their teachers. The educational system has to do better in regards to being truthful about the history of the world.