The Boondocks by Aaron McGruder for July 08, 2010
July 07, 2010
July 09, 2010
Transcript:
Teacher: So if I understand correctly, you do not have your textbook with you, Huey? Huey: Correct. Teacher: Because you felt there were other texts that deserved priority in your bookbag? Huey: Correct. Teacher: Texts like Shabazz K. Jenkins, "How to Tell if your Teacher is Brainwashing you with Eurocentrism"? Huey: Given your stirring tribute to Christopher Columbus last month, I believe I made the right call.
Potrzebie over 14 years ago
wowsers, two flags in a row.
coffeeturtle over 14 years ago
Sounds fair, Huey. :-)
tedcoop over 14 years ago
It’s not that the history being taught is invalid, and it’s not that Huey’s opposing views are invalid; the problem is that both are extreme versions that leave out 95% of everything pertinent. It’d be nice if anyone could get past that problem…
avonsalis over 14 years ago
I think it’s not that both Textbook history and Huey’s history leave out 95% of everything pertinent; the problem is that nobody is ever going to come close to agreement on what’s pertinent.
And even if they did, it would probably be a milquetoast compromise in the middle of all roads at once.
I think the only solution is what my kids’ school does - in fourth grade they read Chief Seattle and the Pilgrims’ diaries, and in high school they read Howard Zinn, Andrew Carnegie, Trotsky, Churchill and various banned books of the ages. So at least they will be informed when they finally do decide what to believe, unlike most people who’ve ever attended school in America. (And a school shouldn’t have to be a Quaker school to take such a plunge!)
pbarnrob over 14 years ago
WOW! What school is that? It needs to be a national model!
ybadgaf over 14 years ago
the problem with the school system is that is using a model that doesn’t work and the only subjects that are relevant are math, english and science at the elementary level. Ginsu!
avonsalis over 14 years ago
pbarn, I was offline this weekend, but in case you’re listening:
it’s one of dozens of Quaker (Friends) schools in the USA; it happens to be in NYC. The Quaker sect believed so much in equality, including respecting the (nascent) wisdom of kids, that it abolished clergy and voting so no one gets overruled by sheer force or numbers. That’s why Susan B. Anthony’s father made her learn all the same subjects as the boys before 1810 … and why Quakers founded Swarthmore in the 19th century as coed.
Friends Council on Education promotes variations on how the philosophy has been carried out; that’s as close to a national model as Quakers get. After all, the USA has less than 50,000 Quakers, even though their educational and other works have long been outsized.