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 Don't teach at all instead of teaching lies 
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Today we talked a lot about teaching children lies like slaves were happy, they had their own houses, and the story Pocahontas and John Smith. If we teach children all these lies then ban the books that tell their real stories, what are we teaching them? Why should we teach if parents want to shelter their kids from the real world? Someone in class brought up the point that we shouldn't ban books like Huck Finn but we should ban textbooks that tell blatant lies. We all want to be teachers for a reason but we won't be able to do our jobs half as well as we could if we can't expand student's horizons, expand on their knowledge of the world.

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Amanda Jackson


Thu Mar 26, 2009 3:25 pm
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I believe that certain children cannot handle some of the horrible truths of our past. However, I do not believe in teaching lies. I believe from 3rd grade and higher you should teach whatever you want. I personally would not want my kindergarten child going to school and learning about people being killed and tortured though. I do not believe kindergarten students should be exposed to that and I do not believe that they are mature enough to handle these kinds of things.

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Heather Johnson


Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:49 am
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I completely agree with what both Heather and Amanda are saying. I would not want my Kindergarten child/student learning historical events that are mature either. I also do not want to teach lies. I believe that in the upper grades, the lies and the reality can be taught. If you use the Disney Pocahontas story in class then use the real Pocahontas story to compare and contrast and let students realize how the truth can be bent for entertainment. I believe that if we completely ignore the lies then students are not learning to their full potential. If we show them the wrong in the lies and let them see the historical truth then they will gain better clarification. Even if books are "lies", then we should ban them (along with many other books), but only if they are used in the classroom correctly. I believe that any information or book can become useful in a classroom if it is used correctly.

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Megan Cockrum


Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:59 am
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What everyone is saying makes a lot of sense to me. Younger children shouldn't be taught to the extent of a high school or late middle schooler. They simply cannot deal with some issues. I believe the truth should be taught, but in a way that isn't frightening or emotionally scarring for a young child.

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-Nicole Reid


Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:41 pm
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I found it fascinating last Thursday when we talked about miss-informing children to protect their innocent minds. I personally believe ideally we cannot tell children that the first “Americansâ€

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Christin Jones


Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:14 pm
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I agree with Heather. I think that you have to be careful with what you say to the younger grades(third and below), because they can't emotional handle what someone older could. So I think when you are in your own classroom you will know what your class can handle. But I think that you aren't lying to them but you are just dont sharing everything because you dont want to have your student emotionally distressed. You dont wont to expose them to something that they can't yet grasp their mind around, I think that will only hurt them.


Wed Apr 15, 2009 9:26 am
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I agree with what Christin is saying. I think it would be better if we present the information in a better way. We don't have to teach it to the point that we are teaching the graphic gruesome details. We can simply leave it broad and general and once they are mature enough to handle the truth then the teacher doesn't have to reteach something completely opposite. In my learner diversity class I just found an article on how to teach Native Americans and the main thing it emphasized was to not teach the material incorrectly and don't teach the stereotypes.

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Kayla N. Sizemore


Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:39 pm
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I agree that certain subject matter needs to be saved for a more mature audience, but my curiosity comes in when is seems that the magic grade for maturity is the 3rd grade. Why is this? It is interesting to me that all of a sudden students are mature enough in 4th grade to understand and handle the brutality of women being raped as they were slaves? In 4th grade, NC History is a big part, and NC was a slave owning state, as it is also a part of the Underground Railroad. Do we teach the truth about why the slaves were running away or do we sugar coat it? As a secondary english major, I am just curious as to who determines the maturity level, because I have some seniors in my internship who are not mature at all.

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Martha Martin


Wed Apr 15, 2009 6:58 pm
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That's certainly a good point, Martha. When do children officially become ready to hear the harsh brutality of our nation's past? It's really hard to say, I guess. I don't want the truth to be sugar coated to the extent of inaccuracy, but as everyone else has mentioned, we don't want to expose children to things they aren't ready for. Today in my second grade class we briefly discussed how 'a long time ago black people couldn't play sports with white people' prior to reading a book about Jackie Robinson. I couldn't help but get a little squeemish while the children voiced their thoughts and opinions on the issue. You never know what a child's parents have raised them to believe. I suppose addressing potentially uncomfortable situations like that in the classroom is a big fear of mine as a future teacher. All of the students agreed that it was wrong that black people used to be treated that way and the class discussion moved on. I just couldn't help but wonder when deeper issues would be brought up and more difficult questions would have to be answered.

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Maggie Carol Hinshaw


Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:44 pm
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