North Carolina Teacher: Hey, Kids, Great Job On Your Pro-Slavery Tweets!
[guest post by Dana]
It’s 2021. How on earth does a trained teacher think this is a good idea? Especially on the heels of Black History Month:
The mock Twitter posts were taped to a wall inside a North Carolina elementary school, written in the careful penmanship of fourth-graders.
“You may not agree with slavery but I do and I’m honest about it. #SlaveryforLife,” read one, above the made-up account name @dontStopSlavery. Said another, using the handle @Confederate4life: “Why do we need to leave the country? We can stay and our slaves! #SLAVERYFOREVER.”
The messages were the result of an assignment asking Waxhaw Elementary School students to write tweets that North Carolina residents might have posted if Twitter had existed in the Civil War era. Initially, the school about 20 miles south of Charlotte shared a photograph of the “Civil War Twitter Board” on Facebook, writing in the caption that the fourth-grade students “picked the tweet they were most proud of” for the display.
Thinking that this particular assignment would be an effective way for students to learn about *North Carolina’s* history during the Civil War era leads me to believe that the teacher should not be in the classroom. Moreover, that the school posted photos of the “tweets” on Facebook leads me to believe that it wasn’t just the teacher who approved of the project. Depending on their size, school districts either have a dedicated Communication Officer responsible for managing all district social media accounts or on-site teachers are paid a stipend to be the technology liaison for their site. Regardless of who it was that posted the assignment results on Facebook, it demonstrated an utter lack of discretion and sensitivity. How could they *not* know that parents and community members, especially those in the Black community, would be offended by the assignment and its involvement of young children? I don’t think that it was necessarily just an error in judgment, however. There remains the possibility that the teacher knew exactly what she was doing, and didn’t care who might be hurt as a result. I don’t know. But because children were involved, I am not inclined to give any adult involved the benefit of the doubt. Also, why did none of the other adults on campus protest? Surely, fellow teachers, custodians, and perhaps even an administrator had been in the classroom while the project was displayed on the walls.
You can read North Carolina’s Essential Standards: Fourth Grade Social Studies here. Excerpt:
The historical significance of various statues in North Carolina.
For example: The statue of the confederate soldier outside the Old State Capitol building is significant because it represents the confederacy and honors the lives of the southern men who fought for the Confederacy.
It should be noted that “the school is 20 minutes from the Monroe County Courthouse, where a Confederate monument has stood since 1910, and last year, a Union County school board member resigned after making racist posts on social media”. This helps to inform us of the region’s climate, even today. Also, 10.2% of the student population at the school are Black.
It’s sad too that there were no tweets against slavery in the Facebook post:
The “tweets,” which were taped to the classroom wall, do not mention any historical figure by name. None of the ones highlighted on the school’s Facebook page were anti-slavery. FOX 46 asked which historical figures the “tweets” were supposed to represent but did not get an answer.
Finally, district superintendent Andrew G. Houlihan issued a public apology to students, staff, and parents:
will ensure this doesn’t happen again. We are actively dev. PD to address diversity, equity and inclusion and rec. that lessons such as these have no place in any @UCPSNC school. We are addressing this matter and sincerely apologize to our Ss, staff, families and community.
— Andrew G. Houlihan (@AGHoulihan) March 12, 2021
–Dana
Improving race relations one step at a time!
Dana (fd537d) — 3/15/2021 @ 11:52 amTeaching children about bad things in our national past should not require encouraging children to justify bad things in our national past.
It would be interesting to know the reason: Because of the teacher’s selection? Because of how she framed the exercise? Or worse: because the children were already conditioned to take a pro-slavery side?
It’s astounding that anyone would have thought it’s all very innocent.
Radegunda (f4d5c0) — 3/15/2021 @ 12:15 pmSeems like the only thing the teacher did wrong was not include proper context for the social media post.
Time123 (52fb0e) — 3/15/2021 @ 12:18 pmI don’t know if I agree, Time123. The assignments are there for everyone to see, and the teacher made no effort – that I’m aware of or could find – to correct any possible misconceptions.
Dana (fd537d) — 3/15/2021 @ 12:30 pmAre we agreed that an assignment to 4th graders to understand the perspective and motivations of the secessionists is appropriate? I assume that we are, but that the objection is sharing the output in a vacuum.
I agree the school should have made that more clear. But, IMO that’s not a particularly egregious screw up.
Time123 (306531) — 3/15/2021 @ 12:36 pmI’ve added to the post a screenshot of the school’s now-deleted tweet about the assignment.
Dana (fd537d) — 3/15/2021 @ 12:39 pmBut That makes it clear what they were doing; asking students to show they understood the perspective of the secessionists.
I understand why people might get upset about this. But I don’t see much difference between this and writing a short answer about why the south left the union and what their motivations were.
Time123 (306531) — 3/15/2021 @ 12:42 pmI agree that 4th graders need to understand the perspective and motivations of the secessionists and an assignment toward that end is good. However, judging by the results of the assignment as posted, I don’t believe the assignment accomplished that.
Dana (fd537d) — 3/15/2021 @ 12:43 pmIt’s my understanding that NC was pretty divided about slavery back then. People in the mountainous Western part of the state didn’t have any use for it and were mostly pro-Union. What a dumb assignment.
JRH (52aed3) — 3/15/2021 @ 12:44 pmBut doesn’t your update make it clear that was the purpose of the assignment? What am I missing?
Time123 (306531) — 3/15/2021 @ 12:46 pmThose tweets are a pretty spot on modern interpretation of why the left the union.
Time123 (306531) — 3/15/2021 @ 12:46 pmTime123,
Why do you think there were no tweets on display that voiced disapproval about slavery? Do you think there were any? And if there were some, why weren’t they on display? There were other people besides slave owners that were anti-slavery at the time (Quakers, Levi Coffin, anti-slavery movement in NC). Were they taught about this?
Dana (fd537d) — 3/15/2021 @ 12:50 pmAlso, if the assignment was not a foolish one, as well as being inflammatory, why do you think the tweet was deleted and the superintendent had to come out and apologize. Schools are, to varying degrees, functioning organs of political persuasions, and the fact is that the optics of this assignment are terrible.
Dana (fd537d) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:04 pmfuture headline: “student kicked out of harvard for grade school assignment written when he was ten”
schools are forcing discussions of race on fourth graders, most of whom are too young to process it, and are surprised when they don’t get the right answers
indoctrination works better once they hit eighth grade but schools are afraid kids have already started thinking for themselves by then so it’s just way too late
JF (3efb60) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:06 pmHave just been educating myself a little bit. It seems the unionists in the western part of NC wanted NC to stay in the Union *because* they thought it was the best way to preserve slavery. They thought a Civil War the best way to destroy slavery. (This is at odds with what I was taught growing up.). I need to do some reading.
JRH (52aed3) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:14 pmTomorrow’s assignment:
Good Nazis!
“I see nothing!” – Sergeant Hans Schultz [John Banner] ‘Hogan’s Heroes’ CBS TV, 1965-71
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:14 pmI assume the tweet was deleted because of the negative attention it’s getting. I think it was a boneheaded mistake not to make it more clear what the assignment appears to have been. As you said, the optics were terrible.
As to your other point about the diversity of thought. That’s probably more complex then they’re getting to in 4th grade. Based on what my kids are taught at that point they’re focusing on the main themes and causes and spending less time on the exceptions and nuances. It’s mostly true that the South Seceded to preserve slavery, so that’s what they focused on.
Time123 (306531) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:28 pmHow would you explain the causes of the Civil War without talking about race?
Time123 (306531) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:34 pmI learned something new. thank you.
Time123 (306531) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:35 pmPeople in the mountainous Western part of the state didn’t have any use for it and were mostly pro-Union.
As late as 1850, most southerners were pro-Union. The wheels came off when it became clear that, sooner or later — given the expansion westward — the votes would be there to end slavery. Even then the benefits of Union outweighed the slavery interest in many places, but the issue had become emotional. Why, for example, did Texas care about slavery?
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:43 pmDave suggested a (Pulitzer-winning) book “The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861” on the causes of the Civil War. It was more train wreck than anything. Search for it on Amazon from Pat’s link.
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:48 pmSource
Interestingly, the North Carolina secession ordinance makes no reference to slavery or oppression by the Federal Government.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:50 pm@18 if you saw my fourth grader’s ELA assignment today you wouldn’t ask that
she’s not learning about the civil war, maybe that’s fifth grade
she’s learning about the boycotts in the south during the 1960s which she cannot process except as just another reading assignment, not because she’s not bright but because she’s ten
if she had an assignment like this even in the proper context I cannot say for sure she wouldn’t write embarrassing cancel fodder, again not because she’s not bright but because she’s ten
JF (3efb60) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:57 pmif she had an assignment like this even in the proper context I cannot say for sure she wouldn’t write embarrassing cancel fodder, again not because she’s not bright but because she’s ten
Why, but this goes to her moral makeup and no doubt her parent’s beliefs! If she weren’t a member of the white oppressor class, she’d already know the true facts about inherent racism.
[insert several pages of critical race theory and the need for oligarchical collectivism.]
Kevin M (ab1c11) — 3/15/2021 @ 2:13 pmJRH (52aed3) — 3/15/2021 @ 1:14 pm
North Carolina was one of the four states to secede later after the original seven: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. It seceded only after the inauguration of President Lincoln and Ft. Sumter – in fact only more than a month after Virginia had. Attempts to have Kentucky and Missouri secede were stopped. Kentuxcky tries to be neutral. The western parts of Virginia seceded from the state and was admitted to the Union as a separate state in 1863.
About the pro-slavery argument against secession.
his was what Abraham Lincoln said:
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lincoln1.asp
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/15/2021 @ 2:17 pmOf course, this speech didn’t work.
Secession wasn’t about slavery – it was about what political offices defenders of slavery – and no white person in the south could not defend slavery after the 1840s – could aspire to.
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/15/2021 @ 2:24 pmJRH wrote:
Not just North Carolina, but this was also true in Kentucky — which never seceded — Tennessee and the western part of Virginia, which became the separate Union state of West Virginia in 1863.
The Appalachians, if not as towering as the Rocky Mountains, are still very much up-and-down; you’re either going uphill or you’re going downhill, and the flat land in between the hills is scarce. Larger farms and plantations, the kinds of places in which slavery could be useful, just aren’t found in significant numbers in the Appalachians.
The Dana in Kentucky (fa23a0) — 3/15/2021 @ 2:26 pmMr 123 asked:
You can’t. The only thing you can say is that the South was evil, evil, evil, because if you attempt to introduce any nuance, you are the most horrible racist ever, and subject to termination and ostracism.
Today’s woke don’t do nuance.
The Dana in Kentucky (fa23a0) — 3/15/2021 @ 2:29 pmLincoln did want to get the idea across that slavery was on a an inevitable course toward extinction. Just that was enough for him.
As for this North Carolina assignment this has elementary school students coming up with their own ideas, rather than rephrasing real 1860-61 newspaper editorials as tweets.
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/15/2021 @ 2:29 pmIt was evil, or rather had perverted morality, where evil had settled in as good and nobody was allowed to argue otherwise.
They went from not being able to criticize slavery to not being able to criticize secession and doomed themselves to a terrible war.
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/15/2021 @ 2:32 pm28. The Dana in Kentucky (fa23a0) — 3/15/2021 @ 2:29 pm
Today’s woke don;t believe in censorship, where people get told what not to say or words get stricken. They believe in purges from the public square. A person is either OK, or to be shunned. People may engage in SELF-CENSORSHIP, but the woke do not believe in censorship and allow no recanting.
And they treat anything that is a matter of controversy like it happened yesterday. Even if it came up before and was handled. Attitudes change in two years.
Sammy Finkelman (e5fb44) — 3/15/2021 @ 2:39 pmMr Finkelman wrote:
South Carolina had a budding secessionist movement beginning in 1832:
Much of the Palmetto State’s economy depended upon slavery, and even though there was no question of abolition in 1832 — Andrew Jackson, himself a slave owner, was President at the time — the tariff threatened the state’s economy. Even a white family which did not own slaves had a vested interest in slavery, because the economy of the state depended upon it.
Regardless of the Civil War, slavery was eventually doomed by the industrial revolution. It provided labor, certainly enough, but it was horribly inefficient labor.
The Dana in Kentucky (fa23a0) — 3/15/2021 @ 2:41 pmMr Finkelman noted President Lincoln’s inaugural address, given March 4, 1861, but I would point out that South Carolina (December 20, 1860), Mississippi (January 9, 1861), Florida (January 10, 1861), Alabama (January 11, 1861), Georgia (January 19, 1861), Louisiana (January 26, 1861), and Texas (February 1, 1861) had all declared secession before President Lincoln took office.
The Dana in Kentucky (fa23a0) — 3/15/2021 @ 2:49 pmI think the educationally significant part is that in 1860 America not only there was no Twitter but that South of the Mason-Dixon Line only 3% of the population, if that, had achieved 4th grade literacy. (Ducks)
nk (1d9030) — 3/15/2021 @ 3:10 pmObviously, you have to talk about race if you are talking about the causes of the Civil War. However, if said talks in the classroom result in students tweeting offensive crap about the wonders of slavery and then put on display, then to me it evidences that those talks were ineffective at the very least. It would concern me as a parent that their perception of slavery was not as accurate as it needed to be.
Of course, the South’s view of slavery was evil. That they were willing to go to war over the issue only further evidenced that.
Dana (fd537d) — 3/15/2021 @ 3:18 pmSystemic racism is definitely not a real thing.
Dave (1bb933) — 3/15/2021 @ 3:59 pmMan, I was like “I can see the educational value in seeing things from all sides (in a history class)” but none of them were anti-slavery? That’s really surprising.
nate (1f1d55) — 3/15/2021 @ 4:50 pmKevin M – with respect to Texas, Texan sentiment was by no means uniform, and in fact the Governor opposed secession, denied that the convention which authorized secession had the power to authorize joining the confederacy, and was removed from power by the legislature when he refused to swear an oath of loyalty to the confederacy.
What makes it even more striking is that he was the hero of the revolution.
aphrael (4c4719) — 3/15/2021 @ 9:31 pmJust a general FYI:
4th grade is state history, so your 4th grader is likely to learn anything significant that happened in local state history, so most southern states would talk about the Civil War and slavery while most western and even many northern states wouldn’t necessarily cover the Civil War. CA, for example, is very much missions and the gold rush and very little the Civil War.
As for this particular assignment, if it was an actual variety of opinions regarding slavery and secession and the Civil War, as it would’ve been at the time, that would’ve been one thing, but all pro-slavery? That’s serious side-eye territory.
Nic (896fdf) — 3/15/2021 @ 9:40 pmI can’t read the Wapo piece so i’m going by the other links. Let me know if they have additional information that should change what I’m thinking. Really informative post btw.
Below is the assignment the school handed out.
First, they didn’t tweet these out, the wrote them on note cards and stuck them to a wall that would should put the assignment into context.
Second, I can only make out one of the actual cards that were shared on social media.
The assumptions I’m making here is that the school isn’t run by unapologetic racists/morons and that the actual assignment is similar to ones my kids have had where they have to put the position of a historical figure into their own words. I don’t have a problem with that. Understanding why the South seceded, or why the Reich pursued their final solution is valuable and should be part of the curriculum in an age appropriate way. If you wanted to simplify the causes of the civil war down to the forth grade level “Slavery” is the right answer.
Time123 (36651d) — 3/16/2021 @ 5:56 am37. There were maybe some white people in the South who were against slavery in 1860, but they kept it strictly to themselves. Northern visitors mostly did too. It had been that way for close to 25 years.
Sammy Finkelman (ff268d) — 3/16/2021 @ 12:20 pm