Milwaukee Teacher Assigns Students Homework Asking For “Three Good Reasons For Slavery”

Fourth graders at an elementary school in Milwaukee were told to give three “good reasons” for slavery and their parents are outraged.

One of the upset parents was Trameka Brown-Berry. Brown-Berry took to Facebook and posted a picture of her son Jerome’s homework with a caption that read, “Does anyone else find my fourth-grader’s homework offensive? The picture was shared by thousands.
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The homework assignment was given to the children in their social studies class and the instructions were to, “Give 3 ‘good’ reasons for slavery and 3 bad reasons.”
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Following the post, the school sent out a statement saying, “We understand that, as presented, the words used showed a lack of sensitivity and were offensive. The purpose of the assignment was not, in any way, to have students argue that any slavery is acceptable — a concept that goes against our core values and beliefs about the equality and worth of people of all races.”
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But Trameka took true parenting to the next level, she later posted to Facebook again and said she had five requests for the school: a verbal apology to her son and others in the class, a formal apology sent to parents, that the assignment be removed from current and future curriculum, that teachers communicate with parents when they’re broaching sensitive topics, and that the school’s staff be trained in cultural competency. The principal agreed to her terms.
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“The moral of the story is, the only way to teach our kids to stand up for their rights and respect is to model it,” she wrote. “With all of your support, I was able to give my child a personal life lesson about how change starts with you.”