San Antonio school assignment asking students to list 'positives' of slavery

[Dill]

(04-20-2018, 08:49 AM)Au165 Wrote: Discussing the internal struggle that some in the south went through in regards to the economical impact of slavery but the obvious moral dilemmas seems like a fair assignment. The assignment didn't really give any context of who's point of view it was supposed to be from or what the larger theme was other than a "balanced view".

It's hard to really judge the appropriateness without context. I do think though that we as a country need to do a better job of teaching kids early about empathy and while you don't have to agree with things others do it is good to understand how they could think those ways.

I do get the impression that all the kids have heard about is the negative side of slavery--loss of freedom, whipping, rape, abject poverty, poor rations, being worked to death, families separated on the auction block, people bred like cattle--and so some teacher wants to make sure they get the positive side too, why it wasn't all bad. If it were really all bad then why would God condone it in the Bible?

This sounds rather like a neoconfederate lesson plan to me, not an accident.