There is a Big Problem in Education

By Jasper, Class of 2021

There is a big problem in education, and it is crippling. It is the fact that the history of people of color is not being taught in school, especially that of people of African descent. I am Jasper Anthony and I as a 7th grade student can safely say that in all of my years, I have not learned any Black history outside of Black History month and even that was just a yearly overview of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , Rosa Parks, and Ruby Bridges. And I never noticed anything, because I never knew there was more until I joined this amazing group The New3Rs and with the teaching of Mr. Dannie Gore.

In this class I learned so much and I feel the history of Black people should be common knowledge. I realized that the way we learn history in school almost entirely focuses on what happened in Europe or people from Europe. My proposal is that schools should restructure their curriculum to include Black History in all subjects and during Black History Month we could move beyond just learning about the same 4 or 5 Civil Rights heroes every year. If you are learning about something that happened in Europe you could also talk about the African perspectives and influences, and later on the Native American influences and perspectives.

For example, you could work into math class that our number system was an Arabic number system that was so advanced that they first figured out how to use zero as a number. That may sound unimpressive now but back then it was revolutionary, and it was passed on to Europe by the Muslim conquests of the Iberian Peninsula. And for science class we could talk about the many medicines and biological technologies that were invented by Africans. Hundreds of years ago they had medicines that accomplished the same thing as modern day diarrhea tablets and aspirin. There are thousands of inventions from Africa.

In history class while we are learning about the Roman Empire, we can also learn about the Carthaginian Empire. Right now, I am learning about Christianity. We can devote part of that unit on how Christianity affected African regions – like how it was used to justify the slave trade. I am not a professional in history or curriculum development, but these are just a few ideas from my experience, but I am sure there are many more. For example, Egyptians built the pyramids, which is a feat of human intelligence that even modern day engineers, archaeologists, and scientists don’t understand. Do you know if Mansa Musa where alive today he would be wealthier than Bill Gates and the leading philanthropist? He was a Black man. But you probably wouldn’t learn this in your average history class because it is not involving Europe. That is sad, because I also have not learned about Native Americans much, other than their conquest by Spain and other colonizers. I am not saying learning European history is bad or invaluable. I am saying we need a restructured curriculum that values the contributions of Blacks and Indigenous People. We cannot only focus on White and Christianity.

The point I am trying to get across is that there is not enough Non-Eurocentric history being taught in schools and this can be changed by simply giving out a new curriculum and while it may be hard making a new one it will be a good usage of time to teach Black kids the successes of their ancestors and the great things Blacks have done around the world. It will give Black children pride and power. Kids who are not Black also will learn the greatness of Black people. While there may be some controversy and opposition to what I am opposing, what is wrong about teaching the truth? We need to make some anti-racist decisions and those who won’t teach Black History because of it being possibly harmful to white people to know what their ancestors did, my message to you is that you need to know.

Teaching the truth is the only way to stop racism and work toward treating Black and Indigenous People with respect. Me being a White male learning Black History and how racism impacts everything, from the time a Black person is born to their death, from where they go to school to the jobs they have, had “bad side effects”. It made we want to make America better county for Black people. And honestly, I just think white people don’t want to feel shamed or uncomfortable and who would? But this is something that people like me need to just bear through. Yes, it is also my history and what my ancestors did. In The New 3Rs we are taught “Your Story is Our Story”. I deserve along with all other people in America or the world to learn Black History, so we work together to correct the wrongs. Here is what I have to say to white people who are afraid to learn Black History and talk about how racism harms Black people, just get some thick skin and take it like a champ because; but everyone needs to own up to what they did along with what their ancestors did to give them the privileges they have today.

For the people who are like me, who are trying to help fix this world or maybe just understanding racism, these are my thoughts on why it’s important to teach the truth. The truth is not in textbooks or Google. Learn from historians like Mr. Dannie Gore or the California African American Museum. You may have noticed that I am passionate about racial justice, equity and making life equal for all regardless of race. I want at least some of these things to happen soon.

Judging the way that our government is right now, it is going to take some time. I hope that you learned something from this blog post and that you agree with at least some of the stuff I said. You can do what I have done. Call congress and tell them Black History can be taught in science, English, gym all of the subjects. That is what I have done. Have a wonderful rest of your day.