We're in a real conundrum in this country regarding the teaching of history. A lot of our past is downright ugly -- to wit, slavery. How should it be taught? Should we just gloss over it, teach it in a sanitized version or have at it and let kids know how truly awful it was?
That last method just got a guy fired.
Civil War re-enactor Tim VanRaemdonck said he was just staying in character when he wrote "slave" as the occupation of black children on fictitious enlistment papers during Civil War Days at Crossroads Village.
VanRaemdonck, portraying an officer in the Confederate Army, was kicked out of Crossroads on Friday because of how he filled out the keepsake papers he gave elementary school students from the Waterford School District.
One first-grade student was so upset by being labeled a slave that he tore up the enlistment paper he had been given and apparently told his teacher.
Word reached Crossroads Village manager Garry Pringle, who had two conversations with VanRaemdonck and asked him to leave.
But VanRaemdonck said he is owed an apology from the Genesee County Parks and Recreation Commission for kicking him out when all he did was tell the truth about the country's history.
"I told him, 'This is the 1860s, and we're in Georgia. ... In that time period, you probably would have been a slave,'" said VanRaemdonck, 44, a Flint firefighter. "I told him the historical fact."
I'm sure that a lot of you find this to be very insensitive -- especially since the child involved was a first-grader. But if six-year olds can't begin to learn about slavery in America as it really was, then why were they visiting the place at all. I can envision a future "heritage-park" where the roles of American slaves are played by white actors (with a few Asians and blacks thrown in) just to keep it fair.
That will make the racially-sensitive types happy, but it won't do much for the kids' understanding of the Civil War.
[UPDATE:] I've written about this before, but the above post reminds me of a discussion I once had with one of my co-workers: he's black and about my age. If I had to guess, I'd say he's more conservative than liberal -- he listens occasionally to Limbaugh and doesn't puke when Bush's name is mentioned.
Nonetheless, he and I disagree sharply over the use of Huckleberry Finn in High School English classes. I think that the book is a valuable history lesson on what life for blacks (even free blacks) was like back then. He thinks it shouldn't be required reading because he still remembers how upset he was when he read it for the first time.
And, of course the n***** word plays a big part.
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