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Mother of 10-year-old says her son refused to take part in simulated slave auction
School sorry for making black student 'slave' - U.S. news - Life - Race & ethnicity - msnbc.com
updated 1 hour 43 minutes ago 2011-03-04T14:57:21
GAHANNA, Ohio The mother of a black Ohio fifth grader assigned to play a slave for a social studies lesson says the school should be more sensitive.
Principal Scott Schmidt of Chapelfield Elementary in Gahanna called Aneka Burton to apologize for what happened to her son, Nikko, on Wednesday. Columbus station WBNS-TV reports Schmidt said no harm was intended.
Ten-year-old Nikko says the class was randomly divided into "masters" and "slaves" and that the only other black student got to be a master. Burton says her son refused to take part in a simulated slave auction and was sent back to his desk.
Burton says she appreciates the apology, but the exercise was inappropriate.
The school district said in a statement Thursday that officials acted promptly once the concern was raised.
It's short, so that's the whole story.
I went through the same thing. But I was in 7th / 8th grade mix. It was very very odd, you could cut the tension with a knife. so as kids we acted out, trying to kill time to the bell, and everytime the teacher regained discapline, it got very tense.
doing this to 5th graders is just foolish at best, but to me that's cruel.
School sorry for making black student 'slave' - U.S. news - Life - Race & ethnicity - msnbc.com
updated 1 hour 43 minutes ago 2011-03-04T14:57:21
GAHANNA, Ohio The mother of a black Ohio fifth grader assigned to play a slave for a social studies lesson says the school should be more sensitive.
Principal Scott Schmidt of Chapelfield Elementary in Gahanna called Aneka Burton to apologize for what happened to her son, Nikko, on Wednesday. Columbus station WBNS-TV reports Schmidt said no harm was intended.
Ten-year-old Nikko says the class was randomly divided into "masters" and "slaves" and that the only other black student got to be a master. Burton says her son refused to take part in a simulated slave auction and was sent back to his desk.
Burton says she appreciates the apology, but the exercise was inappropriate.
The school district said in a statement Thursday that officials acted promptly once the concern was raised.
It's short, so that's the whole story.
I went through the same thing. But I was in 7th / 8th grade mix. It was very very odd, you could cut the tension with a knife. so as kids we acted out, trying to kill time to the bell, and everytime the teacher regained discapline, it got very tense.
doing this to 5th graders is just foolish at best, but to me that's cruel.