History or Currency
Preparing for holidays often becomes a part of the school library curriculum. With the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday many teachers of all races come to the library for materials, print & nonprint, websites, strategies, etc. Yet each year I have one teacher of first graders who resists. When asked she does not want her students exposed to discrimination and the segregation events of history. She lists as her reasons:
* my students aren’t prejudiced and I don’t want to make them
* it’s too early for them to understand this difficult concept
* schools spend too much time focusing on the bad things in history.
I disagree with her but need to spend some time thinking on how I can address this. Ideas?
