A fifth-grade teacher in Massachusetts has been placed on paid leave after a series of incidents including holding a mock slave auction, using a racial slur, and calling out the student who reported the slur, a school official said.
Officials did not name the teacher at the Margaret A. Neary Elementary School in Southborough, a town about 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Boston.
District Superintendent Gregory Martineau told parents in a statement this week that he first learned about the incidents from parents in April.
He said the first incident — a mock slave auction — took place in January during a history lesson on the economy of the Southern colonies.
“The educator asked two children sitting in front of the room, who were of color, to stand, and the educator and class discussed physical attributes (i.e., teeth and strength),” Martineau wrote.
…
In the second incident, in April, the teacher was reading aloud from a book and used a slur, which the district later discovered does not appear in the book, officials said. Martineau told parents in his statement that dehumanizing words such as slurs should not be spoken by employees or students.
What a dumb fuck. How do you not know not to do that in 2024?
Two possibilities.
One, this is a bigot who has been emboldened to stop hiding their bigotry by the current political climate.
Two, this is a bigot who has always gotten away with smaller acts of bigotry, hiding behind the “historical context” excuses, and this is just the first time the stars aligned to finally get rigd of them.
I might be wrong, but at a certain point, I believe (s)he might’ve been actually trying to harass these kids. Why else would you have a mock auction critiquing their physical characteristics and adding slurs into the books you’re reading?
interesting that you assume the teacher is a he
Bad to assume. I’ll fix it.
If you are a teacher in any grade, i offer for free to hear your Black history ideas or slavery explanation experiments. I will tell you if you should do it or not for free. Ask away.
I wanna bang the black lunch lady.
Like, in front of the class?
I haven’t thought out all the details yet
In your private life? Go for it. In front of the school? I would say, find another place instead of at school.
Yeah but I want to teach the kids what happens if you follow your dreams.
We have many laws against that.
This country…
Gotta get extra scoops somehow
can i traumatize black children by publicly treating them as actual slaves in front of their class? 5th grade teacher asking thanks
They will be scarred enough by society and the judicial system, there’s no need in you adding to it.
No, this is not an original idea. It has been done and no, yours isn’t unique.
Don’t worry though, they know you are racist. No, knowing one black person doesn’t matter. You should visit a historical black museum or non-profit to get more views.
I’m not a teacher, and I’m not black, but may I suggest letting white kids understand about “The Talk?”
Well that would require parents to hold their government accountable to educating. Taxes would have to go up and spending on programs that don’t directly benefit “you” as well.
Also, social norms for your times will be questioned. It will be uncomfortable but open dialogue will make it easier. This will also lead into uncovering some horrible things in our past or communities. You’re not responsible, hopefully? Lol But it will help understand how some people are oppressed and our system may need to be reviewed. That will include looking at our judicial system. No one wants to get rid of it but instead make it work for everyone, the same way.
Once we understand all this, then other groups of people may underatand why POC fear interacting with sociaty.
Also, we are teachers not sub-parents. We need to work together to guide young people in a better future for everyone.
I was thinking just letting them know about it in general, not telling it to them. I’m just remember when a black friend of mine told me about that and it really blew my young mind. No one had made it clear to me that Officer Friendly wasn’t Officer Friendly to him or why that was.
Me, I made it clear to my daughter that the cops are no one’s friends, but being white, they’ll be more lenient on us and why that is racist and wrong.
How seriously do you think black-face was considered? Do you think it was the optics or logistics that stymied that thought?
“I don’t need black face this year, I have black students! They can’t say no, or I’ll punish them”
with lashings for historical accuracy
Grew up in Mass. I remember one year I had to go to a multi-night field trip called nature’s classroom. One the things we learned about was the underground railroad. They lined us up in rows of 2 and walked us like we were slaves while calling us negros and made whip cracks. They warned us that it would be Intense beforehand and a few kids cried who were allowed to fall out. It was intense but it was eye-opening of just a fraction of what slaves went through.
This however clearly had a bias of the participants color, did not get approval or suggestions from other staff. Or have a place for students to disengage from participation if they were yo troubled by it.
Ya this doesn’t sound like a bad lesson tbh, but it needed to have some kind of warning and a way to not participate, plus it should have had all students in the slave auction and not just the black ones, so even the white kids could see what it was like at the time. The needless “n” word could also be dropped lol.
When was this? Pretty sure we didn’t have anything like this anywhere near us growing up in MA… Although there are always weird exceptions. I foolishly feel like I gotta mention that not everyone who grew up in Mass had experiences anything like this. I’m about to be 40 fwiw.
I dont remember what grade I was in. But I’d guess between 13 - 19 years ago. I just looked Nature’s Classroom up though and they’ve been around for 50 years.
I hate that Black children are always expected to just walk off being victims of racism. I wish that teacher nothing but the worst in life.
How much were they going for?
