Texas School Forced To Apologize After Asking Students To List Positives of Slavery
On Friday, a San Antonio, Texas charter school apologized for the negligent act of asking students to write down the positive aspects of slavery in the U.S.
According to The Hill, Aaron Kindel, who is the superintendent of the Great Hearts Academies in Texas, posted the school’s apology to Facebook, stating that the mishap was limited to just one teacher at a certain school.
“In the 8th grade American History class students were asked to reflect on the differing sides of slavery,” the post states. “To be clear, there is no debate about slavery. It is immoral and a crime against humanity.”
“We fully intend to make sure something like this does not happen again and will keep parents posted as we address this issue further.”
Kindel also admitted that the teacher responsible for the controversial assignment at the Great Hearts Monte Vista North campus had been placed on leave almost immediately.
As word of the assignment got out, many people, including Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro, took to social media to express their anger at the situation.
The charter school system stated that it had subsequently removed from its classrooms “Prentice Hall Classics: A History of the United States,” a textbook usually used by the students.
“If we deem this textbook imprudent, we will permanently remove it and replace it with a history book that accurately reflects our values,” Kindel said, who stated that an audit of the textbook was being conducted.
The textbook’s publishing company, Pearson, also gave a statement in an attempt to distance itself from the assignment that has left many parent’s and students upset.
“The worksheet that was being associated with this book in social media posts was not created by, endorsed, or encouraged in any way by Pearson,” said Scott Overland, who is Pearson’s Director of Media Relations.
“We do not support the point of view represented in the worksheet,” he added. “And strongly condemn the implication that there was any positive aspect to slavery.”
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