Last week my kids went to the school library where the school librarian taught them about Martin Luther King. Our school librarian grew up in the segregated south so she tried to explain to my students what segregation was like. She talked about how inadequate her education had been.She explained that black people weren't allowed to go to school with white people. She explained that the kids at her school didn't have enough materials, and that all their books were old and broken.
There are no white students in my school. Though the school does get newish text books, the school does lack many supplies and materials. Right now I'm teaching a geometry unit without the benefit of enough block shapes to teach my students about 3-D figures. My students with special needs (language difficulties, ESL, emotional difficulties) never get the services to which they are legally entitled. A week in which my students receive even 45 minutes of ESL instruction is a miracle. But my school isn't even that bad: we received a B+ grade on the NYC quality review.
How do you explain the importance of the civil rights movement to six year olds if some things haven't changed significantly?
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