Blog #3

 Ashley De La Roca

Christine E Sleeter, The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies

As I was reading the article “The Academic and Social Value Ethnic Studies” by Christine E Sleeter, I made some connections and realizations. Firstly, the reading took me back to when I was in middle school when I learned about slavery. Then, I realized that what I was reading connected to my experience in school. For example, in middle and high school, there was not much content about black history besides slavery. Most of the content was mainly about the conquest, after the conquest, and briefly about slavery.

I took an African studies class in college for one of my general education classes. I was not expecting much from this class, but the content was very strong. I learned so much in the African studies class that I was shocked. So, reading this article made me think, why? Why is it that the schools in the United States don't teach about the African history of this country? I think the answer is right in the article where it states, “She found that White parents, like their children,

‘thought only of Europeans and white Americans as nation builders’..”. Through this sentence, we can see some sort of ignorance. This nation was built not by European conquerors or white Americans but by a black hard-working hand who endured so much, and I think that is very important to remember and teach to the young kids in school. Black history is a big part of how this country was built.

Another connection I made while reading the article was teachers. I worked with a young lady who taught for ten years, and I remember one of the conversations I had with her about the curriculum of the school she was in. She was a history teacher and told me that she always made sure to add as much as possible to the content. For example, slavery. Most teachers just follow the book or curriculum. Still, this lady made sure to extend the topic of slavery to her students, was able to grasp the idea of what slavery is, and made sure that her students knew the history of African Americans and not just that slavery was a thing and moved on.

It is important that we teach about the diversity of this country.