Imagine that your child comes home with the following homework assignment:
“You own a plantation or farm and therefore need more workers. You begin to get more involved in the slave trade industry and have slaves work on your farm. Your product to trade is slaves. These could be worth a lot.”
Parents of fifth graders in suburban St. Louis didn’t have to imagine. The social studies assignment brought home by their children included a blank line for students to set a price per slave.
Predictably, news of the assignment exploded across the Internet, making national headlines and eliciting cries of cultural insensitivity. In short order, the teacher was placed on administrative leave.
Perhaps the teacher merely meant to be historically ...
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