Not applicable
There are, we are told, two sides to every question. We must not, we are told, live in a bubble where we never encounter dissenting views. Free speech, we are told, requires inviting and welcoming every opinion no matter how distasteful or threatening.
I give you Great Hearts Monte Vista charter school:
A Texas charter school is apologizing after a teacher gave an assignment to an eighth grade American History class, asking students to list the positive aspects of slavery.
“When I first read it, I thought, this was b.s.,” said Great Hearts Monte Vista eighth-grade student Manu Livar.
Students in the class were supposed to complete an assignment on the “positive aspects” and “negative aspects” of the life of slaves, giving a “balanced view.”
A balanced view. A balanced view of slavery. Can we have a balanced view of the Holocaust? The Rwandan genocide? The Srebrenica massacre? Can we hear about the “positive aspects” of all of those?
When his mother picked Manu up, he showed her the assignment; she immediately sent a picture of it to her husband.
“What the hell is this revisionist history lesson trying to achieve here?!?” said Roberto Livar, Manu’s father, who posted it to Facebook on Wednesday.
Manu’s worksheet:
Everyone says there were fine fine people on both sides.
I would be tempted to write in the left hand column “Some white people got rich”. You know, just to demonstrate impartiality.
I like the student’s answer. He made the point well, though a big “None” might have been slightly better.
How have we come to this?
“Manú” is not a Texan sounding name. He might not be white.