Homework can leave parents and students scratching their heads, sighing in frustration, or in some cases totally blown away. That was the case for Trameka Brown-Berry when she glanced over her 4th-grade son Jerome’s homework. What she saw left her utterly speechless.
The prompt asked, “Give 3 ‘good’ reasons for slavery.”
Brown-Berry was so taken aback that she took to social media to showcase the type of assignments children of 2018 are expected to answer. The response was overwhelming with over 3.7K shares mostly consisting of people supporting the fact that this type of assignment is offensive and doesn’t belong in the world let alone in an elementary school classroom.
As you can clearly see, Jerome answered the question in the only proper way.
I feel there is no good reason for slavery that’s why I did not write.
The school indicated that the assignment was intended to spark a discussion about slavery, but we can all agree that this could have been handled in a much different manner.
Brown-Berry summed up how the assignment made her feel in an interview with Fox6 New,
It’s highly offensive and insensitive. I was in shock. I couldn’t believe they sent something like that home.
In an update status on Brown-Berry’s personal Facebook page, she indicates that the school listened to concerns and offered the following strategy moving forward:
1. A verbal apology to the kids,
2. A formal apology sent home to the parents
3.The assignment be removed from current and future curriculum,
4. Something being sent home prior to any sensitive topics being discussed with students in the future.
5. The staff and teachers being trained in a cultural diversity/ cultural competency in-service to prevent this from happening again.
The school gave this apology letters to the students and their families:
Brown-Berry indicated that she felt like the school acted appropriately and swiftly in their response and she has continued to work closely with the administration to make sure that this mistake is never made again.
A short time after the incident, Brown-Berry was asked to discuss the issue on Wisconsin Public Radio. Brown-Berry offered her views on the appropriate way to teach children about slavery. Brown-Berry indicated that,
We need to educate our educators.
She went on to explain that proper training is important, but it shouldn’t be a one-time class, but rather ongoing training to help educators understand the importance of inclusive teaching that is also culturally sensitive.
If you look closely, Jerome made sure he mentioned something that would leave an impact by saying, “I am proud to be black because we are strong and brave..” Good for him for making sure that his voice was heard loud and clear.
It takes students like Jerome, parents like his mother, and people like us to make sure insensitive assignments like this end up in the trash and not on the desks of our students.
