A few weeks ago when the news was released that Nelson Mandela, 95 years young, was gravely ill, I remember thinking, Holy cow, I haven't thought about Mandela in too long. I realized that had the former South African president died there would have been a global mourning period and tributes galore.
And, naturally, when the end came for Mr. Mandela, that's precisely what happened.
I wanted to say something about him to the young people I'm around daily, young people who, by and large, share his skin color, if not his country of origin. They need to learn about things relevant to their situations, as well as how and why it relates.
My own memories drifted back to my fifth and sixth grade classrooms, and the walls adorned with "End Apartheid" posters, and about how Mandela was the face of the movement. From prison. I remember hearing my classmates asking, "What's apar-theed?"
The answer, accompanied by a loving smile, was, "Well, first it's apar-TIDE. And..."
When Mandela was elected president in 1995 I remember thinking, Wasn't he already president?
The smile lines on his face still get to me...they represent hope in so many ways to me.
So, the next day after his passing when the young people and I were together again, I droned on and on about what I knew about the man: former boxer; first black lawyer in South African history; 27 years as a political prisoner; Nobel Peace Prize laureate; somebody who should resonate with these youngsters on the same level as Obama.
We'll get to the Angela Davis' and the Stokely Carmichaels later.
Amazing that they aren't taught these things in school.... but then I'm guessing they aren't on the test..... perhaps the new Common Core tests will be broader in base knowledge than just American history on a narrow basis.
ReplyDeleteYeah...right now Common Core stuff is restricted to math and language arts, with a facsimile of science coming soon...
ReplyDeleteAlso, at our school, we have many long term subs in classes like history, which sucks...