WHITE PLAINS, N.Y, Dec. 5, 2008
Teacher Ties Up Students In Slavery Lesson
White Teacher Binds Hands, Feet Of Two Black Girls
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A photograph of the emancipation proclomation. A New York state teacher is under fire for a lesson on slavery in which she bound the hands and feet of two black girls and made them crawl under a chair as a "demonstration" of slavery. (AP)
After the mother complained to Haverstraw Middle School, the superintendent said he was having "conversations with our staff on how to deliver effective lessons."
"If a student was upset, then it was a bad idea," said Superintendent Brian Monahan of the North Rockland School District in New York City's northern suburbs.
The teacher apologized to the mother who complained and her 13-year-old daughter during a meeting Thursday that also included a representative of the local NAACP. But the mother, Christine Shand of Haverstraw, N.Y. said Friday she thinks the teacher should be removed from the class.
"I think the teacher should have gotten some discipline," Shand said. "I know if that was me, I would be uncomfortable going back to that class. Why should my daughter have to switch?"
Monahan refused to say what, if any, measures were taken against the teacher, Eileen Bernstein, who was still working on Friday. The school district said she was not available for comment.
"We encourage our teachers to deliver the curriculum in a variety of ways, to go beyond just reading the textbook," the superintendent said. "We don't want to discourage creativity. But this obviously went wrong because the student was upset."
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On Nov. 18, Bernstein was discussing the conditions under which African captives were taken to America in slave ships. She bound the two students' hands and feet with tape and had them crawl under a desk to simulate the experience, Monahan and Shand said. Monahan said the girls were not the only blacks in the class.We encourage our teachers to deliver the curriculum in a variety of ways, to go beyond just reading the textbook.
Brian Monahan, superintendent, North Rockland School DistrictGabrielle Shand burst into tears at home, her mother said.
"There are other ways to demonstrate slavery," Christine Shand said Friday. "It doesn't matter the color of the kids, it's just not right to tie them up. My daughter is still upset, still embarrassed. She didn't go to school today."
Wilbur Aldridge, director of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the history demonstration, first reported in The Journal News, "went wrong when she started to do that binding."
"I don't care what color, no one should be put in the position of having their hands and feet bound," he said.
Aldridge said he feared that the teacher still "didn't get it" after their meeting. He said the teacher apologized "because Gabrielle was upset, not because she admitted she did something wrong."
Shand said she had not decided whether to take any further action, including filing a lawsuit.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 77 CommentsIllegitimate children are a different problem. Many of them are raised in poverty. The majority of convicts had no real father.
New York is my favorite city. All American cities should aspire to be like New York.
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Posted by CloverNYC at 05:52 PM : Dec 08, 2008
+ report abuse
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nah its from the study of black culture
posted by runningralph
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You draw a completely illogical nexus between a statistic 70% of black children not having ''real fathers'' and being ''overly emotional'' as a result.
From this you conclude that there is a need to reduce the ''illegitimate'' birth rate.
Did you read that in your Ku Klux Klan manual?
posted by chillllout
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Yes, you are right.
Those two children will never forget how a teacher they trusted embarrassed and humiliated them before their peers by binding their hands and feet for the sake of a demonstration.
AND THAT''S REALLY WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT !!!!!
Not one parent complained. Everyone understood that the teacher was attempting to get the children to see the horror and unfairness of slavery. Had she used the black children, I suppose she could have made the news.
Posted by dennisjr6 at 09:24 PM : Dec 06, 2008
I think she should be praised. If she had used two white children the impact would have been smaller, but by using two Black children even the whites could relate by having a visual representation of what she (the teacher) was trying to tell them, the students may just remember that lesson long after they forget how to do Trig...
Compare apples to apples or don''''t compare--you do not know how these black children view slavery so do not and CANNOT say how being forced to reenact such events affected them or their parents. NOr did you really learn what it was like to be blind. Darkness and needed guidance is only a very small part of it.
Posted by harbinger09 at 02:24 PM : Dec 06, 2008
Don''t you DARE say anything about comparison of Slavery or blindness. "YOU" never experienced slavery, "I" have experienced ''Blindness" and intolerance and hatred. Have ''you'' ever had somebody spit in your face, call you names and beat you up for being blind, and to make it worse they were Black. You would think that a Black would have compassion. Nope they are no different than any other bigoted,hate-filled, mindless jerk posting on these pages.
BTW; I am no longer blind, nor weak and defenseless.
I dont hate any one for my experience with bigotry, I feel sorry for their victims and pray they will change before its too late.
When you pair emotion with educational content, it is more likely that the material will be remembered. The area of our brains that is essential for decoding and sensing emotion is called the amygdala. The amygdala is very close to the hippocampus, which is the center of brain that is responsible for storing and retrieving memories. This is the reason for the FACT that we remember things a lot better when emotion has been attached to them. Any good teacher that keeps up on brain and learning research knows this. It is these kinds of teachers that use methods other than old school, textbook learning. Not to mention, most students prefer these kinds of lessons to the boring teaching strategies of the past.
Teachers across the country use this exact strategy to convey the emotion involved in the slave trade. I know teachers today that do this in their classrooms. As a matter of fact, my WHITE (since everyone is so concerned with race on this thread) fiance said that he and his BLACK friend both participated in this exact lesson in 5th or 6th grade. This took place over 10 years ago...and wouldn''t you know it...they both found the lesson to be engaging, valuable, AND they obviously remembered it. Mission accomplished!
When you pair emotion with educational content, it is more likely that the material will be remembered. The area of our brains that is essential for decoding and sensing emotion is called the amygdala. The amygdala is very close to the hippocampus, which is the center of brain that is responsible for storing and retrieving memories. This is the reason for the FACT that we remember things a lot better when emotion has been attached to them. Any good teacher that keeps up on brain and learning research knows this. It is these kinds of teachers that use methods other than old school, textbook learning. Not to mention, most students prefer these kinds of lessons to the boring teaching strategies of the past.
Teachers across the country use this exact strategy to convey the emotion involved in the slave trade. I know teachers today that do this in their classrooms. As a matter of fact, my WHITE (since everyone is so concerned with race on this thread) fiance said that he and his BLACK friend both participated in this exact lesson in 5th or 6th grade. This took place over 10 years ago...and wouldn''t you know it...they both found the lesson to be engaging, valuable, AND they obviously remembered it. Mission accomplished!
When you pair emotion with educational content, it is more likely that the material will be remembered. The area of our brains that is essential for decoding and sensing emotion is called the amygdala. The amygdala is very close to the hippocampus, which is the center of brain that is responsible for storing and retrieving memories. This is the reason for the FACT that we remember things a lot better when emotion has been attached to them. Any good teacher that keeps up on brain and learning research knows this. It is these kinds of teachers that use methods other than old school, textbook learning. Not to mention, most students prefer these kinds of lessons to the boring teaching strategies of the past.
Teachers across the country use this exact strategy to convey the emotion involved in the slave trade. I know teachers today that do this in their classrooms. As a matter of fact, my WHITE (since everyone is so concerned with race on this thread) fiance said that he and his BLACK friend both participated in this exact lesson in 5th or 6th grade. This took place over 10 years ago...and wouldn''t you know it...they both found the lesson to be engaging, valuable, AND they obviously remembered it. Mission accomplished!
TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT YOURSELVES. YOU MIGHT JUST BE A BIGOT.
Posted by comeon11 at 03:35 PM : Dec 06, 2008
Look at the black calling the kettle a pot.
Pleeeeezze!
How touchy can blacks get?
Guess it all depends on how deep
the pockets are.
This is such a stupid story.
If this were soooo bad then blacks and
the NAACP should be OUTRAGED about "Roots"
Get real folks, yes even my darker skinned
afro bro''s
No, children are taught to respect, and do respect, their teachers. Remember, children (and even adults) sometimes realize after the fact that they have played a part in something that is not quite right.
Plus teachers, more often then not, merely state "who wants to take part in a fun excercise?"
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