Today I went to see one of my regular clients. She's a 7th grader at a local private school; one of the most academically challenging in the area. I've worked with her for a while now and her homework kicks my ass.
Right before Christmas, she was asked to write an outline for an English paper on "a controversy." Some of her classmates wrote about why they should offer lunch a bit later. My kid... she wanted to write about racial profiling. Hmmm... Did I mention that she's African American and I'm so white I'm practically translucent? I tried to be... delicate. Ultimately, she did a lot of great research and has since written a pretty good rough draft.
Right after the holidays, she told me that she had a new history assignment. She has to lead a class discussion on a topic relating to "race." Not again, I thought. She then proceeded to tell me how she'd decided to talk about "scientific racism." Um... did I mention that she's in 7th grade? (When I was in 7th grade, the most challenging thing Mrs. Oliver asked us to do was a research paper on animals in poetry.) When we looked at the assignment, we discovered that she was supposed to find a primary document (relating to this topic) to present and discuss with her class. Did I have any suggestions, she asked?
Oh yeah. I'm just a wealth of primary documents. I drive around with a reference section in my trunk. Better yet, I have a microfiche reader and 100 years of the New York Times in my bag. The only thing I could think of off the top of my head was The Bell Curve.
Well, thank god for the internet. We looked up scientific racism on Wikipedia which led us to the Eugenics article. Which led us to the Nuremberg Laws. Perfect, I thought! Nazis + racism = social studies gold. Why don't you focus on one kind of scientific racism like eugenics, I suggested. Everyone was happy.
Until she talked to her teacher. Who reminded her that this was an AMERICAN history class. Fantastic.
So tonight, we spent 1/2 of an hour trying to get her dad's laptop to work and the other 1/2 of an hour trying to find another primary document. We found part of the Immigration Act of 1924 online... not the interesting part, of course. Finally, I had to leave and we'd made no progress. I told her to talk to her school's reference librarian and I'd be back in a couple of days.
Honestly, sometimes I feel like this job asks the impossible. Find a primary document on scientific racism in one hour? Sure. That can be found online? Uh, ok. That can be comprehended by a 7th grader? Wait... does that exist?
Anyone have any suggestions?
Postscript: Next month, she has to do a presentation on socioeconomic or class issues. Thank god we read Nickel and Dimed this summer. Can you believe this is 7th grade!
5 comments:
What about the Belmont Report and the Tuskegee Syphilis Study? Surely there are some primary documents available online.
Although tragic and horrifying, it did lead to a revolution in medical ethics, so there's a great positive spin that can be made. And it is clearly remembered all these years later as having impact. Clinton apologized for the study during his presidency, too, so that adds some intermediate social point.
Plus, why should you feel weird just because you're typing-paper white? That doesn't interfere with your role in our social fabric or your capacity to understand her development, right?
That teacher needs to go back and read her history books some more - there was a very big eugenics movement in the United States. Up until the 70's people were being sterlized. My current state was a ver big practicer of that movement. I wish I knew of some primary sources out there - and I will actually look today and mail them to you if I find one.
And if your student was truly race-blind, she wouldn't care about the color of your skin anymore than you do about the color of hers. Idealistic, I konw - but should be true, right?
.....a-a-a-and the eugenics movement here wasn't really motivated by race. instead it was mostly people with mental health issues or low IQs who were sterilized.
open mouth, insert foot.
this is why a) i should never do anything before having at least two cups of cofee and b) why you are the tutor, not me.
ugh.
hmmm, and since DNA has proven that there is no genetic difference between people with different skin colors, can she not argue a broader definition of "racism," because it is scientific, rather than socio-cultural. Perhaps? In that case, the practice of sterilizing people with low IQs or mental health issues could be seen under that broader umbrella...in other words, were the people creating those programs not erroneously seeing the subjects as a different "race" and not human beings?
Oh, and I can't remember if I mean the Belmont Report or not. I'm thinking of the laws that came into place after the scandalous study/studies. It might take a smart 7th grader to research that and see if I've got it totally wrong. :)
Thanks Betty and "A" for your suggestions... I can't wait to share them with her tomorrow.
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