Gah, here I go. Sorry it’s so late – I’ve been a busy little bee with bunches of other work and whatnot. :P

So, I actually really enjoyed the first part of this reading. This topic of what should and shouldn’t be taught to children is quite interesting, because if you think about it, most kids won’t remember much, if any of it… depending on what age you’re teaching them. For example, I remember talking to my mom and she was like, “REMEMBER WHEN WE WENT TO THAT PLACE…. THAT TIIIME… AND WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!?!” and I was like, “Err, nope… sorry…” Like, I didn’t remember it cause I was like, 5-years-old, but my parents were good parents to take me out somewhere like that to expose me to that stuff, regardless of if I ever remember it.

Okay – back to the reading, sorry. So at first, as I read the part in italics – the way the Rosa Parks story is told to children – I kept marking it up and was like, “uh, NOT REALLY…” or like, “there’s WAY more to that…” which the reading then went on to point out and explain. The thing that really struck me the most was the paragraph about how the boycott was lead by Martin Luther King Jr., and how it succeeded, and then it goes on to say “Now African Americans and European Americans can ride the buses together in Montgomery.” THAT MADE ME MAD! Angry Gina. I don’t understand how they can just be like, “YUP! WE WIN! NOW ERRAYTHANG IS HAPPY!” Like, that is NOT how it happened. SO much more happened. I mean, like I said, the kids aren’t going to remember all the tiny details, so like, they don’t really NEED to tell them exactly what happened legally in the fights they had to gain this freedom to be desegregated… but still, that IS what happened. And the kids shouldn’t be LIED TO!!!

I don’t know what I’m trying to say, but I just got offended a little, silly me. I just feel like… teaching kids about this stuff is good, yes, but if you’re not telling them the true story… what’s the point!

Another good point that was made in this reading was about how like, not everyone is a hero or heroine, but that only special people can create change. I think THAT’S why we tell kids the Rosa Parks tale in particular, not about the WPC and NAACP and whatnot – kids don’t want to hear that! They want to hear about some lady who did some AWESOME thing, you know? That’s what I remembered as a kid – how amazing Rosa Parks seemed. They worked her up to be some AMAZING human, but after reading this, I found out that like, she was NOT the first to protest the way she did, and that she was really just the tipping point that started the boycotts and whatnot.

  • What do you guys think about the 2-sided argument about whether children should be taught this info or not?
  • Why do you think they choose ROSA PARKS, of all the people? Why not that woman Jo Ann Gibson Robinson? She did the same thing, and her situation was a little worse!
  • It said that MLK Jr. was originally reluctant about the idea to oppose segregation; what do you think about that? It shocked me, for sure.
  • Why were these two – Parks and King – chosen to get this fame and to have their stories told? Why not anyone else?

The end. :)