Edwards, Tara. "Parents outraged over slavery essay question at Novi Middle School." WXYZ Detroit. WXYT Detroit, 13 Mar 2014. Web. 14 Mar 2014. <http://www.wxyz.com/news/parents-outraged-over-middle-school-essay-question>.
This article discusses a controversy that was recently brought up by 13-year-old Kaya James, who attends Novi Middle School. She claims that during a lesson about the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution in her social studies class, her teacher asked the students whether they would rather be a slave or a factory worker. Kaya reports that - shockingly - a majority of her class chose to be a slave, because "they would get free food and board." The class was then instructed to write an essay in order to justify their choice. Kaya feels that her classmates did not fully comprehend the physical and emotional toll that being a slave has on a person in comparison to a position like a factory worker. Steve Matthews, the school district superintendent, is responding to the issue by meeting with school teachers to discuss how the lesson could be restructured.
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I just have to say something about this whole issue. There is a problem in this country, and the problem is that slavery in the United States is being downplayed and turned into something that people can laugh about. Even movies like "12 Years A Slave" serve to "Hollywood-ify" an issue that is completely above some movie screen. The fact that most of Kaya's class actually said that they'd want to be a slave over a factory worker speaks to how poor a job we are doing in educating students about slavery. In addition, this speaks to the United States' tendency to ignore or brush aside the flaws in our history. Patriot or not, it's time to face this scar in our history.
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