Politics of Children's literature: what's wrong with the Rosa Parks Myth

            The article Politics of children’s literature what’s wrong with the Rosa Parks myth can easily be a touchy subject for many cultures and races. I believe this article summarizes the many issues we have with the education system, and the American culture. For many years slavery and racism is a topic that can become heated really quickly.

            In today’s society when we think of Rosa Parks and all of those involved in the civil rights movement as strong individuals who stood up for their rights and what they believed in. However, schools and teachers like to paint a pretty picture and hide the raw facts of how events occurred. By doing so, it has caused so much more damage because it shows unfairness, it paraphrases their story and many people today truly confuse the real meaning of racism.

            I understand being a teacher has its ups and downs, and I believe teaching or introducing delicate subjects such as slavery is hard, because many students come from African American homes. But the question is how can I approach this without hurting them? There is no right or wrong answer but to try my best, to tell the truth to give justice to all of those who fought for us. I think as educators that is the best we can do, maybe not hurt the innocence of a first and second grader, but properly teach them why things occurred. Many important facts of history have slipped away in the classroom simply because we have to please every race and cultural believe and that is the toughness of the job finding a middle ground on how to approach the difficulties.

            To conclude, this particular article really put in question many things that I thought I knew, that I have been taught. However, it makes me think of how can I be the bigger person and not follow into the footsteps of many other teachers who skipped the important details.