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Fail: Upstate Teacher's History Lesson on Slavery
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 6, 2008
Modified Dec 6, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 6, 2008
Modified Dec 6, 2008
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Should forcing a black student to have their legs and feet bound and crawl under classroom desks be part of a lesson plan? Apparently that's what Rockland County middle school teacher Eileen Bernstein did last month to simulate what it was like on a slave ship. However, one student (whose family descended from slaves) who didn't volunteer but had to demonstrate anyway was extremely distraught. According to the Daily News, Bernstein apologized to the girl and her mother, but said she had done the demonstration before. A superintendent added, "We don't want to discourage creativity. But this obviously went wrong because the student was upset." But the girl's mother, Christine Shand, isn't convinced; she told WCBS 2, "There are other ways to demonstrate slavery. There's movies, you don't actually have to grab two kids and like put shackles on them."
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classroom lesson
rockland county
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slavery demonstration
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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