Teaching history critical to our children’s future

The Virginia Beach school system, like most of the country, is struggling with a changing society. The school board in particular finds itself pulled in different directions over what can and cannot be taught in public schools.

The lack of tackling an unpleasant chapter in American history and race over the centuries has become a subject fraught with fear and misunderstanding. We have become a nation that when an idea is proposed, the majority passes legislation to bar any constructive debate on the subject.

Citizens in Virginia Beach want the best for their children and are concerned about what subjects are taught. That is a good thing, but what is happening nationwide is parents are not looking at the whole picture.

You cannot teach American history starting in the 21st century. The problem now is we cannot seem to agree how far back we should start explaining American history and realizing that some of our history is painful. Glossing over it or not being willing to hear the other side is what is holding us back from a meaningful conversation.

Virginia Beach School Board member Carolyn Weems recently proposed a resolution to ban certain types of history that dealt with race. The measure was rejected 7-4. Quite a few speakers, mostly parents, expressed their anger and frustration at what they perceived as the system teaching their children a history they disagreed with.

They have every right to participate in decisions concerning their children. In order to disagree you might have to step outside your bubble and be willing to do research. Every new idea is not fake news.

Are the children of Virginia being taught that during the 1950s, when the courts ruled that separate but equal was no longer legal, many parents took their children out of public school rather than to integrate?

Do they know that cities were often segregated not by choice, but because the banks often used a tactic called redlining.

This meant people of color were denied loans for housing in a decent neighborhood. What developed were ghettos, people crammed into substandard neighborhoods with no way to escape. Substandard schools meant the gap between the haves and the have not grew.

If these actions are not taught, we will continue to have generations of citizens who have little knowledge of why we cannot have progress in race relations.

I grew up in Philadelphia in the 1950s and 1960s. My elementary school, junior high and high school were predominantly people of color. My wife grew up in Portsmouth and she attended integrated schools the whole time. History taught in the 1960s in Philly consisted of few people of color, namely Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver.

In the 1990s, I took courses at Tidewater Community College. I remember taking an American history class and being blown away at how much difference between the teaching of American history in the 1960s and in the 1990s.

The inclusion of all groups of people that contributed to making America showed that diversity has a place in our society. Human nature is sometimes not pretty.

Over the years Barbara Hamm-Lee with WHRO conducted town hall meetings. Most of the topics included race. Most of the conversations were tame compared to what you see on television today.

I remember she on occasion had to call on whites to contribute to the conversations. Unfortunately, in America, speaking up in a group setting where you are surrounded by peers who share your opinions may not translate to a group setting where you have to defend your comments.

Facts should matter in today’s society. Parents’ values and attitudes are being watched by their children. In this atmosphere, baby steps are better than no steps at all.