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A new report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance project points to the widespread failure to accurately teach the hard, and nuanced, history of American slavery and enslaved people. Collectively, the report finds that slavery is mistaught, mischaracterized, sanitized, and sentimentalizedleaving students poorly educated, and contemporary issues of race and racism misunderstood.

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In what it describes as the first analysis of its kind, Teaching Tolerance conducted online surveys of 1,000 American high-school seniors and more than 1,700 social-studies teachers across the country. The group also reviewed 10 commonly used U.S.-history textbooks, and examined 15 sets of state standards to assess what students know, what educators teach, what publishers include, and what standards require vis--vis slavery.

Among 12th-graders, only 8 percent could identify slavery as the cause of the Civil War. Fewer than one-third (32 percent) correctly named the 13th Amendment as the formal end of U.S. slavery, with a slightly higher share (35 percent) choosing the Emancipation Proclamation. And fewer than half (46 percent) identified the "Middle Passage" as the transport of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America.

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The student results, which the report labels "dismal," extend beyond factual errors to a failure to grasp key concepts underpinning the nature and legacy of slavery. Fewer than one-quarter (22 percent) of participating high-school seniors knew that "protections for slavery were embedded in [America's] founding documents"that rather than a "peculiar institution" of the South, slavery was a Constitutionally enshrined right. And fewer than four in 10 students surveyed (39 percent) understood how slavery "shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness."

Examining the teachers' survey results might help explain why students struggled to answer questions on American enslavement: Educators are struggling themselves. While teachers overwhelmingly (92 percent) claim they are "comfortable discussing slavery" in their classroom, their teaching practices reveal profound lapses. Only slightly more than half (52 percent) teach their students about slavery's legal roots in the nation's founding documents, while just 53 percent emphasize the extent of slavery outside of the antebellum South. And 54 percent teach the continuing legacy of slavery in today's society.

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Presley OBannons Sword said:

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And fewer than four in 10 students surveyed (39 percent) understood how slavery "shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness."

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So four out of ten students understand a completely made up and subjective concept? They should be pretty happy about that.

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RedAgs01 said:

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Presley OBannons Sword said:

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And fewer than four in 10 students surveyed (39 percent) understood how slavery "shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness."

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So four out of ten students understand a completely made up and subjective concept? They should be pretty happy about that.

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I agree but they also probably need to know why and how race was created in this country and the long lasting impacts it has had on this country.

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Presley OBannons Sword said:

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And fewer than four in 10 students surveyed (39 percent) understood how slavery "shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness."

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So four out of ten students understand a completely made up and subjective concept? They should be pretty happy about that.

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NY Ag said:

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How do these survey results compare to other topics of history? I bet the results would be pretty "dismal" as well.

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Federale01 said:

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Please don't turn this forum into the cesspool that is the Politics Board.

I think in the end this comes down to prioritization and the difficulty of the subject matter. You know other topics that weren't taught well in high school? The Civil War or WWII. As a guy who has always been fascinated by military history, I always looked forward to learning about the wars. But they were almost completely unaddressed. We read all about the lead up to the Civil War, but almost completely skipped the execution of it. Same for WWII. These are significant events in our country and fundamentally changed the way we lived and the course of our government, and we virtually ignored them.

The wars and slavery are massive topics. You would have to spend entire semester just looking at those events to get close to understanding the ramifications of them. You simply cannot adequately teach students all they need to know in a normal high school semester where you are trying to cover hundreds of years of history. There is so much independent scholarship on these topics that students would be much better served being assigned additional books or readings about these topics like one would have in a college course. But that is not really how history is taught in high school. You have readings from text books which offer encyclopedic levels of explanation for events.

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RedAgs01 said:

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Presley OBannons Sword said:

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And fewer than four in 10 students surveyed (39 percent) understood how slavery "shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness."

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So four out of ten students understand a completely made up and subjective concept? They should be pretty happy about that.

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I agree but they also probably need to know why and how race was created in this country and the long lasting impacts it has had on this country.

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it just came with the English to the New World

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Federale01 said:

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Sorry. That comment wasn't for you.

I think it's a legitimate discussion to have, but I think we need to reshape how we deal with our history anyway. We don't teach students how they should learn history or why it is valuable to know. We teach them names, dates in the context of larger themes. So unless you love the subject you basically get what you get in school and then leave it for dead. History from textbooks alone is usually a pitiful representation of an event. I understand the limitations placed on high schools, but I think it's probably a problem for any historical event covered.

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BQ78 said:

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it just came with the English to the New World

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Technically it was the Dutch or if not counting what would be the US, the Spanish.

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RedAgs01 said:

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Presley OBannons Sword said:

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And fewer than four in 10 students surveyed (39 percent) understood how slavery "shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness."

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So four out of ten students understand a completely made up and subjective concept? They should be pretty happy about that.

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I agree but they also probably need to know why and how race was created in this country and the long lasting impacts it has had on this country.

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BQ75 said:

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RedAgs01 said:

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Presley OBannons Sword said:

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And fewer than four in 10 students surveyed (39 percent) understood how slavery "shaped the fundamental beliefs of Americans about race and whiteness."

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So four out of ten students understand a completely made up and subjective concept? They should be pretty happy about that.

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I agree but they also probably need to know why and how race was created in this country and the long lasting impacts it has had on this country.

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I was under the impression 'race' existed long before the US.

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Presley OBannons Sword said:

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One of my great frustrations on the politics board is trying to get otherwise smart, educated people to understand that just because it happened 150 years ago does not mean the impact has disappeared.

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do you not understand how statements like this are what make you and your left wing academia friends so intolerable? people on the other side of the political spectrum from you understand perfectly what you are saying. we just dont AGREE with you.

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claym711 said:

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Why does more need to be taught about slavery? Just slavery in North America? Why?

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claym711 said:

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Why does more need to be taught about slavery? Just slavery in North America? Why?

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The Original AG 76 said:

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claym711 said:

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Why does more need to be taught about slavery? Just slavery in North America? Why?

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It doesn't need any special emphasis. Just more of the cult of victim that has grown like a cancer across our culture. Slavery happened, its over..so what ! No more important than any other piece of history.
Of course if your entire life is centered around playing the victim and allowing some events from 150+ years ago to act as a crutch or an excuse for the massive failures and failings of yourself and your " people" then you must cling to a sad and pathetic " its not our fault" narrative instead of accepting the reality of your own failings and inferior culture.

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The Original AG 76 said:

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claym711 said:

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Why does more need to be taught about slavery? Just slavery in North America? Why?

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It doesn't need any special emphasis. Just more of the cult of victim that has grown like a cancer across our culture. Slavery happened, its over..so what ! No more important than any other piece of history.
Of course if your entire life is centered around playing the victim and allowing some events from 150+ years ago to act as a crutch or an excuse for the massive failures and failings of yourself and your " people" then you must cling to a sad and pathetic " its not our fault" narrative instead of accepting the reality of your own failings and inferior culture.

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BQ78 said:

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So how far do we have to get away in time from Jim Crow to finally say all is well?

Remember racism was dead when we elected a "Black" President only to see it rear its ugly head as a divisive issue and it is getting even worse under the new president. How far do we have to get away before the issue is no longer inequality and racism?

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