There is a lot of research on this. Learning about racism doesn't make white kids feel guilty. Here is what it does.
Summary of some of the studies here: fivethirtyeight.com/features/wha...
Without even clicking the link, I’ll guess the reason — all the talk of racism makes white kids feel guilty.
Again, if your kids are reading histories of slavery or segregation and identifying with the racists in the story, that suggests you’ve got your own problems to work through. Leave us out.
learning about racism, slavery, the impact of colonization of this country to native peoples made me feel sad and angry, not guilty. the ones complaining their kids are made to feel guilty are those who are mad they have to hide how much they long to return to the 19th century white Xtian supremacy
I had a student this year respond to learning about the atrocities committed by the British during the Great Indian Rebellion/ Sepoy Mutiny with a hearty “fuck yeah”. His parents didn’t seem to be against teaching racism, they were against teaching racism as a fault.
I wish I could say I was surprised but I fear that a world that people like that have control of and are considered "the good guys" is rapidly coming down the pike for us
How much of the fear and anger from parents is driven by the cognitive dissonance of wanting dominance and trying to square that with being a "good person". "Good people don't endorse suffering, and that is what dominance leads to. Here's the proof"
A lot of what parents have decided is "white kids being made to feel guilty" is the cognitive dissonance that they are themselves inducing in their children when they come home talking about what they've learned, only for their family/role models to tell them they're full of shit.
Not just parents having to live with that cognitive dissonance, it sucks to be the kid discovering that Nana is a racist even though she makes great cookies and gives warm hugs.
Humans are complex, better to give up on binary thinking early before you lose the flexibility.
"Latino and Black youth, for instance, reported a greater willingness to participate in acts of political engagement and were also more willing to express their views on a variety of issues."
That's exactly what they don't want to happen.
The same way we can’t have little boys reading princess books, or presumed-straight kids reading about LGBT+ characters.
Empathy is learned, and saying the kids ‘will feel bad’ or ‘aren’t interested’ is the only weapon available against empathy.
Can’t have my kids coming home with positive attitudes and empathy toward Black people — then I’LL feel guilty for having to whup it out of them. Thanks a lot, woke moralists
It makes them upset about inequality that they see, and when their parents and adult family figures refuse to gaf, it makes them anguished.
The adults then decide to interpret this as "white kids feeling guilty."
Even if it did make kids feel bad -- so what? It's the truth, and they deserve to know it. We are not the Turkish government attempting to bury our atrocities instead of learning from them.
The euphemisms are bizarre. The article calls telling the truth about US atrocities and other evils, 'challenging aspects'.
It is, surely, more of an ethical 'challenge' to lie to children by giving them a bowlderised myth instead of history.
i mean, i definitely felt guilty, and i think that's good: it means i have a conscience. but then ideally you move beyond that to the part where you're actually helping and not focused on yourself
