Glendora School Segregates Students For Martin Luther King Day

By Gene Maddaus Tue., Jan. 25 2011 at 7:45 AM

Segregation For A Day didn't go as planned at Willow Elementary

It must be a struggle to come up with new lesson plans every year for Martin Luther King Day. How do you bring Jim Crow alive for second graders? This year, some teachers in Glendora got a bright idea (possibly while high): why not segregate them.

Non-white children at Willow Elementary School were forced to run laps without water, while the white kids got to play on the playground. The tables were supposed to be turned the next day -- with the white kids running laps and the non-white kids playing on the playground -- except by that point so many parents had complained that it was called off.

So the white kids never had to suffer, which actually made it more like real segregation.

As you might guess, the parents of the non-white children were not happy.

"My son called me from school crying," Anna Gonzales told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "He was very upset and didn't understand what was happening. I really had to talk to him for about two to three days."

The note home from the principal conveys pitch-perfect bureaucratic contrition:

"The lesson was intended to address the inequities of assigning privileges and obligations based upon the color of a person's skin. Regrettably, it sent a different message to the participants and their families."

Actually, it seems like that's exactly the message that was sent. The superintendent of Charter Oak Unified School District says they're looking into it to see if any district policies were broken. (And if they weren't, then something is seriously wrong with the policies.)

So what can the school do now to make up for it?

Gonzales said she would like to see the school do something nice for the children who had to run, maybe an ice cream party.
"I would like (the school) to take the kids that went through (the lesson) aside and I want them to do something constructive to help bring up their self-esteem again," she said. "It's something that they're never going to forget."

If history is any guide, this sort of affirmative ice cream will breed white resentment, which white kids will then use to win student council elections. This lesson keeps on giving!

Tags:

Charter Oak Unified School District, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, segregation, Willow Elementary School

We Recommend

DamOTclese2

Good grief. THIS is why Republicans should not be allowed to be teachers.

Dominic Borgert

the parents of those whiny little colored kids should go fuck themselves in the face. im sure they took the word of a dumb emotional second grader, instead of calling the school to find out what was in store for the kids. parents bitch about everything these days, and thats why the kids end up being total pussies and not doing a god damn thing with their lives

Nerys

A good way would have been to START with the white kids and to PLAN for this weeks in advance with the PARENTS but not the kids. SHOW them what segragation is how it feels to be apart from their friends etc..

it was a fantastic idea it really was but not very well executed and POORLY not followed through defeating the entire point.

Spradhan

This experiment was carried out way in 70's except kids with blue eyes were treated different than with brown eyes. The school was just dumb enough to not see the sentiments of people. Fucking morons!

Indeed this was done in the 70's, serach up Jane Elliot if you want more information on it.

Tgbadger

And what have we learned from this? Teachers, politicians and judges are possibly the biggest threat to a properly functioning society... in my opinion anyway.

ima_guest_here

What they failed to mention was that the students were randomly handed 'chits' which identified if they were "white" or "black" for the purposes of this exercise. Yes, so it was a mock segregation...

Jeanniejeannie7

Figures!.... everything has to be twisted to fit someone's political or special interest agenda. What ever happened to good old morality and honesty?

Mike

This is reminiscent of Jane Elliott's famous demonstration where she does a similar thing wit her students except she does it with eye colour (which doesn't mean anything in the real world) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J.... Her students were very grateful when talked to later on in life. These teachers had a conceptually good idea.....just not so much in the execution

Sam

Why not have the white kids be the oppressed for another day?

Lidia Alvarez

This might have been a good lesson in a smaller scale and if they followed through with it. And it astounds me that the school didnt send any parent consent forms before moving along with with lesson.

Cdprestia

I agree. I think this would have been a fine lesson if the parents were informed ahead of time and had the option of having their kids be involved or not. Maybe one of the older grades would have been better. I think the older children would grasp the whole lesson a lot better.

Bizmark59

They should make the white kids serve the icecream to the other kids!

EnsignRicky

Some school in the U.S. does something like this and gets national attention EVERY YEAR, yet somehow nobody learns from it...

WeenHeen

Wow, thats like the craziest thign I have ever heard dude, seriously.

www.total-anonymity.edu.tc

Alex0101

Idiots..! ( I hope you are reading this) haha

Dommyjohn

tht was stoopid..and y didnt they let anyone know they were doing tht

Autumn

This is hysterical on so many levels. 1) To think that someone with a college degree thought this was a good idea is astounding 2) They ventured into something taboo but were too afraid to see it through 3) A mexican parent was upset that her kid had to run laps without water. Whoa, you and your kids would be running for lives if you were in Mexico. Get a grip! 4) If the worst thing they had to experience was running without water, then this was NOTHING like what my grandparents and great grandparents and ancestors in this country had to experience for real. This society as a whole is f&$%d. What a joke!

ghat

Are you freakin kidding me? That Mexian child is obviously an American citizen, should his/her parents really be okay with the fact that their child was forced to run laps without water? Really?

Disgusting.

The Xgasm

Ummm...where in that article did it say anyone was Mexican? Are you ignorant or just blatantly racist? Are you basing that on the fact that her last name is Gonzalez? Is that what we've been reduced to now?

My last name is Martinez, apparently I'm from Mexico and should be grateful for the opportunity to come to this country...oh wait, except I am a born and bred American, as are my parents, as were their parents, and as were THEIR parents. Think twice before you post ignorant tripe you fool. Quit making assumptions and throwing out negativity towards a race just because anonymity gives you a voice to do so.

What a dick.

rabby

they were responding to Autumn

The Xgasm

Yeah, so was I.

NothingSaidNothingGained

Yeah I would venture to say the Mexico comment was idiotic and ignorant. I lived in a very small town in Mexico for 4 years of my life and felt more secure in many places there than I do in some places here (the US). Either way, your comment sounded compelling and insightful UNTIL the Mexico bit. Live in another country some day, it might help to open your mind a bit.