Sleeter Article input

                                             Sleeter, The Academic and Social Values of Ethnic Studies- my entry

  

    Reading this article, I noticed many similarities to not just the video we watched in class but also my own life experiences. In the video from class, the main focus of the class was to teach students about the culture and background of ethnic studies. For a lot of the students, this helped validate them and teach them more about who they are as a person and their history. When I was in my k-12 classes, I never really learned about Native Americans or the true history of the culture yet was always taught about Thanksgiving. After learning the events of Thanksgiving and how the Natives were beheaded, killed, and toyed with was truly heartbreaking. What was even more heartbreaking was the fact that I learned that part of history from my grandmother telling me. Schools and the government have a way of making it seem like the United States is never in the wrong which is far from the truth. They make it seem as though everyone else is the enemy or that others start stuff first. They don’t like for people to learn the truth about history yet they can’t take away the fact that it happened! 

    During the video we watched in class, the school board guy was just mad that the students were learning about how badly their ancestors were treated and what they had to go through. They don’t like for people to recognize and learn the mistreatment and the need for change. One part that really stood out especially during the video is when they say “Who many of us would consider a thug.” That part made me feel some sort of way because who is he to say a broad statement but yet if the roles were reversed then it’s a whole story. Going against the grain of the American way is highly disliked and frowned upon which is frustrating to see. In class we also did an assignment where we got educated on a topic then taught it to others. One thing I found out is that there were people from my group who had never heard about the history of the Native American schools which was so shocking and sad because of the importance of history it has. Seeing the same things being repeated is just even more upsetting because it leads me to wonder will anything ever really change and if so, when?