Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Why No White History Month? It is the month of February again, and I am very excited about the Black History month. As a young African American elementary school teacher, I make sure that I fully take advantage of the Black History month in my lessons with my 5th graders. Yesterday, we were talking about important African American political figures, who made life better for all Americans. During this lesson, one of my students raised her hand and asked why there was no "White History month?" "Were White Americans not as important?" I did not have a good answer to her question. I must be doing something wrong to have a student feel this way. How would you answer this question? Do you think it is problematic to integrate African Americans to all my lessons during February? How can I fix this? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) While I do not think that you are in the wrong for celebrating and emphasizing African American successes during Black History month, I do believe that you should be integrating the successes of other cultures throughout the school year as well. I have often wondered why we, as a society, selectively discriminate in this manner. At my school, we do not celebrate a Hispanic History month, Asian History month, Caucasian History month, etc. This can leave many students, especially at schools with great diversity, feeling left out and unspecial. I strongly feel that it is important to celebrate each culture's successes, struggles, and accomplishments. That being said, you could have explained to the student that, while Caucasian accomplishments were important, African American accomplishments were highly significant and revolutionary to the era. They represented the freedom and equality that African Americans were finally gaining in society. Even today, we should be celebrating the significance of our African American president in the scheme of history. We, as a nation, have made much progress. It is important for our students to recognize this as well.                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: Rated On: January 31, 2014 9:31 pm Rated By: Ethan Burke