After carefully reviewing some curriculum for an 11^th grade class, it became obvious the historical context was one-sided and favored the authors point of view; white, male and totally bias in its delivery of important historical circumstances from slavery to the civil rights era. The disproportionate grasp of realities should concern educators, administrators and more importantly parents and learners in K-12; especially learners of color. There is one point to consider…most curriculum’s were not written with learners of color in mind. #killthembeforetheygrow

By Don Allen, Publisher – Our Black News

The learning environment built around students should be formed by a non-biased integral education that respects every possible point of view. A real educative process must ensure that every single student becomes aware of all the aspects and facts that happened throughout history, without any kind of manipulation. It is very well known how “history belongs to the victors” and how those “victors” always end up being the ones who write that history in their own favor, but is that really beneficial for our students? How can our students from high school obtain an objective view of the world if the knowledge we are providing them is affected by subjective tendencies? Are we really edifying citizens with a true grasp of the human history and critical thinking?

Most of our history textbooks omit very important parts and events that refer to some of the most important causes defended by society, because they want to favor a “neutral” education. The issue here is that, if they really wanted to create and pursue a balanced point of view, they should actually address every single fact and movement in history to allow an integral point of view. Most teachers also follow these guidelines without even realizing how their views might be biased towards certain political agendas or social prejudices. These are the conditions that produce an unbalanced learning process that establishes an incomplete culture of everything that has happened and still happens all around us. Are the students being formed with an accurate holistic understanding of the world, as well as the genuine struggles of the people or are is their education being administered by the establishment of prejudices and conservative views?

The absence of materials and contents about critical aspects of history, such as black history for instance, lead to a disproportionate grasp of reality and the circumstances surrounding the development of humanity. Every person should be allowed to see and understand every perspective from history during their formative years in order to broaden their minds and establish essential values such as tolerance and respect. It should be society’s mission to make sure the youth has the appropriate models, because it is the best moment to make them aware of all the implications this has in our world and in their existence. We always talk about how Columbus “discovered” the American continent and we talk about him as if he was savior in a shiny armor, but we usually leave out the part where the Spanish conquerors performed a mass genocide and forced religious indoctrination in the native and millennial indigenous tribes of Central and South America. Is this the real “neutral” version of history we want our high schools students to learn and accept as a truth for the sake of simplicity and traditional thinking?

If we want to create better human beings that know how to truthfully live as a community and respect each other, we must acknowledge all the facts that the true history of humanity has, no matter how crude, uncomfortable or inconvenient they might be. In any case, that should precisely the most important reason we must do it: So our young generation truly becomes completely aware and understands the magnitude of our mistakes and our struggles within our human condition, so we make sure they don’t make those same errors and recognize the value of the efforts that our civilization has had up until the present moment. The key to build a brighter and better future lies in the proper acknowledgement of every single step humanity has taken, to know exactly where our next step should be.