In all my years of history, it’s been the same old. I distinctly remember learning about the slave trade and various routes in fifth grade. Sure, we learned about how they were treated and the bad conditions, but ultimately, we didn’t delve further. We stayed surface level, and instead of truly learning about their experience, we memorized it to spit it back out on the test. It was more Wow, I’m glad I got such a good score and less of of Wow, that must’ve been horrible, why would people do that?
In seventh grade the focus was even more on memorization. Memorization is easy, scholars often agree that it’s the lowest in the tiers of learning. I aced every test in that class, it was all based around the textbook and we didn’t have to reach further. I don’t mean we didn’t need other worksheets or other sources, I mean we never, ever had to reach inside our own heads.
In eighth grade we were taught to feel more, or maybe feel is overstepping it. We were taught to understand more. One turning point would have to be when I truly understood 9/11. Previously, we were only told that it was “horrible”, “tragic”, or “unfortunate”. Which was true, 9/11 was horrible, tragic, and unfortunate. But you could say the same thing about Aunt Sally’s divorce. I didn’t learn more about it, I understood more about it. The thing is I knew about the events that occurred, …show more content…
It was the first time in a long time I got deeply involved in a story as well as the first time in a long time I was reminded that racism still exists. That night I cried until I fell asleep. I simply didn’t understand the hatred people had for others. What they said in fifth grade about achieving equality wasn’t true at all. Slavery doesn’t exist anymore, yet people are still bound by its rusted chains. I was appalled for many reasons besides only the case. It was the fact people supported the “other