"Third Grade Math?"

Have you ever been made to feel guilty about something? When you were a little kid, did you ever get caught doing something wrong and your siblings never let you forget it? Sometimes we can carry that guilt for years before it can be resolved. That sick feeling in the pit of one’s stomach can do some awful damage to a child, or even an adolescent. I remember as a child a salt and pepper shaker being broken by accident in our home. My Mom was devastated, as this was the only memento of her mother; my Dad later did his best to repair it. I don’t remember who the guilty party was, but I’m sure whoever it was carried that guilt around for quite a while, because it made Mom cry.

We have vilified entire races during time of war, casting an air of guilt on people who had nothing to do with that conflict. Japanese-Americans had an entire division in WWII who performed with great honor trying to take the shadow of guilt and blame away from their families.

No person alive today in the United States of America has owned a slave; no person alive today is responsible for the slavery of Civil War America.

I am not saying we don’t have our share of bigots and morons in America; they are plentiful, and they should be revealed for what they are whenever we find them. This being said, I don’t believe we should continue bearing the guilt of Civil War slavery as a nation, and passing it on to our children. History should be taught, and the reality of slavery should be told, along with the Civil Rights Act and the amazing strides America has made since the 1950s. We have seen Affirmative Action move not only the black population, but other minority groups ahead in the line for jobs and positions of authority.

I do have a complaint though: some parents in Georgia have a problem with their third graders math homework; it reeks of social guilt about slavery! This is a subject that should be covered in an American History class; not math! I will now quote one “math” problem: “Each tree has 56 oranges. If eight SLAVES pick them equally, then how much would each SLAVE pick?” I find this outrageous! Here is a question that is totally offensive: “If Frederick (a slave) got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week?” WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT?!

I believe this is about keeping guilt alive for generations, after the fact, as a means to continue division between people of all races and creeds. This is an agenda for conditioning a generation of children into believing a 200 year old wrong belongs to them; and IT DOESN’T! This is the type of idiocy we must eliminate from our school system. We should be teaching what America offers today, a chance to succeed, no matter who you are. The upcoming generation must understand they share NO GUILT, and all Americans can get a level “playing field” in our society. We must stress we are a nation of “equal rights”, not “preferred rights”, and the past cannot be changed; only the future can be altered.