Mother Upset After School Assigns 'Cotton-Picking Lesson'
- 10 years ago
A mother in Redmond, Washington is not pleased with her daughter’s school. On a recent Friday, Carolyn Walker’s daughter was assigned a cotton picking lesson.
On a recent Friday, Carolyn Walker’s daughter received a school assignment that included picking cotton. The assignment was issued to all the other students in class, but that fact isn’t lessening Walker’s outrage.
The angry mother detailed her issue with the project stating ‘My daughter is African American and for her to pick cotton when our grandparents were raised on a plantation to pick cotton, is not OK, it's not OK at all.’ [KIRO]
In Walker’s eyes, the teacher and school district were trying to show the students how slaves worked. According to Walker, each child was handed a cotton plant in an effort to show them what it was like to pick cotton.
When Walker got wind of the assignment, she contacted the school to tell them her child would not be participating. The teacher reportedly gave her daughter an ‘F’ grade.
According to the Lake Washington School District, the cotton picking lesson is supposed to be a hands-on way to teach children about the Industrial Revolution.
The school textbook shows that 7th graders are currently learning about the cotton gin and slavery. Walker arranged a meeting with her daughter’s teacher and principal of the school. Her hope is that the district will drop the cotton picking lesson for future classes.
On a recent Friday, Carolyn Walker’s daughter received a school assignment that included picking cotton. The assignment was issued to all the other students in class, but that fact isn’t lessening Walker’s outrage.
The angry mother detailed her issue with the project stating ‘My daughter is African American and for her to pick cotton when our grandparents were raised on a plantation to pick cotton, is not OK, it's not OK at all.’ [KIRO]
In Walker’s eyes, the teacher and school district were trying to show the students how slaves worked. According to Walker, each child was handed a cotton plant in an effort to show them what it was like to pick cotton.
When Walker got wind of the assignment, she contacted the school to tell them her child would not be participating. The teacher reportedly gave her daughter an ‘F’ grade.
According to the Lake Washington School District, the cotton picking lesson is supposed to be a hands-on way to teach children about the Industrial Revolution.
The school textbook shows that 7th graders are currently learning about the cotton gin and slavery. Walker arranged a meeting with her daughter’s teacher and principal of the school. Her hope is that the district will drop the cotton picking lesson for future classes.