Andover Middle School displays a student-made "KKK board game" during Open House
Yesterday, I received an email from a parent in Andover Kansas, which is a small town north of Wichita. She had attended an open house at her children's school and saw a "KKK board game", created by one of the students, on display. Her letter was poignant and in a few short words she crystallized the problem with such callous displays and assignments...
I decided to present her letter and pictures here for public perusal and comment.
Dear Mr.Myles,
I am a parent of a 7th grader at Andover Middle School. On Thursday March 26, 2009, my children and I attended an open house. One of the displays was a set of "games" the students created using the topic of their research paper. This particular student's topic was the KKK. I was so appalled that I had to take pictures of it.
I wish they understood that it is not just "our" history but it is also theirs. And mocking and belittling what happened in our past (even if it's not intentional) is not acceptable.
XXXXX X. XXXXX (name is redacted)
May God Bless and Keep You Everyday!
Now we as a Branch will contact the school and work through the issue; but this is 2009, at some point this must change... Given that this was a middle school, you could surmise that the student who created the "game" was probably between 12 and 14. So while it is distrurbing that he or she may have thought this appropriate, the problem is not the student, the failure clearly rests with the school. They should have challenged the students thinking, they should have corrected him or her and explained why this was inappropriate, they should have taken advantage of that "teachable moment" and helped the student understand the real lessons of history. But to the contrary, they chose to reinforce the students cultural and historical myopia by displaying the "game" at a public forum, an Open House, to be 'appreciated' as something representative of their body of work. I'll keep you all posted as this unfolds...
But in the meantime, please feel free to post a comment below and share your thoughts...
Logging you in...
Susan Estes · 839 weeks ago
Kevin Myles 50p · 839 weeks ago
Heath · 839 weeks ago
John Stallworth · 839 weeks ago
John Stallworth · 839 weeks ago
andoverstudent 1p · 839 weeks ago
If this is an issue about decency, then why didn't the Davis family have the decency to notify the teacher or administrator before contacting the news media. I am a student at Andover High and personally, the complaints about this board game are absurd. The game's purpose was soley educational, not supportive of the KKK. Are we really supposed to stop educating students about ACTUAL hisory? Or should we just blanket everything that comes off as offensive to people? Oh wait, gets rid of the Holocaust, Segregation, Religion and almost every other topic. What's left to teach about history? Nothing.
clarificationplease · 839 weeks ago
One question, that no one has addressed, why did the parent who contacted you; when writing her blog on kansas.com ; why did she feel it necessary to add 'PS the student that made the game is white" if this is, as she says "not a black and white thing". If a white person would make the comment "PS the student is black" wouldn't you and your associates take that as a "black and white thing"? Why is it OK for her to make such a comment and have no repurcussion yet if it were the other way - the white person would be a racist? Why is it that there are different rules? It seems to me that by that tag line at the end of her blog - she made it a black and white thing and that was her intent from the get go.
Kevin Myles 50p · 839 weeks ago
Interesting points; all of you... However, I wonder Heath or andoverstudent, would you condone a board game about the holocaust? Or how about 9-11? or the Oklahoma City Bombing?
No one is saying that the atrocities of History shouldn't be studied, to the contrary -I am a staunch advocate that THEY SHOULD but in doing so, they should never be minimized or trivialized. And for the record, I don't believe that the student created the game out of a spirit of hatred or malice, but I DO believe that the schools decision to display the work speaks to a level of insenstivity that quite frankly explains why a student in an educational setting might think it appropriate to create such a "game" in the first place.
Kevin Myles 50p · 839 weeks ago
The people who were burned, killed, lynched, and terrorized by the Klan weren't just some symbolic historical figures... These were our Grandparents and Great-Grandparents. It speaks volumes that people can be 'educated' about the events of the past and yet remain so completely and utterly disconnected from the pain and realities therein. Isn't that a part of the story? Shouldn't education consist of more than just the recital of dates and times?
When we talk about 9-11, we do more than just quote the date, number of planes, and death count... We talk about the horrors, the pain, and the fear.. we share the emotion of that experience and convey the seriousness of that moment. In so doing, we imbue that memory with the sense of gravity and respect those 3,000 murdered americans deserve. We don't wrap up with a board game wherein the players can be terrorists or victims, punished by two spaces for running out of jet fuel or rewarded for surviving a jump from the flaming building. That would be insensitive. Just as this was. And the school had a responsibility to catch that, even if the student didn't.
Heath · 839 weeks ago
If the assigment was to create a game, and the only material was on the KKK and slavery, I would think it highly inappropriate by the school and at the height of insensitivity. However, there was a large range of material in the book they were reading, from wich the assignment was created. This boy was struck by the weight of what he read in his assigned chapter and focused on it. If the chapter had focused on the holocaust or 911, my opinion would not change. The message was one of outrage over the events that transpired given through the medium assigned. Let's be honest, if this dealt with other events in history, we would not have an outcry such as this. The offended parents would most likely have not even noticed. At best, the teacher may have been confronted, maybe further, but not much.
Heath · 839 weeks ago
If you are asking me to be upset about a student who, when confronted with the reality of his past, reacted with disgust and showed the ugliness through the assigned activity . . . I cannot. To do so would be to ignore the message that was shared by the boy. I understand though, that many would rather focus on this non-issue, because to focus on the true issues requires more than an angry voice, it requires action for which we are often to lazy. . . . . and please, don't presume my race because I disagree with you.
Kevin Myles 50p · 839 weeks ago
unknown · 839 weeks ago
dbgsjdg · 839 weeks ago
hmmsmia 4p · 838 weeks ago
Hi. My name is Ariana and i'm a student at Andover High School. Although i no longer go to the middle school i do know many of the students and almost all of the faculty. I believe that the assignment was a bad idea, there were to many ways it could have been offensive. However, i can assure that none of this was done to purposely discriminate or anything.
hmmsmia 4p · 838 weeks ago
Yes, the board game was indecent but, he is only in 7th Grade he was just doing the assignment he was given and he probably didn't even think it would be taken in that way. We have to remember that they had been reading books about racism in the 1930's and so the terrible actions mentioned on the board game were probably taken straight from a book. I understand why it was taken the wrong way but at the same time I think this it was a bit of an over reaction. The problem should have been taken to the school board first instead of being blown up into this huge ordeal. Now, because of this game people are grouping all of the Andover students together and saying we are racists and you have no idea what thats like for me as a student. I have tons of friends in Wichita Schools of every different race and now because of this they refuse to hang out if anyone from my school is with me because they think we're racist. This should have been handled in a way where other students who weren't even remotly involved wouldn't have consequences.
James Edward Bates · 838 weeks ago
Coretta Graham · 837 weeks ago
The assignment for creating the board game should be been better monitored by the teacher and school administrator(s). It was an honest attempt by the 7th grader to complete his assignment but in the process because a reminder of racial stereotyping that the NAACP has been fighting against. NOW is the time to use this opportunity to teach the ENTIRE SCHOOL & COMMUNITY on the good and bad things to educating others on KKK history. Some History is best left untouched is not told correctly.
dreameagle 0p · 836 weeks ago
"innocent" middle-schooler? kids know by 4 the racial/political caste system and where they stand in it; this is inexcusable, the teacher should be fired, the principal censured and school school board issue an apology to the students for teaching hate, and to the community for not protecting their children in the manner parents entrust a school board to do;
and to those who'd kill all black people, save the last bullet for yourself, because not one white family in this country is not DIRECTLY related to a black one, when the Fondling Fathers couldn't keep their hands off their slave women any more than the slavemasters and slave ship crews before or since them--just ask the last dixiecrat senator; now, my dear racists, go put THAT on your board game...
Kevin K. Koster · 774 weeks ago