My Piece on their Piece called "Education Meal Plan"

This weeks theme is the idea of idealized history in schools. This video is from Brave New Voices, a program that I have described in a previous post. This poem specifically was performed in Cape Town in 2014. In this piece they speak about the idealized history of Africa that is taught and in books. I find this interesting because it talks about a lot of things that I would have never thought about had it not been for this poem. They talk about how in America the school systems teach so much about America but not so much about other places. In the school systems the children, no matter their background, are taught everything deemed relevant about America but nothing about their own histories, These three portray that idea by saying "we know everything there is to know about you, but what do you know about us?" I find that interesting because it is very true, we spend our lives learning about ourselves until we get the opportunity to chose otherwise which is ridiculous because we should more than just about America. A line that stuck with me from this poem in particular is when they said "tell me America, when did you last die for education?"

My Piece on his Piece called "What I Wasn't Taught in School"

This week the theme I chose was idealized black history in schools. I feel very attached to this topic because this has been something I've thought about a lot lately. What I have mainly thought about is the idea of children learning more about Martin Luther King Jr.than Malcolm X. The reasoning I came up with behind that is that maybe schools don't want to teach children about a violent man but then I saw this video and realize there are so many black people we never learned about in school. This video gets this point across so clearly and I love it. This piece was posted a year ago by Word on the Curb and is by a student who is unsatisfied with his education during black history month. I feel like this video is worth watching because it taught me something. I really started to listen and tune in and know I was going to enjoy the piece when he said "this is why I can't take black history month seriously, man" because I feel the same exact way. Black history month, my entire life has just been filled with repetitive lectures about the same thing that the schooling system wants us to know, nothing new. Actually in this piece he said something that I have said before: "actually miss, it's (the curriculum) designed to teach us what to think not how to think." I think that is deep even on a level more expansive than black history month because in any subject they teach you what they want you to know -- or only what they've been taught to teach you. He goes on about questioning the teacher and seeing if she even knows all of the things that he does. He makes a very good point in this "we need to open our minds, but how can we be taught to see if the blind lead the blind?" I love this piece and it speaks to a lot of things I personally think about a lot, it is well worth the listen.