‘White Privilege’ Lesson
'The Dukes of Hazzard'
If you ever suspected there was more depth to The Dukes of Hazzard than short shorts, fast cars and crooked cops, have we got a college course for you. The University of Alabama elevates the significance of Boss Hogg, Uncle Jesse, Daisy and that rascally Rosco P. Coltrane in a class that investigates how Bo and Luke Duke and company were perceived by both white and black cultures. See, kids? All of that TV watching finally serves a purpose.
Photo via PopStarPlus.com
KKK in Class
Some kids learn better by doing instead of just, say, reading, but that doesn’t always make it right. A performing arts high school in Las Vegas had a class where students were to showcase their knowledge of U.S. history either through a research project or by performing a first-person narrative, and two students received permission from their teacher to dress in KKK costumes for their presentation. The students only got in trouble after they wore their white robes and hooded masks outside of class. The teacher was essentially slapped on the wrist for not ensuring the costumes were off once the class ended.
The V Word
It’s understandable that some folks would get bent out of shape when young children are taught inappropriate things at inappropriate times and in inappropriate places. But being opposed to teaching anatomically correct words in a chapter on human reproduction? In this case, a 10th-grade science teacher in Dietrich, Idaho got in hot water for using the word “vagina” in a biology lesson on human reproduction. He’s also accused of showing a video clip that depicted a genital herpes infection. Maybe the rankled parents would have preferred the teacher used terms like “pee-pee” instead and avoided mention of STDs?
Photo via IGN.com
Makeup Lessons
At a school in Leeds, England, they find the time to offer makeup lessons, which must mean they have time for absolutely everything else that's important and are doing the lipstick lessons in all of their free time. Both 14- and 15-year-old students are given hour-long lessons with eyeliner, blush and mascara in an effort to teach them how to make a good first impression and boost their self-esteem. Because apparently hitting the books isn’t enough.
Mexican-American Studies
Teaching Mexican-American history is fine. But teaching it from a perspective other than the American perspective is not, according to a court in Tucson, where critics said the teachings encouraged students to adopt left-wing attitudes and resent white people. In an effort to exclude the course, the Arizona legislature passed a law banning “courses that promote the overthrow of the [U.S.] government," "promote racial resentment" or "are designed for pupils of a particular ethnic group.”
Dinosaurs: Genesis and the Gospel
It’s one thing to take a stand on evolution vs. creationism. It’s a whole other thing to reinvent the facts surrounding the entire existence of dinosaurs. A private religious school in South Carolina teaches its 4th graders in a science lesson called “Dinosaurs: Genesis and the Gospel” that dinosaurs roamed the Earth a scant 4,000 years ago and hung out with humans. Which all sounds awesome, until you visit just about any nature and science museum and see those facts turned upside down and find out it was more like 230 million years ago, which was a few (or millions of) years before humans made an appearance.
Photo via MSN.com
