I am not saying the teacher was correct, nor am I saying she was wrong, but I do wonder, how and where do you draw lines in teaching history. Can you attempt to dramatize history, hoping to draw criticism to make your point. Do you thank the offended for helping you stress your point? If so, do you ask them to present their objections to the students.

Teaching should be more than words, it should be experience. Guidelines should be crossed when the lesson is important enough. It can be a very perilous path, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Klan outfits were designed to terrify people. If I saw four dudes in Klan outfits, it would scare the bejeezus out of me and I’m white.

The issue isn’t teaching here, it’s decorum. The Klan is an unfortunate part of history and shouldn’t be ignored, BUT teachers should respect WHY they are a part of history - they’re evil and scary. Behave accordingly.

It’s hard to tell from the article, but it seems like the issue was that they wore the outfits moving between the classroom and the cafeteria. If so, it’s probable that other students outside of the class saw the KKK not knowing the background to the setup, and were rightfully terrified / appalled.

If that’s the case, then yes, the teacher was indeed “misguided”—it’d be interesting to know more of what the film was about and why it required the use of such offensive costuming.

A remake of Birth of a Nation? Shit, I can’t imagine what they were up to. Seems like it would have been easy for the teacher to say “don’t leave this room dressed that way.”

Totally.

Actually the whole “advanced placement course combining U.S. history with film education” just seems bizarre.

Well, it couldn’t be a curriculum that allows a teacher to show movies in class instead of teach. That never happens.

/snark