Black studies should be as important as any other class

by Shequita Merritt

Black studies should be as important as any other class. An African American Studies class should be a needed course to graduate in high school. Yes I know that there is U.S. history but we all know what we are taught in those classes and it does not even begin to go into the truths about African American History. U. S. history that is taught in high school does not do African American History any justice. This class would be great for black people but it would be beneficial to white people as well. If more white people knew as much about our history as we do theirs, they would have a better understanding of our culture and maybe then we could really see some change towards racism, which is becoming the elephant in the room.

These programs could be easily implemented into the class curriculum. Students would leave high school with a better knowledge of others. The class would consist of African American literature as well. The class would start by not talking about African American but Africa and all that it had to offer which drew the white people to Africa. The teacher could then go into the why black people and how did they even begin to take the soon to become slaves.

This would open the eyes of even some black people. Black studies as we have heard in our lectures can speak to the issues of Racism. I feel that if we teach students about Black people and send them into the world they could be the push racism need to be done away with. The student will go out into the world and government and fight for a change maybe they would see it as their duty to go out into the world and make a change. As you stated also in our lecture African American Studies have always been for whites as well as blacks to give white people insight. So I say to all future educators let’s get together and push for this.