Quote:
Originally Posted by jillio
Oh, absolutely. Come up with answers and justify those answers with their own because. Either way, the ability to justify the answer to MLK was a good man, or MLK was not such a good man is what critical thinking is all about. Unfortuantely, when we limit what the children are exposed to out of some fear of indoctrination, they never have the opportunity to develop those skills.
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1. "Good" or "not good" are moral judgments.
2. Elementary kids want to please their teachers. Starting with the premise that MLK was a good man, the students will look for ways to support that premise rather than disagree. It's the nature of children.
3. If it's not indoctrination but development of critical thinking skills, then the title would be "Prove That MLK Was a
Good Man or a
Bad Man". But that again would be a moral judgment, which is not acceptable in public schools.
Why not teach what MLK believed and did, and how his life impacted on the American civil rights movement? Why make a judgment on whether or not he was "good"?