New Children's book causes Quite a Stir

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The NY DOE announced a plan under former Mayor de Blasio to standardise instructional materials and “better reflect” the system’s demographics. It is to begin in 2023.

A New Children's book titled "Our Skin" published in 2021 aimed at those aged two to five, has been distributed to at least one Manhattan kindergarten, one on Staten Island as well as a school in Brooklyn and appears to be part of the Department of Education’s new “Universal Mosaic Curriculum.”
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/paren ... c792bde1b7



It starts - “A long time ago, way before you were born, a group of white people made up an idea called race. They sorted people by skin colour and said that white people were better, smarter, prettier, and that they deserve more than everybody else,” the book declares.

It goes on to say “That isn’t true or fair at all!” with a picture of a “caucasian” man holding up the “Most beautiful skull.”



The DOE were contacted and said the book is “not part of our prescribed curriculum” but noted that schools can buy books on their own.

When a book is “challenged,” the DOE said it convenes a “Materials Evaluation Committee” made up of parents, teachers, a school librarian and others to examine it. The department wouldn’t say if the book was being evaluated.

The book appears to already be on the gun sights of various groups such as Elana Fishbein, head of the Pennsylvania-based group No Left Turn in Education, which opposes a “leftist” agenda in schools, said the book is brainwashing young kids,

Another critic is parent Vito LaBella who is seeking the Republican nod to challenge state Senator Andrew Gounardes. Guess we know what the main policy platfrom the republicans will be going in in NY.A crayon scribbled children's book

Teachers should just stick to reading, writing and math.

This book might be too much for a 3 year old.

That's my feeling, too. At this age, it's likely to introduce race divisions, while we (I?) would like them to fade and become history.
At 3yo, I think the appropriate attitude would be "we have different skin colors and we can play together". That's the world of a 3yo. Learning to play with other children. Introducing a difficult topic at this stage would only make a child associate different skin colors with something difficult and confusing.

Judging from the page shown, it's out to vilify a particular race rather than promote equality.

The book was one of three that were promoted by the Wisconsin public libraries "Community wide reads on anti-racism"



Quite fascinating.

That doesn't change the excerpt I read.

I'm not sure that's the intention of the author



She's the one on the right hand corner (shown here with her child)



Would seem odd she would vilify or hurt her own kid since he belongs to your "particular race"

Are you kidding? White people are the ones who go on the most about how evil white people are.

^ This sort of overzeal always makes me suspicious there's something to compensate underneath.

All they have to do is read stories where kids are hanging out together-----and they all happen to be of different races. And, ideally, the kids should live in a neighborhood where they have a chance to play with kids of various races. At the very least, people of other races shouldn't be excluded from the kids' lives.

They don't have to present the racial thing overtly. I don't find this is necessary. I wouldn't do it if I were a teacher.

It seems to take place in predominantly
caucasian countries that either had slavery and or took land from natives by force. My guess is it's not as much of a thing in your part of the world?

Indeed.
The very concept of "white people" does not make much sense in non-colonial Europe. We're local. Indigenous Europeans. Descendants of people who lived here at least since the Mesolithic and all the waves of immigration and conquer that happened since then.
Now that our borders have been open for long enough, many kids of mixed couples are raised here as Polish or Polish-<other nationality>. Different skin colors, hair textures or eye shapes can make them look exotic but that's all.
The lines of division do exist, they can be pretty strong, but they go completely elsewhere.

Same
And this sort of overzeal also makes me feel the same way about the "pedophile" issue.

Some of those with several kinds of overzeal seem to sometimes want to peddle their cultural/historical debt to residents in other countries.

I remember my aunt saying that when my (NT) cousin was 2 and a half and first started preschool she pointed to a little black girl and...um, hang on...I'm not sure I'll be allowed to write this.

Mods, please, please don't delete this.

She's only 2 and a half. She won't get lambasted.

That's how kids learn. They might do the "wrong" thing without intention----but there are adults there to correct her.

I learned to respect people of all backgrounds through hanging out with people of all sorts of backgrounds.