Students makin' ME cry!

Subject: World History

The journal entry question was:

"What type of gov't system do we have? Does it work? Why or why not?"

After a good 10minutes of my students passionately speaking about how they feel the gov't is unfair and that it's all "white rich people" representing them..... I asked a follow-up question:

"Why do you always blame white people? Why are they the first to blame why you're unsatisfied with the govt?"

Students' response:

"Because if you look at the TV, that's mostly what you see."

So I ask:

"Then how did that happen? Why is it always white people that you see?"

Then after a few minutes of back and forth discussion, a student raises her hand and says,

"Miss, the reason why we say white people all the time is because we're not racist or anything. It's just that if you look at the government, if you look at who's in the White House, if you look at who's in power in the US, it's mostly white people."

At that moment, I was blown away. Damn, she's good.

Then I asked, "Then how did this happen?"

Another student said:

"Miss, maybe bc they've always had it. Since history. Since when they came. I mean, look back during the early times of this country.... Who owned the slaves? Who owned the people of color? The whites."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we study history.

Class...DISMISSED!