Friday, 27 November 2009 21:23 Last Updated on Sunday, 29 November 2009 09:26 Written by Sheila Kihne

I literally can't keep up with the craziness in the Eden Prairie School System.

Somebody has a lot of explaining to do.

I blogged last week about how the state Integration funds were being used in our schools, I picked up my copy of the Eden Prairie Sun Current today to find this story on the front page.

Ninth-graders were taken from their classroom last week, chained together and driven blindfolded across Valley View Road into Round Lake Park, where the blindfolds were removed and the students unchained. Once free, the students were chased back to the school by angry men who wanted to put the chains back on. Talk about a learning experience.

 

A learning experience?  At  Universities all over the country, this would be considered an extreme hazing incident. 

The blindfold and the chains were part of a simulation of the Underground Railroad, and the angry men were actors from Crossroads Panorama. The simulation was designed to do more than just teach the students; it's meant to give them a taste of the struggle slaves went through to find freedom.

The simulation teaches "not just tolerance of other students...but appreciation of their humanity," said Ed Irwin, one of the actors working with the students.

The idea behind the simulation is to bring history to life, said Maia Caldwell, who teaches the American history class.

"As a history teacher, you want to try and make that come alive for students," Caldwell said. "We know we're not the favorite classes - history, you know, they always kind of groan about it a little bit, and so you want to make it more real for them."

Why not starve them for a few days and put them in a row boat across Round Lake in December to simulate Washington crossing the Delaware?  Heck, have them dig trenches and then shoot bullets across the fields near Flying Cloud airport to simulate WWI.  If you can't teach history and bring it to life without resorting to hazing students, you're a pretty lousy history teacher.

One of the goals of the simulation is to get students out of their comfort zones, Caldwell said.

"Some kids got really emotional right away and felt that cultural empathy. I think they were very open to it," Caldwell said. Ninth-graders are at different maturity levels, she said, but "even some of those kids that I've seen be a little less mature seemed to be touched by it and seemed to be impacted."

As part of the simulation, each student was given an identity. They were asked to write down the things in their life that are most important to them, things like family, God and love. When they had finished, the men playing the slave catchers took those things away.

This is psychological abuse and I don't care what you're trying to teach 14-year-olds, you don't do this.

The lesson, which was funded by a grant, lets teachers reach students in a way that books can't, said Joyce Marrie, director of Crossroads Panorama. It gives the students a story they can understand.

"You've gotta be able to teach the whole picture. You can't just teach in the classroom," Marrie said. "This learning is great because it allows the students to really feel and see themselves and have that empathy."

According to the EP Schools 2009-2010 Integration Budget, an EPHS Underground Railroad Pilot cost $ 10,986.00, If this is where the money is coming from, and I'll assume it is, then this is no "grant", it's state taxpayer money.

 I'll also assume there were permission slips.