Shouldn't teachers stay out of family history?

Question

I asked this question previously. A teacher in my hometown wanted her high school students to do their genealogy. One man in the town protested as he knew of some children who had things in their immediate family history that had been traumatic for the mother and one of their aunts, because of a hideous crime their grandmother commited.
The grandfather of the children thanked the man after he was successful at getting the school board to put a stop to it. He had moved his two little girls who were about 6 and 8 at the time the crime was committed from a particular school district because of the pain they sufferered.
Even if the genealogy is turned in to the teacher only, what business is it of the teacher???? Out of a class of 25, there is most likely a child that will have something in their close family history that the family wants to keep private. Do any of you think the teachers or anyone else has a right to intrude in family's private business?

My former question involved a friend whose father had a teacher do their famiy history and one of his classmates found out his grandfather had been hung. Most people saw nothing wrong with it if the genealogy was only turned in to the teacher.

I think it might be okay for the schools to have an elective course in genealogy. Then the parents can say "yes" or "no"

I might mention I got out of high school in 1952. Our teachers didn't have time to teach us genealogy. However, they taught us how to use proper grammar. I have had high school graduates correct me because I said "have come." I tell them come and run are two of the words in the English language that the present tense and the past participle are the same. We knew the different between an index and a Table of Contents by Christmas Holidays in the 4th Grade. I have found High School Graduates that don't know that.

One sentence might be understood incorrectly. The grandmother was the mother of the two little girls 6 and 8. The crime happened about 30 years ago. It was horrible.

Answer 1

I am not "most" people, and I agree totally with you on this.
Probably 1/3 of the children today don't even KNOW their father. Ok, maybe 1/3 is a stretch, but the divorce rate (or unwed parents) is high enough that this is an insensitive topic for kids.
The question is not if "only" the teacher sees it. The issue is what happens to the child, when he brings up the topic at home (which mom may be wanting to withhold until the child is older).
Teacher may have good intentions, in terms of teaching research skills. But we all don't come from Ward and June Cleaver homes.

Answer 2

The school system where I live teachs nothing but the FCAT for the first few months of the school year. I have a problem with that. I found things online at a homeschool site that my daughter had in 2nd grade (she's 36) that my grandchildren had never seen and they are in 4th and 5th grade. They put too much emphasis on this no child left behind to see that they are leaving children behind.

I don't agree with them doing genealogy in school. If they want to do something like that perhaps in a history class they can have them write about one of their ancestors that was in the Civil War. But to actually research their history no. They have too many other things they need to learn to make it in life.

Don't get me wrong I've been working on my family for years and will pass it to my grandchildren someday to keep it going. But not to do in school. Even just for the teacher to see. There are far more important subjects they should be teaching.

Answer 3

That is a hard one. I personally find genealogy to be the most fascinating subject. It is not just my hobby. It is my passion. I teach my daughter world history through our family tree. When her class is studying the Civil War or Revolutionary War, I can name for her at least one great-grandfather that fought in the war, or when she studies a particular era of history, say the Middle Ages, I can show her names on the family tree of her ancestors that lived in that time. I think it helps personalize history when we can connect our own family to it. Just knowing something as simple as the name of a great-grandfather that was on the Mayflower, even if we know absolutely nothing else about him, makes the whole history lesson of the Mayflower voyage more interesting, because now there is a personal connection. I think the family tree is a great way to teach history. I understand about skeletons in the closet. However, as far as a school assignment goes, I don't think it should get any more personal than "My great-great-great grandfather was xx, he was born on xx and his family came from xx country". That should be enough information to make it interesting without getting into the personal history.

Answer 4

I personnally think it is a great idea.

There is always going to be pros and cons to any situation in a childs family when performing genealogy research. I can understand your point in regards to the two young girls. It is a shame to cancel a project like this for everyone because of what happened with them though. I would think it would be the perfect opportunity for the two young girls to learn and come to terms with *why* Grandma did what she did. Also, there had to be something good about their Grandmother.

On the positive side, what would it mean to you to find out one or more of your ancestors fought in the Civil War, or the Revolutionary War. What would it mean to be able to trace your family back to the early 1600's and learn that they were amongst the first to arrive in America at either Plymouth or Jamestown. What if you were to learn that an ancestor was the first to invent the horseless carriage and that that Oldsmobile that your parents or grandparents drove decades ago was named after a long lost ancestor. These are all things that I found in my family tree.

On the other hand, I also found that a long lost ancestor also was one of the young women who falsely accused a couple of dozen of people of withcraft. She was partially responible for the death of over 20 *innocent* people. I had a 3rd Great Grandfather who ran a brothel. He was the pimp to three of his own daughters. I also had a ancestor that was a deserter during the Civil War.. Am I ashamed of these people? No. I try to understand what made them do the things they did. The era they lived in and the general history of the times.

Just something to think about, as a young child we moved from place to place several times. I was a child in a broken family when it was a rarity. Several times I was the only one in my class who didn't have both parents living under the same roof. As I grew up I always saw all these other kids who had been raised in one place with both parents together and extended family members around them. The same childhood friends and truly felt the sense of what a hometown meant. I missed that growing up. It wasn't until I started performing my own research years ago that I found a sense of where I belonged.

I achieved this through my genealogy research.

As for "Even if the genealogy is turned in to the teacher only, what business is it of the teacher????"

How many of us can remember our own family lines let alone the lines of 15, 20 or 30 students. The teacher is going to check to see if the project has been completed to the students best ability. They aren't going to remember specific facts. The information would be more of a blur in regards to what the teacher remembers.

I think this is an excellent idea. For everyone concerned. What better way to bring a family together in at least one aspect to their childs education as to have a project like this to work on together.

Another option. If it would be traumatizing on a child to do their own family, give them a famous person (a President) to trace.

Answer 5

I don't think the answer to your question is as black and white as you might think. Looking into your family history is a great way to teach many skills and get kids interested in what's going on in the world.

That being said, a teacher should also take concerns from students/parents to heart. If a student doesn't want to participate, then an alternative assignment should be made available.

As a teacher, I'm interested in my students, but I don't have the time to be as concerned about their genealogical past as you might think. Most secondary school teachers have over a hundred students each year. It's not a matter of being nosy, it's a matter of teaching certain skills.

I worry what would happen if we all started making blanket statements about what teachers can and cannot teach.

Answer 6

Shirley, I've read others' responses and I'm still thinking.

I do think it could be accomplished by making it clear that all families have private facts and issues, that can and should be kept private, that is not the intent of the assignment. That in those cases who when where is sufficient. That what and why can be included in some other ancestor's profile to improve the research quality if that's needed, say pick a military member who saw wartime duty or the suffragette or first woman doctor's education and career history, or the g-grandpa who lived to be 104. Reasonable sensitivity can make the assignment workable.

Answer 7

To do genealogy - a family tree - does not have to involve the circumstances of any family members. It is to help a child research a project, and for most it is a fun and interesting one, because it relates to them. It should only record names, births, deaths, marriages/relationships. It teaches children that they are a part of a larger group, and that history - even their own - can be interesting, has some importance.
It is not the family information that the teacher is after, it is the ability of the child to research information and present it in a readable format.
I am sorry that the girls felt uncomfortable with it, but it seems to me that its an overreaction to ban it because of a bad situation. Perhaps it would have been better to let them accept that this thing happened, and that it doesn't reflect on who they are today, to have it in their history? As you said, many people have something in the family tree that's not flattering, but that doesn't make THEM bad people. Scarier is the thought that they are taught that they do have something to be ashamed of.

Answer 8

Hi ShirleyT,
You are a wonderful researcher and I totally respect your point of view (Wendy C's too); however, my opinion differs with you on this one. I too believe that the research skills involved in genealogy are a valuable skill and I see nothing wrong with teaching children these skills. I have two little sisters who were born in China and both of them had the genealogy project to do. Neither one of them know who their biological parents are (nor do we since they were abandoned in China) so they researched my parents genealogy. Both did a fine job and got A+. (Of course it doesn't hurt that their mom and me as their sister, are passionate about it already. Ha. Ha)

The project involved tracing the people and their births marriages and deaths, not picking the most humiliating details of their lives and broadcasting them. I don't believe that the teacher has any intention of taking the shared information to find out more dirt. Plus, if people know dirt about a family, it usually isn't surfaced through a childs genealogy project, it is normally found out through the rumor mill especially in a small town. My gr gr grandfather hung himself, he was 76 years old and was suffering from dimensia. That information was not common knowledge in the family. Back in 1909 when he died, the children weren't told. My grandfather didn't even know how his grandfather died and he was 14 when it happened. I know he was sick when he took his life, and in todays society, children recognize mental illness a whole lot better than in the beginning of last century. In my little sisters project, it never came out the gr gr grandfather Albertus ended his life in his daughters storage shed!

If something is that private anyway, many people might just follow Ted Pack's customary advice and lie . As long as the persons details are reasonable like their birthdate and the age they first starting having kids, who is going to know anyway?The teacher can't prove it because of the privacy laws on restricted documents. As long as the tree makes sense, the burden is on them to prove it. I doubt any teacher takes 125 family trees and researches each of them themselves.

Answer 9

In that one case there was a good reason not to include the children in that one project.
As for the child who’s family member was hung, well lets face it the kid most likely thought it was “Cool”, especially if that Kid was a boy.

History is very important for children to learn be it world history or Family history. I don't think that any teacher was trying to "Stick her nose" where it didn't belong. She was attempting to show the children that they have roots in the past. People that they are related to lived through the Depression, WWII, WWI and the Civil War. It helps make the history real not just something you are reading in a text book.

Answer 10

Genealogy projects in school are to encourage getting to know your roots through research. I understand where you are coming from, however I think it is important for people to know their family history. In the case that you are referring to I think the parent should have talked to the teacher to have the student excused from the project, or have another project assigned.

I was assigned a 'family tree" project in elementary school, and to this day I LOVE genealogy. In high school I had to do it again (different school district) In both projects, the teacher asked the students if any one wanted to share, and a few did. It wasn't mandatory to share.