+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
Education

A school assignment asked for 3 benefits of slavery. This kid gave the only good answer.

The school assignment was intended to spark debate and discussion — but isn't that part of the problem?

slavery, history, black americans
Trameka Brown-Berry/Facebook

A school assignment asked for 3 "good" reasons for slavery.

This article originally appeared on 01.12.18


It's not uncommon for parents to puzzle over their kids' homework.

Sometimes, it's just been too long since they've done long division for them to be of any help. Or teaching methods have just changed too dramatically since they were in school.

And other times, kids bring home something truly inexplicable.

Trameka Brown-Berry was looking over her 4th-grade son Jerome's homework when her jaw hit the floor.

"Give 3 'good' reasons for slavery and 3 bad reasons," the prompt began.

You read that right. Good reasons ... FOR SLAVERY.

Lest anyone think there's no way a school would actually give an assignment like this, Brown-Berry posted photo proof to Facebook.



In the section reserved for "good reasons," (again, for slavery), Jerome wrote, "I feel there is no good reason for slavery thats why I did not write."

Yep. That about covers it.

The school assignment was intended to spark debate and discussion — but isn't that part of the problem?

The assignment was real. In the year 2018. Unbelievable.

The shockingly offensive assignment deserved to be thrown in the trash. But young Jerome dutifully filled it out anyway.

His response was pretty much perfect.

We're a country founded on freedom of speech and debating ideas, which often leads us into situations where "both sides" are represented. But it can only go so far.

There's no meaningful dialogue to be had about the perceived merits of stripping human beings of their basic living rights. No one is required to make an effort to "understand the other side," when the other side is bigoted and hateful.

In a follow-up post, Brown-Berry writes that the school has since apologized for the assignment and committed to offering better diversity and sensitivity training for its teachers.

But what's done is done, and the incident illuminates the remarkable racial inequalities that still exist in our country. After all, Brown-Berry told the Chicago Tribune, "You wouldn't ask someone to list three good reasons for rape or three good reasons for the Holocaust."

At the very end of the assignment, Jerome brought it home with a bang: "I am proud to be black because we are strong and brave ... "

Good for Jerome for shutting down the thoughtless assignment with strength and amazing eloquence.

From Your Site Articles
Badge
T-Mobile
T-Mobile
Planet

T-Mobile sets another industry-leading goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040

It’s great for the planet and good for business, too.

True

We’ve all been hearing urgent warnings from scientists, government, and corporate leaders on the need to limit the planet's global temperature warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change.

Several studies, including research from the National Academy of Sciences indicate if we continue on the path we are on, we will likely hit that pivotal moment of global warming in the early 2030s. It’s clear that more needs to be done —and faster—to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and secure a thriving and sustainable economy for everyone.

Broader research is also showing people care more than ever about what companies are doing to address this challenge. In a 2022 global survey from IBM, 51% of respondents said environmental sustainability is more important to them now than it was the year before. And a 2022 Yale survey found that 51% of U.S. business students would even take lower pay to work for a company with better environmental practices — a signal of the topic's importance.

T-Mobile is an example of a company that has led the wireless industry in these efforts starting with its pledge in 2018 to source 100% of its total electricity usage with renewable energy and being the first in U.S. wireless to set science-based carbon reduction goals and then reach them in 2021. This year, T-Mobile stepped up even more by becoming the first U.S. wireless provider to announce a net-zero target for its entire carbon footprint.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

A contest for the 'worst science stock photo' has taken the internet by storm

“Talk to Us, Dr. Chicken," is a must-see.

Dr Kit Chapman/Twitter

They've blinded us with science.

Stock photos of any job are usually delightful cringey. Sure, sometimes they sort of get the essence of a job, but a lot of the time the interpretation is downright cartoonish. One glance and it becomes abundantly clear that for some careers, we have no freakin’ clue what it is that people do.

Dr. Kit Chapman, an award-winning science journalist and academic at Falmouth University in the U.K., recently held an impromptu contest on Twitter where viewers could vote on which photos were the best of the worst when it came to jobs in scientific fields.

According to Chapman’s entries, a day in the life of a scientist includes poking syringes into chickens, wearing a lab coat (unless you’re a “sexy” scientist, then you wear lingerie) and holding vials of colored liquid. Lots and lots of vials.

Of course, where each image is 100% inaccurate, they are 100% giggle inducing. Take a look below at some of the contenders.

Keep ReadingShow less
humor
Identity

Everyone loves this dad's genuine, heartfelt response to learning his daughter has a girlfriend

If only every dad could be this open.

via ilovemygf1ffffffffffff/TikTok

Connie Kingston come out to her father, Michael, over the phone.

A video posted to TikTok by Connie Kingston has received over 8.8 million views in just four days for the wholesome way that her father responds to her coming out of the closet. The big moment seems to come out of nowhere, and her father doesn’t even miss a beat.

In the video, Connie is lying down and talking to her father, Michael Kingston, about dinner plans when she coyly slips in some information about her “friend,” Daya.

Daya and Connie live in North Carolina and have been dating since November 2022.

Here’s how the conversation went:

Connie: Oh yeah, Daya's not my friend.

Dad: Why do you say that?

Connie: She's my girlfriend.

Keep ReadingShow less
lgbtq
Pets

Snoopy is real, her name is Bayley and the internet can't get enough of her

Everyone's childhood hearts just melted into a puddle.

assets.rebelmouse.io

Stop what you're doing. There's a dog that looks just like Snoopy.

Soooo, there's this dog and I'm pretty sure it's the actual Snoopy come to life. Seriously all the dog needs is a red dog house out back and a little yellow bird that follows it around. If you think it can't be true, then you're going to have to fight the entire internet about it because nobody can get enough of how much this sweet dog looks like the iconic cartoon character.

Snoopy is Charlie Brown's pet from the comic strip "Peanuts" that eventually spawned several movies and cartoon series, and Bayley is a dead ringer for the black and white animated pup. Since we live in a digital age, people across the country have been falling all over themselves to get to the pooch's Instagram account and admire her cartoonish mug.

Bayley is a 1-year-old mini sheepadoodle, which is a cross between a miniature poodle and an Old English Sheepdog. Her sweet face is something you have to see to believe and even then you may question if she's real.

Keep ReadingShow less
snoopy lookalike
Joy

93-year-old grandma does the most adorable 'get ready with me' for her first date in 25 years

Her excitement is contagious and the internet loves that for her.

Lillian Droniak|TikTok

Grandma has first date in 25 years, so she does a GRWM.

There is nothing more nerve wracking and exciting than getting ready for your very first date with someone you're feeling smitten with. But imagine having been out of the dating pool for 25 years. You might be a little rusty and maybe a tad bit more nervous than you would've a quarter century ago.

But in the age of social media, when you're feeling a little nervous or excited before going somewhere, you can turn on your camera and invite thousands of your closest friends to get ready with you. That's exactly what this 93-year-old grandmother did before her first date in more than two decades. Lillian Droniak has gone viral before with her dating advice and rules for a funeral, but this time she's going viral for going on her first date with a man she met at bingo.

Keep ReadingShow less
grwm
Pop Culture

Move over corsages—goats are this year's coolest prom trend for high schoolers

The bizarre Gen Z fad is a nod to the acronym "greatest of all time."

@get_your_goat_rentals/TikTok, @nukkgirll/TikTok, @duhh.itskera/TikTok

Goats are the latest prom trend.

Prom season is upon us, and you know what that means. Fancy dresses, elaborate promposals, rented limousines…and goats.

Yes, you read that right. Goats. They’re this year’s hottest prom trend, thanks to TikTok.

High schoolers are posting videos across the platform showing off their formal attire while posing next to a rented-out, real-life goat as a tongue-in-cheek nod to the popular sports phrase G.O.A.T., meaning “greatest of all time.”

Keep ReadingShow less
humor
Identity

Tori Roloff shares how she talks to her 5-year-old son with dwarfism about being different

The “Little People, Big World" mama says, "I WANT him to know he’s different.”

via Instagram/TLC

The Roloff family from "Little People, Big World"

It isn’t easy having to explain to a child who is different that they aren’t quite like other children. Most parents would probably prefer to downplay the situation, saying "It's no big deal. You aren’t quite the same as the other children, but everyone is different.”

However, Tori Roloff, 31, star of the TLC’s long-running “Little People, Big World,” has decided to go the other route. She’s asking her 5-year-old son, Jackson, to lean into his uniqueness and use it to help others.

Tori is married to Zach Roloff, 32, who’s been a star of “Little People, Big World” for 24 seasons. Zach and Tori have three children: Josiah and Lilah, 3, and Jackson, 5. All three of them have achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism.

Keep ReadingShow less
disabilities
Trending Stories