Should schools teach children that slavery is wrong?

I thought that I brought this up before, but I can't find it. If I'm repeating myself, please forgive me. The subject I want to discuss is whether or not schools should teach children that slavery is wrong. As much as people might not want to hear this, this is not a lesson that I support.


Before I go any further, let me make one thing clear. I view slavery as one of the worst mistakes in our nation's past. Opposing such a lesson is very different from supporting slavery.

Part of the issue is that our views on slavery technically qualify as opinions. Although I hope most people agree that slavery is wrong, allowing teachers to control the narrative can set a dangerous precedent. Allowing teachers to dictate opinions on slavery can make it easier for teachers to take control over other forms of opinions.

Another issue is that a narrative can skew the presentation of facts. In other words, history will look at facts that help convince people that slavery is wrong and downplay anything that doesn't help them make their point. Some students will recognize that the information is skewed and become less trusting of teachers and the overall narrative. Some students could even become supportive of slavery simply because they recognize deceit in the arguments against.

One thing that I'm fairly sure that I have mentioned before is that this ideas maintains one of the underlying causes of slavery. People were trained to view slavery as reasonable, and people mindlessly accepted the narrative. Instead of correcting the mindlessness, we merely flipped the switch on the narrative.

One final point that I wanted to make is that this kind of lesson is insulting to children. If you give children straight facts, an overwhelming majority will agree that slavery is wrong. Any teacher who feels that a child must be explicitly told is seriously underestimating that child.

NOTE: Although I had not previously posted this, it was actually written before the killing of George Floyd and the other recent incidents involving African Americans.