Utah Elementary School Apologizes After Parent Backlash Against Slavery Simulation Activity in Class

Slavery simulation Underground Railroad Slavery simulation activity for history class Parents backlash against slavery simulation School apologized for slavery simulation activity Mount Mahogany Elementary Alpine School District Utah Elementary School Slavery simulation inappropriate slavery simulation can traumatize students slavery simulation ineffective

By Jo Anne Hubert , Parent Herald Apr 20, 04:50 am

Photo: (Photo : Pexel/Polina Tankilevitch)

Parents were outraged upon finding that their children are being encouraged to join a reenactment of the Underground Railroad activity in school.

Mount Mahogany Elementary in Pleasant Grove, Utah apologized to parents for an upcoming school activity where fifth grader students have to roleplay being slave owners and slaves for a history lesson activity.

According to a concerned parent, her child was sent home with a permission slip stating that the student was "highly recommended" by teachers of the school to participate in a simulation of the Underground Railroad, KUTV reported.

The said activity was supposed to happen Monday, April 17, but was canceled following parent backlash.

Slavery Simulation Activity Cancelled

The Alpine School District canceled the said event and Mount Mahogany Elementary's principal has since sent an apology note to parents.

"US History, including the Civil War, is part of the 5th grade curriculum. Lessons using simulations can be effective when utilized with appropriate topics and conditions. Teaching slavery using a simulation activity is a concern. After additional review, the proposed activity was canceled. It was determined that there are better ways to teach this topic rather than using a simulation activity," the district expressed in a statement given to Fox News.

In a statement the district gave to 2News after receiving multiple questions from the news outlet, they stated, "Teaching slavery using a simulation activity is inappropriate."

When asked how or why the simulation activity has been created and approved in the first place, the district did not provide any comment but declared that it was not the first time that a reenactment activity has been done in classrooms.

Fox News tried to reach out to Mount Mahogany Elementary for a statement yet no comment was given as of writing.

Use of Simulations on Teaching

Education Week, an education-based news source has once highlighted the same underground railroad simulations and have reported that it is being done in different schools across America and have resulted in mixed reviews.

In fact, it stated that every time a teacher decides to do a slavery simulation in class, "the same education story makes headlines time and again," exactly like what happened in the case of Mount Mahogany Elementary.

According to the news outlet, there are some schools that stand by the activity's effectiveness in teaching students about the Civil War's slavery and the brutality that came along with it. Other schools proclaimed that students were traumatized.

Experts and educators have stated that slavery simulations have the "potential to be the most harmful." Thus, it isn't in any way effective to teach about slavery.

"Slavery simulations can minimize horrific events, recreate racist power dynamics, and cause emotional hurt to black students," educators stressed in disagreement with teachers stating that the goal of the activity is to show the brutality of slavery and nurture empathy.

"You cannot actually replicate this experience. What you've basically done is gamify it, and by gamifying it, you're actually reducing the horror. Yes, you could work harder to make it more real, then you're potentially introducing trauma," expressed Maureen Costello, the director of Teaching Tolerance, a Southern Poverty Law Center's project.