A Bit Much

So my 9 year old son had to complete a Black History Project on W.C. Handy. For those who don't know who he is (and I didn't know either), he is the Father of Blues. Anyway this post is not about the life of a great man but of the requirements for my son's project. First he had to write an essay that highlighted Handy's life and accomplishments. That part seemed reasonable and the students had to have an outline and draft of their essays. I thought this was perfect practice for good writing skills. But here comes the unreasonable part which I also call my homework. The kids were required to do a visual presentation that had to be in the form of a power point, video or other creative style. What? A power point, really!!!! Well needless to say public school doesn't teach Power Point in the the fourth grade. So my work began. The third thing he had to complete was a costume to wear to school that would make him recognizable as W.C. Handy for the Live Wax Museum activity. It sounded like fun until I realized that the only picture I had to base the costume off of was a regular old picture of a balding old black man who could have been any body's grandpa. This is what I came up with. My whole point is, I feel that these projects are way more work for the parents than for the kids. If I left it up to my son he would have written two sentences and taped a picture on a piece of poster board and for a costume he would have worn his winter hat and rain boots, just to be funny. When will the schools learn that these types of projects really don't teach our students? They should come up with group projects the kids have to complete in the classroom with teacher supervision and then have a grade level presentation to showcase the kids hard work.

Next up is a "Career Project" for my 6 year old. Just a side note, it made me really happy when he said he wanted to teach people about Jesus when he grows up. How cool is that!!!!