Traci Kattelman is one of my favorite teachers ever. Eli has been in school just a couple months and is making HUGE strides in his reading. He loves school, loves to learn, loves to work hard.... and it's thanks to a GREAT teacher. The teachers make all the difference!!!
I was able to go with Ella for an hour on this field trip. She had an ear infection and we needed to go to the doctor otherwise we'd have stayed the whole time.
We were at the heritage museum and for about 2 seconds the guide said, "Chinese built the railroads. They worked hard."
Then a while later the guide spent 10 minutes going on about Malted Coor's Milk. Apparently it was a favorite childhood drink.
So, what is the message here? Funny alcohol milk vs. the extremely painful history of what our country did to exploit the Chinese laborers.
I took the time to talk to Eli about the unfair wages they received based solely on their looking different or speaking different from white counterparts. I talked about how they lived in extremely dangerous circumstances and were often killed. I think the sign said they made $5 less than the Irish workers. Outrageous.
We talked about if we get burned, do we pretend we weren't burned? Do we say, it wasn't that bad a burn - just ignore it? No. We remember we were burned and try to learn so it doesn't happen again.
It's the same with our country's racially charged hatred in history and in modern times.
We have to learn or we'll never grow.
I hope that in life I can teach my children compassion and how to love others.
Because malted milk is good to know about, but it's really not.
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