Homework Assignment Asked High Schoolers to List ‘Positive Effects of Imperialism’

A homework assignment at a Massachusetts high school has drawn outrage for being racist after it asked students to list the “positive effects of imperialism.”

Calla Walsh tweeted a photo of the history assignment early Tuesday to her 17,000 followers after her 15-year-old freshman sister, Cece, was tasked to read a text on the colonization of Africa and then list both the “negative” and beneficial effects of imperialism.

“Forcing students into the mental exercise of justifying/rationalizing genocide because of its supposed ‘positive effects’ itself perpetuates genocide and indoctrinate them into supporting an imperial war machine,” Calla Walsh wrote.

Cece attends Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, a public institution in one of the “most progressive cities” in the US, her sister said.

“It’s not just Republican banning [critical race theory] that are revising history – racist, imperialist revisionism it is a key objective of the *entire* US education system,” Calla Walsh claimed.

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{snip} Cece, meanwhile, showed her displeasure directly on the worksheet, leaving the “positive effects” section blank.

“I think that asking us to identify positives of imperialism, something that killed thousands and contributed to slavery, is extremely undermining and disrespectful to people whose ancestors were murdered because of colonization,” the freshman wrote.

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