Cherry Hill should just teach American history (Opinion)

The Cherry Hill School District has become the first district in New Jersey to require that African American history be taken by high schoolers in order to graduate. How exactly does that unify?

Cherry Hill West parent Tina Truitt, who is also president of the Cherry Hill African American Association tells 6abc.com, "It's not about color. It's teaching the truth to the history." If that's the case then find or create an accurate account of American history that everyone can agree on and teach that class which would be all-inclusive. Remember, history is about facts, not opinion.

According to the 6abc article, 57% of the school district is white, while less than 10% is black. While I like the idea of white students learning about the struggles of the ancestors of their African American classmates, why not let it go both ways? We have a large Italian population in Cherry Hill as well as a Jewish population, let's learn about their struggles as well. No immigrant was welcome to America with open arms. Everyone had to struggle to make it in this country

That's why I've always loved the idea of giving more nationalities and ethnicities a month. I love learning about the African American culture during Black History Month. I would love for people to learn about what my Italian ancestors dealt with when they came to this country as well as learn about other nationalities struggles as well. If we all learned more about each other it would go a long way with us all getting along. Isn't that the goal?

Perhaps the Cherry Hill School District can make mandatory a course in the Constitution, which unifies us all. We are a melting pot society. That's why I say to Cherry Hill and anyone who wants to single out any one struggle, it's time to create or update an American history course using facts that we all agree on that covers all struggles and teach that.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Steve Trevelise. Any opinions expressed are Steve's own. Steve Trevelise is on New Jersey 101.5 Monday-Thursday from 7pm-11pm. Follow him on Twitter @realstevetrev.