It’s heritage presentation time again. Time for reports, class presentations, potlucks featuring food from students’ family heritages. This year the second grade Heritage Unit and Ethnic Feast will be the time for my daughter Meg, adopted as a one-year-old, to write a report on a country from our family’s heritage, and bring a typical food to the Ethnic Feast which will be held for all second graders and their families.
I’ve written a previous blog about my son’s experience with this project two years ago when, after giving the instruction to research “a country that is part of your family’s heritage”, his teacher told him he couldn’t choose Korea because that was his sisters’ heritage, not his.
When I found out, I was thrilled that my son had been that interested in his sisters’ heritage, and displeased that the teacher had squashed that interested. I also disagreed with her philosophically, since the assignment had not focused on genetics or biology but on “a part of your family’s heritage”, and our whole family has been influenced by Korean culture as well as Irish, Italian, English and French-Canadian culture.
I was eager for my son to do Korea and feel that it was part of his heritage too. So, to be consistent, I should be happy if my daughter wants to do Ireland, right? And I do want the girls to feel that they can enjoy Irish dance lessons and Italian food as much as any of us.
Yet I feel uneasy about the thought of Meg presenting her heritage report on a country other than Korea. Perhaps I’m afraid she doesn’t like her heritage. Perhaps I’m worried that it will seem as though I’ve somehow taught her to be ashamed of her heritage. Perhaps I’m afraid she’ll face the “real mom” questions that distressed her last year.
When I asked Meg what she thought she’d write about for the heritage report this year, she said she was trying to decide between Oregon and Washington. I informed her that she’d have to do a country, not a state, and that we had a lot of information on Korea. I didn’t actually tell her she had to do Korea.
But I hope she does.
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