Rochester grammar school worksheet asks year 8 pupils to examine slaves’ characteristics, saying: ‘The key question is: what can I buy for my £100?’

A school in Kent has been criticised after pupils were given a worksheet in which they were asked to imagine buying slaves at an auction as part of a history project.



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The year 8 students at Rochester grammar school (RGS) were asked to examine the characteristics of slaves listed as 16 lots and were told to choose the best slaves to suit their business with a budget of £100.

Under the heading “Slave auction: lots to be sold today”, the worksheet listed: “Lot 3: 2 Krumen males slaves freshly imported from Liberia. Very good condition. Lot 4: 2 Chamba slaves. 1 male. 1 female. At 28 they offer good breeding potential” and “Lot 7: 4 Yoruba males, aged about 21. 3 are very strong, 1 less so.”

The pupil assignment at the foot of the document read: “Consider what sort of slave your business will need. Examine the characteristics of the slaves in source A. Can you find any that you could use?

“Focus your bids in the first round on those lots that you really think would be an advantage. Would a combination of different types be more suitable? The key question to ask is ‘What can I buy for my £100’.”

Kehinde Andrews, an associate professor in sociology at Birmingham City University, specialising in race and racism, said: “If this is how black history is taught in schools, then it is better they do not teach it at all.

“The levels of insensitivity just tell us how lightly the genocide of African people is viewed in the school system. I can’t imagine teaching the history of the Jewish holocaust by doing an exercise where you had to plan the most efficient route to the concentration camp, or how best to gather groups into gas chambers.

“At the time slave plantations were businesses and black bodies were bought and sold like cattle. But having the children also treat the subject in that manner normalises the inhuman.

“Slavery was genocide, terrorism, torture, rape and savage brutality. These are the only responsible ways to teach about the African holocaust, with respect to the millions of dead, and the descendants of those who survived, many of whom are in British classrooms today.”

The worksheet attracted criticism on social media, with some commentators mistakenly thinking it was a maths task, while another remarked that it was a part of a history lesson and “history, good and bad, must be taught”.

Cheryl Phoenix, an education activist who runs the Black Child Agenda, told the Guardian: “If my child came home with that, I would not be happy. This is a very, very emotional thing. If it was something about the Holocaust – having to guess about how many Jews to gas – would they be so brazen about it?”

RGS, a selective girls’ school rated “outstanding” by the schools watchdog Ofsted and part of the Thinking Schools Academy Trust, said the worksheet was an adaptation of primary sources from the period and was used in the wider context of the history curriculum. “We categorically condemn slavery and racism of any kind whether historic or present, and are extremely proud of our multi-cultural school and the tolerant and inclusive atmosphere that we foster every day to ensure all our students are well-rounded young people,” a school spokesman said.

“This worksheet is not used in maths but in the wider context of our history curriculum which follows the Historical Association’s (HA) recommendations on teaching historical slavery, and is in line with the Department for Education’s (DfE) history curriculum which says students should be taught about the effects and eventual abolition of the slave trade.

“This means we absolutely teach students about the horrors of the slave trade and the worksheet adapts primary sources of the time to illustrate the awful reality of slavery. We also include additional lessons on the horrors of the Middle Passage and life on plantations.”



The HA said the worksheet was based on guidelines on its website written by Anti-Slavery and was designed to expose the racist rationale of those who supported the slave trade.

A spokesman added: “However, because this is an extremely complex history where prejudices can perpetuate if presented simply, the HA is happy to work further with RGS on the best way to deliver this material in future, so the horror and realities of the trans-Atlantic trade and slavery itself are fully understood through its history lessons.”

A Department for Education spokesman said: “It is inappropriate to engage in any exercise that appears to condone slavery. The national curriculum does not set any requirements for how teachers should teach individual subjects but schools should be professional in the choice of educational material they use.”