Shane: ‘Pay more attention to slavery in history lessons’

History is the passion of Shane Lobato de Mesquita. He’s studying to become a history teacher at Fontys in Tilburg. That does not mean, however, that he never thinks about the future.

“I think about the future a lot. When I graduate, I first want to work in The Netherlands for a few years. To learn more about life here,  and to have the opportunity to travel around Europe. There is so much history over here, so many nice museums. Also, I’m fond of Vikings. So I would really like to go to Scandinavia.

Getting a master’s degree and writing history articles or books, are also on my list. It is important that we pay more attention to the Dutch slavery history and also that the Dutch know more about the Caribean.

After a while I’ll go back home, to Aruba. There I can work as a teacher as well and even become the school principal, so I can work on the quality of education at Aruba. For example, the Dutch language can be taught in a much better way. And that is important for people who want to study abroad, as I do now.

What worries me at the moment is the effect of corona and the lockdowns on the education of children and students. Because of the online lessons, for example.  And then there is the mental effect. I too felt very bad because of the corona restrictions, and for that reason had to go home for a few weeks last year. 

It was my first year at Fontys, and staying in my student room all the time was very hard. Now I feel much better. Many lessons are still online, but we can go to the campus and study over there. That makes a huge difference.” [Petra Merkx]