In the GOP’s race to the bottom on teaching about racism, Texas takes the lead. The legislature passed a bill limiting what teachers can teach in history and social studies about race. Rightwing Governor Greg Abbott will sign it.
Here’s a description of the legislation from the Texas Tribune, written before it was passed by the Senate:
The Senate-approved version revives specific essential curriculum standards that students are required to understand, including the Declaration of Independence and the Federalist Papers. But it stripped more than two dozen requirements to study the writings or stories of multiple women and people of color that were also previously approved by the House, despite attempts by Democratic senators to reinstate some of those materials in the bill.
The Senate did vote to include the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, the 13th 14th and 19th amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the complexity of the relationship between Texas and Mexico to the list of required instruction.
Yet the most controversial aspects of the bill remain, including that teachers must explore current events from multiple positions without giving “deference to any one perspective.” It also bars students from getting course credit for civic engagement efforts, including lobbying for legislation or other types of political activism.
Educators, historians and school advocacy groups who fiercely oppose the bill remained unswayed by arguments that the bill is merely meant to ensure students are taught that one race or gender is not superior to another.
“Giving equal weight to all sides concerning current events would mean that the El Paso terrorist ideology would have to be given equal weight to the idea that racism is wrong,” said Trinidad Gonzales, a history professor and assistant chair of the dual enrollment program at South Texas College. “That is the problem, white supremacy would be ignored or given deference if addressed. That is the problem with the bill.”
Hughes denied that the bill would require teachers give moral equivalency to perpetrators of horrific violence.
Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who sponsored the Senate version of the bill, said in a statement to the Tribune that Texas schools should emphasize “traditional history, focusing on the ideas that make our country great and the story of how our country has risen to meet those ideals.”
But Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, raised concerns on the Senate floor that the historical documents required in the bill only reflect the priorities of white senators.
After the bill passed both houses, the Huffington was blunt about its purpose: Teachers should not teach about racism or white supremacy.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“After the bill passed both houses, the Huffington was blunt about its purpose: Teachers should not teach about racism or white supremacy.”
It serves a dual purpose. It’s also intended to portray public schools as bad and convince parents their children shouldn’t attend one.
Here’s the former attorney general of the US saying that explicitly:
“Instead he made the case that school choice vouchers may offer parents the best protection from curricula designed to indoctrinate children with a radical, secular theology.”
Just another variety of public school bashing designed to promote the private schools they prefer and bash the public schools they oppose. It’s all marketing, all politics, and it all portrays public schools as an enemy to be vanquished.
They’ll spend the next year on this nonsense and it will be another year where none of them have done a single practical, useful thing to benefit any public school or public school student, anywhere. They simply return no value to public school students- they contribute nothing positive.
https://forbestalk.com/news/usa/bill-barr-says-militantly-secularist-government-run-classrooms-are-unconstitutional/
The right in American politics today will do anything to create a kerfufle to distract from their chief goal: to enrich the few at the expense of the many. We should simply shrug at this unenforceable piece of legislation, and point out that they have offered no solution to spiraling health costs, inadequate affordable nutrition, and impending environmental disaster.
Teachers will teach as they see fit. Without the snitches in class and a complex network of spies, no one will ever know what the children are hearing. Anyone teaching European imperialism will be obliged to talk about King Leopoldo and the bounty on Congo hands. The real barrier to students hearing about this practice, and the authors like Twain who spoke out against it, is the barrier of teacher ignorance rather than judicial fiat.
It’s not “unenforceable.” Teachers can and will lose their jobs and possibly teaching licenses over this. We can’t just “shrug it off.”
I agree that teachers should raise a sh**storm over legislation of this sort, because of exactly what you say. But I agree with Roy Turrentine that all this malarky in red-Trumpista states is just virtue signaling to their extremist rwnj voters so as to distract them from govtl failures that make their lives difficult in very basic ways.
Bethree
Off-topic, I added info. to follow-up on your statement about “lotsa little crappy prv religious schools”. The data is provided in a comment to Diane’s recent post about Ohio.
State Legislatures, especially those dominated by Radical Reactionary Republicans, are constantly trying to keep Social Studies Teachers from teaching the truth and trying to force us only to teach what they feel will indoctrinate our students into becoming loyal, almost robotic like, Republican Voters.
I’m sorry to tell them that social studies teachers are not robots and will continue to teach the Core American Values found in our history and in all our historic documents, including the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Pain’s writings, the Constitution of the United States as Amended, I started my career in 1966 and I taught from the beginning that African slaves/indentured servants [the historical record is unclear how the Jamestown Colonists viewed these individuals] were sold to the colonists in Jamestown in 1619 [Before the Mayflower]. We taught it in the 1960s so why the big crisis about teaching the truth. Africans had been brought into our South West by the Spanish in the early 1600s! But the poorly educated lawyers who make up the bulk of our legislatures think they can keep the truth from getting out by ordering teachers not to teach it.
It appears to me that the Radical Reactionary Republicans currently in power haven’t learned the lesson of the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial” in 1925. Unless you can figure out some Orwellian 1984 Thought Police system, they can order Professional Historians teaching in our Public Schools not to teach the history of our nation leaving out the history of a major portion of the history of our fellow citizens of African origin is a lost cause. If these teachers, like me, are professional historians first who love to teach and pass on the truth to their students laws like these will be ignored.
We need to be prepared to offer financial aid to any teacher the various states try to prosecute under these laws just as thinking people did for Mr Scopes in 1925.
Beautifully said, Kenneth!!!
Right on, Kenneth Kolk. I don’t really understand TOW’s attitude on this (above). There are always parents who try to claim you’re doing this & not doing that– & always some admins, depending on the bldg., who don’t have your back & cave instantly to parents. They can’t prove it, neither can you, & if you don’t have a union you’re SOL. That’s the way it’s always been. You have to teach the subject. And people wonder why there’s a teacher shortage. Legislation tying both hands behind your back just exacerbates that.
I don’t know how you don’t understand my attitude. I was nearly fired for teaching required curriculum for Advanced Placement. Students in Utah are being told by right-wing groups to secretly videotape us teaching so that teachers can get fired. And Utah today is passing curriculum similar to Texas. I am worried SICK.
Sorry TOW I was only partway down the thread at that point. Your details on this are hair-raising. Unfortunately it seems Utah already has an Orwellian Thought Police system.
So little progress since Scopes. Decades of skirmishes won and, still Jan. 6 happens. The reluctance to talk about separation of church and state in meaningful terms dooms the country. Penn. state Senator Doug Mastriano is the latest face to make the case.
Idaho’s is even broader:
“Jeffrey Sachs
New Idaho bill just dropped. Public schools and also universities are forbidden from endorsing a “divisive concept”, NOR may they invite a speaker who endorses it, NOR even assign a book or video that endorses it.
So long, James Calhoun and John Locke.”
This is the sum total “contribution” to public education. They actively work to harm the public schools they didn’t and don’t attend, and don’t attend.
Nothing positive or beneficial or practical for public school students- just this political garbage and marketing. They don’t support our schools or students but they’re more than happy to harshly police them. 100% negative agenda.
Is anyone in ed reform speaking out against these laws, or are they forbidden to speak against their political allies in public school privatization, the people writing the laws?
Are public schools going under the big ed reform bus again? Once again our schools and students jettisoned in pursuit of the ideological privatization goal?
Ed reform echo chamber marching in lock step again?
It’s the same as the debate about “liberal bias” in universities. Conservatives can’t win in the free marketplace of ideas because many of their fundamental ideas are laced with contradictions, so they feel they have to unfairly privilege their views to have even a chance to perpetuate their views.
exactly
Contradictions? Huh? (Or as educated people might answer: Moi?)
“Today’s announcement of science scores from the 2019 round of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) provides more evidence for two ugly trends in the test often referred to as the nation’s report card.
As with other results from the past few years — including assessments in social studies last year and the core subjects of math and English in 2019 — scores for all age groups are either flat or down from 2015, the last time the test was given. And declines in performance are largely driven by students achieving at the lowest levels.”
In a normal country, one where “public education” wasn’t completely dominated by an echo chamber that has only one idea and that idea is “privatize”, wouldn’t the failure of ed reformers to improve these scores indicate we should perhaps consult someone OUTSIDE the ed reform echo chamber?
Do they get another 2 decades to promote this agenda? At what point is it questioned?
Which will happen first- ed reformers close the last public school OR someone notices these people haven’t actually improved public education?
They’re not going to criticize themselves- it’s an echo chamber and they all work for the same 5 people and they do no real critical analysis of their own work. Any criticism or analysis of this “movement” is going to have to come from people who aren’t in it. If we continue to ask the members of the echo chamber if the privatization plan is working they will continue to say “yes”.
I just looked at all sample science items in grades 4, 8, and 12.
Overall the items were fair and clearly written and well developed.
The 4th grade test was the most challenging, grade 8 was spot on, and grade 12 was probably too easy for top HS science students. However when no stakes tests are given to seniors in their last semester, I take scores with a dose of cynicism.
Flat scores with 33% at below basic, 33% at basic, and 33% at NEAP proficient which a fairly advanced level. Does it reflect a failure in ed reform? Given the big push has been in math and ELA, probably a reflection of willfull neglect despite science testing being a requirement of the NCLB and ESSA in grades 4 and 8, albeit not one that makes any news.
Conclusion: fair test with no stakes and results that scream, meh.
agree with the assessment, & wonder: what’s the beef? ya wanna improve science ed scores [or any subject outside math & ELA], quit with the 20yrslong microscope on math/ELA via annual state-stdzd testing still imposed, 20 yrs after NCLB, by ESSA.
I call it the de-facto, “two subjects that count” curriculum. If we want to rail about NCLB ESSA impacts, this should be the mantra: limiting opportunities via TSTC! The anti-testing rants are too nuanced and have become a whiny look for teachers.
what is TSTC?
Two Subjects That Count
Its the 21st century core curriculum!
hahaha. Maybe we should call it “The 2 R’s.”
Don’t “teach about race,” or “about racism,” or “about white supremacy.” Teach history. Teach science. Teach civics and government.
The history of the slave trade is fascinating and important and absolutely should be taught as part of a world history class. Teachers are professionals and generally should have the discretion to teach that subject matter how they see fit, without meddling from state legislatures or education boards.
Teachers should not teach as if they were training activists. They should not teach about “social justice issues” (unless it’s part of a meta-critique of discourse about justice, which frankly sounds like university material to me). They shouldn’t be taught that America is a white supremacist nation (because it’s not, or at least it’s a highly debatable topic), that all white people are inescapably racist and privileged, or that racism is so “systemic” that black people are always at a disadvantage relative to non-black people. They shouldn’t advocate and they should encourage fact-based argument on any topic.
But that’s just me.
Edit: “shouldn’t teach,” not “shouldn’t be taught.”
Exactly.
Ding, ding, ding!
It’s comments like this that make me pay less attention to this blog. But that’s just me.
I agree. That pablum is the same stuff that is said by Ted Cruz and Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell and the leaders of any white supremacist organization. “Teach history. Teach science. Teach civics and government.”
Of course, the devil is in the details when the history and civics and government and even science that is taught is what white folks in power decide should be taught.
Remember, teaching evolution and also creationist beliefs is just “teaching science”. Teaching that America is a great democracy that is in the process of fulfilling its manifest destiny is just “teaching history”. Teaching that the Republicans are very concerned with stopping voter fraud is just “teaching civics and government”.
When people resort to vague generalities as if they were truths, what emerges is: Teach any history that doesn’t make white people uncomfortable. Teach any civics and government that doesn’t make white people uncomfortable. Because once you make white people uncomfortable, you are teaching CRT and that is very bad and you must be fired.
“without meddling from state legislatures or education boards” – thank you!
Just teach the facts—including all the ugly s*** (but not overwhelming kids — balance it by showing improvements, emphasize strength & resilience of the oppressed). By the time kids are in college or post-grad courses, they’ll have what they need to draw broad conclusions or joust with the CRT folks.
Something I sense, correct me if I’m wrong. Perhaps the most important danger of dumbing down CRT historical philosophy, which really is BA/ MA material, to squeeze these ideas into K12: as someone said on an earlier thread, whatever can go wrong/ be misunderstood, will be. This theory when dumbed down for K12 seems directed mainly to trying to correct white kids’ sensibility. I worry that black/ brown kids will be getting the message that there’s no hope for them in our society.
Precisely the problem; well stated.
It will bring us back to the days when it was common to hear a student of color rebut a behavioral correction by saying You’re just picking on me because I’m black. Instead we my hear AC USA films of racism from students. Children and adolescents do not a e the ability to parse the nuances of CRT nor do many teachers. Presenting at the 13- 20 level would be a challenge.
accusations
“I worry that black/ brown kids will be getting the message that there’s no hope for them in our society.”
OMG maybe they will get the message that THE TRUTH MATTERS.
You think that teaching them that they have exactly the same opportunities as anyone else and it is their own fault that police target them and they aren’t getting housing loans at the same low interest rates or business loans or don’t score as high on the SAT which is the true measure of all students and their value is only what the SAT says they are will give them “hope”?
It teaches them that teachers are pushing the same dishonest narratives that police do.
I guess if only MLK Jr. had preached that America was a great country where everything was perfect, that there would actually have been some change in this country! Oh yes, there was.
Being truthful brings change. Whitewashing history and having only those in power decide what is “allowed” to be included is designed to keep those folks in power.
Nycpsp, I don’t understand how you could have gotten any of that from what I wrote. I am sorry you think I think those things. Have tried several times to rephrase, but always ends up way too long and going in too many directions. Am I speaking in Greek or what??
Edit “fascinating” and “slave trade”
AGREE 100%
Thank You, FLERP. With common core directives and extra testing and complaints of scores being low and not enough time to teach, why add more to your plate?. At the k-12 level, teach facts and not hotly debated theory. I think revolutionaries are being created that are harming our communities.
I can understand why teachers don’t like to be spied on but parents are very concerned that their children are being indoctrinated on issues that are against the parent’s values (ie. race, sex, gender identity, social justice issues). You will see more children going to private religious, charter schools or being homeschooled if this continues.
This is an example of the analytical “rigor” in the ed reform echo chamber:
https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/the-year-of-school-choice/
They lobbied for and got 20-some huge voucher expansions in multiple states. Some of them haven’t even started.
Ed reform “analysis”? HUGE success. You will not find a single criticism or even evaluation of any of the voucher laws. 100% lockstep cheerleading and certainty that public education will dramatically and miraculously improve with more vouchers and charters and fewer public schools. Did they even read the laws?
There’s no “debate” in this club. They’re professional paid cheerleaders for public education privatization. It’s the only work they do.
The inclusive list of the “they’s”?
Rigorous analysis of vouchers:
“The Education Gadfly Show #770: Hooray for Florida’s new school choice legislation”
You can see the serious study of the potential ramifications of privatizing a public system that serves 50 million children, right?
“Hooray!”. That’s the level of thought they’re putting into dismantling and discarding public schools.
Gosh I hope the plans “work”. If they don’t Americans are in for a really rude awaking when they realize public schools have been cavalierly discarded for whatever ideological dream these people had.
The bill demands that issues be taught from “multiple perspectives”. Good!. It does not say you can’t teach about racism.
the hard part for many teachers is that for some schools non-scientific perspectives will be expected — much of what will be taught will come down to particular districts and particular administrators
Ponderosa,
I expect “multiple perspectives” means discussions like this:
Some people think slavery was wrong but many believed it was the best thing that ever happened to African people.
Some people thought that Hitler was wrong to kill millions of innocent people but others thought it was necessary for the war effort.
Some people say that racism is a problem today. But others say that racism is a fiction.
A more appropriate scenario, given the topic of “critical race theory,” is that some people say that systemic racism is a problem today, and others say that systemic racism is a fiction. I would hope (perhaps naively) that there is still room for classroom debate on that question.
Yeah, you ARE naive, FLERP. Ask any social studies teacher you know how this would affect their teaching. Race and other things like that won’t even be brought up for fear of some parent going nuts and a teacher losing their job. In my state, a nutty parents’ group is pushing for kids to secretly record teachers so that those videos can be posted and get teachers fired. They’re looking at a similar bill to Texas, too.
I noted in another comment that didn’t get posted that I don’t support this bill, because I don’t think legislatures or education boards should be meddling in curriculum or teaching at this level. I’m skeptical that that this bill will prevent teachers from teaching about slavery, the slave trade, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, or the civil rights movement, though. I could be wrong, but hopefully my skepticism isn’t just naivete.
These “thought police” laws may result in teachers facing witch hunts. Students can be encouraged to report on teachers that dare teach balanced history. There’s is a lot of latitude for misuse and abuse in such a fascist leaning law.
“some people say that systemic racism is a problem today, and others say that systemic racism is a fiction. I would hope (perhaps naively) that there is still room for classroom debate on that question.”
I would hope (perhaps naively) that no teacher is pushing the false narrative that there are two equally valid sides: that there continues to be a problem with systemic racism in America and that “systemic racism is a fiction”.
Should students also be taught that no one knows for sure whether there is systemic racism in policing? And no one knows for sure whether there is massive voter fraud? And no one knows for sure whether Jews control all the money or just some of it?
Maybe no one knows for sure if putting Japanese Americans in concentration camps had anything to do with their race? Should teachers be forced to teach that some people felt they needed to be locked up as a great danger to America due to their loyalty to Japan and other people felt that they weren’t as much of a grave danger as the people who loved America said they were?
You would make an excellent NYT journalist, FLERP! as they love to present “both sides” as equal.
What should be taught is how systemic racism is a problem and debating what solutions might help alleviate it. But I guess that is dismissed as “social justice” nonsense when students should be learning that there may or may not be systemic racism in America and no one knows for sure – something I am quite sure Republicans would approve of being taught.
NYCPP, what is systemic racism?
How bold will publishers be not letting the right-wing write their text books. Texas is the poster child for one-version text books. Content restriction & $ v. historical accuracy? So, deja vu or a new day in publishing.
…and
“It also bars students from getting course credit for civic engagement efforts, including lobbying for legislation or other types of political activism.”
AH HA – No mention of Community Service!
According to this 11yo article, TX influence on national textbooks was already on the wane then, thanks to tech advances making it cheaper to adapt them to local markets. https://www.texastribune.org/2010/03/26/texas-textbooks-national-influence-is-a-myth/
So we can let them drift off into their bubble and suffer the market consequences, just as we already do for those states who don’t teach evolution.
The entire state will become an anachronism. I hope they have a lightning rod, a DeLorean, and a flux capacitor because it takes one point twenty-one gigawatts of electricity to get back to the future.
Beto O’Rourke is mulling over running for governor. He would be a welcome change in Texas. Texans deserve better than the radical right wing.
I agree that Beto would be a welcome change of leadership in a red state slowly turning purple, but let’s face it, Texans deserve what they vote for. My state of California elected two Hollywood actors turned Republican governors who both ruined the majority of lives in the state for many years to come. We got what we deserved. I believe, however, what Locke and Rousseau believed, that an educated electorate can overcome all tyranny by the minority, in the long run.
Ted Cruz is a lightning rod, they have lots of energy from oil and gas wells a Tesla factory in Giga, Texas.
Will a Tesla substitute for a Delaurean?
Oh, and they have an Elon Flux capacitor
I’d bet a Tesla has better acceleration than a Delorean.
But I’m not sure about it’s time travel capabilities.
Although I do feel like we are travelling back a hundred years to the time of Henry Ford every time I hear Elon Musk talk about how great his cars are.
Seriously though, it’s better for the environment to drive an older car than to purchase a new one. The huge electricity that powers the batteries in Teslas is made by burning huge amounts of trees, coal, and gas anyway. And the cobalt the batteries are made of is mined in dangerous and unhealthy conditions by child laborers. Makes me wonder if there’s cobalt on Mars.
A more appropriate scenario, given the topic of “critical race theory,” is that some people say that systemic racism is a problem today, and others say that systemic racism is a fiction. I would hope (perhaps naively) that there is still room for classroom debate on that question.
Meant for this to go under Diane’s comment. I also have a comment in moderation.
I would hope that undisputed facts are provided and opinions are labeled as such. The other day, one of my students asked me if I believed dinosaurs walked the earth. I said yes, in my opinion, I believed they did, but I did not have undeniable proof and could not say it was a law of fact. There was plenty of evidence that supported the theory of evolution, but there was no evidence in fossil records that irrefutably proved the planet was older than 5,781 years.
I cannot prove that God did not put dinosaur bones in the ground to test my faith. Like evolution, the existence of racism is a theory supported by a preponderance of evidence. That’s what it is. Like creationism, the inexistence of racism is a theory supported mostly anecdotally. That’s what it is. And finally, like Newtonian Laws, the inexistence of brains in the people who gave us Common Core State Standards is a law of fact that cannot be denied. Cannot be denied .
When politicians wade into public school curriculum, students usually get the short straw. Subjecting our schools to a philosophy of “America First” will make curriculum resemble Swiss cheese.
The problem is the Left wants an “America Last” curriculum –rabidly anti-Western and anti-White. The antidote to both extremes is broad knowledge of the world, which few besides E.D. Hirsch and Camile Paglia seem to be advocating for.
You don’t teach social studies, do you? I know of NO ONE advocating for teaching as you state, and I am involved in social studies education at many levels for 20 years now. Broad knowledge IS the goal–this bill will destroy that, because no one will dare bring up anything that isn’t “happy sunshine history.”
Thanks for sharing back. As I said, politicians should stay out curriculum. Whether they are left or right, they all tend to overreach. Experiencing a “broad knowledge of the world” sounds great!
TOW
You don’t hear the far left advocating for black wing ideological activism through CRT?
I think some people follow this stuff a lot less than others, and also there is a non-trivial amount of regional variation. That’s my only explanation.
When I grew up in Houston, everything was segregated. Schools, public transit, drinking fountains, public pools, beaches. Everything. Racism was inescapable.
What I hear is Republican legislators who want to control what teachers teach and don’t want them to learn about the oppression of black people.
I’m for broad knowledge of the world. But not a censored version. Genocide, slavery, wars, misogyny, racism, colonialism are part of that broad knowledge.
Diane, you’re worried kids won’t hear about racism. I’m worried they won’t hear anything except racism. The current crop of post-modernist/ critical theory-infused humanities majors knows nothing but Foulcault and race and gender, and so that’s what they teach. Every other story in the New York Times or NPR is about the disparate impact of _______ on People of Color. My seventh graders are ignorant of almost everything –but they do know Martin Luther King and they do know about transgender issues. They get that stuff through the ambient culture these days. Focusing history or English class on these issues is almost gilding the lily. Meanwhile my students don’t know what an atlas is (I asked today) much less any geography. Most kids of my students have never heard of Moses (even the Christian kids). Western culture is being erased from the minds of Americans, much to the delight of the Left. Teaching race all day, every day has an opportunity cost. Who on the Left is advocating for teaching the other domains of knowledge? They merely give lip service.
cx: “most of my students” not “most kids of my students”.
Can I please presume to rewrite part of your reply with a word or two changed?
People are worried kids won’t hear the facts. Some worry they won’t hear anything but the facts.
I teach facts. So do you, Ponderosa. Yes, there are zealots on both sides who teach only one side. Most teachers, in my humble opining, are not zealots. Let us teach both sides.
And let me add that there needs not be any opinion about certain facts. Hitler tortured and murdered millions of people. Fact. Generational slavery tortured and killed millions of people. Fact. There are many facts that are not zealotry to state on one side only. Torture and murder are wrong, period. They are not called enhanced interrogation and population control. Some facts contain opinion inherently.
Teaching about “racism”? What exactly would you want a 12 or 13 year old to glean from a lesson? A unit? What would a test item read like? What is the rationale for the lesson? And how would you prevent a black student from internalizing vitctimhood instead of the historical role it has played?
Ponderosa, where is all that coming from? “The current crop of post-modernist/ critical theory-infused humanities majors knows nothing but Foucault and race and gender, and so that’s what they teach.” Is that for real? Are you seriously claiming that today’s history/ lit majors graduate from those theories & proceed to teach K12 ELA & history thro that lens? I’m just trying to put that into perspective. I’ll admit as a ’70 Rom Lit BA I got a bunch of deconstructuralism & existentialism, but it hardly parsed with teaching Fr I-V. OK, Camus’ “L’Etranger” was on the list for Fr IV, but… ??
How about subjecting them to a philosophy of Switzerland first?
Will that make curriculum resemble American cheese?
Swiss curriculum is full of holes, of course.
This is SO disgusting. Kids will in one of the largest states in the U.S. never learning about racism. What does that do to our democracy?
On a more immediate note, this will do ENORMOUS damage to many Advanced Placement classes, as discussion of race, ethnicity, gender, current events, and other “controversial topics” are huge parts of the Human Geography, Government, and History AP classes.
Many, many students in Texas take those classes. I’m ticked off that College Board hasn’t said anything (they won’t–they “don’t like to get into the curriculum decisions of states.”). This will make it MUCH harder, if not impossible, to pass those tests
“But [the legislation] stripped more than two dozen requirements to study the writings or stories of multiple women and people of color…”
Why was that stuff in there in the first place?! Jeez, I hope my state doesn’t dictate whose writings you have to study to get a good background in history! Let alone dictate precisely how teachers cover current events.
[P.S., they don’t. If you care, view them here. I’m fine with them: https://www.state.nj.us/education/cccs/2014/ss/standards.pdf
As to their “explicit ban”!! on teaching the 1619 project because ““To suggest that America is so racist at its core to be irredeemable and to suggest that people based on the color of their skin can never overcome biases and can never treat each other fairly, that’s a real problem”– this is why politicians should NEVER EVER be involved in dictating specific curriculum!
Do these folks not understand the concept of “educational standards”? Just set forth the ‘student shall know… student shall be able to…” and leave the curriculum to the locals. Please.
Not covered in the Houston Chronicle, this bit from Huffington: “The legislation also states that teachers don’t have to take professional training ― like cultural proficiency and equity training ― if it makes them feel any “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress” because of their race or gender.” OMG!!
This is the reason for the backlash. This isn’t just a cartoonish case of awful, racist Republicans refusing to mind their own business and not wanting to have their kids learn about slavery.
I oppose state and national “standards.” However, I fully believe that it is legitimate for a local school to say, as part of its curriculum, that students will read particular authors, including particular women and people of color–Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, Frederick Douglass, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Hayden, Lorainne Hansberry, James Baldwin, Ursula K LeGuin, Toni Morrison. What’s the issue with that? We decide–this is exemplary work–work of lasting importance–and should be studied.
I also oppose national standards, Bob. And I oppose what, in many/ most cases what state standards have become. NJ had excellent ELA and “PreK Expectations” back in the ’90’s [the only two I checked out back in the day – now nowhere online]. By excellent I mean they were brief lists of minimum expectations with no prescriptions as to curriculum or pedagogy. Our local schools took care of that, which is as it should be. Now both of those are horrible, as well as Math – all modeled on CCSS. Somehow SocStud has escaped the prescriptive laundry-list (so far).
Public school curricula have always been conveniently located in either the Table of Contents of the classroom textbook or in standardized tests like the NYS Regents, MCASS, NECAP, STAAR, HSPA, CHSPE, SBAC, PARCC, NGSS, etc.
If you think its the CCSS, NGSS, or any other set of standards give em read and compare it to what’s on the tests.
br5
If you want to see new/really bad standards check out the NGSS.
NJ was one of the 20 states to trash their perfectly fine set of science standards for the spawn of CCSS.
People here have often argued in posts about charter schools that political control over K-12 schools is essential, yet in posts about the actions that politicians take involving education there seems to be much objection to politicians meddling in K-12 schools.
I am curious about what folks here consider legitimate and necessary areas in K-12 education that require political control (whether by local school boards, state or federal government) and the areas in K-12 education that there should not be any political interference. Where do you think the line should be?
In my classroom. Governed by a locally elected school board. Without outside interference in the elections. The line is in my classroom, governed by my locally elected school board, exceptions being if my school board is violating Brown v Board or something like that. This line has curves. But it’s in my classroom. The line is in LCT’s room.
Just to be clear, with the exception of segregationist policies, you think that local school boards should be the group mandating or forbidding things like critical race theory, young earth creationism, phonics or whole language, etc. The state government should play no role, an the federal government should be limited to making sure that schools are not segregated by race. Is that correct?