The McKinney, Texas, school district canceled its successful Youth and Government elective course. Officials feared that the program might violate the state’s new law forbidding the teaching of critical race theory.
In Texas, as in other states that have passed such legislation, the result is predictable: it has a chilling effect on freedom to discuss controversial issues, especially anything related to racism, as it allegedly might make white students feel guilty because of their race.
The Texas Tribune reports:
McKinney school officials long took pride in their students’ participation in the nationwide Youth and Government program, calling the district a “perennial standout”.
Every year, students researched current issues, proposed and debated their own public policy, and competed in a mock legislature and elections process for statewide offices. Since the program’s arrival to McKinney in 2005 as a club, seven of the district’s middle school students have been elected governor — the program’s top honor — at the statewide conference in Austin. In 2017, the district added an elective option: Seventh and eighth graders in two of the district’s middle schools could now receive course credit for participating in the program.
But in June, the district canceled the elective option in response to a social studies law passed during this year’s regular legislative session. In an email to middle school administrators obtained by The Texas Tribune, a social studies curriculum coordinator wrote that “in light of” the new law’s ban on political activism and policy advocacy, “we will no longer be allowed [to] offer Youth & Government as an elective course for credit.” As the law puts restrictions on courses, not on extracurricular activities, the original club remains available.
The teacher who led the program resigned two months ago.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Don’t Mess With Texas
(we’ve got people for that …)
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“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.”
When academics are curtailed by politicians, it is fascism. The Koch network wins when programs are altered to conform to the “thought police.” The goal is to target public schools to produce maximum disruption. With schools busy playing defense, it is a distraction from the daily dismantling of public schools and people dying from Covid.
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BINGO, retired teacher.
Your comments are so “right on.”
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yes, and surely the larger goal is to make voting swing to GOP candidates who use
fear tactics loudly
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Where is the NEA, the AFT, and administrator & school board associations?
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Where they always are, counting their own share of the pie. That doesn’t include any critical thinking, just 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. . . .
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Maybe a “Critical Status Theory” is in order.
Is status, based on failure, logical ?
“I’m a big Jack at the PTA, because you failed to “score”
higher than me.”
“I/we are a big deal, because you failed to score more
points than us.”
“I’m special, because you failed to out-word me.”
“I’m all that and more, because you fail to be titled
like me.”
“I’m in the know, because you fail to understand what
I know.”
“I’m the rule, because you failed to gain the
“awareness foundation” seal of approval.”
“I’m right because you fail to arguendo me wrong.”
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Perhaps creating an after school Junior State of America chapter would be possible. It’s a national organization run by and for high school students with adult guidance. Link to national org here: https://www.jsa.org/our-history/ Students elect local and state officers, choose topics of debate, choose a “pro” and “con” main debater and moderator for each debate then students in the audience can also debate pro or con after the main debate. it’s a wonderful place for young people to learn civilized debate of issues. My autistic son participated in high school and met many smart and capable students. It is a welcoming and accepting organization. If kids are technically in charge, perhaps it can skirt this issue. The local chapter would need a teacher advisor in order to attend local, regional and state conventions, though. The teachers should contact the Texas regional JSA for more information: http://states.jsa.org/texas/
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Does anyone really think it’s an accident that the new law bans teaching the skills of being an engaged citizen? I’m sure the authors of this legislation, while they may pay lip service to the idea that Civics should be taught in school, would prefer a complacent citizenry that would leave them alone to craft social policy in accordance with the wishes of the people who really count – their donors.
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The wealthy oppose critical thinkers. They prefer compliant drones that obey and do not question.
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Next the fascist legislators and others will want to ban world history where students will learn about all that has impacted the human race since the beginning to recorded history. Students will no longer learn about the good and bad things that have molded the 195 countries we have on this planet today. Students will no longer learn about the successes that have made countries great and not so great; will not learn about the governments of the world and how they function, not learn about world economics and economies that are part of the foundation of how people are fed, cloth, and housed; will not learn about why, where, and how wars of the world were fought; will not have even a basic understanding and appreciation of the different peoples that populate this planet.
Students minds will continue to be a blank pallet with little or no understanding of life and the world around them. Without an understanding of national and world history current and future students will not become the citizens needed to help the human race survive. Other nations are teaching their children about the ways of the world. Without fully educated children, which includes the good, the bad, and the ugly that has happened from the day the first day Europeans first set foot on what became the Americas, the United States will continue down the road to become a second or third rate country. No longer the leader of the world.
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All they need is the Bible to learn everything they need to know.
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This is really a voter suppression tactic. I have volunteered with the organization for over 30 in CA. There is not CRT associated with the program. There was someone who did her doctoral work in or program and found 90% of participants vote in elections. They do not want to teach their kids about how governments works and how they themselves can be advocates and change laws the right way.
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It is kind of amusing that white folks get their knickers in a tizzy about some “guilt their kids may feel” rather than being educated. Be that as it may. The other irony is that immigrant and enslaved children of every skin hue spent lifetimes feeling guilty about their races. Indeed, young Japanese-American men who were interned and given the “choice” to enlist in Europe had to renounce their Japanese heritage and identities. Did they feel “guilty,” I wonder?
I’ve written before and I’ll write it again and again: CRT = Willie Horton. That’s all you need to know about this.
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CRT = Wi;;ie Horton = the you may be repressed as a southern white person but you are still better than a ……. of the New South period of southern history in the rise of systematic white supremacy under Jim Crow:
“Jump high Jenny
Jump high Joe
Every time you jump
You’ll jump Jim Crow”
–traditional dance tune
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Oh that brought back some memories I had repressed. When I was a teenager in Alabama I was once told “I was no better than a…”
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Actually, if I remember correctly, it started out with, “You ain’t no…” Proper Southern grammar.
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Ain’t nuttin wrong with ain’t!
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I once had a professor of medieval English who told us: “When the English in the the time of Chaucer said, ‘I ain’t got no money’ they meant I ain’t got no money.”
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Cancel culture.
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It seems to me that the wording of the law could be turned on its head. Could students of color not claim distress and anguish that the curriculum is not addressing their concerns? I think that there may be some creative ways around this.
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I agree. They should just have taken a page from the conservative playbook. They could have re-named the course “How to be a Patriotic American” and continued to teach whatever they wanted to. That is nowhere near as deceptive as calling a charter school public.
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Insightful! Nice catch.
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Some background. McKinney is on the Northern rim of the Dallas suburbs. I am not sure, but I would bet this is Trump country. Several of my cousins moved here during the Early 1800s. There was a Turrentine Funeral home there. Perhaps they would host a funeral for the Constitution.
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