The pledge was signed by no teachers on Jan. 21, the day before. It now has one pledge from West Memphis teacher.
They’re one of the thousands of US teachers pledging to continue educating students about the controversial Critical Race Theory, which explains racism is embedded in US culture and politics.
The West Memphis teacher wrote "The students demand we share all sides of the story. They are craving to make educated conclusions based upon facts. In a time when social media seems to control "information", the future is curious and actually wanting straight forward answers. The subject I disliked the most in school- history- now I teach it. I knew I was not getting all the stories. People in this country know less about the history than any other people in any other industrialized country. Why? Forward thinking people know the whitewashed version in the majority of text books is biased and formatted for one group. We want the younger generation to learn ownership. Let's show them we can accept responsibility for all people's roles in the creation of this country. Once we do that...we can sincerely begin the dialogue to make real changes." when pledging to teach Critical Race Theory.
Though the concept was first suggested in the late 70’s, it has recently exploded as a contentious issue between the American right and left in the last two years.
Many who signed the pledge are defying state bans on the teachings. Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas have passed legislation banning discussions about the US being inherently racist.
Other states, such as Montana and South Dakota, have denounced the teachings without passing specific legislation.
In an interview with The Washington Free Beacon', Ashley Varner of the Freedom Foundation accused the Zinn Education Project of providing “left-leaning propaganda to teachers.”
| Teachers | Thoughts on Critical Race Theory |
|---|---|
| Monika Nolen | The students demand we share all sides of the story. They are craving to make educated conclusions based upon facts. In a time when social media seems to control "information", the future is curious and actually wanting straight forward answers. The subject I disliked the most in school- history- now I teach it. I knew I was not getting all the stories. People in this country know less about the history than any other people in any other industrialized country. Why? Forward thinking people know the whitewashed version in the majority of text books is biased and formatted for one group. We want the younger generation to learn ownership. Let's show them we can accept responsibility for all people's roles in the creation of this country. Once we do that...we can sincerely begin the dialogue to make real changes. |
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