No new teachers sign the pledge the week before. It now has one pledge from Wylie teachers by the end of the week ending Sep. 18.
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.
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 |
|---|---|
| Shelby Webster-Payne | I refuse to lie to my students about U.S. History. As an educator and social scientist I know that it is imperative that students learn the value of critically thinking about & examining, researching, and drawing conclusions about all sorts of issues from our country’s past in order to effectively understand and deal with the ways in which these past issues manifest themselves in the present.Educators are teaching student bodies that are increasingly more and more diverse that in turn enter a world/society that is more and more diverse. As educators, we would be doing our students a disservice if we were not preparing them for this. |
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