Free speech group PEN America reports that 36 states across the country have introduced 137 bills this year that seek to restrict teaching, primarily on race, but also on gender and history, up from 22 last year. states and 54 bills. Most of the bills have been pushed by Republican lawmakers.
Many Republican politicians made their piñata out of “critical race theory,” an academic theory that examines how racism is institutionalized, but it’s vaguely known among parents and political activists alike. It has become a defined buzzword. do not share values.
Last year in Washington, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and more than 30 Republican senators protested a proposed rule by the Biden administration that would promote education programs that address how racism is embedded in society. and called it “divisive nonsense”.
“Americans never decided that we should teach our children that our country is inherently evil,” the senator wrote in a letter to the Secretary of Education. of “concepts,” including that “an individual, consciously or unconsciously, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive because of his race or sex.” It prohibits teaching long lists.
Eric Welch, a member of the Republican Board of Education in Williamson County, Tennessee, said some undisclosed content could make him feel uneasy about the proposed AP course. , it’s cumbersome to have agenda-driven course materials,” he said. “We are trying to educate, not indoctrinate,” he added.
He said he doesn’t like state laws either. He didn’t do it because of its content, but because he microcontrolled how the local schools were to teach.