The pledge was signed by no teachers on Nov. 28, the day before. It now has four pledges from Seaside teachers.
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.
Comments from Seaside teachers included, "Lies breed more lies. We must face and teach all of our history before we can affect real change for now and our future" and "the teaching of history as a discipline and discourse requires us to have students contend with difficult historical truths that illuminate contemporary realities. Beyond teaching the content knowledge and skill sets of historical reasoning, we have a moral imperative to courageously leverage what we know about the past, in all its pain, to have students engage in civic reasoning and discourse in order to include their voices and imaginations to help us heal".
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 |
|---|---|
| Jenifer Alexander | No comment |
| Mark Gomez | the teaching of history as a discipline and discourse requires us to have students contend with difficult historical truths that illuminate contemporary realities. Beyond teaching the content knowledge and skill sets of historical reasoning, we have a moral imperative to courageously leverage what we know about the past, in all its pain, to have students engage in civic reasoning and discourse in order to include their voices and imaginations to help us heal. |
| Mark Gomez | To remain silent is complicit. As a long time social studies educator I have been appalled to see the attacks on fundamental truths and historical facts be cast as unpatriotic and even worse, indoctrination. These are the types of false accusations lauded by folks leaning steadily into Fascism. We focus on historical inquiry, critical interrogation of the histories from multiple perspectives not only to understand the past but to help make sense of the present by contextualizing how we came to be here and now. We also strive to enlist imagination towards the efforts of shaping society to be more just. These legislative efforts are disingenuous at best, racist and anti-democratic at worse. I write to urge elected officials everywhere to recognize them as such and push back with courage, not comply out of fear. |
| Tom Grych | Lies breed more lies. We must face and teach all of our history before we can affect real change for now and our future. |
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