From slavery to socialism, new legislation restricts what teachers can discuss

[Nevilledog]

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NPR
@NPR
Teachers across the U.S. are being censored by a wave of GOP-backed laws limiting what they can say about history, race, gender and sexual orientation.

One group in New Hampshire is offering a $500 bounty for teachers who discuss "critical race theory."

npr.org
From slavery to socialism, new legislation restricts what teachers can discuss
Researcher Jeffrey Sachs says that U.S. teachers are being censored for broaching certain topics. One group in New Hampshire is offering a $500 bounty for teachers who discuss critical race theory.
5:08 AM · Feb 5, 2022

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/03/1077878538/legislation-restricts-what-teachers-can-discuss

Across the U.S., educators are being censored for broaching controversial topics. Since January 2021, researcher Jeffrey Sachs says, 35 states have introduced 137 bills limiting what schools can teach with regard to race, American history, politics, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Sachs has been tracking this legislation for PEN America, a writers organization dedicated to free speech. He says the recent flurry of legislation has created a "minefield" for educators trying to figure out how to teach topics such as slavery, Jim Crow laws or the Holocaust. One proposed law in South Carolina, for instance, prohibits teachers from discussing any topic that creates "discomfort, guilt or anguish" on the basis of political belief.

"That means that a teacher would have to be very, very careful about how they discuss something like, let's say, fascism or racism or antisemitism," Sachs says. "These are political beliefs, and it means that teachers are going to have to second-guess whether they can describe that political belief in as forthright and honest a way as we wish for fear of falling afoul of this bill."

Critical race theory, an academic approach that examines how race and racism function in American institutions, has inspired a backlash in conservative circles across the United States. In one of his first acts in office, Glenn Youngkin, the Republican governor of Virginia, established a hotline to allow parents or members of the community to report critical race theory in the classroom. Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, a conservative mom's group is offering a $500 bounty to catch teachers who break a state law prohibiting certain teachings about racism and sexism.

*snip*

[Runningdawg]

1. The GOP would like nothing better than to shutter public schools permanently.

The church and homeschoolers will educate the cult, the rich will go to private schools and those who don't fall in either camp, will do without. Get rid of those outdated child labor laws and they believe America will be great again.

[moondust]

2. Big Brother opposes big gubment!

And don't you furget it!

What do schools do after the teachers quit? What do hospitals and clinics do after their staffs quit? What does the public do without serious education or health care?

[Tickle]

3. I'm at a loss

for words. This is terrible and I wish it would end