Texas has a well-earned reputation for a certain spin in its history textbooks -- a boosterish, hero-worshipping, white-centered picture that promotes a politically conservative point of view.
In one text I read, for example, a box explained that if only Russia's serfs had held out a little longer, the Tsar's peasant reforms would've taken shape, and the people would be better off now than they became after the Revolution.
The state has some odd little rules too, such as an instruction to teachers not to say things that make capitalism look bad. Ladies and gents, I s**t you not.
On Tuesday, Governor Greg Abbott signed in a whole 'nother passel of teacher-muzzling restrictions in response to the 1619 Project. Concisely, teachers are now forbidden to discuss the social implications of race.
The bill says that social studies (read: history) teachers in public schools “may not be compelled” to talk about controversial historical, social, or policy issues. If they do, they have to explain the issue “without giving deference to any one perspective.”
The wording, as one teacher-turned-lawmaker put it, is "clever": “You can talk about race in the classroom, but you can’t talk about privilege ... the idea is to put in landmines so any conversation about race in the classroom would be impossible.”
The law should get a gold star in the Annals of Unenforceable Laws. While virtually every Republican in the statehouse voted yea, the law's purpose above all seems to be turning the attention of furious parents away from complaining to lawmakers and turning it instead to complaining about teachers if they don't like what a teacher says in the classroom.
The law will probably put a damper on the more outspoken teachers. Fact is, a lot of Texas teachers were themselves Texas public school students, so it's hard to say how many are fully versed in the nuances of the 1619 project. It's pretty clear, though, that most teachers are taking the law as a challenge they'll beat. Because -- REALLY.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/texas-republicans-ban-teachers-racism_n_60b18524e4b06da8bd76bf50?fbclid=IwAR2vQnnbf4g-IhoIScBtUZagnh9VDxWKynK1D3BRRapJ0JOxiD6Y0CaeApM
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