A growing number of teachers across the state of Ohio have signed a pledge to continue to teach Critical Race Theory (CRT), even if the decision violates the law.
A petition published by the Zinn Education Project has collected over 5,000 signatures from teachers who commit to “teach the truth.”
“A bill introduced in the Missouri legislature exemplifies a rash of similar bills — in Texas, Idaho, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Arizona, North Carolina, and more states — that aim to prohibit teachers from teaching the truth about this country: It was founded on dispossession of Native Americans, slavery, structural racism and oppression; and structural racism is a defining characteristic of our society today,” the group says while describing the petition.
The group that is organizing the petition states that their founding was inspired by Howard Zinn, a proven and self-described socialist. In one publication, Zinn calls a communist leader “A people’s leader and liberator.”
“We will continue our commitment to develop critical thinking that supports students to better understand problems in our society, and to develop collective solutions to those problems,” the petition continues.
Further, each teacher signed the pledge publicly — seemingly ignoring the law if they reside in a state where legislation has been passed. Before completing the form to sign, individuals read the following warning: “Note: This is a PUBLIC pledge. We will display the name, city/state, and response to the question about why you are signing the pledge. ”
Lawmakers in Ohio have introduced a bill to ban CRT teachings in the state.
“Critical Race Theory is a dangerous and flat-out wrong theory. It is designed to look at everything from a ‘race first’ lens, which is the very definition of racism. CRT claiming to fight racism is laughable. Students should not be asked to ‘examine their whiteness’ or ‘check their privilege,’” said state Rep. Don Jones (R-Freeport), the sponsor of the bill.
A list of all educators who have signed the pledge can be found here.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for the Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Teacher Coronavirus” by Phil Roeder. CC BY 2.0.
A touchy subject indeed. Teaching the history of racism in America and how it was (and is) enforced is a good thing in that the facts need to be known.
Teaching that White people are evil and need to be discriminated against to right the wrongs of racism is wrong. And teaching that the present form of government is not able to address our common grievances and therefor must be radically changed or thrown out altogether is also not right.