I think that either the editors of the Washington Post are engaging in sophistry or they haven’t thought through te implications of the position they’re staking out in their most recent editorial:
“We can’t just choose to learn what we want to know and not what we should know. We should know the good, the bad, the everything,†President Biden said at this week’s 100th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre, the annihilation of a prosperous Black neighborhood by a White mob that was long overlooked in the history books. Oklahoma is one of the states that has enacted legislation that aims to limit what students learn about racism, and its role in shaping American laws and institutions — making Mr. Biden’s rebuke of those who want to whitewash history all the more powerful.
Supporters of the statewide bans claim that public schools are indoctrinating students with “Marxist†or leftist groupthink; use of the New York Times’ prizewinning but controversial 1619 Project has become a frequent target. Clearly, schools shouldn’t teach ideology, and educators should be mindful of parental concerns. But credence shouldn’t be given to the cynical notion that teachers can’t be trusted. “I give the students the facts and let them draw their own conclusions. That’s what learning is,†said a Dallas middle school teacher, articulating a core principle of pedagogy that should be animating the debate about how history is taught.
Three months ago, Educating for American Democracy, a scholastic initiative to redesign K-12 history and civic education for the 21st century, released a road map for states and school districts to strengthen the teaching of civics and history, and make it more inclusive. It didn’t set out a specific curriculum. It didn’t choose between a view of America as a land of glory or one that sees only racial injustice and exploitation. Instead, its message — the result of two years of study by more than 300 historians, political scientists and educators from diverse backgrounds and different political viewpoints — was to embrace and celebrate the contradictions, tensions and paradoxes in the country’s past, challenging students to think critically and form their own judgments. States should stop the misguided political interference that is already having a chilling effect on teachers and follow the lead of this thoughtful initiative.
Let me provide an example so you can see what I’m getting at. Should public schools be able to teach that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election but was denied his rightful victory by unscrupulous Democrats?
Let’s cut to the chase. The issue is the 1619 Project. I don’t have a problem with the fact that it was published and that a Pulitzer Prize was won for it being taught in the public schools or even having it assigned as reading. I do have a problem with it being presented as the truth or even being a fact-based position. It has been refuted. It has been refuted more times than I can count.
Phenomena come in three varieties: the verified, the falsified, and the unverifiable. The 1619 Project has been falsified. I recognize that for some it’s “their truth”&mash;unverifiable. I place that in the same category as religious believes. You can teach that Christianity exists in the public schools but you ought not to teach that it is true. The same should be the case with other unverifiable religious believes regardless of how heartfelt the belief of their adherents.
The WaPo misrepresented the Oklahoma legislation, which I’ve read. The bill specifically retains its required curriculum (which requires learning about the Tulsa massacre and its consequences), but adds the following prohibitions:
“1. No teacher, administrator or other employee of a school
district, charter school or virtual charter school shall require or
make part of a course the following concepts:
a. one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex,
b. an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,
c. an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex,
d. members of one race or sex cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race or sex,
e. an individual’s moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex,
f. an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex,
g. any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex, or
h. meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race to oppress members of another race.”
I would love to see WaPo “report” how these limits are racist.
The religious component to me would appear to be that some school teachers want to teach Calvinism, in that people inherit sin through the fact of birth.