Texas Senate Advances Civic Education Bill: ‘Don’t Say KKK is Morally Wrong’
Huh. Well, you can’t just believe everything you read on Twitter. I’m going to fact check this. It is far too ridiculous to assume that this is true. I mean, we all know they’re racists and they know we know that they know we know but they don’t think that we have any real proof because to them it isn’t racist if you don’t say the N word out loud. So they certainly wouldn’t, just a few weeks after Juneteenth, suggest that teachers must not tell their students that the KKK is morally wrong.
Anyway, I found a Huffpost link that links directly to the bill. So here’s the bill, hosted at capitol.texas.gov.
Sure enough, “the history of white supremacy, including but not limited to the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement, and the Ku Klux Klan, and the ways in which it is morally wrong” is listed under things teachers “may not” do.
Since I started writing, they’ve removed the offensive language. It was absolutely true – they wanted our civics classes to NOT provide the context of racism when discussing the KKK. Which is like trying to discuss the composition of water without mentioning the two Hydrogen atoms.
Left in the bill is something just as ridiculous, just in case you thought this improvement made it better:
an individual, by virtue of the individual ’s race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex;**
an individual should feel discomfort,
guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual ’s race or sex;
It all comes down to the poor snowflakes who can’t stand to learn the facts: an economic system based on race-based slavery inescapable by birth was perpetrated by people with the same skin color as them. I’m not sure why the state of Texas wants children to be taught that their actions won’t have any impact on future generations since they clearly want to teach that the actions of the past have no effect on our current situation. Generational poverty, racism, and oppression? Naah, throw that out and pull yourself up by your bootstraps!
I find it blatantly hypocritical that they’re giving the teachers the ability to tell children the facts of what happened but forcing them to not talk about any type of shame or guilt that a child might feel over what their ancestors did, and yet they didn’t want those same teachers the room to teach the context of what the racists did and why they did it. This is the same reason half of the deep south believes with all their hearts (bless them) that the civil war was fought over state rights.
Recently, I discovered a newspaper article where my husband’s 3rd great grandfather was named as a stop on the Underground Railroad. I showed the genealogical evidence to my husband and children and they were all proud and happy that they come from a long line of abolitionists. We have no slaveholders in our history. We have no more control over that than anyone else and who they are born to, yet I feel pride in these facts.
Either way, let’s leave education up to the educators and allow them to teach context where it is appropriate.
In the 10th grade, my history teacher taught me that slaves were better off with their “masters” because they had nowhere to go when they were freed. That’s a statement that was missing a LOT of context. Funny that the Texas legislature never made sure teachers didn’t teach that to their students.
Fortunately, we really don’t use textbooks anymore in the traditional sense. Plus, whites are a minority where I teach, so I guess it’s safe for our students to learn the truth.
1It is funny how the right wingers complain about “cancel culture”, yet when anything uncomfortable needs to be talked about, like systemic racism, slavery and our history of genocide and outright land grabs against Native Americans, they do all they can to “cancel” that discussion. I am trying to think about how droll history class would have been if all I did was learn dates of events without delving into those events and the context of those events.
2Nick, if you teach the civics class and do not follow the curriculum rules, perhaps by discussing the concept of reparations or generational poverty, what penalty do you face? Loss of career? Fine? I mean, this is the kind of stuff that leads to Handmaidens.
If the majority of your students are minority, how can you effectively teach them with restraints on teaching race issues? Fortunately, this bill shouldn’t advance and it’s a knee jerk reaction to conservatives getting angry that people are taught that their racism is racism, but if the next generation isn’t prepared, I worry.
3Of course, this demands a quote from the Princess Bride.
“… That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means.”
In the case of Texas Republicans, they’ve beat Vizzini from the movie, Texas Republicans in the context of their bill don’t know what two words mean, both ‘morally’ and ‘wrong’.
4KKK … Krazed Kristian Killers.
5Simple!
Jet, to me your comment @3 is a better, narrower point I got from your great post. I’d like to add my own two cents.
6First, reading the bill I got a little bit of a headache translatin’ lawgul words into reglar Texlish, so thanks for that.
But the 2 statements you’ve highlighted are much worse IMHO than what I got from @3.
They could, and will be interpreted much broader.
A teacher could simply teach the events. No context. No attribution of bad intent on anybody’s part. Just the facts, and dates like TJ said, and let the students draw their own conclusions.
And if a student FELT …icky, from the trauma of historical facts, well then I ‘magine that teacher could, under this law face disciplinary action.
Or a lawsuit by a distraught parent.
But the funny thing is, I didn’t see any prohibition in that bill against NOT teaching any of that icky stuff.
So unless I missed something, I gotta wonder what effect it’ll have on the decisions of teachers what to teach at all.
And then I gotta wonder what the effect will be on the kinda folks inspired to teach in Texas going forward.
Since I was taught, correctly, I think, that one should not hold against anyone those things they can’t change, like race and sex and country of origin, how shall I resolve the idea that kids are being taught they have some kind of Original Sin, a most pernicious concept.
Especially since we have come to specify homosexuality as “born that way.” Also we teach kids everyone’s a winner, and Be Kind.
Now we have this vindictive assault on children, trying to make them go along with this foul blame game and victimology.
I see it now, everywhere. We either victims or oppressor, say the DIE consultants. It’s just another scam, bad as fundamentalism. Show me I’m wrong, with evidence.
7Ormond,
First, please show me, with evidence, just where Texas students are being taught they have some kind of Original Sin besides at Christian churches. Guilt cannot be taught. Perhaps you mean “responsibility” but even then, I’d need to see some evidence that is actually happening anywhere except in right wing media la-la land.
8I can’t respond to a premise based on an assumption.
You funny – like there ARE civics classes any more. I raised three kids through CyFairISD & HISD, and not one ever had a single class on civic responsibility or even the way our government works. Instead, they must waste an entire period of History refuting and correcting the class majority’s sincerely-held belief that the German nazi party were a bunch of “socialist liberals.”
Truly, I’ve had a belly-full of Texas.
9sleeve, I’m a graduate of Cy-Fair High School myself. Back when I was a student, we had a semester of “Government” that was mostly focused on how the three branches of government functioned. All I remember learning is that my teacher thought you shouldn’t have to stick to a speed limit on a toll road.
Surprisingly, it was my English teachers that did the most accurate teaching on race, by choosing literature that provided context that the history curriculum wouldn’t allow.
10Jet,
My sense is that such a law wouldn’t be worth the paper it was printed on. As long as a teacher is not flaunting their own personal views, they are free to teach historical context. I’ve had battles with people like Ormond before. Suffice it to say, there is a whole Grand Canyon between what is being taught in school and what some people THINK is being taught in school.
Certainly, I am not in every classroom in every lecture and activity, but I’ve done enough and seen enough to know what is being taught generally. As one of my friends said, if a student is old enough to experience racism then the others are old enough to learn about racism. Shame is a complex thing. One can feel it for how others behaved. It can also motivate them to do better next time. Like I said, no one I know is pointing at a seven year old and telling them it’s their fault. They are simply being told facts in context. If teachers dedicate themselves to that I don’t think they will get in any trouble.
11“We have no slaveholders in our history. We have no more control over that than anyone else and who they are born to, yet I feel pride in these facts.”
And the people who’s ancestors were slaveholders might feel guilt, even though they have no control over it.
History must be taught, fully, and presented in a way that’s appropriate for the age group it’s being taught to. Also essential, it should be taught that none of them is responsible for the acts of their ancestors, but we are all responsible for the continuing effects of the action of all of our ancestors.
You say that you are proud that your ancestors didn’t own slaves. If your children have picked that up, they might be influenced by the obvious corollary, that people who’s ancestors owned slaves should some how feel shame. You are, of course, not a better person than some one who’s ancestors did own slaves, based solely on that fact.
A person of your generation, who’s ancestors did own slaves has as much justification to feel pride that there were some people in the past who weren’t slave owners, as you do to feel so.
This guilt or shame for our ancestor’s actions is what causes people to try to hide the shameful parts of history. It’s very human to feel pride or shame for the actions of our relatives. This tribalism helps to create the “us and them” mentality, if personal responsibility isn’t emphasized.
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