In targeting how public schools teach about race, some Republican lawmakers seem determined to downplay or ignore the tribulations suffered by Black Americans throughout our nation’s history. Why?
Is it because they fear that by acquiring such information, the next generation of White Americans might gain a fuller understanding of why racial equality has yet to be achieved, as well as why remedies such as affirmative action and reparations for descendants of enslaved people are not so unreasonable?
As a conservative on most issues, I seldom agree with much of what Vice President Harris says. But when she traveled to Florida last week to criticize the state’s new education guidelines on race, I found myself nodding along. “Let us not be seduced into believing that somehow we will be better if we forget,” she said. “We will be better if we remember. We will be stronger if we remember.”
In targeting how public schools teach about race, some Republican lawmakers seem determined to downplay or ignore the tribulations suffered by Black Americans throughout our nation’s history. Why?
Is it because they fear that by acquiring such information, the next generation of White Americans might gain a fuller understanding of why racial equality has yet to be achieved, as well as why remedies such as affirmative action and reparations for descendants of enslaved people are not so unreasonable?
As a conservative on most issues, I seldom agree with much of what Vice President Harris says. But when she traveled to Florida last week to criticize the state’s new education guidelines on race, I found myself nodding along. “Let us not be seduced into believing that somehow we will be better if we forget,” she said. “We will be better if we remember. We will be stronger if we remember.”
In response to his critics, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) tweeted, “Democrats like Kamala Harris have to lie about Florida’s educational standards to cover for their agenda of indoctrinating students and pushing sexual topics onto children.” If Harris was lying, DeSantis avoided detailing how.
Particularly outrageous within the Florida curriculum are standards that suggest there was some benefit to slavery. Guidelines include instruction on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” I thought the absurd “slavery was actually good for them” chestnut had been abandoned long ago. Apparently not.
I’m bewildered about why some on the right think too much knowledge is a dangerous thing, a fear demonstrated not only by restricting teaching about race but also through challenging or outright banning books in school and public libraries on any variety of topics, including many literary classics. While it’s true that the left too often wants to turn schools into laboratories for progressive ideology, expanding thoughts and ideas is always preferable to restricting them — something progressives should remember when they suggest clamping down on conservative voices on social media or barring right-leaning speakers from speaking on college campuses.
Rather than banning reading material advocated by the left, the right should insist on adding more books promoting conservative viewpoints. If that means building bigger libraries to accommodate the widest array of philosophies and opinions, everybody wins.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/25/harris-desantis-florida-guidelines-teaching-race/
Is it because they fear that by acquiring such information, the next generation of White Americans might gain a fuller understanding of why racial equality has yet to be achieved, as well as why remedies such as affirmative action and reparations for descendants of enslaved people are not so unreasonable?
As a conservative on most issues, I seldom agree with much of what Vice President Harris says. But when she traveled to Florida last week to criticize the state’s new education guidelines on race, I found myself nodding along. “Let us not be seduced into believing that somehow we will be better if we forget,” she said. “We will be better if we remember. We will be stronger if we remember.”
In targeting how public schools teach about race, some Republican lawmakers seem determined to downplay or ignore the tribulations suffered by Black Americans throughout our nation’s history. Why?
Is it because they fear that by acquiring such information, the next generation of White Americans might gain a fuller understanding of why racial equality has yet to be achieved, as well as why remedies such as affirmative action and reparations for descendants of enslaved people are not so unreasonable?
As a conservative on most issues, I seldom agree with much of what Vice President Harris says. But when she traveled to Florida last week to criticize the state’s new education guidelines on race, I found myself nodding along. “Let us not be seduced into believing that somehow we will be better if we forget,” she said. “We will be better if we remember. We will be stronger if we remember.”
In response to his critics, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) tweeted, “Democrats like Kamala Harris have to lie about Florida’s educational standards to cover for their agenda of indoctrinating students and pushing sexual topics onto children.” If Harris was lying, DeSantis avoided detailing how.
Particularly outrageous within the Florida curriculum are standards that suggest there was some benefit to slavery. Guidelines include instruction on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” I thought the absurd “slavery was actually good for them” chestnut had been abandoned long ago. Apparently not.
I’m bewildered about why some on the right think too much knowledge is a dangerous thing, a fear demonstrated not only by restricting teaching about race but also through challenging or outright banning books in school and public libraries on any variety of topics, including many literary classics. While it’s true that the left too often wants to turn schools into laboratories for progressive ideology, expanding thoughts and ideas is always preferable to restricting them — something progressives should remember when they suggest clamping down on conservative voices on social media or barring right-leaning speakers from speaking on college campuses.
Rather than banning reading material advocated by the left, the right should insist on adding more books promoting conservative viewpoints. If that means building bigger libraries to accommodate the widest array of philosophies and opinions, everybody wins.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/25/harris-desantis-florida-guidelines-teaching-race/
