A warning for policymakers
eager to control what is taught
Look abroad: Is
this what we want?
“The situation
is dire. Policymakers have proposed legislation limiting how race and racism can
be taught in 42 states, and legislation has already been enacted or similar
means of restriction have been established in 15 states. Under a new Tennessee
law, activists are seeking to remove iconic stories of the civil rights
movement from the curriculum, including a children’s story by Ruby Bridges about
her own experience integrating public schools in New Orleans.” ("Ignoring Racism in Schools Actually Increases Prejudice,” by
Ross Wiener and Francesca Lopez, Education Week, April 6, 2022.)
“Totalitarianism,
noted George Orwell, forces storytellers to falsify facts and feelings… In Mr.
Putin’s Russia, censorship is tightening anew.” (“The editor in the Kremlin,” The Economist, May 14,
2022)
Last summer, New York Times columnist David Brooks was dismayed to “watch state legislators try to enforce what history gets taught” (“How to destroy the truth.”[i]) His more hopeful alternative? “It is unfashionable to say so, but America has the greatest story to tell about itself, if we have the maturity to tell it honestly.”
When state legislatures and school boards decide to limit what
students read and discuss in our public schools, they might consider where such
efforts can take us. I assume those behind the push in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia,[ii]
among other states[iii],
are as appalled as I am by the ghastly steps being taken by repressive regimes around
the world to control teachers and curriculum. But I wonder if these advocates in
our country see how their efforts here – as one example, “Texas’ 1836 Project Aims
to Promote ‘Patriotic Education’”[iv]
– put us on a slippery slope that could have tragic consequences. I highlight a
few news stories from abroad in 2021 that echo some of our state-side
proposals.
Republicans, beware what you wish for! (Bold mine throughout)
|
Russia “… The
Kremlin is now trying to get a grip over schools and universities in a more
systemic way… a recently passed law put all educational activities in Russia
from popular science lectures to public discussion clubs, under tight state
control… “Russian students and young people, once
lauded by the Kremlin as part of Mr Putin’s base, are now seen as one of the
biggest dangers to its power…. They were angered by the Kremlin’s
infringement of their personal freedoms and attempts to impose ‘patriotic’
and ‘traditional' values on them.” The Economist, “Get
them while they’re young,” Sept. 4, 2021 Pakistan KARACHI,
PAKISTAN – “Provincial politics in Pakistan this week raided bookshops and
seized copies of an elementary school social studies textbook that include a
picture of education rights activist Malala Yousafzai, a polarizing figure in
the country…. Critics say the books seizures show a desire to suppress
critical thinking and a growing intolerance of opinions contrary to
conservative Islamic beliefs and cultural norms.” “In recent years, as the influence of
Pakistan’s Taliban and other militant Islamist groups has grown, textbooks
and other educational materials have come under greater scrutiny…. Last
year, Punjab’s curriculum and textbook board banned 100 school books
in a single day because of content they described as ‘anti-Pakistan’ and
‘blasphemous.’” The New York Times, “Mala a
polarizing figure,” July 18, 2021 |
The United States “The recent spate of laws
restricting how teachers can discuss racism and sexism in the classroom has
generated outrage from some educators and praise from others. And it’s
rekindled a perennial debate: Who gets to decide what history we teach?” (Sara Schwartz, Education Week,
Aug. 25, 2021) “Between January and
September 2021, 24 legislatures across the United States introduced 54
separate bills intended to restrict teaching and training in K-12 schools,
higher education, and state agencies and institutions. The majority of these
bills target discussions of race, racism, gender, and American history,
banning a series of “prohibited” or “divisive” concepts for teachers and
trainers operating in K-12 schools, public universities, and workplace
settings. These bills appear
designed to chill academic and educational discussions and impose government
dictates on teaching and learning. In short: They are educational gag
orders.” (Jonathan
Friedman and James Tager, PEN America, “Educational Gag Orders:
Legislative Restrictions on the Freedom to Read, Learn, and Teach,” fall
2021.[v])
“Texas is afire” “Texas is afire with fierce battles over education, race and gender. What began as a debate over social studies curriculum and critical race studies … has become something broader and more profound, not least an effort to curtail and even ban books.” (Michael Powell, The New York Times, Dec. 12, 2021) A clear red line in Texas? “Absent
any state law, some librarians have been told to preemptively pull down
books. And a San Antonio district ordered 400 books taken off its shelves for
a review.” |
China, Hong Kong,
and Tibet
The world’s biggest country uses its clout over neighbors and
its “territory” to control curriculum.
HONG KONG – “City education officials put schools on
the front line of Beijing’s push to quell opposition with a directive … that mandates
patriotic education in kindergartens, followed by lessons starting at
elementary level to teach children to adhere to a sweeping national security
law imposed on the city last year.
“China’s push to bring up future
generations as dutiful citizens, however, is stoking concern among many
teachers, students and parents, some of whom say it undermines
long-cherished principles of critical thinking and uncensored debate.”
|
Teachers |
“A survey of in May found one-fifth of teachers planned to retire or find a new career. Over 70% of them complained of ‘increased political pressure.’ The education bureau has lately expelled several teachers from the profession, reportedly because of their involvement in protest movements. Many more have received formal warnings.” (The Wall Street Journal, “Hong Kong Orders School Changes,” Feb. 6, 2021.)
“One student said she had been pondering a history major, and possibly a teaching career. But seeing her own teachers self-censoring, she is having second thoughts… A boy recalled rows with his pro-government parents, who dismiss liberal studies as ‘brainwashing’. It would hurt society if the young were less capable of independent thought, he argued. But maybe, he wonders, political leaders want a society that is easier to govern.” (The Economist, “Critical conditions… an assault on educational freedom,” Chaguan, May 23, 2021.)
“Education officials said Friday that the latest mandates are necessary to instill a sense of national pride in children through the teaching of history, culture and moral education. The directive says students must learn that in terms of national security ‘there is no room for debate or compromise.’” (The Economist, “Teaching them a lesson,” Aug. 21, 2021.)
HONG KONG - “Academic freedom had started to
suffer [years before]. In 2010 Hong Kong’s universities were rated A, meaning
they were among the world’s freest, on the Academic Freedom Index… They are now
in the D category, only slightly better than mainland China’s, which have the
lowest grade, E.
“One reason for this is self-censorship. Some lecturers now avoid sensitive topics, worrying that their colleagues or students will report on what is said in the classroom. Scholars who teach and write about subjects such as Hong Kong, China, civil disobedience and democracy are particularly cautious. ‘It’s impossible to guess where the red line is anyway, because there is no clear one,’ says an academic who teaches modern Chinese history.” (The Economist, “Unhallowed halls – A climate of fear has enveloped the territory’s campuses,” July 24, 2021.)
"Since the protests, Hong Kong’s largest teachers’ union has been forced to close, and the education bureau has overhauled the curriculum. Liberal studies, a compulsory high school subject that encouraged students to think critically, including about China, has been abolished, replaced by a course emphasizing China’s achievements.”
[Mrs. Mary Choi, with her husband and two sons, recently left Hong Kong for London, largely due to what they saw happening in the schools.] “‘I don’t want [my sons] to grow up being forced at school to love the Communist Party,’ she said. And the indoctrination had started. New multiple choice exam questions in primary school asked students, ‘How do you feel about China?’ The only options were positive.”
Another mom, Catherine Lau, stated: “When I was growing up, we were taught to think at school. Now, it’s a joke.” She fears her son is “not going to learn about what really happened in Tiananmen Square….”
“Rachel Leung is home schooling her daughter on a small farm because she wants her to have a connection to the land and to have time to play—and because she wants to insulate her from China’s influence. ‘The party will eventually fall,’ she says. ‘When? I don’t know. Maybe 20 or 50 years from now. And when it does, what skills will our children, our grandchildren, need to thrive?’ [She lists these qualities.] ‘A willingness to communicate, the ability to persuade and compromise, empathy and love, knowing how to listen deeply. There will be an end to this darkness. For now we can’t do anything big. But we can do small things like raise children with this future in mind.’” (The Economist, “Parenting in Hong Kong – Teach Your Children Well,” Dec. 18, 2021.)
TIBET - “The classroom has emerged as a central
battleground for Mr. Xi, who has urged officials to ‘bury the seed of love for
the Chinese people deeply in every child’s heart.’
“The government is also seeking to boost patriotic education through its public schools, said Golog Jigme, a Tibetan filmmaker and activist in exile. A relative’s child was pushed to thank the Communist Party before eating fruit and milk provided by the pre-school, he said.” (The Wall Street Journal, “Beijing Targets Tibet for Assimilation,” July 17-18, 2021.)
CHINA
SHANGHAI - “Under Xi, ‘ideological education’ has been ramped up across China over the past couple of years, most intensely in areas of historic resistance.
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What to remember, what to “forget” |
It begins early; in 2019, a CCP (Chinese
Communist Party)] directive on patriotic education instructed cadres to
‘start with the babies’ to teach ‘love for the motherland and pride of being Chinese.’
“At the high school level and above, these programs
intensify. A uniform set of textbooks has been unveiled, designed to ‘strengthen
the importance of upholding national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,’
by stressing how Xinjiang, Tibet, Taiwan and the South Chinese Sea are
indivisible parts of Chinese territory…
“Across Tibet, ‘transformation through education’ facilities targeting monks and nuns for ‘correction’ have produced reports of torture and sexual abuse that mirror testimony from the Xinjiang camps. Inmates are forced to denounce the Dalai Lama and learn CCP propaganda by rote in a bid to obliterate memory of a time before party control.” (Time Magazine, “The Han Supremacy - Beijing’s Ominous Campaign To Define What It Means To Be Chinese,” July 19-26, 2021.)
“Countries have to make revealing choices as they craft
patriotic messages for children… It is therefore worth studying what
China’s propaganda chiefs have in store for youngsters this summer. [This will include
celebrations] of the 100th anniversary of the party’s founding in
1921.
“China’s leader, President Xi Jinping, is presented as ‘Xi Dada’, or ‘Uncle Xi’, an austere but caring patriarch. Mr Xi stresses the importance of loyalty, which is why children’s choirs are busy performing such songs as ‘Me and My Country; and ‘Follow the Leadership of the Communist Party of China’. Party history is being used to inspire the masses. That explains reports of kindergarten pupils being dressed up in miniature combat fatigues and told to crawl on their bellies while clutching straw-wrapped ‘rations’, to re-enact Red Army supply runs.” (The Economist, “A century old party woos the young,” Chaguan, June 5, 2021.)
“Mr Xi does not want a history filled with mistakes and contradictions, nor one that raises questions about one-man rule. He believes the collapse of the Soviet Union was hastened by a failure to protect the legacies of Lenin and Stalin. He has campaigned vigorously against ‘historic nihilism’ – essentially anything that casts the party’s past in an unfavourable light. Tomes that excavate Mao’s worst mistakes, once tolerated, are now strongly discouraged.” (The Economist, “Control the present, control the past,” Nov. 6, 2021.)
Telling
the truth
No one in American wants Big Brother bullying our teachers and schools. I certainly hope that is the case. Some Republican policymakers might respond: But these examples from authoritarian governments have nothing to do with our efforts. We just want to make sure our schools are not indoctrinating the next generation with a negative narrative of our history. We merely wish to affirm, to quote the rallying cry from the Virginia gubernatorial campaign, that “parents matter.”
Of course they do. But this misses the point. Do we teach what some parents want to hear, or what is true? The curriculum is always imperfect, but schools have an obligation to do all they can to present our history as accurately as possible. We will fall short, we know that, but it is a worthy goal. So let’s keep trying.
David Brooks believes “America has
the greatest story to tell about itself.” If we agree, let’s “tell it
honestly.”
Endnotes
[i]
David Brooks, “How to destroy
the truth,” The New York Times, July 3, 2021.
[ii] Georgia
– “School are targets in battle over library books, online content,” Ty Tagami,
The New York Times, Nov. 28, 2021.
Tennessee – “Tennessee nails down rules for disciplining teachers,
withholding money from schools that teach banned concepts about racism,” Marta W. Aldrich, Chalkbeat
Tennessee, Nov. 19, 2021.
Texas - “A battle over what can be taught and
which books kids can read,” Michael Powell, The New York Times, Dec. 12,
2021.
Virginia - “School district caught in political
maelstrom,” by Stephanie Saul, The New York Times, Nov. 14, 2021.
[iii] Idaho,
Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah. See “State GOP lawmakers try to
limit lessons,” The Denver Post, May 30, 2021. https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-denver-post/20210530/281513639071814
[iv] “Texas’ 1836 Project Aims to Promote ’Patriotic
Education,’ but Critics Worry It Will
Gloss Over State’s History of Racism,” Heidi Perez-Moreno, The Texas Tribune,
June 13, 2021. https://www.governing.com/now/texas-1836-project-patriotic-education-states-history-of-racism
[v]
PEN America, https://pen.org/report/educational-gag-orders/.
[vi] Texas
- “A battle over what can be taught and which books kids can read,” Michael
Powell, The New York Times, Dec. 12, 2021.
