This is what the Rutland Herald had to say about nationwide dialogue about the state of education in America:
A recent commentary by Jamelle Bouie in The New York Times began circulating around school districts around Vermont recently after parents and individuals have become even more riled about schools teaching what they see as “revisionist history.”
In some communities on Town Meeting Day, blocs of candidates running on a more conservative platform sought to be elected in order to counter what they see as a left-wing push to indoctrinate kids in schools.
What we have seen in the days since the March election has been a concerted push by school board members wanting boards (and parents) to have a greater say over what’s being discussed and taught in schools. They face pushback from those who want to make changes to curriculum and classroom discussions aimed at correcting historic untruths and getting children thinking about context.
Social media has been full of debates (and a lot of trolling from both sides), with each platform accusing the other of eroding school systems and compromising the education of Vermont children.
It has been — to understate — quite an ugly display by the grown-ups.
Bouie does not mince words in his commentary: “There is a dangerous censoriousness pulsing through American society. In small towns and big cities alike, would-be commissars are fighting, in the name of a distinct minority of Americans, to stifle open discussion and impose their views on the community at large. Dissenters, when they speak out, are hounded, ostracized and sometimes even forced from their jobs.”
“Defenders of this push for censorship say they are simply working to protect the nation’s children from prejudice, psychological distress and inappropriate material,” Bouie writes, pointing to a Moms for Liberty push to “give parents and state regulators broad authority to ban books or teachings that cause ‘discomfort’ in students, and would put lessons on the ‘Civil War, the expansion of the United States to its present boundaries, the world wars, and the civil rights movement’ under careful review. Bouie points to another law being considered in states would permit parents to sue school districts that “encourage classroom discussions” on “sexual orientation or gender identity” in “primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.” Critics say this language is so broad as to effectively outlaw any discussion of LGBTQ+ people in elementary school classrooms, or at the very least, strongly discourage teachers from raising those issues, regardless of context, Bouie writes.
Recently, the Indiana House of Representatives approved a bill that would limit what teachers can say regarding race, history and politics in the state’s classrooms. Under the law, schools could be held liable for mentioning any one of several “divisive concepts,” including the idea that “any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish responsibility, or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual’s sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin or political affiliation.”
The bill would allow parents to allege a violation, file a complaint, sue and even collect damages (up to $1,000), Bouie writes.
Then there is the truly Big Brotherish piece of this discussion — again, one that has come up on social media with regard to Vermont school districts: surveillance.
Bouie writes, “The most disturbing efforts to monitor schools and teachers for wrong-think involve actual surveillance. Bills introduced in Iowa and Mississippi would install classroom cameras that would stream lessons over the internet for anyone to observe. …Teachers and other staff members who obstructed cameras or failed to keep them in working order would face fines of up to 5 percent of their weekly pay for each infraction.”
These “educational gag orders” are the wrong direction for our communities. Opponents of these bills say that the laws don’t encourage openness or promote respect in the classroom as much as they suppress speech, intimidate teachers and open the door to harassment or worse. Educators deserve respect — not insults brought against their professionalism and dignity.
Free speech is the tenet of our democracy.
“Conservative censors and their allies see, in the present moment, an opportunity to reshape society to their liking and squelch the views of those who disagree. It is up to those of us who believe in the First Amendment and free speech to take a stand for American liberty, while we still can,” Bouie writes.
It seems we live in very dangerous times.
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