House Bill 3979 proposed by Senator Bryan Hughes, which makes it mandatory for School boards from all 50 states to adjust their curriculum to limit the amount of current events and historical racism, was passed by the senate. The change is set to begin in the 2022-2023 school year. On May 22nd a Senate revised edition of the bill went back too the Texas house. Inside the revision it states to make students understand the Declaration of independence, but according to KVUE "it stripped more than two dozen requirements to study the writings or stories of multiple women and people of color that were also previously approved by the House, despite attempts by Democratic senators to reinstate some of those materials in the bill".
The bill is too say for a lack of a better word controversial. Many progressive groups and politicians in America think this bill is limiting towards school systems and caps what students can learn about the world. While other groups in favor of the bill believe that students only need to learn the basics of school and to look to extra curricular research outside of class to learn about the world. As well as Hughes replying "We do have teaching now that we want to get out that one race or sex is inherently superior to another, or the individual by virtue of the individual's race or sex is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously" when questioned about why he wants the bill passed
My opinion is on this matter is somewhere between in favor and it could use some work. While I, a libertarian, feel this is a bill that needs to be passed in a way. I do believe that the school system seems to be in favor of demonizing certain cultures that have no real justice being demonized. I feel like an example would be white people, not necessarily that some don't deserve it (nazi's, jim crow, kkk, etc) but to put down the other 90% with the purpose too make that culture feel bad for something most would never do. I feel that that needs adjusting.
Questions
- How do you feel this bill passing will truly affect school boards?
- Is it a fair thing to reason that students will want to learn about the current world if not incentivized by their curriculum?
- Links
- https://www.fox4news.com/news/texas-senate-passes-new-version-of-hb-3979-which-would-restrict-teaching-critical-race-theory-in-schools
- https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2021/05/22/texas-senate-approves-bill-limiting-how-race-racism-can-taught/5217696001/
- https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/22/texas-critical-race-theory-legislature/
1 comment:
I think that, being in a pretty liberal state, approaching this problem is different than for other states. One point I quickly want to make is that AP tests are still going to require knowledge of many historical events involving discrimination in the US, so I don't think this legislation will greatly change the structure of AP classes. What it will do is change the structure of CP classes, especially in more conservative states that focus less on social issues in the US. Discrimination overall is a pretty serious topic, and from a personal viewpoint, a very important one. I want to avoid being a conformist in having a progressive opinion, and instead provide a slightly more specific personal opinion towards why I think passing this bill could be dangerous. In current history classes at our school, we dive into how societal norms have been evolving over time, and how discrimination is largely caused by societal factors, namely individual beliefs, as well as some legislation which we have learned about. I think that modern discrimination is almost entirely societal rather than structural, and that the only way to decrease societal discrimination is to invest the next generation in education that teaches them about our country's rough history with discrimination so they can have a more informed viewpoint on current events regarding protests and discrimination. I don't necessarily think schools put down white people, but instead the overall societal norm at the time. For example, we teach how the northern colonies were much more progressive with the removal of slavery in the 1700s-1800s, and we hold discussions about current events such as the removal of statues around the US, and discuss whether or not we should be holding past historical figures to today's standards. I think being able to explore issues in this way is a healthy method of teaching the next generation how the US has had some brutal discrimination, and how we can evaluate current events involving possible discrimination by taking a look at the past. Overall, I think less subjects involving discrimination will hurt the ability of CP students to form an educated opinion about the past and present of discrimination in the US, and I think it could slow the societal progression away from discrimination, as individuals may have trouble identifying discrimination (or the lack of... This works the other way too, where students may assume the problem, although already serious, is much worse than it actually is because they don't have an educated opinion about the subject) in modern society.
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