The pledge was signed by no teachers on Feb. 9, the day before. It now has one pledge from Webster City teacher.
They’re one of the thousands of US teachers pledging to continue educating students about the controversial Critical Race Theory, which explains racism is embedded in US culture and politics.
The Webster City teacher wrote "we are beyond due for the time when we take a critical eye to understand our past if the issues we fought wars over and staged nationwide movements for are still persistent in our society today. There is little shame when you recognize what happened in the past and seek to do better; there is more shame when you refuse to understand that our issues today are products of our unresolved, misunderstood pasts." when pledging to teach Critical Race Theory.
Though the concept was first suggested in the late 70’s, it has recently exploded as a contentious issue between the American right and left in the last two years.
Many who signed the pledge are defying state bans on the teachings. Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas have passed legislation banning discussions about the US being inherently racist.
Other states, such as Montana and South Dakota, have denounced the teachings without passing specific legislation.
In an interview with The Washington Free Beacon', Ashley Varner of the Freedom Foundation accused the Zinn Education Project of providing “left-leaning propaganda to teachers.”
Teachers | Thoughts on Critical Race Theory |
---|---|
Tyler McCubbin | we are beyond due for the time when we take a critical eye to understand our past if the issues we fought wars over and staged nationwide movements for are still persistent in our society today. There is little shame when you recognize what happened in the past and seek to do better; there is more shame when you refuse to understand that our issues today are products of our unresolved, misunderstood pasts. |