Democrat Rep. Mary Wolfe spoke against House File 802 and its amendment H-1207 on Tuesday.
The bill addresses teaching divisive concepts such as Critical Race Theory in training for Iowa colleges and government entities as well as curriculum in Iowa K-12 schools.
Wolfe said the amendment makes the bill even more problematic than it already is.
“The original bill seeks to micromanage the discussion that our public schools and our higher institutions of learning have in their respective institutions regarding diversity,” Wolfe said.
What was worth highlighting from Wolfe’s speech was this section:
“I think divisive concepts are probably a good thing for people to be talking about in our institutions of higher learning and in our grade schools,” she said. “Right? That’s why we send our kids to school — to push the envelope a little bit, to listen to viewpoints that are different than theirs, to understand that not everybody shares the same experiences that you do and that sometimes the way you look does end up impacting the way you are treated. And that’s hard for maybe people like me to accept, but I know it’s true and I believe it.”
