McKenzie Kennedy, the secondary social studies curriculum coordinator for Des Moines Public Schools, encouraged teachers to participate in #TeachTruth last week.
“Many times content becomes contentious due to our neglect of the emotions people feel when confronted with new information that creates friction with existing information,” Kennedy wrote. “This shouldn’t stop the work we are doing to help students learn the experiences of ALL people in the United States in DMPS social studies. We need to create intentional processing activities that attend to student and adult SEL of sensitive content and we must teach the truth!”
Where did this #TeachTruth stuff come from? The far-left Zinn Education Project.
There were eight ways to participate in the August Days of Action.
“On Aug. 27-29, educators and allies will pledge to teach the truth in actions across the country,” the website states. “In the face of right-wing attacks on the teaching of history and antiracism, we come together to say we will not lie to children and we will teach the truth.”
The first way is to join an action. Teachers organized public actions in close to 50 cities.
Number 4 on the ways to participate is to “learn more and join the resistance.”
A teacher from Texas is quoted as saying:
“All of my students’ first language is Spanish and/or Indigenous. They deserve to know our history, especially as it pertains to their rights and their peers’ rights. We cannot mask the truth.”
Option 6 implores teachers to “teach the truth about voting rights.”
“Since the 2000 election, more than two dozen new laws have passed that make it harder to vote,” the website states. “Educators cannot help their students make sense of this wave of voter suppression legislation without introducing…”
Option 7 is to pledge to teach the truth and refuse to “lie to young people about U.S. history and current events.”
“Sign the pledge to resist efforts by lawmakers across the country to pass legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism and oppression throughout U.S. history.”
Finally, the final step is to defend history teachers. Chris Cerrone, a middle school social studies teacher in New York, says:
“Our students deserve to learn more than history that has literally been whitewashed. I ditched the textbook years ago. The Zinn Education Project provides ideas, lessons and stories that have been neglected in classrooms.”
All of this is in response to efforts by state legislatures across the country to stop teaching radical Critical Race Theory ideas.
“Lawmakers in at least 28 states are attempting to pass legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism and oppression throughout U.S. history,” the website states. “In response, educators across the United States are signing a pledge to teach truth.”
We will be providing our readers with more information on this movement throughout the week.
