How new state laws and book ban movements have made the teaching of US history contentious – 5 essential reads
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Monday, July 3, 2023
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Of all the subjects taught in America’s public schools, few have become as contentious as U.S. history.
Key Points:
- Of all the subjects taught in America’s public schools, few have become as contentious as U.S. history.
- At least 37 states have adopted new measures that limit how America’s undeniable history of racism – from chattel slavery to Jim Crow – can be discussed in public school classrooms.
- Educators in certain states face laws that restrict classroom discussions about racism.
1. The value of learning about systemic racism
- History educators Jeffrey L. Littlejohn and Zachary Montz described how restrictions on teaching about systemic racism in Texas public schools prevent students from learning vital historical lessons.
- “Americans cannot appreciate the accomplishments of Joshua and Samuel Walker Houston without examining the vicious realities of Jim Crow society,” Littlejohn and Montz wrote.
2. The importance of historical knowledge
- Consequently, Dvir wrote that an alarming 63% of American millennials and Generation Z lacked basic knowledge about the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust.
- According to Dvir without vital lessons on such crimes against humanity and the factors that give rise to them, students “may not have the knowledge and insight they need to sustain and thrive in a 21st-century democracy.”
Read more:
I'm an educator and grandson of Holocaust survivors, and I see public schools failing to give students the historical knowledge they need to keep our democracy strong
3. Critical race theory’s impact on AP courses
- Suneal Kolluri, a researcher who studies Advanced Placement courses – which provide students an opportunity to earn college credit while still in high school – raises another set of concerns regarding AP history and other history courses.
- Kolluri described his concern that AP courses could face similar penalties in states with restrictions on conversations on race.
- “The danger is posed by those who support the various new state laws against the teaching of divisive topics and critical race theory.”
Read more:
Advanced Placement courses could clash with laws that target critical race theory
4. The ongoing battle over book bans
- Book bans in the 1980s focused on secular humanism, because it argued that there can be fulfillment without a belief in God.
- But of late, book bans have focused largely on critical race theory.
- “Reality is sometimes uncomfortable.”
Read more:
Battles over book bans reflect conflicts from the 1980s