Stop Politicians From Dictating School Curriculums

Target: Miguel Cardona, Secretary of U.S. Department of Education

Goal: Support inclusion of discussions about structural racism in schools.

An eighteen-year-old drove over 200 miles to Buffalo, New York, where he live-streamed a mass shooting that left ten people dead. What motivated this young man to travel such a long distance and carry out this massacre? He allegedly wanted to target a Black neighborhood and murder as many minorities as possible. In a manifesto attributed to the suspect, he talked of being radicalized into white supremacy and spoke extensively of the so-called Great Replacement Theory. This extremist philosophy claims that a massive conspiracy is playing out (the usual suspect “masterminds” behind this conspiracy being Jewish people) to replace white influence and culture with supposed “others.” While politicians typically talk about the responsibilities of various outlets like social media to rein in these dangerous movements, they have less to say about their own culpability and the systemic failures that are often of their own making.

One major issue exploited by politicians today is the emphasis on what is taught in school curriculums. State legislature after state legislature has targeted concepts like critical race theory, which—in one of its founders’ own words–reflects a “need to pay attention to what has happened in this country and how what has happened is continuing to create differential outcomes, so that we can become the democratic republic we say we are. We believe in the promises of equality, and we know we can get there if we confront and talk honestly about inequality.”

This approach encourages students to think about history and society in a broader and more critical way, which is supposed to be the very idea of learning. Some politicians, however, would rather deny students a full and truthful account of their own history, suppressing topics of conversation and subjects that make them uncomfortable. The result: young people searching for answers seek these answers elsewhere, and too many of them tragically follow the same path as the accused Buffalo shooter.

Sign the petition below to demand an end to the active and deliberate whitewashing of American education.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Secretary Cardona,

Ten people lost their lives doing the everyday task of going grocery shopping. Like too many before them, they were reportedly murdered because of the color of their skin. The United States has a long and troubled history of persecuting individuals who looked “different,” from the massacres perpetrated against this nation’s native people to the dark legacies of slavery and segregation, to the “internment camps” populated with Japanese-American citizens during World War II. Every American should have knowledge of where they came from and where they are now: the good and the bad. This is how we learn and do better.

Yet across the country, politicians are busy trying to ensure future generations only know “their” version of the facts. Keeping children ignorant and shielding them from open, honest debates does them and the country a tremendous disservice. This deliberate censorship of our own history also stokes division and keeps individuals from ever finding common ground.

Education is for all, not the chosen few. Please fully reject the rising trend of politicians who think they know better than educators attempting to control school curriculums. Do everything in your power to stop the erosion of American education.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Pixabay