By Diane Leischow
After teaching high school for 32 years, I can tell you that we continually build upon units in order to augment lessons for challenged learners, add new scientific facts, or upgrade relevant material. If a teacher has to stop to list every new book, worksheet or article along with the author’s name, organization affiliations and links, that will overwhelm teachers. That’s what SB1211 will do if it passes.
This bill is coming from a minority of the population. In other states it is being sued by the national Educators Association. The AZ Charter School Association is against it. Even the the A Department of Education oppose it stating, “It places a high administrative burden on the teachers and schools.” Could it be fear of something that is misunderstood?
CRT is “the analysis of how racism exist at a systemic level.” It doesn’t imply we are all racists and should feel guilty. ”Systemic” would show that During the civil war slavery was a way of life for the South. A war was fought over it. Just that simple on a high school level. The concept doesn’t go deeper in discussion. Only in college when attention span and debate skills mature the concept of the civil war may become a broader and deeper discussion.
Ms. Barto, who created bill SB1211, stated that she initiated this bill to “repair trust “ between parents and teachers. The affect will be the opposite- to sow more seeds of discord that come from misunderstanding. Most teachers would encourage Ms. Barto to spend a few weeks teaching a unit in high school in order to develop an understanding of the reality of the classroom.