Don't teach uncomfortable things
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Law Professor Skipped Teaching Plessy v. Ferguson, Edited Dred Scott to Two Paragraphs
JOSH BLACKMAN | 6.8.2021 8:59 PM
Professor Matthew Steilen (Buffalo) skipped teaching Plessy v. Ferguson, and edited Dred Scott down to two paragraphs. Jeannie Suk Gersen wrote about his decision in the New Yorker:
Matthew Steilen, a law professor at the University at Buffalo, launched the Twitter thread and advocated for editing the case down to a minimalistic page or so, to omit text that is "so gratuitously insulting and demeaning." He wondered whether assigning that material is asking students "to relive the humiliation of Taney's language as evidence of his doctrine of white supremacy." . . .
Steilen, who wrote the initial tweet about teaching the Dred Scott case, doesn't disagree with these principles and has worked to add more content on slavery and the Civil War in his course. But, he told me, "George Floyd has changed everything. . . . I wasn't sure I could muster the moral authority to stand up there and teach this case." He explained that omitting it entirely would be "a bridge too far," but he thought it best to assign just "two paragraphs and move on." He said, "Taney is making the case that Black people who were enslaved were never part of the people of the United States and could never be citizens. . . . It's just painful. I'm white and I'm going to stand up there and talk with the students, including Black students, about this stuff? I would be dragging them through stuff that was hurtful to them. . . . It just felt indefensible." Steilen feels that Taney's language "gratuitously traumatizes" readers: "I wasn't comfortable giving his words to my students because I was afraid it would hurt them and destroy the kind of community I want to foster in class." This year, Steilen also skipped teaching Plessy v. Ferguson, which held that segregation did not imply Black people's inferiority, and instead only mentioned its ideas in discussing Brown v. Board of Education, which overruled it.
Steilen's decision was inevitable. If law schools start from the en vogue premise that students should be shielded from material that may be "traumatizing" or "hurtful" or "painful," then this pedagogy makes eminent sense. I vigorously disagree with this premise. Educators cannot skip foundational material to avoid imparting pain or trauma.A study in constitutional law is woefully incomplete without Dred Scott and Plessy. I devote an entire class to each case. I wish I could do more, but there is not enough time. These classes are not pleasant. Often emotions flare. Voices are raised. Students become disillusioned. But the students learn important lessons. Usually by this point in the semester, the character of the class is formed.
I understand that some criminal law professors no longer teach the law of rape. And now, some constitutional law professors will no longer teach about slavery and segregation. Entire chunks of the constitutional canon will be cancelled. Prigg. Dred Scott. The Civil Rights Cases. Plessy. I fear Steilen's decision will not be isolated. Other professors likely reached the same conclusion. Randy and I continue to develop a book project about slavery and the Constitution. If professors simply stop teaching the subject, our work becomes an even more important supplement.
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‘Children deserve to be taught’: Teachers plan protests over laws restricting racism lessons in schools
Recognizing that schools have long ignored the history of people of color, many teachers have endeavored to incorporate lessons on topics ranging from the Tulsa race massacre to the Chinese Exclusion Act. But conservatives across the country are alarmed by how, exactly, teachers are adding nuance to discussions of race and racism in U.S. history classes. In Arkansas and more than a dozen other states, lawmakers have introduced or passed new laws to curtail or re-direct the tone of those lessons.
Now teachers are pushing back. On Saturday, groups in more than 22 cities are organizing rallies and other events to protest legislative efforts to restrict the scope of such conversations.
Becky Pringle, president of the National Teachers Association, the country's largest teachers' union, said the organization is weighing legal action against laws restricting how racism and history are taught.
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On Saturday, thousands of educators and others gathered virtually and in person at historic locations in more than 20 cities to make clear that they would resist efforts in at least 15 Republican-led states to restrict what teachers can say in class about racism, sexism and oppression in America.
Organized by local educators across the country in association with several social justice organizations, the National Day of Action is meant to raise public awareness about the legislation and to send a message that they will not lie to students about the country’s racist past and present.
The teachers’ pledge: https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/pledge-to-teach-truth
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The teachers work for the school districts, who are run by school boards elected by the citizens of the district. The impetus for the push-back against the teaching of Critical Racist Theory, is coming from parents who do not believe that their children should be taught racism in the public schools.
The schools are a big enough mess as it is. There is no need to make them worse.
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On Saturday, thousands of educators and others gathered virtually and in person at historic locations in more than 20 cities to make clear that they would resist efforts in at least 15 Republican-led states to restrict what teachers can say in class about racism, sexism and oppression in America.
Organized by local educators across the country in association with several social justice organizations, the National Day of Action is meant to raise public awareness about the legislation and to send a message that they will not lie to students about the country’s racist past and present.
The teachers’ pledge: https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/pledge-to-teach-truth
@axtremus said in Don't teach uncomfortable things:
On Saturday, thousands of educators and others gathered virtually and in person at historic locations in more than 20 cities to make clear that they would resist efforts in at least 15 Republican-led states to restrict what teachers can say in class about racism, sexism and oppression in America.
Organized by local educators across the country in association with several social justice organizations, the National Day of Action is meant to raise public awareness about the legislation and to send a message that they will not lie to students about the country’s racist past and present.
The teachers’ pledge: https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/pledge-to-teach-truth
CRT isn’t facts. Calling it junk science would be an insult to junk science.
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https://www.texastribune.org/2021/06/15/abbott-critical-race-theory-law/
Gov. Greg Abbott has signed the controversial bill that prescribes how Texas teachers can talk about current events and America’s history of racism in the classroom, according to Texas Legislature Online. His signature makes Texas one of a handful of states across the country that have passed such legislation, which aims to ban the teaching of “critical race theory” in K-12 public school classrooms.
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@axtremus said in Don't teach uncomfortable things:
Gov. Greg Abbott has signed the controversial bill that prescribes how Texas teachers can talk about current events and America’s history of racism in the classroom, according to Texas Legislature Online.
This is where news "reporting" morphs into opinion. By the use of the word "controversial" the site lets its opinion be known.
Read the rest of the article, and there's a lot more.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/12/06/tennessee-teacher-fired-critical-race-theory/
“A White teacher (in Tennessee) taught White students about White privilege. It cost him his job.”
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/19/colleges-critical-race-theory-bills/
On Monday, the Faculty Council of the University of Texas at Austin approved, on a 41-to-5 vote with three abstentions, a resolution rejecting “any attempts by bodies external to the faculty to restrict or dictate the content of university curriculum on any matter, including matters related to racial and social justice.” The resolution said the council will “stand firm against any and all encroachment” on faculty authority, including by the legislature.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/19/colleges-critical-race-theory-bills/
On Monday, the Faculty Council of the University of Texas at Austin approved, on a 41-to-5 vote with three abstentions, a resolution rejecting “any attempts by bodies external to the faculty to restrict or dictate the content of university curriculum on any matter, including matters related to racial and social justice.” The resolution said the council will “stand firm against any and all encroachment” on faculty authority, including by the legislature.
@Axtremus said in Don't teach uncomfortable things:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/02/19/colleges-critical-race-theory-bills/
On Monday, the Faculty Council of the University of Texas at Austin approved, on a 41-to-5 vote with three abstentions, a resolution rejecting “any attempts by bodies external to the faculty to restrict or dictate the content of university curriculum on any matter, including matters related to racial and social justice.” The resolution said the council will “stand firm against any and all encroachment” on faculty authority, including by the legislature.
It would be better if leftists weren't so racist.
