Afraid to talk about the truth?
EDITOR:
It didn’t take but a quick Google search to see where State Rep. Ragan gathered the talking points for his anti-critical race theory piece in the Courier News (June 30, 2021): namely conservative think tanks who are purposefully stirring up a hornet’s nest to distract us from the real issues we face – for instance, a devastating pandemic.
The rhetoric of these think tanks, and Ragan’s mimicking of them, are meant to turn us against each other, when the truth is that most of us are working toward the same goal – a more just and inclusive society that doesn’t limit opportunities for anyone.
Ragan used caricatured language to describe the bill the Tennessee Legislature passed this year, saying it “disallowed indoctrinating Tennessee K-12 students with pro-Marxist curricula that teaches all white people are all inherently racist.”
Again, this language is not based in truth and is meant only to rile people up (which it has certainly done).
What the bill actually did was allow our government to tell teachers what to say and how to say it, discourage honest conversations in our schools, and stifle the development of critical thinking in our children.
Do your homework (something it’s hoped all of us were taught to do in school) and learn how Ragan and others are distorting the truth. First of all, “Critical Race Theory” is not taught in public K-12 schools; it is a higher academic theory and therefore a made-up problem for public schools.
However, our children SHOULD be taught the truth of our history as a nation and how it shapes all our lives, the very real problem of systemic racism in our society and how harmful it is to ALL of us (of all colors), and how to think critically to solve real problems instead of pretending they don’t exist.
I always thought American values included strength, honesty, and courage. Why are Ragan and the rest of the Tennessee Legislature so afraid to talk about the truth?
Liz McGeachy
Norris