These days, the primary objective of too many of our educators is not to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, or history. Nor is it to reopen the country’s schools. Their new goal is to protest alongside activist organizations.
During its 2021 Representative Assembly, the National Education Association adopted New Business Item 39, which opposes “attempts to ban critical race theory.” At first glance, it might seem that the nation’s largest teachers union is merely encouraging students to learn an unbiased and balanced view of the country’s past.
After all, the third paragraph of NBI 39 states, in part, that the union will:
“Publicly (through existing media) convey its support for the accurate and honest teaching of social studies topics, including truthful and age-appropriate accountings of unpleasant aspects of American history, such as slavery, and the oppression and discrimination of Indigenous, Black, Brown, and other peoples of color…”
Indeed, it is important for students to understand that America is not perfect but rather working toward a “more perfect union.” But if the NEA’s intention was to support the “accurate and honest teaching of social studies,” then why does it also want to work with patently ideological groups?
One paragraph later, NBI 39 calls for the union to, “Join with Black Lives Matter at School and the Zinn Education Project to call for a rally this year on October 14—George Floyd’s birthday—as a national day of action to teach lessons about structural racism and oppression.”
A brief overview of the Zinn Education Project will show that it is not an unbiased purveyor of bland historical facts. The group has been known to organize rallies in support of teaching critical race theory and spearhead campaigns to abolish Columbus Day. It has also created politically charged lessons, such as “Students Design a Reparations Bill.”
And Black Lives Matter at School does not hide its activist roots. The group’s website explains, “We are educators, students, parents, families, community members fighting for racial justice in school!” BLM at School has resources on uplifting “Black trans folk” and “for early childhood and removing Confederate monuments for high school.
The group has even created “Social Justice Mathematics” lessons, including an activity asking high schoolers to investigate “Stop and Frisk Trends in NYC.” Though what these lessons will do to prepare students for a collegiate STEM education remains to be seen.
Both the Zinn Education Project and BLM at School seem to emphasize “action civics,” which encourages students and educators to engage in activism and protest. A former proponent and teacher of “action civics,” Robert Pondiscio, called the curriculum a “manipulative and cynical use of children as political props in the service of causes they understand superficially, if at all.”
The approval of NBI 39 is not the first time the NEA has called for a “national day of action.” But the union’s partnership with advocacy organizations sends a clear message. The NEA would rather march alongside fervent, dogmatic activists than nurture informed, sagacious students.
