Our Curriculum Is Under Fire

I have lived in Texas for 20 years. I have seen some pretty crazy legislation get passed but this bill that passed the Senate removing any mention of the Civil Rights Movement, Native American History, The Suffragettes, Chicano History, etc. from our curriculum...I just do not understand what they are thinking. The reasoning is that we are only to teach positive things from our history and therefore create more people with "patriotic" thinking. They will not require anyone to teach current events and if they do teach them they are required to teach both sides-so both sides of slavery-the pros and the cons?! This is just a screenshot of part of the list of things being removed.

Here is the link of the original bill: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/871/billtext/html/SB00003I.htm

So what can someone like me do. Believe me, I will continue to teach the history of social justice to my 1st Graders. I will read them stories and do activities with them to ensure they have a foundation in history. And if our new principal lets us we will certainly still do our Social Justice themed Wax Museum.

Some of my favorite books:

This story almost makes me cry when I read it to my students. It's about how we can come together as a community-despite our differences for a common good. Wish this was more of a focus in our society.

Girls in Cuba were not allowed to play the drums. She had a natural born talent and fought to fight that rule.

Did you know Ruth even dissented when they tried to prevent her from writing with her left hand? I love when I read this story to my kids and they use the phrase "I dissent" in our daily lives.

John Lewis is such a fascinating figure. I wonder if the fact that he is not longer with us is influencing the montrous policy changes. 

Malala's story is a hard one for our littles to understand-this book tells that story on their level.

I never learned this part of history. I LOVE when I read a book with my kiddos and learn something new. Mother Jones and her protests led to the labor laws we have today preventing young children from working.

We need more of this in our curriculum. Looking at different countries and the way they do things-what is similar what is different?

Silva Mendez' family was told Mexicans had to attend a different school. Her family stood up, took them to courts and changed the laws. This is the history our government does not want us to teach-teach it anyway.

When my students leave me, they know how to stand up for what they believe in. I was supposed to loop up with my class this upcoming year but we got a new principal who does not believe in looping. When I told my students one of them wrote him a letter-he said "I have a voice and I'm going to use it". I could not have been prouder.

Another story from our history that I did know. Dr. King wanted to hold a protest but everyone got arrested. This time they thought they would fill the jails with young people and then the adults could effectively do their protest. Through fear, these kids stood up for what they believed in.

Don't let them muzzle you! Don't let them whitewash our history. Our students need to know about these movements and changes so they can learn from them. Our future depends on it.