Culture-war meddling in classrooms harms students

Like other professions, teachers require extensive training to be effective and do no harm. Non-educators and those not adequately trained to teach, develop and assess appropriate and effective curricula are damaging bedrock principles of our democracy. These principles are conveyed during the school-aged years and strengthened by higher education experiences.

In Florida and other states, political impact on content is having a profound influence on learning standards. One recent example involves the attempted removal of content on gender identity and sexual orientation from Advanced Placement Psychology courses taught in Florida high schools, harming students financially by removing access to college credits.

Censoring content is also detrimental to current and future generations of students and, in turn, personal and professional development and our entire economy. Blocking access to information, philosophies, history, books and debate is antithetical to how our democratic society works.

While Florida has been a leader in state government overreach, interference and pandering to conservative ideologies, since early 2020, 35 states have passed or introduced 135 bills restricting teaching about Critical Race Theory, race, American history, gender and sexual orientation. These bills rarely reflect an understanding of the academic debates about race and gender, diminish the role of faculty in academic governance, and may include penalties such as personal liability, loss of funding for institutions, and loss of tenure for faculty.

Are the people pushing these destructive behaviors so upset about our history and by people’s differences that they prefer to gloss over facts that make them uncomfortable? The only way to ensure that tomorrow’s professionals and leaders understand how best to do their jobs and represent all our interests is by educating them thoroughly, exploring the bumps and bruises that helped shape our great nation and accepting the reality that we live within a system that continues to be flawed and unfair.

In addition to controlling content, some states are reducing credentialing requirements to fill teaching slots. Students suffer. Nationally, young people are recording lower math and reading scores and don’t understand how the government works. That risks America’s ability to remain globally competitive and to solve pressing economic, environmental and societal challenges.

We need to ensure age-appropriate learning. That requires preparing our teachers to better adapt to the needs and sensitivities of the communities around them. We should address who they serve and what everyone under their tutelage needs to succeed.

Teachers are our most important agents of change; they must be brave, fearless and dedicated harbingers of social justice, able to bring people in the margins into the mainstream. By opening eyes and arming students with reliable information and processes for accessing truth and successfully navigating the world around them, we also make each individual an agent of change.

Educating our nation’s young people should not be left to quick-fix approaches or political opportunists attempting to implement agendas other than those that focus on preparing students to think critically and interact with their fellow citizens justly.

It has been said that the health of a society can be judged by the quality of its public schools. Whereas unqualified teachers are less capable and more easily manipulated, skilled educators help their students block out the noise from above and below and ensure that schools remain safe spaces for critical thinking, exploration, essential social and emotional learning, and overall achievement.

We cannot allow the loudest voices to determine what is being taught to our children and young adults.

Mel L. Horton is interim dean of the Farrington College of Education & Human Development at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.