First, MAGA came for CRT. How dare they teach our children about actual history instead of their preferred whitewashed version! Then they came for DEI. How dare they teach our children that people with different skin color or different gender identity or different gender orientation are equal to cis white people!
Now, MAGA is coming for social studies:
Sarah Kopplin is a social studies teacher at Shorewood Intermediate School and president of the Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies. She said an alarming number of social studies teachers around the state have seen pushback on their lessons about elections and other current events.
A survey from the council found 42 percent of council member respondents reported that building administration, school boards or community members lodged complaints or put restrictions on lessons related to politics, an election or current events, Kopplin said on WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”
Sherri Michalowski taught social studies in Wisconsin for 40 years. She said the political pressures facing her profession have gotten more intense in recent years. She cited that problem as one of her reasons for retiring back in 2022.
“I just didn’t think I could play that game of having to be too careful all the time,” she said.
Kopplin has heard from other teachers like Michalowski who have left their jobs after being discouraged from teaching elections and current events by administrators and community members.
“They feel that they don’t really have a purpose for being there, and they can’t really help their students be the engaged future citizens that they want to be,” Kopplin said.
While most states require students to have a course in civics and government, Wisconsin is one of the few states that doesn’t require it. Even though it’s not required, students are required to pass a civics test in order to graduate.
Kopplin later pointed to what MAGA really fears:
Kopplin said she’s inspired by how her students are able to discuss potentially controversial topics with their classmates.
“It is unbelievable to see how open-minded they are,” Kopplin said. “(They are) accepting and willing to practice being wrong, to practice listening to other people, to practice being OK with not necessarily having to agree, but still walk out of the classroom and be able to sit together at lunch or play at recess.”
If the children learn critical thinking and open-mindedness, then their irrational fears and hatreds will be rejected. And then generations of ignorance will have just gone to waste!
