Censoring Curricula

Schools and universities have long been battlegrounds for high-stakes disputes about free speech in the U.S. Tensions in recent years, however, have stemmed less from the misadventures of inflammatory guest speakers or uncouth staff, but from something much more fundamental: what students are taught. PEN America, a free expression advocacy group, estimates that state legislators across 33 states introduced 122 “educational gag orders” in 2021, limiting classroom discussions on race, gender, and other “divisive” topics. The findings come at a time when public school boards and state governments have also restricted specific books from being taught in their classrooms or circulating in school libraries. Conservative lawmakers, the chief architects of these bills, claim they’re protecting American youth from a “radical” and “un-American” educational agenda. But their opponents see something far more sinister: a crass attempt to suppress subjects and perspectives that challenge tidy, simplistic, and exclusionary narratives of the American experience.

• The PEN America Index of Education Gag Orders
• Steep Rise in Gag Orders, Many Sloppily Drafted PEN America, Jan. 24, 2022
• Proposed curriculum censorship bills increased 250% in 2022 K-12 Dive, Aug. 17, 2022
• About 1 in 4 teachers changed curriculum, instruction due to recent legal restrictions K-12 Dive, Jan. 27, 2023

What is ‘Critical Race Theory’ (CRT)?

• Take a look at how the NAACP and the American Bar Association define the doctrine
• Critical Race Theory: A Brief History The New York Times, Nov. 8, 2021

Why do people care about it?

• The GOP’s Critical Race Theory Obsession The Atlantic, May 7, 2021
• Disputing Racism’s Reach, Republicans Rattle American Schools The New York Times, Jun. 1, 2021

The Bans and the Pushback

• CRT Map: Efforts to restrict teaching racism and bias have multiplied across the U.S. Chalkbeat, Feb. 1, 2022

This Brookings Institution blog post provides a helpful (if slightly outdated) list of legislation from the local, state and federal level attempting to limit the teaching of race-sensitive topics in schools. Read through some curriculum censorship laws from…

• Texas [Section 3]
• Arizona [Section 15-717.02]
• New Hampshire [Section 354 A:31]
• Idaho

And take a look at some federal proposals:

• The Stop CRT Act (introduced in Senate on Jul. 14, 2021)
• The Protecting Students from Racial Hostility Act (introduced in Senate on Jul. 30, 2021)
• The PEACE Act (introduced in Senate on Aug. 9, 2021)
• ‘Critical Race Theory Is Simply the Latest Boogeyman.’ Inside the Fight Over What Kids Learn About America’s History Time, Jul. 16, 2021
• Scholarly Groups Condemn Laws Limiting Teaching on Race The New York Times, Jun. 16, 2021
• Bans of Critical Race Theory Threaten Free Speech, Advocacy Groups Say The New York Times, Nov. 9, 2021

• Department of Education threatens to withhold funding for Middle East studies program – December 2019
• Boise State suspends, later resumes ethics and diversity course following student complaints June 2021
• Virginia launches an email tip line for parents to report teaching of critical race theory in public schools – March 2022
• Florida governor signs controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill into law, public confrontations grow – April 2022
• Florida rejects math textbooks over “prohibited topics’ – May 2022
• South Dakota governor issues executive order banning CRT in public schools, after signing bill rejecting ‘divisive concepts’ in state universities – June 2022
• College Board purges material from AP African American studies course after pushback from Florida – March 2023
• Hamline University professor who showed image of the prophet Muhammad sues after being fired – February 2023
• Florida English professor fired over teaching racial justice unit – April 2023
• Federal appellate court rejects claim that Virginia Tech’s bias reporting policy chills Free Speech– May 2023
• Arkansas law imposes jail time for librarians and booksellers who provide “harmful” content to minors – June 2023
• Theater teacher alleges he was fired from Tennessee private school due to content of plays – July 2023
• Book on Princeton course syllabus stirs antisemitism controversy – August 2023

• State Education Officials Must Restore a Sense of National Character in Public Schools, Mike Gonzalez & Jonathan Butcher, The Heritage Foundation, Apr. 22, 2021
• Demonizing Critical Race Theory, Charles Blow, The New York Times, Jun. 13, 2021
• New York Times Op-Ed Illustrates How The Left Employs Critical Race Theory Gaslighting, Gabe Kaminsky, The Federalist, Jun. 15, 2021
• The War on History Is a War on Democracy, Timothy Snyder, The New York Times Magazine, Jun. 29, 2021
• The panic over critical race theory is an attempt to whitewash U.S. history, Kimberlé Crenshaw, The Washington Post, July 2, 2021
• We Disagree on a Lot of Things. Except the Danger of Anti-Critical-Race-Theory Laws, Kmele Foster, David French, Jason Stanley & Thomas Chatterton Williams, The New York Times, Jul. 5, 2021
• Disingenuous defenses of critical race theory, Christopher Rufo, New York Post, Jul. 9, 2021
• We Must Fight Un-American Race Theories, Kyle Smith, National Review, Jul. 9, 2021
• There Is No Debate Over Critical Race Theory, Ibram X. Kendi, The Atlantic, Jul. 9, 2021
• Everybody’s Getting CRT Wrong on Purpose, Mona Charen, The Bulwark, Jan. 27, 2022

1. Why do you think CRT, an otherwise obscure legal theory, has become the crux of such a heated national debate surrounding education? Why now?
2. What do you make of conservative diatribes against CRT and similarly ‘divisive’ topics? Are they little more than cynical attempts to suppress discussions about oppressive dynamics and unsavory moments from the country’s past? How might you sympathize with their concerns? 
3. How should American history be taught? What narratives and incidents should be prioritized, and why? 
4. Are there any topics that should be added and covered more in educational curricula? If so, justify their inclusion. 
5. Are there any topics that should be excluded from educational curricula? If so, justify their exclusion. 
6. How have past educational standards for American history shaped people’s perceptions of the country? How are current standards shaping people’s perceptions? What standards would you change or keep for the future?
7. Who should get to determine what is (or isn’t) taught in schools? Legislatures, school boards, parents, individual teachers? 

• Curriculum Module: Can It Happen Here? The Return of Book-Banning – and even Book-Burning
• Banning Books: Censorship, Parental Rights, and the Future of Intellectual Curiosity October 3, 2022

Click on these themes below: Artistic Expression + Legal Action

Discuss: What does this confluence of stories with these filters tell us about Free Speech issues surrounding educational requirements and curriculum development?