I thought history was learning about the past.
But lately, it feels more like we are rewriting it — or worse, avoiding it altogether. Schools are not echo chambers. They should be arenas for ideas.
All kinds of ideas, even uncomfortable ones.
Over the past few years, state leaders have made large moves to reshape public education. In 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott signed to ban on the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. This March, Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Coppell ISD for allegedly teaching it. The lawsuit was dismissed earlier this week after a Dallas County judge granted a joint notice of nonsuit, which effectively dismissed the suit.
The ban was made by Texas legislation with concerns that it unfairly blames White Americans for past historical wrongdoings.
There have been countless debates on how true those claims stand today. I am not here to debate whether those claims are true or not.
But if it is so heavily debated by so many individuals, clearly the theory holds weight in society. Clearly, it is an idea worth exploring in academic spaces. Clearly, it is something that is important to so many people.
What is going on here is not random; it is a pattern. It is pushing our public school curriculum further and further toward one political perspective.
The problem is when lawmakers decide what cannot be taught, they are limiting our ability to understand the real world, especially the parts that are complicated or uncomfortable.
Censorship does not stop curiosity. If anything, it encourages misinformation.
Banning critical race theory does not mean that students will never face it. They will encounter these ideas online, in college or in the real world. Without a proper foundation in school, we risk misunderstanding them, or worse, only hearing one distorted version.
Shielding students from certain ideologies does not prevent them from discovering those ideas elsewhere. It just delays the moment they meet them, and robs them of the chance to approach them critically, in a classroom setting where context and guidance can be provided.
Repetition is not misinformation. It is reeducation. It is an invitation to revisit hard histories with fresh eyes and honest questions.
We are not better off ignoring complex issues. We are better off giving students the tools to explore them thoughtfully, and the space to come to their own conclusions.
A student who never encounters opposing viewpoints in school does not know how to engage with them outside of it or anything about the topic.
That is not education.
Presenting multiple viewpoints, even conflicting ones, does not indoctrinate anyone. It empowers students to think deeper, challenge assumptions and form opinions based on knowledge, not noise.
The answer is not to avoid complex topics, it is to teach them responsibility. That means exposing students to a range of viewpoints from different political ends of the spectrum, from capitalism to critical race theory, encouraging critical thinking and trusting teachers to lead those conversations with fairness and skill.
Here in Coppell, where we pride ourselves on having a large, diverse student body, our curriculum should be allowed to reflect that. We should be taught to explore different perspectives, not be told which ones are acceptable.
We do not need classrooms filled with political agendas. We need classrooms filled with questions that are real, messy and challenging.
That is how students grow. That is how empathy develops. That is how future voters, thinkers and leaders are built.
The more students are exposed to differing perspectives, the better we understand people who think, live and believe differently than we do. Exposure breeds tolerance. And tolerance is what makes a diverse and functioning educational environment.
In a world growing more diverse, more connected and more ideologically divided, we cannot afford classrooms that only echo one side.
Because the real danger isn’t that students will hear something controversial.
The real danger is that they will never hear it at all.
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