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Dear Editor:
The Jan. 9 headline “Indiana Lawmakers debate how to teach race in schools” stirred the pot of support and complaints of many, especially after a year of contentious school board meetings where parents tried to explain to the boards their displeasure of CRT, SEL and DEI inclusions in the curriculum.
Senate Bill 167 laid out a plan of what teachers could not teach about race and racism. Scott Baldwin, who authored Senate Bill 167, exclaimed that teaching about fascism and Nazism should be neutral. Several definitions of neutral are objective, non-subjective, and impersonal. I don’t see a problem of teaching to the facts such as Representative Cook stated, who is authoring House Bill 1134.
Columnist writer Isaac Taylor said his male ancestors who fought in WWII, “didn’t fight for the preservation of American freedom in World War II so a misguided state senator could say we need to be ‘impartial’ about teaching Nazism, Marxism and fascism.” I truly believe Senator Baldwin was not saying to be impartial about teaching about the three “isms.” He most likely meant to be objective when teaching about the two “isms” that came to the forefront, and he has the protection of the First Amendment which Taylor’s ancestors fought for.
State Senator J.D. Ford said, “Senate Bill 167 seems to be a solution looking for a problem.” There is a problem, and it is teaching social issues not contributing to the well-being of our students such as CRT, SEL and DEI. These theories cause discrimination and division, and with the lockdowns, parents were surprised to see what was on the curriculum at their child’s school. Therefore, we had school board meetings that were disruptive with unhappy parents not allowed to express their concerns by school board members who would not allow for any discussions on the above-mentioned topics.
And as writer Susan Steele said, “Parents are able to run for school board or attend their meetings to make their voices heard.” Susan is partially correct, there will be an influx of parents running for school boards but those who did attend or try to were not allowed to make their voices heard which was present at Carmel.
Going back to when I was in high school when we studied WWII, I do recall the illustrations of where the battles were fought in Europe, the names of the Generals and how the US helped win the war against Germany and Japan. I associated fascism with Italy and Nazism with Germany.
But within the past five years we have become familiar with the name-calling words of fascist, Nazi and most currently Marxism, which the “someones” are wanting to force upon American citizens. This all ties in together and Senate Bill 167 was trying to bring back the power to the American people.
George Hodgson of Noblesville hit the nail on the head in his letter: “November is critically important! Parents, get involved and know who you are voting for!” We all must do this.
Mari Briggs
Sheridan