Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Meghan Jordan | Denver, CO
My students have the power to change the world; it is my job to help them construct their own understanding of the forces that shape that world. I will guide them in answering their own questions based on critical inquiry and research, and I will never stand between them and full understanding.
Katie Burrows | Bloomingdale, IL
All of my students deserve to have the full truths of their stories and histories told, and all of my students deserve the power to wield their voices against injustice locally, nationally, and globally.
Rebecca Rutzick | Toledo, WA
Kelly Latimer | TACOMA, WA, WA
Maisha Fisher | East Orange, NJ
I stand with every educator being muzzled by fear.
Anna S | Tacoma, WA
<3
Susan Eisman | Portland, OR
I care deeply about justice. There is no way our country can move forward w/o acknowledging the various oppressions that are firmly rooted in our country’s past and present.
Melanie Harrington | Breaux Bridge, LA
truth and facts matter and only truthful, factual information should be used to teach.
Susan Butterfield | Pemberton, NJ
To grow our democracy, we must study the actual events of the past--even the ones that are painful to acknowledge. Our society can and must do better in treating ALL its members as equal participants.
Kate Linneman | Richmond, CA
Valerie Wald | New York, NY
my students deserve to know that although all humans are created equal, societies develop systems that do not treat all humans equally, and that one of their roles in history is to work to improve those systems.
Nate Loman | Fairlawn, OH
SHANNAN JOHNSON | Windsor, CA
Samantha Minatti | Philadelphia, PA
Elsa Auerbach | Jamaica Plain, MA
Glenda Golter | West Linn, OR
Maria Timmons Flores | Bellingham, WA
As a society, we will never live up to the ideals of a democracy with equity and justice unless we teach the truth of our history, help students to wrestle with multiple perspectives, to think critically, understand and address systemic injustices, and act to the benefit of themselves and their communities.
Martha Garner | Lafayette, LA
We have lied to the children of America for too long, burying and distorting historical facts. We can never reckon with our past without facing the truth.
Kathleen Gutierrez | Portland, OR
Children deserve to know the truth.
Leah Graniela-Loving | Oakland, CA
Our youth have the right to know how the present was shaped by the past, and access to an education that tells them the truth of their ancestors and their power so they can use it to make the world a more just and equitable place!
Debbie Panton | Bend, OR
I am signing my name because teachers have a fundamental responsibility to deal with facts. It is immoral, unethical, and criminal to mandate teachers lie, deceive or omit the facts of our being. I believe in the dream of the United States of America. Our countries founding documents have become the global dream. State dictated education sounds like something one would expect from the Mao regime. One cannot profess to love their country and not accept the truth of it.
Michelle Novelli | Flagstaff, AZ
My students (future educators) deserve to learn how to teach their future students in a way that will truthfully and honestly address the historical and current inequities in our country, and honor the lives and contributions of all people.
Karen Robinson | Huntington Beach, CA
I care
Brenda Hunter | Los Angeles, CA
It is imperative that as a responsible collective, we not veil the truth of our history in one perspective. Our students and future students must be allowed to know and understand the roots of our democracy and its impact on the history of its peoples.
Regan Galvan | Inglewood, CA
Selected Pledges
Click on pledge below to read many more.
As an educator who is serious about teaching the truth I will not be bullied into silence. I will do my part in the fight for equity and equality by making sure my students are most equipped to fight this ugliness in the real world.
Yes, the truth of American history needs to be taught, but also its impact on the rest of the world, such as its role in WWII. I just finished teaching a college-level course on the Holocaust, and could not believe how little the students knew about the rest of the world’s participation in the war! They seemed to believe that WWII was ended by the US alone!
“When you begin to do things that raise the achievement of the poorest and disenfranchised students, you may not always get applause. You need to be ready for that.” Dr. Asa Hilliard
“Resistance is a powerful motivator precisely because it enables us to fulfill our longing to achieve our goals while letting us boldly recognize and name the obstacles to those achievements.”
Dr. Derrick Bell
Our young people deserve the truth and it is our kuleana (responsibility) to give space and opportunity for the truth and the difficult conversations.
If we don’t teach it all, we teach nothing…
Social justice is a major theme of my Humanities 7 course, and my school uses Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s HILL framework (development of identity, skills, knowledge, Criticality) to frame our entire curriculum. Student agency through research work and essay writing, and action-oriented civic engagement work, define what we “cover” in my course.