Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Megan Bryant | Midlothian, VA
Our students deserve the TRUTH!
Michelle Schardt | Portland, OR
There is a huge misinformation campaign against critical race theory. If we do not teach the institutional practices that have lead us to the inequitable circumstances in our country, we will perpetrate the injustices. Critical race theory explains why there are more Black men and women incarcerated, why Black, brown and indigenous students graduate from high school at much lower rates than their white peers. If we understand more, we can do better.
Mathew Oakes
Our students deserve a thorough, accurate, and critical education that doesn't shy away from difficult truths or bend to political pressure. As educators, we cannot abandon our professional duty to objectivity, free expression, and academic rigor.
Alice Trabaudo | Albuquerque, NM
Seth Billingsley | Baltimore, MD
Anoush Ekparian-Hadden | Fresno, CA
Christina Etherington | Gainesville, FL
When government dictates what should be taught in schools... education becomes a propagandist agenda. On that note, we might as well abandon topics like evolution and push fundamental religious beliefs.
Alex Kuschel
I know that our students deserve to hear a full account of our history, that they can handle it, that they appreciate it and the opportunity to form their own opinions, and because the only way for our country to live up to its ideals is to reckon with and learn from mistakes in our past.
Sue Sullivan | Northampton, MA
Students and community members are falling more and more into social media and faker news lies and distortions of realityu and history. It has not only caused great death vis a vis Covid but has put teachers in a precariousand difficult position within divided classrooms across the country. We need a strong push nation wide to reintroduce Civics eduation as well.
Kimberlee Carlson | Kenosha, WI
Drew Overholser | Jackson, WY
I am a history teacher, not a propagandist!
Susan Stover | Topsham, ME
Frederic Murray | Weatherford, OK
Memory laws distort the past and only promote a broken future. Our students deserve better...
Susan VanMeakins | Loveland, CO
I believe it is my duty to my students to teach them truth, even if difficult, so they can become informed citizens and feel empowered to improve their own destinies.
Heather-Lee Baron | Edinboro, PA
Gloria Allen | Stockton, CA
Mark Sidelnick | Asheville, NC
I will not be, nor do I want my education students (or their students) to be, intimidated by fear-mongering and the politicization of history.
James McDonald | New York, NY
I want my students to know the truth. I am not educating them to hate the United States, but to better understand and appreciate our nation and its ideals.
Chris Wiggins | Charlotte, NC
The past needs to be thoroughly examined. Each student should have a fair chance of learning history from a non-skewed perception. Our future is owed this.
Andrea Moore | Sacramento , CA
I teach truth
Holly Stoehr | Cambridge, MA
Teaching hard history is an antiracist act. Children's rights need to be respected, including their right to truth in their education. Sharing (in developmentally appropriate ways) the foundations on which our country's policies and laws rest will open to students the possibilities of being and creating a more equitable future both in the USA and globally.
Rob Bennett | Baltimore, MD
If we cannot encourage our students to understand the world around them and look at it from all angles and many perceptions, we lose as a society.
Michelle Tomaro | Cleveland, OH
The children of this country deserve to learn the real history that we have lived through for many years specifically built on the back of oppressed minorities.
Megan Biondi | Morristown, NJ
We must teach the truth about diverse individuals’ lived experiences.
Kimberly Thomas | Redmond, WA
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.