Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Anthony Franco | Middletown, RI
I teach a course that would be considered "illegal" if legislation is passed. I'll still teach this course if legislation is passed.
Parker Kershen | Canyon, TX
We must teach our children all aspects of our history, no matter how ugly. We are not teaching children to hate white people or the concept of being white. We are teaching them to be critical thinkers and learn from the mistakes of our past so we can have a more tolerant society. I refuse to bow to conservative fear-mongering.
AJ Craig-Salmon | Milwaukee, WI
We can not expect children to grow up to be responsible, critical thinkers, and leaders if we do not teach them their history honestly and openly. Beyond the truth of George Santayana’s famous quote about ignoring history, why would we ever want to teach our children that lying and hiding the truth and reality are not only appropriate behaviors, but are what we as a society value?
Nicole Weingart | Gainesville, FL
These laws and policies are restrictive to teachers and schools and discriminatory to people of color! This is racism and we cannot afford to have whole school systems lying to students about our country’s past, present, or future!
Robert Dice | New York, NY
Shanna Barkume | Columbia, MO
Hugh Janus | Saint Louis, MO
I am proud to be joining this elite group of teachers who will not distinguish between political theory and truth and will not be bothered with the niceties of logic or rational thought. Untie!
Mathea Morais | Vineyard Haven, MA
I will only teach the truth to children
Karen Halverson | Boulder, CO
They can handle the truth!
Sophie Teitelbaum | New Orleans, LA
teaching anything other than truth is perpetuating white supremacy.
Kathryn Ellison | Seattle, WA
I don't lie to children and lies of ommission are still lies.
Elissa Levy | New York, NY
Equity is everything.
Laurel Brooks | Charlotte, NC
I can’t believe it has come to this, teachers need to pledge we will speak truth to our students? But here we are. Of course I will, that is the default my students deserve.
Caden Sjogren | Eagle Lake, MN
My students deserve to learn the truth, as well as the skills to process and apply it so we can improve as a society.
Michael Coard | Philadelphia, PA
History is truth and truth is essential to students and everyone else.
Gargi Gangopadhyay | Oakland, CA
my students deserve to know the truth!
Kelly Yutesler | Alexandria, VA
I refuse to teach lies because they make some people happy.
Christopher Smith | Lubbock, TX
I will not be intimidated into lying about or falsifying history by bad-faith actors who seek to threaten me.
Ervanna Little Eagle | Marysville, WA
I believe in the truth
Julie Fanelli | Shelter Island, NY
Judith Pack | Red Bank, NJ
People living in a democracy should be informed. Children should learn the truth of their country’s history and not be told lies and fairy tales. Lee cannot be considered a beacon of fairness and light, an example for the world, unless our citizens know the truth and work to make the U.S. actually live up to its ideals.
Jenifer Bement | Grandville, MI
Teresa Tenorio | Las Cruces, NM
Stuart Greene | Granger, IN
Cindy Muralles | Madison, WI
We need to teach the real history of this country in order not to repeat the past…
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.