Signatures
This is the list of people who have signed the pledge or petition to date.
Shaylee Picow | Greece Town of, NY
I refuse to teach anything but the truth, and when I become a teacher I want to ensure all my future students know the truth.
Gabrielle Barcomb | Webster, NY
I want my students to know about where they came from and to not feel like they have to fear that due to the lack of silence in the education system.
Laura M. | Atlanta, GA
This is one of the strategies that certain Republicans are using in their march to destroy public school education. They want parents to get all riled up so that they will support vouchers and send their children to private school. Children of color and of lower social economic status will continue to suffer in a much more poorly funded public school system. This is also how you lose teachers, their jobs are difficult enough, and many are leaving because of the strains from teaching during COVID-19. No one will want to become a public school educator.Students need to be taught how to be critical thinkers. They deserve to hear the truth from their educators and parents so that they can form their own opinions. Hiding the truth because you don't want a child to feel bad or guilty does not help a child handle conflict or build resilience. When they find out about the truth, they feel betrayed. They also have to learn how to channel the sorrows of our past and current truths, so that they can make a better future. This is also how fascism starts. Read Madeline Albright's, FASCISM A WARNING, and you will see how our former administration has used the same techniques of Hitler and Mussolini to bring derision to our democracy. Children need to learn the truth, so the horrors of the past are not repeated.Our country's history is full of pain and suffering. Our country was built on a system that nearly annihilated the Native Americans and used free labor in the form of slavery to build our nations economy. The system was rigged then and continues to be rigged. It is time for us to come clean and speak the truth if we ever are going to make this country a better place for everyone. This is a crucial time in the history of our planet. Besides the rise and scourge of authoritarianism, we also need to focus our attention on the effects of climate change. Our children and their futures deserve better from us.
Joan Cameron | Northampton, MA
Blair Okey | Minneapolis, MN
I believe in telling the whole truth.
Jenna Arnold | Gresham, OR
All peoples’ histories deserve and demand to be told. Truth is essential to understanding.
Joe Query | Winthrop, WA
Richard Gozinya | Verona, NJ
I am passionate about teaching Critical Race Theory and encouraging my students to think for themselves.
German Rios | Sacramento, CA
I am standing on the side of justice.
Layla Helwa | Philadelphia, PA
We must teach the truth so we do not perpetuate the wrongs of the past.
Alejandra Vazquez Baur | New York, NY
Paige Rausch | Salt Lake City, UT
Eve Levy | Swampscott, MA
Joseph Douillette | Swampscott, MA
As a teacher I am committed to educating my students about the truth, about facts, and about how power can manipulate information and people. Legislation that aims to hide how our country was founded in part on oppression is a living example of this manipulation.
Chris Norkun | Swampscott, MA
Leslie Gleaves | Springville, UT
Al Terrill | Columbia, MO
Stop being afraid of the truth, parents. Our children must be taught the truth, verses being lied to for the past 500 years.
Kristina Graves | Decatur, GA
The Georgia legislature is trying to silence history teachers and destroy history education. I refuse to be silenced and will continue to teach real history not propaganda created by lawmakers. Our students deserve the truth!
Janet HUTCHINS | Hamden, CT
I have been and still are concerned about inequality in our schools and have written opinion pieces published in our local papers.
elisa cohen | Silver Spring, MD
Natalie Perez | Lincoln, NE
As a future educator, I don't think this is just at all. I want to continue to help change the world on my journey to become an educator, though this won't affect my state I can't believe the possibility of this being acceptable ANYWHERE. We will not be silenced! As a future teacher of color our future generations deserve the truth.
Amy Silverman | Pompano Beach, FL
My students deserve the right to learn about and discuss the ugly truth about history.
Margaret Gillikin | Rock Hill, SC
I care about teaching the truth about American history, not to tear down the nation but to build it stronger. Our history has to reflect the experiences of all people, not just the wealthy white ones.
Lynn McCarville | Rockledge, FL
Helen York | Ellsworth, ME
We, as a society, need to know our weaknesses as well as our strengths, our failures as well as our successes. It is only then that we can strive to correct our future behavior You can't get better if you think you are already perfect.
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.