This episode tells the story of how three different Texas high school teachers have had to adjust their curricula and practice in the post SB3 classroom.
Written and produced by Morgan Begeley
Music by Jonathan Boyle
This episode tells the story of how three different Texas high school teachers have had to adjust their curricula and practice in the post SB3 classroom.
Written and produced by Morgan Begeley
Music by Jonathan Boyle
Welcome to another episode of The fallout. My name is Morgan Begley and I just finished my first year of college in San Antonio, Texas. Back in the summer of 2021, when I first heard about the anti CRT laws being passed in Texas, I was shocked that the state even had the ability to pass this legislation. How could they ban certain things from being taught or talked about in the classroom? I decided to make this the focus of my research because I thought all the different stories in the news about school districts banning books and taking drastic measures measures as a result of these laws was fascinating. I was interested in how teachers have changed how they go about their day to day life in the classroom. And so I set out to find the answers to my questions. I started out by talking to a teacher from North Dallas, I asked her to tell me how the passing of SB three has impacted how she conducts her class. Here's what she had to say, Oh, and by the way, the following voice recording has been modified to keep the identity of the interviewee anonymous,
North Dallas Teacher:I feel comfortable with meeting the expectations of my district. I am not worried that my district is (not) going to have my back.
Morgan:This was interesting, because later on in my research, I had multiple other teachers mentioned something about following the district curriculum or the TEKS TEKS, or the state standards for Texas public schools from K through 12 that dictate what goes in the curriculum. So that makes sense, right? It makes sense that following the TEKS should be safe because the state develops them. So in theory to follow the TEKS. And the district curriculum should mean that you shouldn't break any state laws in the process. Despite this, every teacher I talked to seem to have different stories about what their schools and districts are doing. As a whole, we see greater surveillance of teachers and curriculum by school leaders. The teacher from North Texas told me a story about how the administration had told an English team in high school that they were not allowed to teach a letter from Birmingham jail by Martin Luther King, Jr. I was shocked to hear this. I had read letter from Birmingham jail multiple times throughout my high school education. And I even remember reading it one time in middle school. It's a critical piece of writing that is arguably one of the most important documents from the Civil Rights era. I couldn't believe that they were banning the English team from teaching it. And neither had this teacher. She seemed a bit fired up and incredulous when telling me the rest of the story. Let's listen to what she has to say about it.
Unknown:And then there's a story this year in English class. I know that a team was told not to teach “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther king, Jr. Because, um, they didn't like how tween kind of term is responding to a group of Christian, well, religious officials in the city of Birmingham. And didn't like how that painted those religious officials and thought that he, his kind of putting a little bit of pressure and a little bit of pushback on the religious officials of Birmingham. They didn't like that idea that, that, that King might be kind of questioning what the religious officials were doing and kind of not kind of making them look bad, which I, you know, it's like, I, you know, that's history. Like if you can find the newspaper in which this letter from these religious officials were written to Dr. King it's, it's history, and you know what? We don't like a lot. There's a lot of history we don't like, but just to not look at it, because we don't like it, that's how really bad things happen
Morgan:I'd like to tell you guys about another story we got from an English teacher from San Antonio about how she has had to adjust her day to day life in the classroom. Here's what she had to say.
Unknown:We have to provide permission slips for students to read if we give them choice books. So for example, at the advanced freshman level, we're reading nights as a whole class. But we chose five titles and had to send home permission slips so that parents could acknowledge what book their students chose, and that they had permission to read it. And that is something that I just feel I have never had to do really 10 years ago, never had to do that. I could pick any books I wanted. And it was never a problem because kids were reading. But now it's you know, we can't just get kids to read anymore. Now it's what's going to make them uncomfortable. And, you know, what are some things that we don't want kids exposed to through literature, and it's, it's made it difficult to choose readings, I will say at the freshman level.
Morgan:Despite these rather drastic responses to the law, I found that it's not implemented in the same way everywhere. I had the chance to talk to somebody Leaders in San Antonio, who said that they haven't heard much from their district leaders. One San Antonio high school teacher said that she hasn't heard anything on campus. Quote, our principal hasn't said anything, there hasn't been any PD, there hasn't been any kind of mention of it at all. Unquote. These teachers had an interesting insight on this issue, seeming to think that the differences in responses by their districts are related to the demographics of their families, listen to the what the San Antonio teacher has to say about it.
Unknown:I think with you know, certain districts, they can be a little bit more. Because like, for example, like I work at the population there is, you know, predominantly, like Hispanic, so minorities, so I think the issues that, that maybe I talk about that are more specific to that community to go over well, MB received well over their while, and maybe if I had that same conversation, and like say, S, which is a predominantly white school, I think that that's a little bit more testy because there's a little bit more communication with, with family there.
Morgan:What's important when looking at all of these examples of what different districts are doing in response to the law, I see that a lot is not have to be enforced to have a big impact. Legally, there's nothing against eating letter from Birmingham jail or saying that permission slips need to be sent home for choice reading books. These districts and leaders have subscribed to the fear that the law was designed to instill in them. This has led to self censorship and regulation of conversations where it's not necessarily needed. Looking back at the conversations I had with different teachers, I found that some teachers are sitting back and trying to keep a low profile to let this pass, while others are taking on a social justice warrior role. And still others are just trying to maintain their status quo and not change anything in the classroom. One high school teacher said, quote, I'm trying to be realistic about where we are, and so I'm not going to push the envelope, unquote. She said that she has made that choice to edit some of her lessons and reading books. But it's sad that her students will not be getting the same experience they might have had before the bill. I know that one of the readings that she chose to take down was between the wild and mean by Tana, he see Coates, I actually read this book in high school. And remember, it being one of the first experiences I had with the text that truly made me think about what race is and how it can impact those who were in Schools for years after they've left the education system. I had great dialogue with my peers after reading this book, and truly enjoyed the experience of having it in my curriculum. So it makes me sad knowing that these students will not be having that same experience. One teacher said that it's slowing her down, but not stopping her. Listen to a little bit more about what she has to say about it.
Unknown:I know how to work within a system that oppresses me, I know how to work within a system that already puts all of these limitations. But just because you make it harder for me doesn't mean it's going to stop, I might slow down because I'm tired. But I think people shouldn't underestimate teachers, I know how to take that language and still work well within my rights. So just because I can't teach CRT doesn't mean I can't offer it as a choice. I offered it as a choice to my seniors, there was the world and nobody came to come for my certificate. And it was the student inquiry it was student led, because that's what you do. That's how you foster inquiry, right? So for me, it's slowing me down. But it's not stopping me. It just means I have to be more creative. And I have to be more intentional about the way that I frame certain things. So that students can still access these conversations, but they just might have to do it in a way that's not as abrupt or clear in terms of race.
Morgan:And to close those out, I like to tell you what one high school teacher told me, I'm just gonna keep doing what I'm doing regardless, but that's just my personality. As we've seen, there been a lot of different responses by teachers and school leaders to anti CRT laws and movements. I think the most important thing that we can pull from this is how the chilling effect of this law has made it so that it does not even need to be enforced by the state. It has morphed in shaped itself into a self enforcing law, accomplishing the task of creating fear in teachers and leaders. So much so that the actions we've seen have gone far beyond that required of the law. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of The fallout. We hope to see you next time