In other words, teachers should stick to teaching facts, so we can "Keep politics out of the classroom." Maybe that sounds good, but note that this was in Louisiana. What constitutes "personal opinion" has changed over time, as has "what is generally accepted by the historians in the area."
When State Rep. Ray Garofalo (R) was pressed for an example, he began with “If you’re teaching -- if you’re having a discussion on -- whatever the case may be, on slavery, and you can talk about everything dealing with slavery. The good, the bad, the ugly, the whole…”
At which point, fellow Republican Stephanie Hilferty interrupted, “There’s no good to slavery, though." [Source]
And therein lies the problem. Generally accepted "facts" from the 1920s about racial superiority are not facts today. And what was once a divisive, leftist concept in the 1850s -- that slavery is bad -- is now canon: there's no good to slavery. Louisiana's HB 564 -- sponsored by Garofalo -- seeks to “Prohibit discussion of divisive concepts as part of a larger course of academic instruction. " He wants to ban the instruction of information that "teaches, advocates, acts upon or promotes divisive concepts." But in pursuing fact-based education, he himself is ignoring the fact that acceptable perceptions have changed over time.
We pride ourselves in the advance of rights and liberty to ever-wider parts of our society over time, and we state that past actions toward inclusivity have been a good thing. Yet conservatives like Garofalo continue to decry liberals for wanting to continue those advances. Fearing change, he would freeze discussion to what is acceptable only in the present.
To think we have already reached the pinnacle of perfection and that further change can only be a decline is arrogance. It's not a principle for a sound education.
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