Et Tu, Ohio

Don’t Say Gay

The big headlines aren’t from Ohio.  Florida is passing legislation to ban teachers from talking about sexual orientation issues to students, particularly primary grade kids.  That might seem like it makes sense – primary grade kids aren’t usually sexually aware, even in this digital age.  But it’s an insidious way of “teaching” little kids “right and wrong, good and bad”.  Little Bobby can talk all he wants about Mommy and Daddy with the teacher, but Johnny can’t talk about his two Mommies, or Jenny about her two Daddies.  

Kids are intensely aware of what the adults in their lives say, and don’t say.  The fact that one of the most influential adults in their lives, the teacher, will talk with kids whose parents are two genders, but not kids with parents of one, won’t “get by” them.  And if teacher won’t talk about it, then there must be something wrong, bad, about it.  The silence will deliver the message.

The opposition to the bill calls it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and that’s what teachers may be forced to do.  Much like the Texas anti-abortion legislation, the “Don’t Say Gay” bill doesn’t create criminal penalties.  But it invites parents to file lawsuits against teachers who “violate” the law.  A teacher who does discuss Johnny’s two Mommies could be sued by any parent in the class.  The law makes that teacher liable for damages.

Texas History

Texas has already passed a law costing over $14 million a year, to “train” teachers how to discuss “controversial” issues – making sure that they present “all sides” of such “controversies” as the Holocaust, the Civil Rights Movement, or even slavery.  And if a teacher is “uncomfortable”, then by law, “…(the) teacher may not be compelled to discuss a widely debated and currently controversial issue of public policy or social affairs (Texas Trib)”. 

 Looks like no more history discussions in Texas.

You might think that Ohio is “above” this wave of crazy restrictive legislation.  After all, Ohio has a fully Republican legislature, state executive and judicial branch, yet the Supreme Court is ruling against the Republican gerrymandering plans – multiple times.   And while Ohio does have an anti-abortion bill “on tap” should the US Supreme Court overrule Roe v Wade and Casey, the state legislature hasn’t gone “wild” like Texas or Missouri and tried to double jump the current Roe holding and ban abortion.

HB 327

Ohio House Bill Number 327 is twenty-one pages long.  Most of the bill deals with the recognition of private charter schools and state education funding, an issue which drives public school advocates crazy.  But that’s not what the “controversy” of HB 327 is about.  It’s in the first four pages.

The short title is:  “A Bill to amend…the Revised Code to prohibit school districts, community schools, STEM schools and state agencies from teaching, advocating, or promoting divisive concepts”. 

What’s a divisive concept, here in the Buckeye state?

Divisive Concept Definitions

• That one group is inherently superior to another*
• That the US is fundamentally racist or sexist
• That one person, by belonging to a group, is consciously or unconsciously racist*
• An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of their group*
• Members of one group cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to their group*
• An individual’s moral character is determined by their group membership*
• An individual, by virtue of their group, is responsible for actions committed in the past by other members of their group*
• That meritocracy or a hard work ethic are racist or sexist or created by one group to oppress another group*
• Any form of race or sex stereotyping or any other form of race or sex scapegoating

• *group means “nationality, color, ethnicity, race or sex.

And if a school district teaches one of these “divisive” concepts?  Then the Department of Education will withhold part of their state funding until they stop.

In the Classroom

I was a Social Studies teacher, living and working in a suburban school district.  Our district was largely white, middle class, and Christian.  As an eighth grade history teacher – I taught about enslavement, the Holocaust, women’s suffrage, the civil rights movement, and the equal rights movement.   All of those are “divisive” issues.  Can today’s teacher still teach them?

Well – sort of.  

It’s OK (section D of the bill says so) to discuss “divisive” concepts in an objective manner “without endorsement”.  And it’s OK to have an “impartial” discussion of controversial aspects of history.  And finally, it’s OK to give “impartial” instruction of historical oppression of a particular “group”. 

Oh, and it’s all right to talk about national motto, national anthem, the Ohio Constitution, the US Constitution, the Revised Code, Federal Law, and US Supreme Court decisions.  Those are the ones listed – I wonder how much trouble the Emancipation Proclamation might create?

How Impartial

So when I taught about the Three Fifth’s Compromise in the Constitution, would I need to be “impartial” about the fact it counted slaves as a fraction of a person for the purpose of how many seats in Congress a state received, but not for voting?  Am I supposed to take James Madison avowed view; that recognizing them as a fraction was better than not recognizing enslaved people as humans at all?  Is that “impartial” enough?

Impartiality is in the eye of the beholder.  That first year of eighth grade history, I had a Holocaust denier in class.  I soon realized that most of my students only had a vague understanding of what the Holocaust was, (or American enslavement, or the Indian removal).  So I took some extra class time to give them more than just a casual understanding of those events. I wanted them to understand that while there’s lots of good in the world, there’s lots of evil as well.  

Was I being impartial while teaching historic inhumanity?   Oh Hell no.

More Perfect

 The United States was founded by flawed men.  Many of them didn’t recognize an entire race as being completely human.  The Declaration’s “…all men are created equal” was a very limited concept (and it’s not on the list anyway).  And they didn’t believe women were “equal” either. I believe in American Exceptionalism – but America is a nation flawed from its inception.  What makes America exceptional is its growth, overcoming the flaws that were there in the beginning, and some that are still here today.  As Madison himself wrote:  “We the People of the United States, in order to form a MORE perfect union…”.  

It is in the act of becoming “More Perfect” that America is exceptional.   But that’s probably “divisive” – and shouldn’t be taught.  

It Doesn’t Have to Pass

HB 327 isn’t a law – yet.  And the language is so convoluted that it’s hard to see how it will be enforced.  But that’s not really the point, is it.  HB 327 up for debate and vote for two reasons.  First, it fits in with the current political “trend”, erroneously called Critical Race Theory.  One political party has found this “wedge” issue to drive their voters to the polls – and this legislation is all of that.  

And second, whether 327 becomes law or not, it is part of the larger message to teachers and students:  don’t question the “standard” lesson, don’t challenge students to think “outside the box”.  It might be divisive, make students uncomfortable, and it might cost the teachers their jobs.  A vocal minority wish to silence teachers.  They want to go back to the history books of the 1950’s, when the Civil War was a dispute over states’ rights, not slavery, and all of the heroes were white men. (If you don’t know – the Civil War was all about slavery). 

HB 327 pretends that the US is already Perfect.  And that’s the first mistake.