No new Reno teachers signed the Zinn Education Project pledge to “refuse to lie,” as of Sept. 30.
The pledge was signed by 10 teachers from Reno prior to Sept.30, Reno Reporter reported Oct. 1.
Educators that sign the pledge vow to “refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events,” according the project’s website, even as at least 27 states are trying to pass legislation regulating what is taught in schools about race.
It is against the law in Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas to discuss in classrooms the inherently racist nature of American society. So, signing this pledge means defying these state bans, according to Reno Reporter’s Oct. 1 story.
States like South Dakota and Montana have not passed any specific legislation related to the critical race theory and yet have denounced its teaching, The Brooking Institute reported.
“What is often misunderstood, confused or misinterpreted is that critical race theory is inclusivity or inclusive education — it is not,” the College of Education and Human Development tweeted quoting an opinion article in the Reno Gazette Journal.
Critical race theory is an academic concept whose essence is that race is socially constructed and that racism goes beyond personal prejudice and systemically pervades the legal system and its rulings, according to an Education Week explainer.
The Zinn Education Project has collected 7,504 signatures as of Oct. 11.
