NC teacher: Students are not being ‘indoctrinated’ on topics of race

Teaching CRT

Let’s be clear about what is and is not going on in N.C. schools. As a teacher, I see it daily.

Students are not being “indoctrinated” in Critical Race Theory in the way Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and Sen. Phil Berger describe. What’s happening is that teachers are discussing racial literacy. Discussing is different from indoctrinating.

As Princeton University’s Dr. Ruha Benjamin puts it, “Racial literacy is not about acquiring the words to ‘have a conversation on race...’ Racial literacy is developing a historical and sociological tool kit to understand how we got here and how it could have been/can be otherwise.”

We hope kids increase their consciousness toward race. We hope they understand the systemic and consistent ways that racism operates and is perpetuated. If anyone has a problem with those two aims, well, let’s just say that the problem isn’t CRT.

Kelly Morris Roberts, Raleigh

GOP, NC schools

The N.C. House and Senate budgets reveal the Republican majority’s relentless drive to defund public education and divert taxpayer’s money for more vouchers. They continue to expand for-profit charter schools using our tax dollars while producing results that, on average, are no better than public schools.

In what can only be described as deliberate ideological scorn for the UNC System (especially for UNC-Chapel Hill), the legislature is appointing people and advocating policies that are disassembling the “goose that laid the golden egg” for our state. It’s shoving the UNC System toward bureaucratic submission and mediocrity.

Defunded public schools and mediocre public universities are not what North Carolinians want for their children and grandchildren. They want schools staffed by well-educated, well-paid teachers and principals. They want affordable, nationally respected public universities and accessible well-funded community colleges. Taxpayers must speak up!

Charles Coble, Chapel Hill

Mask refusal

The Johnston County teacher who refused to wear a mask says that “it is not the job of government agencies to dictate when and where it is appropriate to utilize the rights afforded to me by being a citizen of the U.S.”

Really? Does she stop at red lights? Wear seat belts on a plane or in a car? Refuse to pay sales tax?

In a democracy, it is exactly the job of a democratically elected government and all its agencies to regulate those rights for the safety and benefit of all. This is especially true if willful exercise of those rights will harm others.

Masks are primarily used to protect others from you spreading the virus. She teaches school children, an age group that is increasingly turning up in hospitals across the country suffering from COVID-19. If she hit a child, she would be dismissed. But she has the right to endanger that same child with her refusal to wear a mask? I don’t think so!

Simon Chadwick, Raleigh

Biden’s dilemma

Some Congressional Democrats are calling for an investigation into the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Any investigation will confirm the obvious: We badly misjudged the speed of the Taliban offensive and the previous administration dragged its feet in getting loyal Afghans out.

All of this overlooks a larger truth: Wars are messy things to conduct and to end.

Wars are seldom begun or ended as we had expected. I’m not defending the way the Biden administration handled this disaster. The lesson is: Don’t go to war if you don’t want to hurt many of your own and many other innocent people.

James Leutze, Wilmington

Chancellor Emeritus UNCW, former UNC-CH history professor

Guantanamo

North Carolina Congressman David Price deserves heartfelt thanks for his leadership in the effort to close the infamous Guantanamo detention facility. Aided by Reps. Adam Schiff and Ilhan Omar, Price obtained signatures of 72 other members of Congress on a letter to President Biden urging him to close the facility.

As the letter says, “...the prison costs over $500 million per year to operate, at a staggering annual cost of $13 million per prisoner, over 350 times the cost of incarcerating a prisoner at a maximum-security facility in the United States.” The betrayal of our country’s fundamental values and the damage to our international reputation are even more significant.

Alma Adams was the only other N.C. representative to sign. She, too, deserves a thank you.

Lyle Adley-Warrick, Raleigh

A progressive city?

Raleigh is supposedly a progressive place to live, but have you tried to renew a driver’s license lately? Forget trying to call. Being placed on hold for hours is quite frankly insulting. NC DMV is antiquated. Even applying online, there could be better options.

Raleigh is also a beautiful city, but a rail system is much needed, especially from Chapel Hill and Durham. Yet, it seems we are dragging our feet.

Yes, we’ve had bad times (COVID), but we’ve seen bad times before. Let’s get moving again. Common sense isn’t learned from a book. Why not use some of it to help make North Carolina and Raleigh the progressive place it deserves to be.

Amie Hunt, Raleigh

This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 1:51 PM with the headline "NC teacher: Students are not being ‘indoctrinated’ on topics of race."