It should be fine, just don’t talk about it or try to preach it to the kids.
CRT and “Marxist” teaching are on a lot of ppl’s radars these days.
But also in general I don’t think anyone should really be revealing their power level to anyone they work with unless it’s for office unionizing or recruiting for outside of work activism. Sometimes new communists are really excited to evangelize but it’s important to know how to keep certain communities separate
I agree with that. I don't have a problem talking about it when asked, but I don't bring it up really. I also work with chuds so it wouldn't be great lol
My teacher (it was AP US History for context) pointed us toward Zinn as a complementary textbook to what we were assigned, and if we was asked more pointed questions in class he would respond something like "I have opinions.... on things... come see me outside of class and we can talk more about it" and move on. He was fairly well liked so there was a reasonable chance someone would actually want to come back around to the topic later so keep that in mind.
Anyway, seemed like a reasonable way to handle it, keep it borderline acceptable in class, but be willing to chat outside of class where parents would have less leverage to bitch about whatever you say (though there are still boundaries).
eh i think it can be done, considering that text books have been omitting slavery, genocide against natives, queer history and more for a century, i think history has a way for teachers to hide their powerlevel/ kinda requires marginalized or allied teachers to, especisally now // there's also core curriculums, common pre approved lesson plans, teaching theory that all acredited teachers have to learn, statewide and federal tests that test on a common subject that teachers have to use, so its not really like they have the chance to put in their own unique input anyway. new teachers are also subject to intense shadowing or co-teaching roles that also add a layer of oversight ---think about when your teacher begged your class to be good in 2nd grade because the principle was "sitting in". there's also tenure.
my mom is a black woman who has had to hide her "powerlevel" aka "black people deserve rights" when teaching little white kids. many marg teachers do the same daily, especially in conservative areas. some marg teachers are even hiding their own identities (being queer/ trans) while theyre doing this
It's not that it can't be done, but it's harder. The cognitive dissonance of misrepresenting the past to teach to a test or to teach to sensitivities of white bougie parents can be psychologically damaging to the teacher.
This hiding of power level by teaching to a core curriculum, isn't much different than the customer service representative of a bank. The rep can say "I'm just stating the bank's policy" or "I'm just informing the caller of their options". But that doesn't change the fact that financially distressed people are calling them about unjust banking practices. The rep is doing what they have to to make a living, but it still is damaging to them.
This is an issue less likely to come up when teaching STEM subjects.
It should be fine, just don’t talk about it or try to preach it to the kids.
CRT and “Marxist” teaching are on a lot of ppl’s radars these days.
But also in general I don’t think anyone should really be revealing their power level to anyone they work with unless it’s for office unionizing or recruiting for outside of work activism. Sometimes new communists are really excited to evangelize but it’s important to know how to keep certain communities separate
I agree with that. I don't have a problem talking about it when asked, but I don't bring it up really. I also work with chuds so it wouldn't be great lol
It's easy not to evangelize if teaching math or chemistry, but if the subject is history, civics etc I don't see how to keep it neatly separated
My teacher (it was AP US History for context) pointed us toward Zinn as a complementary textbook to what we were assigned, and if we was asked more pointed questions in class he would respond something like "I have opinions.... on things... come see me outside of class and we can talk more about it" and move on. He was fairly well liked so there was a reasonable chance someone would actually want to come back around to the topic later so keep that in mind.
Anyway, seemed like a reasonable way to handle it, keep it borderline acceptable in class, but be willing to chat outside of class where parents would have less leverage to bitch about whatever you say (though there are still boundaries).
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eh i think it can be done, considering that text books have been omitting slavery, genocide against natives, queer history and more for a century, i think history has a way for teachers to hide their powerlevel/ kinda requires marginalized or allied teachers to, especisally now // there's also core curriculums, common pre approved lesson plans, teaching theory that all acredited teachers have to learn, statewide and federal tests that test on a common subject that teachers have to use, so its not really like they have the chance to put in their own unique input anyway. new teachers are also subject to intense shadowing or co-teaching roles that also add a layer of oversight ---think about when your teacher begged your class to be good in 2nd grade because the principle was "sitting in". there's also tenure.
my mom is a black woman who has had to hide her "powerlevel" aka "black people deserve rights" when teaching little white kids. many marg teachers do the same daily, especially in conservative areas. some marg teachers are even hiding their own identities (being queer/ trans) while theyre doing this
It's not that it can't be done, but it's harder. The cognitive dissonance of misrepresenting the past to teach to a test or to teach to sensitivities of white bougie parents can be psychologically damaging to the teacher.
This hiding of power level by teaching to a core curriculum, isn't much different than the customer service representative of a bank. The rep can say "I'm just stating the bank's policy" or "I'm just informing the caller of their options". But that doesn't change the fact that financially distressed people are calling them about unjust banking practices. The rep is doing what they have to to make a living, but it still is damaging to them.
This is an issue less likely to come up when teaching STEM subjects.
yes, its definitely damaging! and it's definitely harder with non STEM stuff.