Today, I received an email:
My first thought was WTH?!?! Yep! I said it..in my head. As a twenty-year veteran educator, never before had I ever been questioned on the "insensitivity" of any lesson I have conducted in my classroom. If anything, I have worked hard to incorporate empathy into many of my lessons. My goal as an educator is not just presenting information to the students but making them think critically about issues presented, even when those issues may be difficult. This email was a clear slap to my face.
For over seven years, I have posted my lessons on Teachers Pay Teachers website, a website where teachers can sell their lessons. This particular lesson has been listed since the creation of my account. I have had high reviews for this lesson. So, what was removed? A lesson on U.S. foreign policy and the Rwandan Genocide. In this lesson, the students are given background events leading up to the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. They are asked to analyze if the U.S. should send troops to this region. After listing reasons why the U.S. should send troops and why the U.S. should not send troops, the students then make a decision, supporting their decision. Once all students complete the worksheet, we then discuss the different perspectives. It opens up the minds of all students, giving each student a chance to share a perspective on foreign policy dilemmas. Some students, after hearing from different perspectives, change their decision. Isn’t this what we should be training our children to do? By the way, these are seniors I am teaching...The second part of the lesson is an eyewitness account from the U.N. Lt. General who was there on a "peacekeeping" mission and who tried to warn the world leaders that something bad was going to happen. Sometimes, I show the students actual declassified documents of the various debate points (by Secretary of State and others) who refused to deem this atrocity as a genocide for the fact that under the Geneva Accord, they would be held liable to get involved (and this is just after the Black Hawk Down incident in 1993 which shaped Clinton's foreign policy). I am not presenting this information to persuade them to make a particular choice but to show them "more of the story." So, saying all that, this is an activity to get students to think about complex issues and how decisions, at the top level, are not easily made because every choice has a cost. By listening to different perspectives, the students also realize that each choice is valued differently by each individual, which makes them realize the complexity of foreign policy decisions in Congress and by the President. This was the lesson that was removed for apparently violating TPT's new policy.
I decided to search more concerning TPT (Teachers Pay Teachers) policy. Apparently, just this past year, they revised their policy to remove any content that may be seen as “inappropriate.” In August 2020, Slate posted an article about the problems of “racism” in teacher lesson plans on the TPT website. Although there can be some legit concerns over some of the lessons and activities that teachers use in the classroom (like simulating a slave market...who, in their right mind, would think that is ok!??!?!), I do have concerns about what they deem as “harmful.” Consider the following quote from the article:
“Worse were some lessons that had students take on the perspectives of imperialists and government officials to make simulated decisions affecting marginalized populations, like the triangular trade activity. These activities can be seen as examples of curriculum violence, a concept that describes lessons that damage students intellectually or emotionally, even if teachers implement such curricula unintentionally.”
The authors go on to state, “When reached for comment about our findings, TPT responded: ‘We remain unequivocal in our position on racist or offensive material: it is not tolerated on TPT. We take this very seriously, and as soon as we identify any resources that violate our Inappropriate Content Policy, we promptly remove them.’” So... flash forward to today...my lesson about the complexities of the Rwandan Genocide and the U.S. foreign policy stance during this time is now deemed “inappropriate” because it “trivializes traumatic experiences.” They make it seem that my lesson is “racist” and “offensive.” To whom? If anything, it is giving a voice to the 800,000 individuals who were slaughtered beginning in April 1994. Sadly, many students do not know about this genocide, and according to TPT, they shouldn’t be presented with this information. So according to their standards, teachers can no longer make students assume the viewpoint of someone when analyzing a situation? Who knows! I did email but doubt I hear back. What I do know, though, is the aspect of censorship and cultural sensitivity has gone awry in our society today! No longer are we living in the time when SCOTUS ruled, in 1987, that a school could censor the school newspaper (Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier). We are now living in times when Laura Ingalls Wilder’s name is stripped from a major children’s literature award due to “insensitive” nature towards Native Americans. Guess what? The treatment of Native Americans (and blacks and Japanese and others) may be an ugly mark on U.S. History but it is part of our history that cannot be forgotten. Yes, teachers should be sensitive and not do stupid role plays or simulations (there has to be a level of common sense); however, when teachers are now made to feel that presenting complex issues to students “trivializes” human rights, we have crossed a dangerous threshold. Golda Meri said, “One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.”
I am now at a crossroads: do I continue selling my lessons on TPT (where they receive 60% commission) or do I cancel my account? I am leaning towards cancelling my account but time will soon tell...
