The effort by Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board President Chris Arend to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory would not survive legal challenge if passed, showing its intended effect is solely as political theater to whip up the white fright base of the GOP. Arend, who lived a considerable time in Germany and based much of his legal practice on German clients, might be interested to know that more than a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down legislative restrictions on teaching when Nebraska passed a post-World War I law banning the teaching of German.
The court’s decision in Meyer v. Nebraska (Robert Meyer having been caught teaching reading from a German Bible at a Lutheran school) was based on the 14th Amendment’s provision that “no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States”—which was thought necessary to protect freed slaves from racist legislation.
The court wrote, “Practically, education of the young is only possible in schools conducted by especially qualified persons who devote themselves thereto. The calling always has been regarded as … essential, indeed, to the public welfare. Mere knowledge of the German language cannot reasonably be regarded as harmful. … Plaintiff … taught this language in school as part of his occupation. His right thus to teach and the right of parents to engage him so to instruct their children, we think, are within the liberty of the amendment.”
An amendment intended to protect freed slaves now stands to protect the freedom of their descendants and the rest of us, as teachers and students, to examine the destructive persistence of racism in any way we find productive, regardless of the political sensitivities of what was once known as the Party of Lincoln.
This article appears in Jul 15-22, 2021.
I DISAGREE with Mr. James Papp!
Contrary to what Mr. Papp asserts, the Paso Robles School District is well within its rights to ban the racist critical race theory from being hoisted onto young schoolchildren, and I, for one, appreciate that a local elected body is looking out for the well-being of our kids.
Remember, critical race theory is a divisive, extremist policy goal of the alt-left, and the so-called progressives are seeking to indoctrinate our children into this racist nonsense where children have to atone for the sins of slaveowners from long ago. Mr. Papp may feel this is clever and bright, but normal people do not want to see our young children made to feel bad for something they had nothing to do with, protect the innocents.
Critical race theory has its roots in communism, and it is part of a grander scheme to hoist CRT, slave reparations, Project 1619, and BLM/Antifa rioting and looting onto the taxpaying public. I say lets reject the lefts dark prescription for American decline, we do not need to be lectured by these sanctimonious alt-left liberals on what is best for our society, let the normal people decide.
Sorry Mr. Papp, the idea of critical race theory is itself racist, and we dont need CRT in our schools.
Minorities are allowed to color outside of the designated white lines in SLO County. Not controversial. Fly away nightingale.
Please purchase mark levins new book.. AMERICAN MARXISM…a guide to eradicate the fungus of leftys that has spread
The people of a democracy hire teachers to educate their children in the skills that they will need to succeed in life, not to indoctrinate their children with whatever political agenda that administrators and individual teachers may favor. Schools are not a forum for political proselytizing.
I AGREE with all of you!
It is obvious from the upvote/downvote tallies that the ideas of Mr. James Papp are NOT embraced by the broader SLO community, and Mr. Papp is a well known loser in city council elections. Here, his idea that somehow the racist critical race theory is somehow good for our kids is preposterous, and very few people agree with him.
In a larger context, the alt-left Democrat Party leftists are out-of-touch with working families, and the idea that a little child ought to feel personal guilt for the institution of slavery 160 years ago is laughable, but the fact that they are pushing this radical idea just shows the depths of their depravity. Taxpaying voters ought to reject the Democrat Party and signal to their leaders that we do not approve of their nonsense radical agenda.
Reject the so-called “progressives”, they are just rebranded socialists/communists, and their agenda has already been resoundingly rejected by the American people. Let’s not let these people harm our children and damage our great nation, they already have hurt our nation, and CRT is another attempt to divide us by race and class.
Reject SLO Progressives/Reject Communism/Reject Racist Critical Race Theory/Reject Nonsense