This is the state of the eduction system. Let’s just say that a couple of weeks of virtual learning is the least of our problem:
Indiana state Sen. Scott Baldwin said he wasn’t clear when he said a bill he filed at the Indiana Statehouse would require teachers to be impartial in their teaching of all subjects, including during lessons about Nazism, Marxism and fascism.
During a committee hearing Wednesday about Senate Bill 167, a wide-ranging bill inspired by the national discourse over critical race theory, history teacher Matt Bockenfeld raised concerns about what the bill would require of teachers. He gave what he thought was an extreme example.
“For example, it’s the second semester of U.S. history, so we’re learning about the rise of fascism and the rise of Nazism right now,” Bockenfeld said. “And I’m just not neutral on the political ideology of fascism. We condemn it, and we condemn it in full, and I tell my students the purpose, in a democracy, of understanding the traits of fascism is so that we can recognize it and we can combat it.”
Bockenfeld said that, even if it wasn’t the intent of the bill, he was afraid it would require teachers to be neutral on all topics.
“Of course, we’re neutral on political issues of the day,” he said. “We don’t stand up and say who we voted for or anything like that. But we’re not neutral on Nazism. We take a stand in the classroom against it, and it matters that we do.”
Baldwin, a Republican from Noblesville, said that may be going too far.
Baldwin said he doesn’t discredit Marxism, Nazism, fascism or “any of those isms out there.”
“I have no problem with the education system providing instruction on the existence of those isms,” he said. “I believe that we’ve gone too far when we take a position on those isms … We need to be impartial.”
Baldwin said that even though he is with Bockenfeld “on those particular isms,” teachers should “just provide the facts.”
“I’m not sure it’s right for us to determine how that child should think and that’s where I’m trying to provide the guardrails,” Baldwin said.
He later said that he meant to ensure teachers are being impartial when discussing “legitimate political groups” which would mean that he thinks Marxism, Nazism and fascism are legitimate political groups in America. He mentioned them specifically.
Basically, he believes that teachers should teach toxic ideologies for young people to evaluate on their own without context or common sense. What a good idea.
MAGA isn’t just an old people’s movement by any means. This woman went “undercover” at MAGA events over the last year and this is her main takeaway:
Moore’s main takeaway after her time undercover was that “there’s a rise of right-wing populism among the under-30 crowd that’s incredibly alarming to me… I really worry about it.
“I really just can never stress enough, like the rise of like the younger populist fascists. And like I said, everybody, under 35, I met who was at the Capitol says, ‘We did it. That was us.’ And they accept it and they’re like, ‘It would’ve been cooler if we had gotten further.’ And, like, ‘The Founding Fathers would be proud of us.’”
Sure, let’s be “neutral” about Nazis. Good idea. Just don’t let anyone teach about slavery. That would be wrong.