Idaho House Bill 377 seeks to ban the teaching of subjects that indicate:

"(i) That any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior; (ii) That individuals should be adversely treated on the basis of their sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin; or (iii) That individuals, by virtue of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin, are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by other members of the same sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin." (https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2021/legislation/H0377.pdf

Essentially, this means that the Idaho House wants teachers to not be allowed to teach anything that would suggest that, historically, racism has been prevalent in our society. During the legislative session today, Rep. Heather Scott cited Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" as a problematic teaching because it suggests that "white people are bad, and black people are innocent victims." There is no telling what the passing of this bill could mean for subjects such as Government or History, which focuses on facts, regardless of how ugly they may be. 

Critical race theory is not a bad thing; it is merely a way to educate future generations about the historical issues we’ve experienced, and how far we have come. Without that knowledge, history is doomed to repeat itself. I read wonderful, important, diverse books in my time in the West Ada School District, such as "To Kill A Mockingbird", "Fahrenheit 451", "Crime and Punishment", "Things Fall Apart", and "Hamlet", to name a few. Each of these novels gave me insight to a world I never saw, and allowed me the knowledge of the progress made in my lifetime, and how I can do better to make sure we never get there again. The passing of this bill would prevent students from learning the all-encompassing history of our society, and that is a significant government overreach, not to mention a blatant violation of the First Amendment; This would stifle a student's freedom to discuss such issues in the classroom. 

Please encourage your local state senator to vote "no" on this bill, and join me in signing this petition to let our incredibly overlooked and overworked teachers continue doing what they do best: shaping future generations to leave the world better than they found it.