In the early 1900’s the Daughters of the Confederacy joined forces with Confederate Civil War veterans to “preserve” a “Confederate Past.” The goal was to maintain the ideology that the Confederacy was a plucky little underdog fighting against the big bad North over states rights. This movement is now famously known as the “Lost Cause” narrative. It’s why a slew of Confederate monuments were erected during the early years of the 20th century (the 1900’s for you young folk out there). Its why Confederate soldiers were celebrated during Memorial Day and books were written celebrating the glorious generals of the “Lost Cause”.
But, importantly for this blog post, the Daughters of the Confederacy also entrenched themselves in education policy. They pushed narratives that depicted slavery as benevolent. They idealized a society that, as they told it, had men at the top doling out fatherly-like advice and punishments to the men and women that he enslaved. As for the Civil War, the Daughters of the Confederacy fought to de-centralized slavery’s role in the war, and highlighted the loss of states rights. They lobbied school boards, got on school boards, and pushed their own brand of curriculm. The DAC worked to censure textbooks that made the south look “bad” and specifically targeted schools and educators to ensure that that “true” history of the south was being taught, entrenching whole generations in this narrative.
Sound familiar?
Right now, there is an ongoing battle over the future of our educational system. From the defunding of the Department of Education to the attacks on universities and museums this battle is constant and much of it is out of the public eye. Yes, you might know about the problems the Smithsonian is dealing with, or Universities like Harvard, but grass roots organizations are working locally, with groups like “Moms for Liberty” targeting school districts, libraries, and even individual teachers. They are using the same tactics as the Daughters of the Confederacy, and they know that if they target education, then a new generation of students will grow up believing in the “MAGA Cause”.
Although I’ve mentioned policy and government and grass roots and all that jazz, that’s not the meat of this post, though it does serve as a useful backdrop. What’s coming out of all of this fighting over what school…specifically history class…should look like is another narrative. One that I, personally, find more insidious because it’s borne out of fear. Fear of retaliation, fear of losing a job, real fear. It’s this idea, this narrative if you will, that teachers should remain “neutral.”
I’ve seen this idea of neutrality more and more across educational influencers on social media, I’ve seen it pop up in conservative articles, I’ve even had actual teachers come into my room and ask me what I’m teaching and if I’m remaining “neutral”.
And of course, this word “neutral” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. These influencers, conservatives, and other teachers are using it as though remaining “neutral” is the only thing I can do to encourage kids to be critical thinkers. It’s the only thing I can do to ensure they receive a proper education where they don’t…have to grapple with hard concepts I guess?
But here’s the thing. I am an expert in my field. I have both a Bachelor and a Master’s degree in American History with an emphasis on colonial enslavement and imperialism. When I talk about Jamestown, or George Washington, or Manifest Destiny, or (and this is exceptionally important) enslavement, I know what I’m talking about. I’ve read, I’ve researched, I’ve studied. And, not to sound big headed, but I’m likely one of the most factually informed people on my topic that students will meet until they get to college.
So, this idea of “remaining neutral in the face of facts” is wild to me in a history class. It’s like asking a math teacher to remain neutral when a parent or child insists that 2+2=5. It’s simply not true, and it’s damaging.
Education is meant to be difficult. In order to learn anything we have to sit in discomfort. That discomfort comes from a lot of places. It happens when we fail a test, it happens when we have to repeat a concept we didn’t understand, and it happens when we are met with information that goes against what we have either already learned or already believed.
Additionally, history in particiular is literally a hundred thousand little stories about people. People, it turns out, are exceptionally complicated. So yes, when talking about Thomas Jefferson students SHOULD weigh the fact that this man who wrote some of the most foundational words of our nation (all men are created equal) owned enslaved people. That he raped, and had children with one of the people he enslaved, Sally Hemmings. A girl who was 14 years old when Thomas Jefferson took her as his mistress. That duality of a man, that complication, that gray area…that’s where critical thinking happens. That discomfort you might feel right now, THAT’s where critical thinking happens.
That’s why I think neutrality and the push to make history easily consumable is, quite frankly, dumb AF.
So, no. I don’t think I should have to remain neutral. I have the right and the ability to hold opinions — educated ones — in the classroom. I’m allowed to say “Manifest Destiny expanded the United States and fulfilled Thomas Jefferson’s dream of a land of farmers, but it also created excessive harm to the land, to indigenous nations, and to Black men and women who were pulled deeper South by their enslavers.”
That’s not an opinion. That’s a fact. Not being able to teach this to students is like a doctor not being allowed to have an opinion on a diagnosis for a patient.
Ok…so what?
As I’ve said earlier, I’ve seen an uptick in what I will call this “neutral cause narrative” by educators and influencers that I generally respect. I believe this push is coming out of fear. History, specifically, is always targeted by governments, because if you can control history, you can control the narrative. Better yet, if you can TEACH the history you want taught, you can control the next generation of voters.
Yet, if history has taught us anything, it’s that neutrality often requires us to turn a blind eye to the actual problems around us. We are currently in a war for who controls history. Will it be historians, or will it be the government? Someone is going to win, and if we, as educators, want to be able to teach historical fact (like slavery was morally, physically, emotionally) then we can not remain neutral.
Teachers are highly trained experts in our field who are allowed to present facts and evidence to our students. Sometimes, these facts and evidence make people feel uncomfortable. That’s good. That discomfort equals learning. By remaining “neutral” we take that discomfort away. Instead of teaching the critical thinking that stems from being uncomfortable, neutrality instead teaches students that it’s ok to remain ignorant.
And as for me? I’m in the business of educating American citizens. I believe that citizens should know the history of this country: the good, bad, and ugly. I believe that our Founders were deeply complex people, but they left us with a living, breathing document that is meant to grow with the needs of our country. It was world altering in 1782 and it’s something we must continue to protect today. However, we can not grow as our Founders intended if we do not study and sit with the discomfort of mistakes of the past.
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
–Elie Wiesel
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