Teaching Against the Tide: Justice-Oriented Educators Confront Fascist Currents in U.S. Schools

• In Event: Interpreting, Negotiating, Teaching: The Role of Teachers in Producing and Disrupting Curriculum

Abstract

This paper explores how educators resist increasingly restrictive curricular contexts through the lens of Stanley's (2024) theorizing on fascist education. Through analysis of interviews with 20 justice-oriented teachers, we document how teachers challenged three themes of fascist education: national greatness/purity, national innocence, and strict gender roles. Findings suggest teachers actively resist authoritarian control by teaching expansive, racially-conscious histories of the country; challenging myths of national innocence and of (white) childhood innocence; and disrupting normative gender roles through curricula and advocacy for LGBTQ+ students. This research suggests that defending multiracial democracy requires coordinated action, with classrooms serving as entry points into broader democratic movements against the encroachment of fascist educational elements in U.S. schools.

Authors

• Kushya Sugarman, Mount Holyoke College

• Laura A Taylor, Rhodes College