The Politics of Teaching and Learning about Race, Gender, and Inequality in an era of Polarization and Restriction

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

At least 41 states have enacted or proposed over 160 legislative restrictions on curriculum in K-12 schooling since January 2021. This interactive panel will discuss the recent legislative and localized efforts to ban or restrict curriculum, accurate teaching about race and racism, books, and content related to LGBTQ+ people and issues. Panelists will consider who and what organizations are driving these efforts, how teachers, students, and educational leaders (along with civil rights and other organizations) are resisting the bans and restriction efforts, and what the politics of curriculum bans in a diverse, divided, and unequal society tell us about the power and potential of public education, as well as its vulnerability.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Janelle T. Scott, University of California - Berkeley

Panelists

• Mica Pollock, University of California - San Diego

• Sumi Cho, African American Policy Forum

• Adrienne D. Dixson, University of Kentucky

• Francesca López, Pennsylvania State University

• Jeremy C. Young, PEN America