Many issues in education deserve our time, attention and contemplation. For instance, we ought to be talking about math instruction and what it requires today to prepare kids for tech jobs in the age of artificial intelligence. We ought to be discussing the fairness of expecting schools to fix every social ill from bullying to vaping. And we need to get serious about the decline in enrollment in teacher prep programs and what that means for school staffing.
Instead, we’re debating posting the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom.
Louisiana has a new law requiring all public K-12 classrooms and state-funded universities to display a poster-sized version of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font.” Oklahoma announced Thursday that it will now incorporate the Bible and the Ten Commandments in its curriculums.
In signing the Louisiana bill on June 19, Gov. Jeff Landry said, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you gotta start with the original law giver, which was Moses. He got his commandments from God and wrote them all for us.”
Last week, civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit contending the new law is unconstitutional and ought to be tossed out. So, now Louisiana taxpayers will be footing the legal defense of a politically motivated law that won’t improve students’ outcomes in a state historically plagued by dismal academic performance.
We can be smug and say that’s Louisiana being Louisiana. But Georgia also wastes energy on culture war theatrics, as seen recently in the social media rants about the DeKalb school board‘s decision to replace Cross Keys High School’s Indian mascot with a Phoenix. The laments fell into this category: “Liberals whitewashing mascots like they did product representatives like Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben.”
I understand the role of a mascot in rallying the crowds at sports events, but it’s a small part of the high school experience for most kids. Whose affection for their school hinges on whether a tiger, bulldog or panther decorates the scoreboard?
Mascots aren’t the only folderol that don’t merit the outrage they draw. Here are some others.
1. The hysteria over students asking to be called by different names or pronouns, regardless of the reason: Let people — even kids — choose what they want to be called. It seems obvious that each of us should decide how we want to be addressed. In school, the goal ought to be every child feeling comfortable and accepted. Teens and adolescents have been using nicknames and trying out new names long before the current debate over transgender rights. People change their names with ease after divorce and remarriage, and everyone adapts.
2. The focus on bathrooms over classrooms: In 1996, the Georgia Legislature seriously discussed a member’s concern about unisex bathrooms for 4-year-olds in pre-K classrooms. Nearly three decades later, we’re still hung up on school bathrooms, although the focus has shifted to whether transgender kids can use facilities that align with their gender identity. Despite a complete lack of evidence, opponents maintain that transgender students pose a threat.
In fact, a study out of the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found transgender people are four times more likely to experience violent victimization, including rape, sexual assault and aggravated or simple assault. Bathroom safety also entered the battle over school integration with Southern segregationists making unfounded and racist claims that white students would face a risk of catching diseases from Black classmates.
3. All the senseless rules on student appearance: How does the length of a student’s hair or skirt affect their ability to learn? Despite the proven sexism and racism inherent in school dress codes, districts still cling to them and will even spend thousands to uphold them. A Texas case in which a Black teen has been suspended and out of regular school for a year for twisted dreadlocks on top of his head has now moved to the federal courts.
The Barbers Hill Independent School District is not arguing that student Darryl George’s hairstyle itself violates policy, but that, if worn down, his hair would exceed the length limit for boys. In an ad in the Houston Chronicle, Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole defended the policy by citing the “rigorous expectation of dress” at the nation’s military academies, saying, “They realize being an American requires conformity with the positive benefit of unity and being part of something bigger than yourself.”
I spent 12 years wearing uniforms in Catholic schools, and my goal and that of most of my classmates was to distinguish ourselves amid that sea of plaid. We probably had posters of the Ten Commandments somewhere, although I have vivid memories of the statue of our school’s patron, St. Catherine.
And what I remember most are the endless attempts by my peers to gussy her up with scarves, bunny ears or Santa hat. I won’t confess to where my school beanie ended up after graduation but let’s just say St. Catherine looked jaunty.
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