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One school district in Texas wants educators to teach “both sides” of controversial topics — including the Holocaust. Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, Texas, has already made waves for their school book policy that is akin to censorship. Now teachers are being instructed to provide students with “opposing” viewpoints on historical and contemporary social justice-related topics.
In recent weeks, educators at Caroll high school were informed that a new school policy prohibited books that are considered “offensive.” The new system was enacted after a parent complained that a teacher had a copy of “This Book is Anti-Racist” in their classroom.
The teacher was later reprimanded by the school board. The new movement regarding school books soon followed, encouraging educators to weed out books that don’t contain opposing points of view on topics such as racism, slavery, antisemitism, and hate.
Teachers must allow for “opposing views” of controversial topics
Carroll teachers recently received training on the new policy, with one educator secretly recording the contents of the programming and sharing it with NBC News. On the topic of the Holocaust, Carroll Independent School District executive director of curriculum and instruction, Gina Peddy, noted, “Make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust, that you have one that has an opposing, that has other perspectives.”
The teachers responded with shock and dismay. “How do you oppose the Holocaust?” demanded one educator who attended the training. Ms. Peddy did not have a specific answer, and did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
The shocking changes to education in Southlake follows the passage of SB1, a bill prohibiting educators from teaching Critical Race Theory. Texas Governor Greg Abbott gleefully signed the legislation, which went into effect on September 1.
No two sides to holocaust
Meanwhile, educators in Texas vehemently oppose the changes. Clay Robison, a spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association, noted, “We find it reprehensible for an educator to require a Holocaust denier to get equal treatment with the facts of history. That’s absurd. It’s worse than absurd.”
In recent days, the district’s superintendent, Lane Ledbetter, apologized for Peddy’s remarks.
Mr. Ledbetter told families in a statement that the remarks were “in no way to convey that the Holocaust was anything less than a terrible event in history.”
Mr. Ledbetter added, “We recognize there are not two sides of the Holocaust.”