[ad_1]
A Rhode Island college teacher says critical race theory is making its way into public school classrooms and creating racial hostility and mistrust among her students.
Ramona Bessinger has been a teacher in public schools for over 20 years. For the past seven years she has taught college in Providence. She currently teaches at Esek Hopkins College. Over the years, Bessinger says her lessons have been diverse, ranging from poems by Maya Angelou to speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr. She has also taught units on slavery and the Harlem Renaissance, she said. declared.
“I see American history as a story of triumph,” Bessinger told Fox News in an interview. “People overcome things… We are victorious. We are like the greatest nation on the planet. I am very proud to be an American. And what is unique about this country is that we are diverse and we have cultural diversity. Maybe that’s not the case. perfect. It’s there. And the previous books we had in the classroom represented that. “
An empty class.
(iStock)
But Bessinger said there was an “alarming” change that had occurred in the 2020-2021 school year regarding the implementation of a new race-focused curriculum. Around January, she received boxes of new books for her class.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing there, there were cartoon booklets, you know, all of them sort of sharing the same narrative,” Bessinger said.
Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale told with African American Jack and an evil white giant.
(Marie Diamant)
Books on pivotal moments in American history, such as the American Revolution or the Civil War, all basically boiled down to “someone is aggressive or someone oppresses someone else.”
Bessinger said one of those books wouldn’t necessarily have been a problem on its own, but these are the only books his students are supposed to read.
Reading material from Bessinger’s class, illustrating fear of white oppression.
(Marie Diamant)
“It’s problematic because, yes, it’s part of our history. We’re not a historically perfect nation, but we’re pretty damn close to it,” Bessinger said. “We were teaching slavery. We were teaching the civil rights movement before all of that. Now, these books essentially suggest to kids that this is the one story that defines America.“
White people as abusers is a recurring theme in many of the books assigned in the new curriculum.
(Marie Diamant)
OKLAHOMA BOARD OF EDUCATION ENDORSES REPRESSION ON CRITICAL BREED THEORY TEACHING
Bessinger’s comments come amid national concerns that Critical Race Theory, a school of thought focused on the impact of power structures and institutions on racial minorities, is being taught in classrooms. Liberal experts and teachers’ unions, for their part, have minimized or contradicted this notion.
A book showing a killer tiger formed by a white woman.
(Marie Diamant)
Bessinger clarified that “critical race theory” is not mentioned anywhere in the new curriculum, but said its “principles” are implicit in all lessons.
“The CRT theory is reflected in the novels and the booklets and the projects and the storylines and the themes,” Bessinger said.
Ramona bessinger
(Marie Diamant)
His students are almost all African-American or Hispanic. Bessinger, who is white, said she may feel suspicious of him as a teacher. At the end of the year, some students called her “America” or asked if she lived in a castle.
“There was a weird fear of me, wasn’t there? So that made me very sad because I think as educators… we really care about our students,” he said. she declared. “We care that the children feel good and welcome and (that) they feel that they are American and that they are part of our tradition and our heritage. Not that they are part of a camp and me from another. ”
Bessinger said there was a nervous tension permeating his school and among his colleagues. Many have privately expressed their opposition to the new program but are too afraid to speak out for fear of being labeled as racist.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“I refuse to spread lies. I can’t do this as a parent and as a teacher. I just can’t do it. So drop the cards where they can,” she said. . “I mean, what kind of human would I be if I just went with this and buried my head in the sand? What kind of mother would I be? What kind of educator would I be? So, no, I have no choice but to go public. ”
Fox News has contacted public schools in Providence for comment.
[ad_2]
Source link