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Texas school says classes with Holocaust books must offer ‘opposing views’
Teachers reacted with confusion asking how to 'oppose' the Holocaust
October 15, 2021 14:51
Teachers reacted with confusion asking how to 'oppose' the Holocaust
October 15, 2021 14:51Officials in a Texas school district have told teachers that in order to keep books on the Holocaust in their classrooms, they must also offer the ‘opposing view’ in order to comply with a new state law.
According to a recording obtained by American news network NBC, teachers in the a suburb of Dallas were told to ‘make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust, that you also have one that has an opposing or other perspective.” One teacher then questioned how she was supposed to ‘oppose the Holocaust.’
NEW: A school administrator in Southlake, Texas, advised teachers last week that if they have a book about the Holocaust in their classroom, they should also have a book with an "opposing" perspective.
— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 14, 2021
Listen to the audio recording obtained by @NBCNews: https://t.co/vS0IjlROMu pic.twitter.com/yPtM1ncjgV
The comments were recorded in a training session for teachers in the Caroll Independent School District after administrators disciplined a teacher following complaints about a book in anti-racism in her classroom.
Parental complaints were reported following new Texas legislation requiring all teachers in the stated to discuss “widely debated and currently controversial issues of public policy or social affairs” with reference to all viewpoints to avoid giving “deference to any one perspective.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbot described the law passed in his state as an attempt to combat Critical Race Theory, a controversial genre of study in America that has met resistance from Republicans.