The War on DEI Threatens the Quality of Our K-12 Education — Even in Massachusetts

Citing only his “common sense,” Donald Trump attributed the recent tragic airline crash near Washington’s Reagan national Airport to “DEI.” He claimed that the Federal Aviation Administration changed its standards under President Biden and was “actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities and psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under diversity and inclusion hiring initiatives.” 

The new administration’s condemnation of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion echoes the perspective taken by Florida and other states in public education. Increasingly, the term “patriotic” is being applied to the information that is allowed to be taught. Hostility to DEI means the elimination of educational content regarding race that might result in feelings of guilt about the treatment of people of color by white folks. It opposes open discussion of fluidity in sexual orientation that might make the parents of any student uncomfortable. And, while the science demonstrating that climate change is an incontrovertible fact might not be unpatriotic in itself, talking about it defies the president’s denial of the facts. 

With more than 4,000 books banned, Florida is presently leading the way in the Ignorance Sweepstakes, but many other states are doing their best to catch up. Massachusetts is currently way down on the list of closed-mindedness, but organizations like Citizens for Responsible Education (CRE) want to change that. 

Jean Costello’s “As I See It” op-ed in The Daily News documented CRE’s multi-pronged censorship campaign in Newburyport:

“Over the last 18 months, Newburyport schools [has been inundated with] more than 50 public record requests. [These] spurious and costly requests is a well-known tactic.

Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch has traced it to “predatory, profit-seeking forces that threaten our nation’s public schools.”

With the ascension of MAGA to national leadership, the campaign to eliminate the Department of Education is on the edge of success. While the proposal to return the management of education wholly to the states may not seem like an immediate and direct threat to Massachusetts’ commitment to DEI in our schools, rest assured that it is. 

A review of the state’s Department of Education’s 2018 Pre-K to 12 History and Social Science Framework’s introduction from Jeffrey Riley, then Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, highlights the state’s commitment to diversity through a curriculum that emphasizes:

The inclusion of standards that reflect the diversity of the United States and world cultures, with particular attention to the contributions of women and men of all ethnicities and backgrounds in the United States and the connections among world cultures.

Every Massachusetts resident and taxpayer should be proud of the rigor and comprehensive nature of this 217-page framework. History and the social sciences are part of the curriculum at every step in the educational process. 

Pre-K children are introduced to:

Civics: fairness, friendship, responsibility and respect

Geography: maps and places

History: personal experiences and memories

Economics: work and commerce

Flash forward to high school students taking US History II, who are exposed to:

Modernity in the United States: ideologies and economies

Defending democracy: responses to fascism and communism

Defending democracy: the Cold War and civil rights at home

The United States and globalization

The primary sources associated with the teaching of history and social science is almost 20 pages. It is an example of diverse thought. A partial listing includes the following:

A video on the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in support of LGBTQ rights

A speech by Ceasar Chavez, the President of the United Farm Workers of America about the unsafe conditions for farm workers.

Ronald Reagan’s speech delivered to university students in Moscow on the need for freedom of thought, information, and communication and democracy. 

George W. Bush’s speech after the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers .

The directors and producers of The Loving Generation interviewing adults who were born to biracial parents.

Bottom line: Kids in Newburyport’s schools are exposed to a broad range of information to help them understand the world that they are living and growing in. 

What is going to happen to the open-mindedness and tolerance presently interwoven into Massachusetts’ history and social science curricula as diversity, equity, and inclusion are abandoned and attacked on the national stage as “un-American”? 

Shakespeare – whose plays are now being banned in an increasing number of schools – said, “Past is prologue.” Studying history is critical to living and developing a degree of understanding of our emerging era. 

Students of history learn about the long-term trends that drive national and global change. Identifying history’s tectonic plates shaping the character of today and tomorrow gives students a chance to get out in front of them. The more one is familiar with how change happened in the past, the more foresight one can bring to what is happening now. Students have a right to a diverse education that treats them each equitably and includes a multitude of perspectives.  

Michael Sales
Newburyport resident

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