Jen Psaki says Biden believes US children need to learn 'challenging' history and about 'systemic racism that is still impacting society' when asked whether he supports critical race theory
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden believes children need to learn about the country's 'challenging' history as she answered a question Friday about his views on critical race theory being taught in school.
'The president believes that in our history there are so many dark moments and there is not just slavery and racism in our history, there is systemic racism that is still impacting society today,' Psaki said during the press briefing. 'And he believes, as I believe as a parent of children, that kids should learn about our history.'
Psaki pointed out how the first lady, Dr. Jill Biden, is an educator and added that the president 'continues to believe that children should learn not just the good but also the challenging in our history.'
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden believes children need to learn about the country's 'challenging' history as she answered a question Friday about his views on critical race theory being taught in school
Critical race theory taught in the classroom has become a political rallying cry for Republicans who argue that it sows division and makes children feel guilty for being white
'And that's what we're talking about here, even as it's become politically charged,' Psaki added.
Psaki was asked about the National Education Association's call for an honest teaching of the nation's racial histories.
At the union's national meeting last week, president Becky Pringle urged teachers to prepare students for a society that 'has wrestled with the sins of its past' and learned from them.
'If this grand experiment in democracy is to succeed, if the inhabitants of our nation are to prosper, we must continuously do the work to challenge ourselves and others to dismantle the racist interconnected systems, and the economic injustices that have perpetuated systemic inequities,' Pringle said.
Then on Tuesday, the American Federation of Teachers, one of the nation's largeset teachers unions pledged to defend members who are punished for teaching an 'honest history' of the United States.
President Randi Weingarten said her union is preparing litigation and has a legal defense fund 'ready to go.' She promised to fight 'culture warriors' who attempt to limit lessons on racism and discrimination by labeling it as critical race theory.
At least eight states have passed new laws limiting how race can be taught in the classroom, and similar proposals are being considered in at least 10 others.
Many of the bills are intended to bar the teaching of critical race theory - an academic framework that examines history through the lens of racism. I
t centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation's institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society.
Last month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law forbidding schools from teaching that people 'should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress' because of their race or sex.
It adds that slavery and racism can only be taught as a deviation from the nation's 'authentic founding principles' of liberty and equality.
Bills in some other states threaten to fine individual teachers who violate the rules or reduce state funding to their schools.
Once an obscure academic idea, critical race theory has become a political rallying cry for Republicans who argue that it sows division and makes children feel guilty for being white.