Like if a principal or parent knew I was a card carrying communist would I be fucked?
It should be fine, just don’t talk about it or try to preach it to the kids.
CRT and “Marxist” teaching are on a lot of ppl’s radars these days.
But also in general I don’t think anyone should really be revealing their power level to anyone they work with unless it’s for office unionizing or recruiting for outside of work activism. Sometimes new communists are really excited to evangelize but it’s important to know how to keep certain communities separate
I agree with that. I don't have a problem talking about it when asked, but I don't bring it up really. I also work with chuds so it wouldn't be great lol
It's easy not to evangelize if teaching math or chemistry, but if the subject is history, civics etc I don't see how to keep it neatly separated
My teacher (it was AP US History for context) pointed us toward Zinn as a complementary textbook to what we were assigned, and if we was asked more pointed questions in class he would respond something like "I have opinions.... on things... come see me outside of class and we can talk more about it" and move on. He was fairly well liked so there was a reasonable chance someone would actually want to come back around to the topic later so keep that in mind.
Anyway, seemed like a reasonable way to handle it, keep it borderline acceptable in class, but be willing to chat outside of class where parents would have less leverage to bitch about whatever you say (though there are still boundaries).
eh i think it can be done, considering that text books have been omitting slavery, genocide against natives, queer history and more for a century, i think history has a way for teachers to hide their powerlevel/ kinda requires marginalized or allied teachers to, especisally now // there's also core curriculums, common pre approved lesson plans, teaching theory that all acredited teachers have to learn, statewide and federal tests that test on a common subject that teachers have to use, so its not really like they have the chance to put in their own unique input anyway. new teachers are also subject to intense shadowing or co-teaching roles that also add a layer of oversight ---think about when your teacher begged your class to be good in 2nd grade because the principle was "sitting in". there's also tenure.
my mom is a black woman who has had to hide her "powerlevel" aka "black people deserve rights" when teaching little white kids. many marg teachers do the same daily, especially in conservative areas. some marg teachers are even hiding their own identities (being queer/ trans) while theyre doing this
It's not that it can't be done, but it's harder. The cognitive dissonance of misrepresenting the past to teach to a test or to teach to sensitivities of white bougie parents can be psychologically damaging to the teacher.
This hiding of power level by teaching to a core curriculum, isn't much different than the customer service representative of a bank. The rep can say "I'm just stating the bank's policy" or "I'm just informing the caller of their options". But that doesn't change the fact that financially distressed people are calling them about unjust banking practices. The rep is doing what they have to to make a living, but it still is damaging to them.
This is an issue less likely to come up when teaching STEM subjects.
yes, its definitely damaging! and it's definitely harder with non STEM stuff.
Commie teacher here. If you're in a conservative area, they'll probably fuck you, not the least because you probably don't have a union .
In a liberal area, it's very easy to disguise yourself. The minute you say you're a communist the brainworms get triggered, but I talk about virtually every issue under the sun in my classroom from a leftist perspective with absolutely no consequences or pushback from anyone. I have quotes from literal communists on my wall (just not, like, Mao or Stalin) and no one has ever noticed or cared.
Just be a communist, don't say you're a communist.
I think it really depends on where you live. Without doxing myself I am a communist elementary school Librarian in VA. I have gotten away with teaching Nelson Mandela, Labor Day, and having several books which explicitly stated the phrase and ideology behind Black lives Matter and only gotten 1 complaint which did not lead to the formal process. In my experience (of the two schools I have worked at both in different fairly reactionary areas of the state) most principals will be white libs with a masters of education degree who as long as they stand by you you can withstand most complaints about your teaching (as long as it doesn't make the news). I have straight up told my current principal that I am a left wing ideologue when it comes to not banning books and teaching inclusion and that I need her support which she has given me.
However with the incoming governor and the current dialogue about "CRT" more chuds are starting to show up at school board meetings and I think you will see that across the board. Parents are demanding in my school system that "any teaching that America is an explicitly racist state and that capitalism is inherently racist" be banned. The other librarians at nearby schools are all rad libs and in a tizzy about it. If it comes out you are a communist it would be fairly easy to throw you under the bus and gets some cheap points with the squealing hogs. If you don't have your principal's support you are pretty much FUBAR.
My advice for that is while interviewing I tell stories about standing up against CHUD parents and watch their reactions and see how they take it. If there is hesitancy or negative follow up questions I don't think I would take that specific job and there is such a huge teacher shortage you can probably get a job elsewhere.
makes me really happy that there are commie school librarians out there.
American school system is highly fragmented, so the answer depends on where you on.
It definitely could get you into hot water, especially if someone had it out for you already. But even then, if like many teachers you have tenure and a union, you have protection.
Depends on if you're a public school or private scholl teacher, and if you're public, how good your union is.
LA and Chicago teachers' unions got lots of commies. Suburban Regional School District Local 2 somewhere in mid-Montana? Probably less so.
I had a teacher supervised socialism club in high-school. Teacher put me in touch with an org
Depends. I grew up in a wealthy liberal bubble and the AP history teacher at my public high school was a pretty obvious socialist that taught us the basics of historical materialism and had us read 18th Brumaire and David Graeber and Howard Zinn and other rad shit like that. Trying to get away with that in most of the country would probably end poorly though
They could sabotage future job prospects with employers by snitching. They could also lie and slander you on your permanent record (real).
Ofc, if you work a job that only cares about your skilled labor and not how you can be a prop or a slave to the company, you can escape that shit. Can't snitch on me if my employer isn't on FB loser.
If your union local is half decent, no, but that is not necessarily the case. As a rule of thumb, public schools are far more likely to be unionised than charter or private schools. Urban districts tend to have stronger union locals than rural ones, but this is not always the case. There are exceptions going both ways.
If you are in a district without a half decent union local, you will still probably be fine to teach communism, as long as you don't explicitly say you are a communist. For example, I know a history teacher who is forced to teach an incredibly reactionary and anti-communist textbook. He counteracts this indoctrination not only through supplemental readings, and quietly just not teaching entire chapters of the textbook (which doesn't raise any eyebrows, as no history teacher ever has time to teaches the entire textbook). He also does an activity where he responds to the anti-communist propaganda in the textbook "as a communist would" and thus debunks it. However he never calls himself a communist, flies an american flag, and The hogs have never seriously complained about him (same district had a whole thing of chuds braying about "CRT in the English department", which went nowhere but was still a worrying sign). Teaching accurate information about racism or civil rights is going to be more dangerous, with the current hysteria about "CRT" but again if you frame it in a way chuds will not recognize, you will be ok.
And above all else, yes being a communist teacher in the USA can have serious career risks, but christ knows its important. I believe A very large percentage of us are here today in part because some teacher helped break the chain of indoctrination.
Depends on the locality. In Texas? yeah. In Vermont? You'd be totally fine.
"Throughout the highly edited recording, the teacher expounds upon their teaching philosophy, describing how they ask students to publicly post their ideological affiliations on a left-to-right spectrum, and their feeling of pride as those postings moved farther and farther left over the school year. "
Lmfao well Jesus. I'd probably start with something like "value yourselves and your work, care about people who are more exploited than you", not "r u left or right"
