---
title: "Op/ed: How to Teach About Race Head-on"
date: 2024-11-14T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/op-ed-how-to-teach-about-race-head-on"
section: Articles
---
# Op/ed: How to Teach About Race Head-on

*November 14, 2024* — by [Stephanie Shonekan and Adam Seagrave](/author/stephanie-shonekan-and-adam-seagrave)


> In a Fraught Environment, Many K-12 Educators Fear Saying the Wrong Thing

*Getty Images 1236621349 1920x1080 — Opponents and proponents of a school curriculum that integrates critical race theory attend a board meeting of the Placentia-Yorba Linda School Unified District in California. Many educators are confused about how to teach about race in today's polarized climate, a University of Maryland researcher and colleague write in a new essay.*

*Teaching about race in today’s polarized political and social climate is so difficult that many educators simply avoid it, write Stephanie Shonekan, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, and Adam Seagrave, associate professor in the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University, in a new essay in The Conversation.*

*The pair co-authored the 2024 book “*[*Race and the American Story*](https://global.oup.com/academic/product/race-and-the-american-story-9780197767689?cc=us&lang=en&)*” and previously taught at the University of Missouri, where they developed a successful course that approached race in a thoughtful, nuanced way. Their aim: to build bridges between people of different perspectives based on a commitment to justice and genuine cross-racial conversation. But too often, they write, K-12 educators are asked to use materials that take extreme positions on the role of race in the nation’s history.*

On one side, some schools have begun[ instituting curricula](https://www.zinnedproject.org/) inspired by Howard Zinn’s 1980 book “[A People’s History of the U.S.](https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/peoples-history-of-the-united-states).” Zinn’s text surfaces the stories of people overlooked by most historical accounts, from the[ Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921](https://daily.jstor.org/the-devastation-of-black-wall-street/) to the 1960s[ California farm workers’ movement](https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/cesar-chavez-dolores-huerta-and-the-united-farm-workers) led by Cesar Chavez.

Curricula based on Zinn’s work – for example,[ California’s ethnic studies program](https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/cr/cf/documents/esmcchapter6.pdf) – complement and counterbalance the Mount Rushmore narrative. But they tend to downplay or reject the founding principles of the U.S. and the understanding of humanity that gave rise to the American political tradition itself.

Meanwhile,[ many states](https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&app=9&p_dir=&p_rloc=&p_tloc=&p_ploc=&pg=1&p_tac=&ti=19&pt=2&ch=113&rl=44) and[ school systems](https://k12.hillsdale.edu/Schools/BCSI/) have adopted textbooks and curricula that emphasize the country’s fundamental goodness,[ omitting or neglecting](https://fordhaminstitute.org/sites/default/files/publication/pdfs/historystandards200310.pdf) historical racial injustices.[ Florida](https://www.wptv.com/news/education/floridas-governor-to-sign-critical-race-theory-education-bill-into-law) and[ Oklahoma](https://legiscan.com/OK/text/HB1775/id/2387002) have even enacted laws that some teachers interpret as prohibiting the teaching of slavery and historical racism.

*Read*[ *the rest*](https://theconversation.com/racism-is-such-a-touchy-topic-that-many-us-educators-avoid-it-we-are-college-professors-who-tackled-that-challenge-head-on-229661) *in The Conversation*.




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Arts and Humanities](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-arts-and-humanities)