Literature Review
Literature Review
Literature Review
What Laws Are Being Passed that Will Affect Our Youth?
Dani Stevens
EDUC-309-A
May 9, 2023
INTRODUCTION
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Teacher Brain Silveira once said, “Children need to feel safe to be whoever they
constantly changing as the years pass on. Teachers come in with a sense of curriculum,
and that even constantly changes due to new findings. Old practices are recycled into new
ones, which does affect the schools. In recent legislation, there have been laws passed to
outlaw progressive topics in school for “indoctrinating the minds of children”. These
topics are as follows: Racism, LGBTQ+ and gender studies, and social-emotional
learning. In some states, teachers were fired for attempting to educate their students on
said topics. Not only do these laws affect teachers, but they also affect children. There
has been an increase in suicides and mental health issues due to these laws being passed.
Even President Joe Biden is against these but there is not much he can do as most of these
LGBTQ
Tennessee was the first state to introduce the slogan “Don’t Say Gay Bill'' in 2005.
It passed a bill in 2012. In 2013, Senator Stacey Campfield revived the campaign. In this
revived campaign, school counselors and teachers were allowed to advise children about
LGBTQ+. On the other hand, the bill requires school staff to report sexuality if it is
“presenting immediate and urgent safety issues. When asked about this decision,
Campfield responded that “being gay is not a dangerous activity. The act of
2012, Missouri was another state that campaigned for “Don’t Say Gay”. The bill had
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been criticized for being more “expansive” than Tennessee’s bill. The Missouri bill
banned the teaching of sexual orientation in schools, excluding a very narrow exception
of teaching heterosexual reproductive issues at all grade levels. They also banned school
organizations such as the Gay-Straight Alliance. They also minimized the talk of
reproduction to scientific studies only. Missouri wanted to "protect the moral values that
are most important to Missouri families'' so they wanted this bill passed. (Barbeauld
2014). Missouri State Representative Dwight Scharnhorst also was noted for his
homophobic remark comparing homosexuality to bestiality when this bill was discussed.
Notably, Florida’s Governor Ron Desantis also went along with this campaign and
passed a bill on February 8th. In his version of this bill, he stated, “A school district may
appropriate for students''. This bill lacks an explanation of topics that were
“developmentally appropriate” for any grade. This legislation also allows parents to sue
school districts if they talk about gender identity or sexual orientation in the classrooms.
On the other hand, this bill does not ban informal conversations between a student and
introducing this bill, Desantis said, “Schools need to be teaching kids to read, to write.
They need to teach them science, history”. He also cited alleged examples of teachers
telling students not to worry about "picking their gender" and suggested educators were
hiding classroom material from parents (Snodgrass 2022). When Desantis showed
support for this bill, President Joe Biden made an executive decision to denounce the bill
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as a national law. Biden called the bill “hateful” and promised to “continue to fight” for
Due to the controversy behind this campaign, critics note concerns about the
attended an impromptu protest in an attempt to rally against the bill with her husband and
children. Everts spoke at this protest and stated, “We want them to grow up and learn in a
safe environment that supports diversity. I feel like this bill is against those ideas. My
children are still so young, so I have no idea what their sexual or gender orientations are,
and I do not care. But I think it is important to stand up for all kids who are already in the
LGBTQ community, and this bill could make them feel very unsafe. In a report done by
the Trevor Project (a nonprofit organization that promotes suicide prevention among the
LGBTQ+), they recorded that 42 percent of LGBTQ youth seriously had considered
attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and
nonbinary youth. There were also more BIPOC LGBTQ+ suicides than white LGBTQ+
An LGBTQ+ educator by the name of Rebecca McDermott fears for her daughter,
who attends school. McDermott stated “As a parent of a 6-year-old who has two moms, I
am terrified that this bill will end up making her feel like her family is less than others.
My daughter should feel free to discuss her family with whomever she chooses and her
teachers should be allowed to talk to her, too”. An artist, educator, and resident of
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experience in school and how fearful they are about LGBTQ+ children not being able to
be who they are. They stated, “It tightens the little room that LGBTQ youth are already
feeling. I know I already felt out of place as a youth being from a Black and Mexican
home and in a predominantly white institution. To think now I wouldn't even be able to
be my queer self just strips away so much safety and care that youth deserve to feel in
A few teachers were fired as a result of talking about said topics. Ivan Rosas, a
civics and ethics teacher in Iztapalapa (a borough in Mexico City) was fired for
“encouraging his students to be gay”. During an online class, Rosas not only encouraged
his children to “be gay” but he also made a “misogynistic comment” against women. He
said, “They are only good for being moms and being at home”. This caused an uproar,
and his image dissipated. Now, this connects to the fears Ron Desantis had about
Casey Scott, a teacher in Cape Cod was dismissed because of her class
assignments. Scott, who is pansexual herself, had her students make flags with which
they felt identified concerning their own sexuality and gender identity, and at the end of
the activity, she placed the flags around the classroom (Pansexual Teacher Fired 2022).
This infuriated school administrators and they told her to take down the flags. After the
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flags were taken down, the students supported her and many others were confused. The
“incident” reached the ears of the parents, which angered them even more. Due to the
parent's disapproval, Scott lost her job for not “following the curriculum” (Pansexual
Race/ Ethnicity
The Critical Race Theory is an effort to study the history of racism in the United
States, including how that history continues to influence our courts, schools, and other
institutions (Farrag 2021). Back in 2020, former President Donald Trump wanted to cease
the funding of any staff training activities that focused on white privilege and critical race
theory or that suggested the United States or any individual race or ethnicity is
"inherently racist or evil” (Farrag 2021). Many politicians accused this theory of being
“un-American propaganda” as well. In 2021, Arizona passed a law that discussing topics
on race is prohibited in schools. While passing this bill, the court struck down a statewide
ban on masks and employees needing to be vaccinated. Arizona Attorney Mark Bronvich
said in response to this bill: “We will appeal this ruling. Unfortunately, left-wing groups
want to undermine the legislative process and indoctrinate our children with critical race
theory … I will continue to stand for the rule of law and the people of Arizona,”.
(Pendharkar 2021?). If a teacher violated the “law” (which was eventually turned down),
their teaching license would be revoked. It could go as far as the attorney general could
sue a charter school or school district if they violate the law. There also was a five-page
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document that trained and guided teachers on what topics they should not talk about. The
document suggested: Avoiding activities that focus on issues of privilege like privilege
walks and activities that have students examine their explicit and implicit bias
(Pendharkar 2021).
about Florida Governor Ron Desantis’ speeches regarding the banning of teaching CRT.
He stated, “Contrary to what Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis says, teaching America's true
history doesn't teach kids to hate each other--it informs them, encourages them to think
critically, inspires them to embrace tolerance, and allows them to be more engaged
commented on this as well. Ingram stated, “When Ron DeSantis says that critical race
theory is 'based on false history,' he's not interested in really engaging in a debate about
the past. He hopes that by simply uttering the words from his ivory tower, voters, anxious
about threats to their identity and conditioned by the right-wing press, will rally to his
side. The far-right has weaponized the academic study of critical race theory and used it
as a tool to silence the truth about this country. We're essentially seeing a big government
takeover of American classrooms” (AFT and FEA leaders criticize Florida ban on
teaching about systemic racism 2021). After this quote, he ended with: “The reality is that
deep-rooted racism in this country began long before 1776 and continues to touch nearly
every aspect of everyday life for Black and brown Americans. It would be a disservice to
the entire nation to deny children the opportunity to learn the real and often dark past of
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this country. Shame on the Florida State Board of Education,” (AFT and FEA leaders
Even with the anti-CRT laws, there are five documents a teacher can and should
have the Constitution (even the 13th and 15th Amendments). The 13th Amendment states
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude ... shall exist within the United States. The
15th Amendment states “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color. Third,
we have the History of Civic Engagement in the US. Lastly, we have the first Lincoln-
Douglas debate. The main comparison of them all is they were created by white men. The
author of this article commented that the anti-CRT laws are an abomination to education,
but teachers still can teach content that will properly educate the country's children about
the history and current challenges of a nation built by slavery. But, these topics are
irrelevant to today and outdated (after all, most of this took place around the 1600s-
Tennessee teacher Matthew Hawn had been inspired by NPR radio to teach a
controversial lesson in his contemporary issues class. While listening to the radio, they
talked about the shooting of Jacob Blake; an unarmed black man. The person who killed
him happened to be a white police officer. They also contrasted this to Kyle Rittenhouse,
who shot many people in front of police officers, and the police paid no mind to it. Hawn
had an idea; he was going to teach about white privilege. He assigned readings such as
the controversial Ta-Nehisi Coates essay called "The First White President” (which
paired the rise of white supremacy with former President Donald Trump). He also
assigned a poem called “White Privilege” by Kyla Jenee Lacy during the trial of Derek
Chauvin (the police officer who killed George Floyd). A parent of one of his students did
not like this and reported it. The school fired him for “insubordination”. During a school
board meeting, his case was brought up. Hawn fought and said he never received any
materials that were of any help to his class. Some of his students also testified that Hawn
did nothing wrong. They even said Hawn told them to also look up black privilege and
In another article, the author talks about his experience with teaching Critical Race
Theory in his class and how it provides a framework to build. He also talks about how he
started a class that mainly focused on this theory and how it took a long time to have it
This has been the most recent topic many states are looking to ban. In Oklahoma,
Senator Shane Jett was looking into banning social-emotional learning. While talking
about this law, his reason was the “actual objective is to condition children to prescribed
behaviors and 'anti-racist' training, social justice posturing and the sexualization of
minors, all under the guise of affirming feelings. SEL seeks to find 'traumas' in our
leftist political ideologies”. Like the other controversial bills, parents have a right to sue
the school if this law is violated. After long quotes of Jett talking against SEL and
making it into more of a political situation, he ended by saying: “This measure has
nothing to do with stripping our kids' ability to participate in student organizations, or our
teachers' ability to be there for their students. It is strictly about ensuring radical
organizations stay out of our classrooms and curriculum”. (Okla. state sen. 2022)
Iowa also is considering passing its social-emotional learning ban. The law was
conflicts with many families’ beliefs and religions. When interviewed, Salmon said that
social-emotional learning “includes critical race theory”. The main culprits of minimizing
social-emotional learning are conservatives around the country. In previous years, Florida
also followed suit and banned many textbooks that included topics with references to
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critical race theory and additions of social-emotional learning in math textbooks (King
2023).
from social-emotional learning is that they learn how to self-regulate themselves and can
healthily communicate their feelings. In some cases, some children might not have that
kind of support at home. As teachers, they should guide the way and give them the tools
to become citizens. Another benefit is that they can become academically successful. It
also has been found that students who participated in SEL programs saw an 11 percentile
increase in their overall grades and better attendance (What is Social Emotional Learning
2011). Lastly, being involved in an SEL program is key to having good problem-solving
skills. This is an important skill because it not only benefits them now but is crucial to
have in adulthood.
since they are experiencing big emotions. This can be built into learning centers and
something in his classroom called “Coyote Agreements”. These agreements are: our
feelings are safe, our bodies are safe, and our materials are safe (Reflecting on Anti-Bias
Education 2022). Brian also talks about using SEL learning in centers, especially
dramatic play. With dramatic play, children learn skills such as social skills and
Anti-Bias Curriculum
In 2022 Debbie LeeKeenan, John Nizmo, and Filiz Efe McKinney filmed a
documentary called Reflecting on Anti-bias Education In Action: The Early Years. In this
documentary, they show many ways to incorporate topics such as LGBTQ+, different
cultures, and ways to view society. In the description below the video, their statement
said: “Anti-bias education places diversity and equity goals at the heart of everything we
do in early childhood. We begin by affirming each child and family’s social identities and
cultural ways of being. Building on the strengths and knowledge children bring to school,
anti-bias teachers seek the active engagement of families and communities. More than a
set of curriculum activities, this approach is a commitment to equity and social justice.
Anti-bias teachers observe, think critically, and reflect deeply”. (Reflecting on Anti-bias
Education 2022). They broke this documentary down into four different key points.
social identities
In the video, a teacher by the name of Veronica Reynoso does a project which
includes the children looking into tiny mirrors. She guides them to draw what they think
their faces look like with the guide of the tiny mirror. She points out a child who said that
one of the boys (who happened to be Asian) did not have eyelashes. She replies: “In
fairytales, boys do not have eyelashes, but they do. Anyone can have eyelashes”. Another
teacher named Karla Y. Gomez talks about integrating all of the children’s languages in
the classroom. For example, she asks her students and their parents how to say “good
morning” in their home language. With that, she had cloud-shaped sheets with each one
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and the child’s name. They all were learning how to say it as a class and had the student
whose card it was to say it correctly. Another lesson she did was learning how to make
tortillas with Play-Do. As she is Latina herself, she wanted to share her love of her great
grandma’s tortillas.
#2: Diversity: Express comfort and joy with human diversity; accurate language for
Teacher Claudia Garcia was shown talking to the children about the kinds of food
they eat. Having a few children who are Somalian, they talked about what foods they eat
and how they were prepared. Claudia does this every lunch period for everyone to show
that different cultures eat differently. In the next part, Teacher Brian Silveira had a parent
who was in a wheelchair. Due to the curiosity of the young minds, they were intrigued
with his wheelchair. This gave Brian an idea to learn about wheelchairs and what they are
used for. He then brought in an assistant who came to volunteer (who happened to be in a
wheelchair) and she was a wonderful role model for the children. Another teacher they
showed was named Joyce Jackson, who introduced persona doll stories. She had an array
of dolls and she would talk about big topics that are covered through books. For example,
she and Veronica did a persona story about a black and Latina doll. She stated they could
not be friends due to their race and they deemed it unfair. They had the students come up
with different solutions to the unfairness these two dolls faced. Lastly, another teacher
named Maddie Piper had a doll named Nash. She said when somebody asks Nash “Am I
a boy or girl?”, the doll responded with “I’m just a kid”. One of the students responded
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with “Kids can be boys or girls” and another one said “Or maybe non-binary”. The whole
gist of the lesson is that you do not have to feel like you are a boy or girl, you can feel
like a kid!
Brian had an idea to promote positive ideals for the population of the world. While
overhearing some children play with Magna-Tiles, they said they were building a jail for
families who do not have homes. He was able to bring in a parent who was homeless and
told them what she wanted them to know about herself and others who are homeless. In
addition, he also brought in people who worked in the city. Stretching out into a two-
month project, he brought out bigger blocks and the children built comfortable homes
with pillows for the homeless instead of the jails. He said their play improved and it
inspired the children to do more to ensure the safety of the homeless people.
#4: Action: Demonstrate empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone,
Teacher Nadia Jaboneta was conflicted about whether or not to bring up the death of
George Floyd. After dialoguing with Brian, they were planning on talking about George Floyd
and the Black Lives Matter movement. Much to Nadia’s chagrin, one of her students announced
his knowledge of the Floyd situation during snack time. Not prepared, Nadia mirrors back what
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he said and acknowledges that it happened. She then talked about the anger many people had
during this movement and said she was angry herself. She told the students “When I’m angry, I
think of how I can help.” She started this project by reading Enough! 20 Protestors Who
Changed America. This story contains stories such as former 49ers quarterback Colin
Kaepernick, who kneeled during the national anthem. Then, she had them make their own Black
Lives Matter signs and they had a little protest in their classroom. To wrap up, they wrote
statements about the injustice blacks were facing. These contained the definition of the
movement and what they have been doing to protest their rights.
Conclusion
Teacher Brain Silveira once said, “Children need to feel safe to be whoever they
want to be”. Due to the laws being passed consisting of banning LGBTQ+ education,
Critical Race Theory, and Social Emotional Learning have been proven to be detrimental
to children’s mental health. In the Anti-Bias Curriculum, they take these topics and
integrate them into their everyday classroom. Because of the copious amounts of states
proposing bans on these teachings, they could be an outdated practice. With the efforts of
teachers to be progressive in the classrooms, they have lost their jobs. Moreover, this is
an ongoing issue in all states and the future of education could be in peril.
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