A Teacher Used A Popular Book About Systemic Racism — Then Students Started Complaining

In February, as part of Black History Month, a high school teacher in South Carolina had to stop using Ta-Nehisi Coates’ memoir “Between the World and Me” in a lesson plan about systemic racism — because teachers are prohibited from making students feel uncomfortable about their race or gender in the state.

Students complained after Mary Wood, who teaches Advanced Placement Language Arts at Chapin High School in Chapin, South Carolina, included the book in a lesson intended to guide students through participating in civil debate, local news outlet The State first reported.

Wood’s lesson plan was a part of preparing for Advanced Placement tests and involved watching two videos about systemic racism, reading Coates’ memoir and doing research with a variety of sources. Then, students were meant to write essays on their understanding of the book and make an argument about whether they agreed with Coates that systemic racism is a problem in the U.S.

“This wasn’t one side or the other,” Wood, who has been teaching for 14 years, told HuffPost. “I wanted them to develop their own understanding.”

Students complained that the lesson made them feel ashamed to be white and were successful in blocking the section on systemic racism entirely.

“Hearing (Wood’s) opinion and watching these videos made me feel uncomfortable,” one student said in their complaint. “I actually felt ashamed to be Caucasian. These videos portrayed an inaccurate description of life from past centuries that she is trying to resurface.”

In 2021, South Carolina Republicans included a provision in the state budget stipulating that taxpayer dollars may not be used to teach lessons suggesting that any race or sex is inherently “racist, sexist, or oppressive whether consciously or unconsciously” or that cause anyone to feel “guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his race or sex.”

“If the goal is to undermine public education, they’re doing a good job of it,” Wood said of the lawmakers who passed the policy. “You cannot talk about glitter and rainbows and still get students to engage with differing viewpoints.”

Once the lesson, which Wood had taught the previous year without issue, was axed, she said she kept her head down and proceeded with an improvised lesson plan using AP tests from the past.

“I was mortified professionally and I felt my hands were tied,” she said. “I certainly didn’t want to use anything self-selected.”

South Carolina’s policy that essentially bars teachers from teaching about certain topics is a disservice to students, Wood said, especially those who are supposed to be preparing for college.

“I don’t want my kid to go into a college classroom thinking a professor isn’t allowed to speak about a topic because he came from a high school that limited instruction,” Wood said.

But schools nationwide have moved to limit what teachers can teach in their classrooms. Republicans have made critical race theory a boogeyman for conservative parents.

In reality, it’s a college-level academic theory that studies the way racism has influenced policy-making in the United States, but the GOP has perverted it to mean any discussion of racism or inequality. Lawmakers in Florida, Texas and Oklahoma are among those who have restricted what teachers can say in their own classrooms. Meanwhile, educators are on edge, fearing that saying the wrong thing could cost them their jobs.

And South Carolina, like many states, is in the throes of a teacher shortage. The state had nearly 1,500 teacher vacancies when the 2022-23 school year started, according to an annual report — an increase of approximately 500 from the prior academic year.

South Carolina educators cite the same issues that are plaguing their colleagues in other states, including low pay, funding cuts and limited support from administrators. But the culture wars are wearing on them, too, as routine lessons about racism and history have been turned into just another political talking point. Educators who try to teach full and accurate history are labeled radicals who are out to indoctrinate children.

And South Carolina Republicans do not plan on stopping at the current provision, which will remain in effect unless the legislature removes it.

A bill requiring “fact-based” discussion on lessons about race is pending in the legislature. It does not specifically mention critical race theory, but, like the budget provision, it does bar educators from teaching their students that any race is inherently oppressive and outlines steps for parents to object to lessons being taught at school. However, it does not include the restriction that bans making a student uncomfortable.

“The First Amendment protects freedom of speech,” Wood said. “And if the state government is intentionally limiting freedom of speech, then they are the ones supporting the indoctrination that teachers are always being accused of.”