The question of what is taught and when it is taught is not a new conversation. We've been arguing about sex education curricula for the past 50 years as part of the so-called "culture wars". 100 years ago, we were debating whether or not to teach evolution in our schools. So, the more recent debates around critical race theory and a more accurate depiction of the full extent of U.S. history from the perspective of all it's citizens is not a new debate. Ron DeSantis may be making quite a scene down in Florida, which I'm sure has nothing to do with his imminent campaign announcement, but these debates are happening all over the country, just as they have been for decades.
The question of what we teach our children and who is responsible for making those decisions has existed from the moment states began passing compulsory education laws in the 1860s. From the beginning, the constitution had nothing to say on the matter of education, and the establishment of education became one of the rights afforded to the states with the passing of the 10th amendment. The federal government was not in the business of educating its' citizens but rather left that to the states themselves, and the people within those states.
This is, of course, not to say that the federal government has not gotten increasingly involved in education over the past 50 years. They continue to ensure equal access to education under the law, and have increasingly implemented additional requirements and expectations for educational outcomes. By-in-large, though, education remains a state and local matter. This is why the recent trend in censoring content, banning courses, and censoring library materials is so troublesome. These decisions purport to be made by state officials, acting in the best interests of the people. However, the peoples' voices have thus far not factored into these decisions.
If the dog whistle language (i.e. CRT) was removed and simple, straight forward descriptions of the content, courses, and book titles were shared, I'm willing to bet a majority of people would have no problem with the education happening. We certainly see this in sex education conversations, where a consistent majority of parents are and have been in favor of more comprehensive sex education. This hasn't stopped us from pouring billions into abstinence-only education, despite the clear research to prove it doesn't work.
The 10th amendment states " The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people". I'm particularly interested in those last 4 words, "or to the people", as we consider what is taught to our children. The people have the power to make more informed decisions when given straight forward information, but that means sifting through the bureaucracy, the bait and switch language, and the fear mongering. Never mind that Critical Race Theory is never going to show up in an elementary classroom because it's a graduate-level conversation. We need to make more of an effort to empower the people to form more informed opinions.
Oh, and did I mention we need to trust our teachers? We need to trust the education professionals to make the best choices for our children's learning. These are decisions based on the best available research at the time, and those decisions will change over time as we learn more. At no point do I think I should have any say in what is taught in a math classroom or a science classroom, so why should a history classroom or a library be any different? History is not dangerous. Books are not dangerous. People that seek to control our consumption of that information are dangerous. If they are telling you not to talk about it, odds are it's 100% worth talking about.
