Katie Huggins’s Reviews > Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy > Status Update

I butchered the quote too much to get it to fit in the text bubble. I really do wish we were granted more space… I realized that there was much more than needed to be shared, so I have combined three small portions that have stuck out to me….

“Fascism is an approach to politics that rejects independent critical thinking;Moving people around fear and rage, which makes them more receptive to strawmen leaders who then strip away collective rights and freedoms. Facists construct an extreme story of “us versus them”, replacing facts + critical thinking with propaganda that romanticizes the nations past while casting ethnic, religious and social minorities as fundamental threats to that nations present and future. That scapegoating whips up not only resentment but also dehumanization and violence. Meanwhile, freedom + democracy decline, as do pluralism and a sense of community.

Anti Government extremists and far right are in practice, at this exact moment in history, these forces and others are conspiring to destroy the public education system and with it, the building blocks for opportunities for all.

The more important point, no matter the wording, the fascist agenda is not only antithetical to public education, public schools, but for young people and democracy. In the 1930s, Hitler and Mussolini persecuted teachers and tried to control curriculum, the Iran’s cultural revolution had closed universes and restricted academic freedom. From Russia, to Indonesia, to Hungary, to Chile… fascists and authoritarian governments have sought to attack teachers and control not only what students learn, but what and how they think. Authoritarian attacks on teachers aren’t new in the USA, either. In the reconstruction era following the end of the civil war, the United States tried to remedy the inequalities of slavery and the ways that the legacy continued to shape the countries economy, politics and culture. In the South, the first thing that newly freed slaves did was build new schools.”


00:42:31 down & 05:53:33 left to go. Due in 17 days.