South Carolina Teacher Reported By Students For Teaching Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Book
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
A South Carolina teacher was reported by her students for teaching Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me. According to the Washington Post, English teacher Mary Wood sought to teach her all-white class about what it means to be Black in America using Coates’ literature. However, she was reported by two of her students. They notified the school board that Wood was attempting to discuss race in the classroom.
“The students wrote in emails that the book made them ashamed to be white,” the outlet documented. “[Her lesson] violated a South Carolina proviso that forbids teachers from making students’ feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress’ on account of their race.”
Students also expressed that reading Coates’ book felt like “reading hate propaganda towards white people.” “I understand in AP Lang we are learning to develop an argument and have evidence to support it, yet this topic is too heavy to discuss,” another student wrote to the board. “I actually felt ashamed to be Caucasian.”
After receiving complaints, school administrators demanded Mary Wood to “stop teaching the lesson.” The administration sent her a formal letter of reprimand and also placed a copy in her file. “It instructed her to keep teaching ‘without discussing this issue with your students,'” the outlet added.
Following the controversy, other teachers called for her to be fired for “breaking the law.” One of her colleagues expressed she was “confused” to see Wood still have a job. While the outlet doesn’t state whether or not Mary’s job was threatened, the Post did include a statement regarding the school district’s feelings regarding the teacher.
“The district declined to answer questions about Wood’s employment, but board members have previously said the power to punish teachers rests with school-level administrators. Wood said she has received no discipline beyond the reprimand letter,” it read.
According to SCstatehouse.gov, South Carolina passed S246 in early 2023. The bill required teachers to “implement policies respecting the intellectual freedom and dignity of each student, teacher, and staff member.” However, much like Florida’s infamous law, the bill demands that “instruction and teaching materials on the topics enumerated in this section must be consistent with six principles related to race and gender.”
These six principles include: “no race is inherently superior to another race; no person is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously, solely by virtue of the individual’s race or gender; no person’s moral character is inherently determined by his race or gender; a person, by virtue of his race or gender, does not bear personal responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or gender; a person should not be instructed that he must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress for actions, in which he played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race or gender; and an individual should not be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment due solely to his race or gender.”
More from VIBE.com
