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Larry Strauss, Opinion columnist Published 1:00 a.m. MT May 17, 2021

My job is to challenge students to wrestle with ambiguities. Trying to convince them critical race theory is valid would be indoctrination, not teaching.

Rep. Justin Lafferty of the Tennessee General Assembly debates critical race theory bill on May 4, 2021, in Nashville.(Photo: AP)

When I read that Tennessee legislators hadpassed a ban on teachingcritical race theoryin public schools,I remembered the oath I swore to the country when I was hired to teach public school in Los Angeles. I had to promise not to promote any ideas that could lead to the overthrow of our government (I was flattered to be suspected of having such power).

I do not live in Tennessee and have only been to the state twice in my life, but this is a concerning trend. Restrictions and prohibitions on what teachers can and cannot say or teach about the ugly and ongoing history of race in the United States are emerging not only in Tennessee but also in Indiana, Texasand other states. In Oklahoma, the governor was kicked off a commission on the 1921 Tulsa race massacre last week for signing a ban.

These measures may satisfy the concerns ofwhite parentswho fear a conspiracy ofleftist political indoctrinationgripping ourpublic schools. Or parents who wish to protect theirchildrenfromthe discomfort or shame of our racial past and present.At the very least,there are politicalpoints to be scored from adunk shotonprogressive ideology that simultaneously condemns and censors it.

Censoring K-12 teachers is nothing new, as I know from personal experience.I've never been accused of violating the oath I took 30 years ago, but the truth is it wouldn't have been difficult to build a case against me. Teaching kids to think for themselves which I proudly do is a threat to those with political and economic power, albeit a very small one from my small corner of the universe.

I have never explicitly advocated any political or economic ideology, but I certainly have not tried to hide from studentsanyinjustices, past or present, nor discouraged themfromtheir ownradical thinking.My job is tochallenge everything they say. To show them multiple perspectives to anything and everything and demand evidence for any and all claims they make. If they areskeptical of popular or traditional beliefs andanyonein positions of power including me then I have done my job.

Los Angeles high school teacher Larry Strauss says goodbye to his fall 2020 class on Zoom.(Photo: Family photo)

I do not "teach critical race theory" and I never will.I will teach them about itand helpthemunderstand its assertions and the evidence appropriate to support those assertions but it must always be up to students to arrive at their own conclusions.

Students: Police don't belong in schools. Here's how we forced them out.

An educators job is to present ways of thinking. Not ever to "teach" children what to think or how to see the world or the history of it.Ifanyteachersobjective is to convince students of the validity ofcritical race theory or any other theory on raceor anything else,theyare not teaching; and those concerned parents are right. That is indoctrination.

Any educator anywhere teaching anything must not only accept but also cultivate dissent from students or they are not really educators.

Larry Strauss, a high school teacher in South Los Angeles and a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors(Photo: Anthony Maya)

Like anyone else, educatorshave opinions and, yes,biases. And if we believe we are right in our views, then we ought to have confidence that those views, presented objectively along the spectrum of views, will convince their young minds. More important, we should be open-minded enough to accept when a student arrives at a different conclusion.

Put simply, if we wont listen to reason, why should they?

If your objective is to make childrenof any ethnicityfeel shame or guilt, you should not be working with children.You shouldnt be teaching anywhere.

Our objective should be to open their eyes and trust that they will open their hearts. One of our most effective tools to that end is to listen, to show that we care aboutour studentsand respect them as individualswith minds of their own.

I wish someone would explain this to the politicians who believeit's their obligation to narrow the scope ofreality we may present to children,who believe that learning can occur without some discomfort, and who seem not to understand that any idea they seek to ban from our curricular discourse is easily accessed on the internet.

College: Does your first-choice college have you on the waitlist? You better come up with a Plan B.

In the information age, abridging the curriculum like this only serves to make school less relevant. Most students, especially if they go on to college, will learn about critical race theory one way or another. If you think it's a bogus theory, encourage those students to do the research. Otherwise, they'llknow you're just hiding a truth that angers orembarrasses you.

Real education authentic, legitimateand meaningful means providing opportunities for students to wrestle with the ambiguities of the world they are supposed to inherit. The lawmakers of Tennessee are selling out thechildren they are supposed to represent, ensuring that fewer of them will be prepared to function at a high level in a complex and ambiguous world.

Larry Strauss is ahigh school English teacher and retiredbasketball coach in South Los Angeles. A member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors, he isthe author of more than a dozen books, most recently"Students First and Other Lies: Straight Talk From a Veteran Teacher"and, on audio,"Now's the Time"(narrated by Kim Fields). Follow him on Twitter:@LarryStrauss

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Bad teaching: Bans on critical race theory in schools narrow reality and sell out kids - AZCentral.com