Across much of the country, Republican officials are reaching into K-12 classrooms and universities alike to exert control over what can be taught. In Florida, Texas, and many other states, laws now restrict teaching historical facts about race and racism. Book challenges and bans are surging. Public universities are seeing political meddling in the tenure process. Advocates of these measures say, in effect, that education must emphasize only the positive aspects of American history. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the New York Times Magazine reporter who developed the 1619 Project, and Jelani Cobb, the dean of the Columbia University School of Journalism, talk with David Remnick about the changing climate for intellectual freedom. “I just think it’s rich,” Hannah-Jones says, “that the people who say they are opposing indoctrination are in fact saying that curricula must be patriotic.” She adds, “You don’t ban books, you don’t ban curriculum, you don’t ban the teaching of ideas, just to do it. You do it to control what we are able to understand and think about and imagine for our society.”
Bonnie Raitt Talks with David Remnick
The Custody Battles Awaiting Mothers of Children Conceived in Rape
What Exactly Does “Woke” Mean, and How Did It Become so Powerful?
Michael Schulman on Oscars History, and a Visit with “Annie” Composer Charles Strouse
A Local Paper First Sounded the Alarm on George Santos. Nobody Listened.
Deepti Kapoor Discusses “Age of Vice” with Parul Sehgal
In Politics, How Old Is Too Old?
The Photographer Who Documented a Long-Forgotten Pan-African Festival
Bob Woodward on His Trump Tapes
“Giselle,” and What to Do with the Problematic Past – Part II
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