She taught about race, was made to stop and now wonders how she will continue to teach with trust and 'authenticity'

Mary Wood's students reported her for a lesson on racism.
(Photo by Will Crooks, The Washington Post)

Seeking to have her all-white class understand more about racial history and identities, teacher Mary Wood of Chapin, South Carolina, had her students read a book "that dissects what it means to be Black in America. . . . Her students reported her for "[making] them ashamed to be White, violating 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," reports Hannah Natanson for The Washington Post.

The book was Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me, which Wood paired with educational videos. Natanson writes, "Reading Coates' book felt like 'reading hate propaganda towards white people,' one student wrote. . . . At least two parents complained. . . . Within days, school administrators ordered Wood to stop teaching the lesson. They placed a formal letter of reprimand in her file. It instructed her to keep teaching 'without discussing this issue with your students.'" Wood completed the semester "feeling defeated and betrayed — not only by her students but also by the school system that raised her. The high school Wood teaches at is the same one she attended."

Chapin is about 25 miles northwest
of Columbia, S.C.  (Wikipedia map)

A local newspaper reported Wood's censure, and the conflict spread. "At school board meetings and online Facebook groups, the citizens of wealthy, White and conservative Chapin debated whether Wood should be fired," Natanson reports. "Republican state representatives showed up to a June meeting to blast her as a lawbreaker. The next month, a county NAACP leader declared her an 'advocate for the education of all students.'"

South Carolina is one of 18 states "to restrict education on race since 2021, according to an Education Week tally. And at least half the country has passed laws that limit instruction on race, history, sex or gender identity, per a Washington Post analysis. Wood is not the first teacher to get caught in the crossfire: The Post previously reported that at least 160 educators have lost their positions since the pandemic due to political debates," Natanson adds.

Wood now wonders if she can trust her students and the system that told her to teach an authentic curriculum that helps young adults enter a challenging world. "And for Wood, teaching authentically means assigning writers like Coates—voices unfamiliar, even disconcerting, to students in her lakeside town," Natanson writes. "Because of what happened last year, though, Wood now worried anything, from the most provocative essay to the least interesting comment about her weekend, might be resisted, recorded and reported by the children she's supposed to teach."