Senate passes a bill to prevent indoctrination in schools.

The North Carolina Senate today passed Senate Leader Phil Berger’s (R-Rockingham) bill opposing discrimination in school curriculum.

Read Sen. Berger’s full remarks on the proposal.

What’s in the Bill

The legislation does not permit public schools to compel students “to affirm or profess belief in” several discriminatory concepts, including:

*    That one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex;
*    An individual, solely by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive;
*    An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of his or her race or sex;
*    A meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist;
*    Particular character traits, values, moral or ethical codes, privileges, or beliefs should be ascribed to a race or sex, or to an individual because of the individual’s race or sex.

Sen. Berger asked if any senator in the chamber wished to change any of the listed concepts. None spoke up, yet every Democrat still voted “no.”

The bill affirms the public school system’s mission to accurately teach students about North Carolina’s racial past and all of its ugliness, including the cruelties of slavery, the Wilmington riots, and the Jim Crow era.

The bill explicitly protects impartial instruction “on the historical oppression of a particular group of people based on race [or] ethnicity” and “assigning materials that incorporate concepts for educational purposes in contexts that make clear the public school unit does not sponsor, approve, or endorse such concepts or works.”

Sen. Berger said, “Students must not be forced to adopt an ideology that is separate and distinct from history; an ideology that promotes ‘present discrimination’ – so long as it’s against the right people – as ‘antiracist.'”

The bill now returns to the N.C. House of Representatives for concurrence.