Ed Post

“Wars are won by teachers.” — Vladimir Putin (quoted by Randi Weingarten) That single line could serve as the thesis for Randi Weingarten’s new book, “Why Fascists Fear Teachers.” It’s less a memoir than a warning shot — a fiery, historically grounded defense of public education as democracy’s last stand. Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), doesn’t mince words.

I have a vague memory of sitting on a little wooden potty chair in my grandparents’ living room. Green shag carpet beneath my feet. Positioned in front of a massive television, back when TVs looked more like furniture than flat screens. And there I met them: Kermit, Ernie and Bert, Big Bird, Oscar, The Count, and my favorite, Grover. I couldn’t have known it was all a bait-and-switch. It was broccoli wrapped in candy colors. Education as entertainment —I ate it up.

It is that time of year again. It is time for some teachers somewhere to completely botch incorporating Thanksgiving and Native Americans into the curriculum. However, this does not need to occur. Teachers can take the time to research and plan to avoid being the next teacher to go viral for missteps in the classroom. Teaching starts with the state standards.

Thanksgiving is upon us—in the air, in the trees, in the longer nights, and anticipation of a long weekend. But also in the grocery stores and in our schools. Thanksgiving has been distilled into a hardly visible holiday in schools, one that rarely drives curricular instruction. And yet, when we do mention it, it is almost entirely the mythology that we teach. Particularly in pre-school and elementary school, we discuss Thanksgiving (the myth), and our learning lasts a lifetime.

I wanted to bring this to your attention because, with everything happening in the world right now, changes like this can easily slip past people. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the Department of Education’s new definition of what counts as a professional degree have not received the attention they deserve. Yet these changes carry serious implications for teachers, school librarians, counselors, reading specialists, and future education leaders. They are not small adjustments.

As I sat with my 7-year-old daughter and her friends in a movie theater for a showing of “Frozen II,” I was fascinated. No, it wasn’t with the autumn scenery, or Olaf’s comedic retelling of the first Frozen, or of Elsa and Anna’s acts of heroism during the climax of the film. Instead, I was highly satisfied with the way they portrayed the indigenous tribe of the Northuldra and their relations with the mostly white leaders of Arendelle. Spoiler Alert.

Since urging my preschool to eliminate Columbus Day from the school calendar, I continuously contemplate how to teach about Native Americans, and especially Thanksgiving, in the most developmentally appropriate way. I’ve ordered board books, folk tales and informational texts, but it always feels superficial. A curriculum that went beyond the uses of foods and plants, housing and music was lacking.

Today’s teenagers can produce a viral video in 60 seconds, yet many struggle to name the three branches of government. That failure is less an indictment of them than of us. We’ve treated civics as something to memorize and quickly forget, not something valuable to practice and learn. In reality, we know thatcivics educationrequires the cultivation of skills, such as problem-solving, media literacy, and negotiation.

As I sat with my 7-year-old daughter and her friends in a movie theater for a showing of "Frozen II," I was fascinated. No, it wasn’t with the autumn scenery, or Olaf’s comedic retelling of the first Frozen, or of Elsa and Anna’s acts of heroism during the climax of the film. Instead, I was highly satisfied with the way they portrayed the indigenous tribe of the Northuldra and their relations with the mostly white leaders of Arendelle. Spoiler Alert.

We Can Tell the Truth About Thanksgiving to Our Preschoolers, Too 5:02 Since urging my preschool to eliminate Columbus Day from the school calendar, I continuously contemplate how to teach about Native Americans, and especially Thanksgiving, in the most developmentally appropriate way. I’ve ordered board books, folk tales and informational texts, but it always feels superficial. A curriculum that went beyond the uses of foods and plants, housing and music was lacking.