At its core, anti-racist education is about good history teaching, and opposition to it poses a threat to education as a whole, writes correspondent Garrett Baylor Stell.

In classrooms around the world, one of the defining education questions of our time is no longer just how to teach about racism and prejudice – but whether to teach these topics at all.

The question has become something of a litmus test for the morality of an education system, and a rising chorus of ‘nays’ should be giving us all pause.

Education is, in many ways, a window into a nation’s conscience. What we are willing to confront and teach about racism in the classroom by and large reflects how much we are willing to face and address in society. In the grand scheme of the historical injustices done to minorities in the Western world, presenting the facts about the transatlantic slave trade, Jim Crow laws in the United States, and atrocities committed in the name of the empire across the world represents the bare minimum effort.

To avoid teaching those realities risks perpetuating a collective amnesia – an ignorance which warps both history and identity.

In recent years, however, there have been movements that look to push deeper into intellectual territory that is more accurate, more productive and more uncomfortable – especially so for the majority.

In true teacher fashion, however, these movements are not just vague ideas that we should be trying to do more. They come with a framework for viewing issues of racism and inequality and situating their study in the context of different subject areas. What teacher doesn’t love a bit of pedagogy chat, after all?

Anti-racist education has become one of the most popular taglines, and the majority of these........

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