Across the United States, educators are confronting what may be the most sweeping attack on the freedom to teach and learn since the McCarthy era. Teachers are being pressured over what they can teach, what books students can read, which histories can be discussed, and whose identities can be affirmed in school. Public attention has understandably focused on the most visible forms of repression: banned books, prohibited lessons, restrictive legislation, attacks on diversity initiatives, and educators disciplined for what they say or display in their classrooms.
Educational censorship, then, cannot be measured only by counting banned books, enacted laws, or educators formally disciplined. It also operates through anticipation, uncertainty, and self-censorship. The Freedom to Teach and Learn Survey helps make those less-visible effects visible — while also documenting the collective resistance educators are building in response.
The chilling effect is real. So is the resistance.
HRE USA is a project of the Center for Transformative Action.