IWF Education Freedom Center Director Ginny Gentles’ testimony can be found HERE once the hearing begins.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ginny Gentles, director of the Education Freedom Center at Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), will testify in front of the House Oversight Committee, Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, at 10 a.m. ET tomorrow, May 19, on free speech in American schools.
The hearing, entitled “Free Speech Under Attack Part II: Curriculum Sabotage and Classroom Censorship,” will examine the ongoing debate surrounding what is being taught in K-12 schools about American history, race, and LGBTQ+ issues. But, the bigger issue is the learning loss children faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gentles, the only minority witness, will testify alongside majority witnesses: Willie Carver, a former teacher from Mount Sterling, Kentucky; Jennifer Cousins, a parent from Orlando, Florida; Suzanne Nossel, CEO at PEN America; Timothy Snyder, the Richard C. Levin professor of history at Yale University; and James Whitfield, former principal at Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, Texas.
In her testimony, Gentles writes, “The primary purpose of the education system is not to indoctrinate children or leverage them in political debates, but to educate students. How have schools been doing with this primary responsibility? An avalanche of research suggests that our education system is failing to deliver on this most basic promise of developing an informed citizenry, equipped with basic skills and knowledge and prepared for the workforce. I know lawmakers have called this hearing to discuss school materials, but the bigger crisis for our nation’s students is that of learning loss.”
Her proposed solutions to the learning loss crisis faced by American children include:
- Investing supplemental federal funding in student-centered strategies like tutoring.
- Empowering parents to leave public schools that do not prioritize academic instruction and to enroll their children in educational options committed to educating, not indoctrinating students.
- Funding students directly by creating flexible education spending accounts.
Gentles’s full testimony can be found HERE once the hearing begins.
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