Letter: McClaughry: Editor of The Tone Deaf Times – Brattleboro Reformer

To the editor: One thing you can always count on from John McClaughry is his uncanny ability to spout the most tone deaf nonsense under the guise of some other seemingly valid concern. The other is that he is the print version of Fox News. Let me add a third; I would wager that he hasn't set foot in a public school in the past 3 or more decades. No matter, that makes him an expert on threats to our American way of life by way of public schools teaching a "radical curriculum" to our innocent, impressionable young minds ("Public school democracy: Voice vs. choice," Oct. 19). And, oh, by the way, there's nothing wrong with public education that a simple school choice for all won't fix.

As usual with McClaughry mistruths and half truths, where does one even begin?

Be very suspect whenever someone with a media pulpit, especially John McClaughry and his ilk, tries to convince you that Critical Race Theory (CRT) is the latest invasion of "political correctness" in the public school curriculum. Talk to any teacher or administrator in Vermont and other public schools and they will tell you that the best they hope to achieve in school is the teaching of respect, the fostering of an open-minded spirit that accepts difference and celebrates diversity. They will have the "lived experience" of working day to day with the challenges of achieving this when the culture at large doesn't celebrate it enough. The far-right drum beating and fear mongering on CRT is just another smokescreen to erase and deny the deep-seated history of racism in this country and the long-overdue work to reconcile Americans to the truth of a shameful past.

Bill Conley

Dummerston, Oct. 20

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Letter: McClaughry: Editor of The Tone Deaf Times - Brattleboro Reformer