The truism that “all politics are local” is under challenge. The new mantra is that “all politics are national”.

As a retired high school social studies instructor who taught at Sumner High School for 31 years, an Nov. 18 editorial in the Tacoma News Tribune, “When Teachers Start Self-Censoring,” caught my attention.

“According to EdChoice and Morning Consult’s most recent educator survey, which polled teachers at the end of September, about 40% of America’s teachers say they’ve had to change what they teach or discuss in class because of political pressure…. Fifty-six percent said they’ve decided on their own to avoid or limit discussion of political or social topics in class, a 13-point jump since spring.”

The pressure about what to teach for public schools comes from three sources: a

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