“A People’s History” of the Opt Out Movement
The following post was written by Tim Slekar, one of the founders of United Opt Out National.
Howard Zinn talked about the writing of history and the intentional omission of certain facts and the strategic use of other facts in composing historical narratives. His famous A People’s History of the United States was and still is most people’s first crash course with a critical narrative history of our country. It’s the one book that most people read and very often quizzically ask, “Why wasn’t I taught this in school?”
There are many possible reasons, but as Howard talked about in the book, the most common reason—critical narratives that upset the status quo or question a power arrangement are not typically looked upon favorably. Critical narratives are dismissed simply because they disrupt the narrative of those that wish to own history.
Over the weekend a “history” of the opt-out movement was made public. Was this history factual? It was filled with facts that’s for sure. But many facts were forgotten and the arrangement of the other facts told an interesting story—a new narrative.
This new narrative devalues other peoples’ facts and starts the process of supplanting a fictional feel-good story of good old American heroism.
This is not to say that the individuals included in this history did not act courageously or heroically—they did. However, this simplistic narrative washes away the blood sweat and tears of those that came beforeand distorts reality.
Many of those that came before spent sleepless nights contemplating opt out. They sacrificed professional "A People's History" of the Opt Out Movement - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:
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