Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy

America’s most influential teacher’s union leader tells the anti-fascist history of public education, warning that American teachers today are under a new fascist assault--from book bans to culture wars and organized groups of “concerned” parents dictating what can be taught.

In 1940, as Hitler was gaining power and territory across Europe, a Nazi puppet government was put in power in Norway.  Teachers were among the first to publicly resist their rule—and they were winning. Frustrated that their attempts to recruit teachers into the party failed, the Nazis barged into Norway’s schools, beating teachers and students. When they still refused to submit, the Nazis closed the schools.  But the teachers figured out how to teach in private.  Increasingly incensed, the fascist government sent 1,300 teachers to concentration camps and 500 others to forced labor camps.  Even there, teachers kept teaching--and students kept learning how to think for themselves.  

As the head of one of the largest teacher’s union in the country, Randi Weingarten sees firsthand how today’s teachers are guarding American democracy against the threat of fascism. Drawing on history and decades of experience in the American public school system, she argues that teaching students to think critically is the key to defeating would-be dictators. She encourages teachers to continue promoting difference and healthy debate in their classrooms, and warns against censorship and complacency, looking to history to warn us all about what can happen if we devalue teachers and public schools.

Part history and part call to arms, Why Fascists Fear Teachers is a manifesto for American teachers from the author that Trump-appointed former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo once called “the most dangerous person in the world.” This deeply researched, urgent book from teachers’ greatest champion is necessary reading for our times.