Does This York High Teacher Give Biased Lessons?

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst resident Tom Chavez is not the first one to say that Elmhurst social studies teachers have a liberal bias in their lessons. But he is the first one recently to give a name to the school board.

At last week's meeting, he said York High School teacher Lindsey DiTomasso has shown such a bias in her classroom by using the Zinn Education Project in her lessons. He said both sides of issues should be presented.

"The issue is she only teaches one side, and that's called indoctrination," Chavez said. "There's nothing from the other side."

DiTomasso has not returned two messages for comment from Patch. She has posted her reasons for using the Zinn project in her classroom on the group's website.

In an email to Patch, Chavez said DiTomasso's social media posts reflected her mindset and ideology. One of Chavez's examples is a post from May, in which DiTomasso retweeted a message from a teacher in Bronx, New York. It was about the "Wheel of Power/Privilege," which includes categories such as skin color, gender, language, citizenship and formal education.

"I love this Power/Privilege wheel," the teacher, Islah Tauheed, tweeted. "I use it all the time to illustrate whiteness, but it really burns me up that it doesn't include Christianity as a religion of power."

In recent days, DiTomasso deleted her Twitter account.

The Zinn Education project is named after Howard Zinn, a liberal historian who wrote "A People's History of the United States" in 1980. Zinn, who died a decade ago, once told a biographer that he was "something of a Marxist."

According to the project's website, the goal of the curriculum is to introduce students to a "more accurate, complex and engaging understanding of United States history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula." The lessons, the website says, emphasize the role of working people, women, people of color and organized social movements in shaping history.

DiTomasso's endorsements of the project appear at least three times on the website.

"The Zinn Education Project has been so helpful to access thought-provoking resources, simulations, and role plays that reinforce the text while also teaching social justice and citizenship," she said.

In another case, DiTomasso praised the part of the curriculum titled "The Constitutional Convention: Who Really Won?"

"The simulation allows for students to not only use their critical thinking skills, but to challenge the traditional mythology and romanticism of American values and democracy," she wrote.

On its website, the Zinn project acknowledged it is frequently told that school districts won't allow "A People's History" because it is too biased.

"No doubt, Zinn’s A People’s History has a perspective — and it is one that Zinn invites readers to think about in the very first chapter," the website said. "That’s one of the reasons why we don’t consider Zinn’s book 'biased,' because it is not hidden, unlike conventional textbooks produced by giant corporations, which never ask students to interrogate their perspective."

The group said Zinn's book offers perspectives from people who have been at the margins. Zinn was a World War II bombardier and participated in the Civil Rights Movement.

In his email, Chavez said his son requested to move out of DiTomasso's class into another section of American Studies because his son strongly disagreed with her presentation of the information.

"Can she be trusted to present sensitive subjects in a fair and balanced manner? Can students feel safe to express their opinions in her class?" Chavez said.

At last week's board meeting, Chavez said York High School teachers were indoctrinating students with Marxist ideology in the classroom. He told Patch he has testimonials from students to make that case.

Patch has seen no evidence that York teachers are promoting Marxism, which contains the theories that form the basis for communism. Martin Luther King Jr. was often accused of being a communist.