Perhaps this is why, when I talked to Daniel on Monday, he seemed so flabbergasted that anyone could not be as upset as he was over this issue.
"I don't have any objections to students learning about civil rights or whatever," he said. "But if we're going to learn about real facts, then move it to a history class."
So inequality in school systems shouldn't be addressed? I asked.
"That's a vague theory, in my view," Daniel responded.
You're saying that inequality in Knox County schools is not a fact? I asked.
"It's not something that should be discussed in reading classes. There is no statement of fact, that, say, this happened in Chicago in 1966. It needs to be in a history class."
I pressed him again, then again.
"Why does a fourth grader need to learn about race?!" Daniel snapped.