I teach history....in California...6-7-8th grade...I know what the curriculum and what the textbooks contain. Do teachers have biases ? Absolutely and it certainly seeps into the day to day teachings. In my experience though the biggest impact teachers have on students and shaping their world views is the interactions between the lessons. The goal is to present the class with the basic (black/white, not racial)facts of an event and then the students can hopefully decide the gray areas. I have a ton of Catholic students and when I cover the Reformation specifically the Inquisition it does get a little uncomfortable. You still just stay in between the lines and do your best to leave opinion to the side. I have a day where we just cover Medieval torture devices and the kids love it, but the uncomfortable truth is the Church was the one using most of these devices. Not once have I had a parent complain to me about speaking ill of the Catholic Church. Kids (for the most part) know where teachers are coming from and are smart enough to separate fact from opinion. Those that arent seem to have kept quiet. The not so quiet secret is that history classes are now glorified electives there exist solely to support the English skills curriculum. I am more concerned about a students inability to type a coherent essay than I am than their ability to solve centuries long race relations. This year will be the most challenging year I have ever had. Kids havent been in class for almost 18 months. Social skills are going to need to be seriously fine tuned. Plus having to wear those stupid masks is going to be the death of me.