AFT Resolution

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

WHEREAS, basic goals of public education include teaching young people both to think critically and to know their rights under the law and the United States Constitution; and

WHEREAS, the academic freedom which is prerequisite to this teaching has been denied teachers in some areas; and

WHEREAS, approved curricula too frequently make little or no allowance for academic freedom, and teacher organizations are too seldom involved in the development of curricula; and

WHEREAS, some teachers have been denied not merely the rights of academic freedom, but even their right to freedom of speech outside the classroom:

RESOLVED, that the AFT encourage its locals to win, through collective bargaining, complete academic freedom for all teachers; and

RESOLVED, that AFT locals work in their state legislatures and that the AFT work in Congress to assure protection of academic freedom for all teachers; and

RESOLVED, that AFT vigorously defend the rights of its members to academic freedom.

(1973)