The bill is now before the state senate. The bill's sponsors believe it an important part of civic education for students to have at least a passing familiarity with the ideas and language of the American Founding. Sounds innocuous enough, even patriotic. But there is a vocal faction in the state who will have none of that. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.
Liberals object to that language.
They say it may be harmful for children to learn. From a peculiar point of view, they are right. The president of the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, wonders which part of the Declaration is to be recited. He's worried about who gets to make that decision. This poses a problem for those who favor affirmative action, which by definition treats people differently according to group membership.