CRT and DEI – What are they teaching?
So much of what the education elites do is couched in misleading language. The current uproar about “CRT”- Critical Race Theory, also known as “DEI”- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, is just another example. Recently the Washington State Legislature passed a law requiring school staff and school board members to be trained in Critical Race Theory, but it does not mention CRT anywhere in the bill. Instead the bill refers to “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” and “cultural competency”. When parents in Washington state complain to their school boards about CRT being taught in their district, school boards have been known to respond with, “Oh no, we’re not teaching CRT.”
The recent bill, ESSB 5044, requires staff and school board directors to undergo “cultural competency” training to learn about diversity, equity, and inclusion. It does not mandate any particular curriculum for students. However, the assumption is clear that the administrators, teachers, and school board will use their training to promote CRT/DEI in the classroom. Whites are depicted as privileged, oppressive, and automatically guilty. “Black, indigenous, and people of color” are seen as victimized and oppressed. The USA is described as being systemically racist from day one. Day One has also been re-defined, not occurring in 1776 but in 1619 when the first Black slaves arrived at Jamestown. Investigative journalist Christopher Rufo explains CRT in the schools here. The bill expects everything to be taught using a racial lens, but yet, the education establishment calls this “anti-racism.”
There are so many fallacies in the entire premise.
Some schools have already been teaching these concepts throughout the years in a more covert way. One example is the ethnic studies framework for math in Seattle . However, it seems that in recent times, attempts to push not only race-based lessons, but also other controversial topics have been accelerating. In this regard, the COVID19 lockdowns have been an unexpected blessing. Since most Washington students have been participating in various forms of online schooling at home during these past months, parents have been able to see what their children are being taught. By the way, accessing public school lessons online should not be called “homeschooling” but is better described as “public school at home.” In true homeschooling, parents are in charge of all aspects of education, especially the curriculum.
The opinion of Professor Condoleeza Rice, former Secretary of State, is a preferable one. As a Black child growing up in the segregated south she experienced true discrimination. Yet, on the TV show, The View, she recently said, “One of the worries that I have about the way that we are talking about race is that it either seems so big that somehow white people now have to feel guilty for everything that happened in the past. I don’t think that’s very productive. Or black people have to feel disempowered by race. I would like black kids to be completely empowered, to know that they are beautiful in their blackness, but in order to do that I don’t have to make white kids feel bad for being white. So somehow this is a conversation that has gone in the wrong direction. “
Sadly, Washington State is continuing in the wrong direction. In the 2021 Legislative Session, the Legislature, dominated by the Democrat Party, not only passed ESSB 5044 requiring CRT/DEI training for K-12 administrators, staff, and school board members, but it also passed several other race-centered bills:
Requiring equity-based continuing education for certificate renewals for administrators and teachers.
Requiring each school to develop a comprehensive school counseling program which aligns with standards from a national organization representing school counselors. You can expect the national counseling standards to contain a DEI emphasis.
State community and tech colleges must submit an annual plan for DEI for students and staff. This includes developing tenure tracks for instructors of underrepresented groups.
Requires DEI and antiracism training and assessments at institutions of higher education for educators and students.
Expands affordable childcare and includes the requirement that childcare centers maintain a focus on racial equity, inclusion, and systemic racism.
Each public medical school must develop a curriculum for medical health equity, and must work to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups.
Please note that equity is different from equality. Equity refers to everyone ending up with the same results, while equality refers to equal opportunities and the freedom to excel. Diversity and inclusion embrace only people with certain traits and points of view while excluding others.
It is up to us parents and grandparents to see through the deception, and then to convince the school boards, and others to avoid adopting policies which steer us toward racism and division.
–More about parent protests in future posts.
