Lessons on race spark debate
Some parents and educators in region disagree whether ‘critical theory’ curriculum is necessary
It has sparked heated discussion on social media and neighborhood message boards.
It’s had parents swarming school board meetings in protest. Republican senators introduced a resolution condemning its use in public schools and teacher-training materials. Now, 26 states with Republican-controlled legislatures have bills opposing it, and nine states have banned it.
The concept known as critical race theory has become a flashpoint in discussions about how race, racism, equity and social justice are incorporated into lessons and discussed in the classroom. Many educators say learning and talking about the concepts early is crucial in helping the younger generation envision an inclusive society and avoid the mistakes of the past. Opponents, on the other hand, say such concepts sow division by
making White people feel guilty and others languish in a victim mindset.
Critical race theory is an academic framework created by legal scholars about 40 years ago to examine how racism is embedded in America’s institutions and laws.
But, a year after the murder of George Floyd and the racial reckoning that followed, the concept previously discussed mostly in law schools and think tanks has generated national buzz. It’s at the epicenter of how to discuss race, ethnicity and social justice in schools, how to promote inclusion on campuses and the question of whether equity is an ideal to which young people should aspire.
In September, then-President Donald Trump issued an executive order barring federal agencies and contractors from providing diversity and inclusion training to staff members, citing “divisive concepts.” The order named “critical race theory” as a “divisive” concept. President Joe Biden rescinded that order, but the term has gained momentum and could be an important 2022 election issue.
Experts say critical race theory has been misunderstood, with the term repeatedly being misused in public meetings and on social media.
Critical race theory is not being taught in the nation’s public schools, said Camille Gear Rich, a professor of law and sociology at USC’s School of Law.
“Most law students don’t even learn critical race theory,” she said. “Critical race theory talks about things like how the construct of whiteness informed constitutional doctrine. It talks about intersectionality — how multiple identities come together to create unique experiences of bias. It talks about how bias intersects with identity and causes injustice. Thirdgrade kids are not learning about all this.”
What schools are starting to discuss are social justice and anti-racism, she said. There are also conversations — in schools, workplaces and corporate circles — about diversity, inclusion and equity, said Rich, USC’s associate provost for diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Teachers are using literature to explore different perspectives or discuss voices that have been silenced, Rich said. Antiracism looks at how to see things in our lives that reflect and promote bias, she said, while social justice examines how today’s conditions are a product of history and how those struggles need to be overcome.
“I think if you assembled 15 parents in a room and ask them if they would like their child to learn how not to be biased and how to spot something that would hurt their friends, those parents would likely say yes,” Rich said. “But when you slap a label like ‘critical race theory’ on it, you can manipulate people into thinking that it’s something much more scary.”
‘Liberal’ agenda
Some simply say having these school discussions will lead to more divisiveness.
For parents like David Ryst of LosAlamitos, the new social justice standards curriculum approved by his school board is scary and “aggravating.” In May, the LosAlamitos Unified School District faced scrutiny and controversy as its board discussed and OK’d a new social justice standards and ethnic studies curriculum.
Ryst, who has three children in the district, one each at the elementary, middle and high school level, said kids are being taught about activism disguised as social justice reform.
“These concepts are not unifying students, they are reinforcing negative division,” he said. “They are not giving teachers proper training. A lot of teachers who are vocal with their liberal ideas are pushing those ideas on students.”
Ryst said his son, an eighth grader, is feeling the impact the most.
“He considers himself a Christian and is getting attacked for it,” he said. “The kid he played baseball with now has purple hair, wears a (Black Lives Matter) Tshirt and a gay pride backpack. My son gets attacked and treated poorly because he doesn’t believe in the same things and he is not running around to fight oppression. How is that being inclusive?”
Ryst says critical race theory looks through a lens that says much in society was designed to benefit White people and systematically designed not to help other races.
“It’s a good theory to examine maybe at a college level,” he said. “But, what they’re teaching here leads to guilt, shame and victimhood.
And everything is viewed as oppressor versus the oppressed. I’m all for inclusion, but this is not it.”
Ryst acknowledges America’s checkered past, but also said the present is far better.
“There’s not one racist law in our books today,” he said. “These social justice standards are placing the weight of the world’s problems on children’s shoulders when they are already stressed out trying to keep up their grades and learn math and science. They’re forcing our children to look for solutions to the world’s problems. That’s not my child’s responsibility.”
Lesson debate
Talking about race and ethnicity is rooted in the fabric of what social studies is, Los Alamitos Superintendent Andrew Pulver said.
“Critical race theory is not what we’re teaching in school,” he said. “What we’re really trying to do is provide multiple points of views, diverse stories and opinions within a variety of groups, race and thought.
Promoting critical thinking and seeking different levels of understanding are goals.”
The district’s ethnic studies curriculum is an elective for 11th and 12th graders. Talking about systemic racism may be inevitable when discussing the civil rights movement or Black Lives Matter, Pulver said.
“It’s not about blaming White people or any one race, but talking about how we got here as a nation and where we go from here,” he said.
Educators differ on issues of race, equity and social justice.
Doug Lasken, a retired Los Angeles Unified School District teacher who still serves as a high school debate coach in the San Fernando Valley, said concepts like critical race theory and anti-racism employ shame and guilt.
“It’s coercive, destructive and unfair,” he said. “The guilt is applied only in one direction.”
Lasken said he sees race when he interacts with students, but doesn’t think about it.
“To be told that we should be race-conscious all the time — that, to me, is going in the wrong direction,” he said. “Kids will think about it and feel like their race is a big deal, that they’re not here to learn about grammar or punctuation, but to deal with their race.”
Lasken takes issue with terms such as “systemic racism” and “White privilege.”
“I was once told I was the wrong color to advance as an administrator,” said Lasken, who is White. “To me, that’s systemic racism. Similarly, White privilege is not a constant. It’s not like White people are walking around with privilege and oppressing others. It’s an extreme way of looking at things.”
He says introducing critical race theory into education is akin to “setting a pernicious trap.”
“You are left defending yourself all the time for being White,” Lasken said. “It’s unhealthy and doesn’t lead to progress.”
Teaching angles
At the heart of the debate is a disagreement over how to tackle race and racism in schools, said Gwendolyn Dowdy-Rodgers, the San Bernardino City Unified School District’s board president. Three district high schools offer ethnic studies as an elective.
“We have to look at how racism has affected individuals, generations and the society we live in now,” she said. “We need to talk about it from an educational lens, examine documents instead of letting the media or someone else tell the story. We can have a dialogue about it and agree to disagree, but we have to talk about it.”
Discussing these issues is not about imposing shame and guilt on any one group, but about listening to one another, Dowdy-Rodgers said.
“For example, when we talk about slavery, we talk about how it was wrong to treat individuals as less than human,” she said. “In a historical context, we know who the oppressors were and who the oppressed were. People should be able to look at that and say, ‘That’s not who I am.’ That’s when the healing begins.”
Apprehension about critical race theory are misplaced, said Ayanna Blackmon-Balogun, principal of Werner Elementary School, the Rialto Unified School District’s largest elementary school and one where about 16% of students are African American.
“This is not about critical race theory,” she said. “It’s about how we are going to move forward with empathy and about changing the curriculum so we can be inclusive and everyone can feel validated and connected and learn the truth about what happened. … We need to look at the whole picture and not pull out the little pieces in such a way that we lose the big picture.”