The Fight Over Critical Race Theory Is Only a Short-Term Gift to the GOP

And it could be harmful in the long run.

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It feels like yesterday that my wife and I were shopping for grade schools for our daughter—the same daughter who just graduated from high school.

We visited a bunch of private schools where the children of Washington’s elite get turned into the feedstock of the meritocracy.

The most remarkable thing about the experience was how nearly all of the schools were obsessed with “diversity”—and all the pedagogic and social issues attached to the term. Many pitched diversity not merely as important but as their sole comparative advantage. It was as though they thought if they could convince us that they cared more about diversity than their competitors, that alone would seal the deal.

The headmaster of one prestigious school even advised a group of parents to look at the mission statements of other schools. “You’ll see a lot of buzzwords like ‘academic rigor’ and ‘scholarship,’” he warned, making scare quotes with his fingers. “Well, we want you to know that we consider our social justice mission more important than academics.”

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  1. Kurt Von Fuchs

    It's pretty clear from the comment section that history in K-12 is not taught uniformly in this country. I am all for federalism what works for Seattle doesn't necessarily work for Memphis colon however, history needs to be more uniformly taught the good the bad and the ugly.

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  2. Kevin P. Holsclaw

    Although we must acknowledge in our educational curriculum that America has not always lived up to its ideals with respect to persons of color, Critical Race Theory is an entirely different matter. In rejecting the liberal idea of introducing students to different historical perspectives, CRT views American history through the prism of the oppressor & the oppressed. The notion of "objectivity" is seen as a cover for the racism inherent in the American educational system. The objective of CRT and critical theory in general is ultimately praxeological in that its underlying purpose is to generate activism. Although skepticism should be exercised with respect to knee-jerk responses to CRT, from the standpoint of educational methodology critical theory is entirely presuppositional and a dramatic departure from what is commonly understood as the purpose of a liberal education.

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    Charlie229

    A few points to consider. The argument about indoctrination over education has merit. I'm a Loudoun County parent, and I have no issue with CRT raised in the classroom as a perspective students should learn to recognize or even appreciate. Indoctrination, however, doesn't present CRT as a perspective. They teach it as an objective truth, and they inculcate every description of human interactions from the starting principle that racism underpins it all. Most importantly, students can't question CRT. If they do, they are told they "need to listen" or they are "blinded by privilege" or they are "racist." That's IS indoctrination.

    Second, color me dubious about the assertion that K-12 education failed to recognize racism and slavery's role in American history. I was the weird kid that excelled in history and social studies. I can assure the Jim Crow was in the curriculum in the 1980s. Oddly, I still remember the graphic (from an old political cartoon) depicting a poll tax table in my social studies book. Slavery and it's evils featured prominently in the antebellum narrative, and teachers taught far more about Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, and George Washington Carver than they did about Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, or Ralph Waldo Emerson. Is it really shocking that a country convinced Cinco de Mayo is Mexico's independence day has a piss poor understanding of history? In this context, the idea that our national understanding of history is predicated on a nefarious plan to "whitewash" it is unpersuasive. The more likely scenario is that history is taught poorly in school and parents rarely encourage kids to learn it. So, perhaps kids can't describe Jim Crow from their school lessons, but the point is that they probably couldn't tell you anything about the Spanish-American War, Reconstruction, or World War I either.

    Last point, I'm not a MAGA guy to say the least, but there is merit to the "they started it" argument too. When everything is about race, like CRT argues, it is only natural for people to find shelter in their own tribe (Suicide of the West). I would wager that the "Remnant" is made up from people that value ideas over racial identity. So, it makes sense that you want to avoid a long-term conflict drawn along racial lines and hope for a return to debate over ideas. Unfortunately, I think the race conflict is already here for too many people. That's what happens when people get indoctrinated--be it by CRT in school or Tucker Carlson.

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    Vlad M.

    Critical Race Theory is the de facto racializing of the culture war and it comes along with Maoist struggle sessions where people have to atone for past or imagined sins of their race.

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    Earl King

    If I am the Chi Comms I am delighted that the most important thing in American K-12 education, depending on which side of the aisle you are on, is whether slavery, it’s history and remnants are taught as part of a broader American history curriculum OR whether there is no other history other than America was solely formed as a nation in support of slavery by whites and it still is today.
    Jonah, the GOP didn’t start this fight, it is between parents and ideological schools and school boards. If the social mission is more important than academics and if you don’t care whether American exceptionalism in science and technology, capitol formation and business don’t matter any more than I suppose we don’t need academics because our empire is likely over.

    Oh and BTW teaching CRT or that the white man is an oppressor and all his institutions are rigged in the support of the white man and rigged against people of color will not lower the HS dropout rate of poor people of color, it won’t lessen the number of shootings in Chicago and it won’t help a black entrepreneur open a new business. Teaching white people they are awful racists and are the cause black and brown poverty due to their white privileged will cause resentment. The GOP will not have been the start of that. Proponents of the theory will have been the cause.

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      Kizedek

      "Jonah, the GOP didn’t start this fight, it is between parents and ideological schools and school boards."

      I think that is exactly what Jonah said. And that debates on CRT at a state or federal level are a distraction at best.

      One thing that Jonah *did* say, is that it's crazy to think that "one size fits all in education", and that America should expect good results with every student taking the same classes.

      Now, I don't know if that style of education was a brilliant GOP idea, or just a GOP tendency, or what. But it does seem that it is GOP/conservative SOP to knock anything "new" as "progressive", "socialist", or worse. Of course, as Jonah noted, in some cases it's actually a case of going *back* to something old (eg. more of an apprenticeship approach).

      Here's a little sample of how the progressive, "socialistic", "evil"(?) Netherlands does education:
      • a number of "streams" of education (different programs of different lengths, some easier, some more academic), meaning you can complete school in different patterns. If you decide later to go on to Uni, you fill in with another shorter program for a couple of years first, without stigma about your age. (In UK, you can complete school at 16 following GCSE's and go on to an apprenticeship, such as a financial one in "the City", without following the University path).
      • there are a number of high schools of different "flavours" (including publicly supported religious schools) available in every region. Students check them out and choose one -- where a student lives isn't an issue. Schools range from really academic to vocational and specialised (technical, arts, agricultural, etc).
      • A student can repeat a year without stigma, and most students I know have repeated one somewhere along the line at some point in their life.

      Ironically, I think a big American failure right now (for all its independent, entrepreneurial, exceptionalist, innovative, can-do, cutting-edge reputation and view of itself) is a distinct lack of imagination and will -- particularly when it comes to anything that benefits society as a whole, like infrastructure, education, health, public transport, consumer protection, data privacy, food standards, environmental policy, diversity, etc.

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        Earl King

        IDK if teaching young white kids that they are inherently racist doesn't bother you we have nothing to discuss. I made zero comment about "different streams" of education. I believe he mentioned every private school they visited were trying to talk about their social mission rather than academic quality. America did not become the economic powerhouse it did by ignoring academics.....We sent men to moon using a slide rule. Without America innate entrepreneurialism and it premier lead in science you progressive friends wouldn't have anything to spend. No would have half the number of premier medical facilities or schools that the wealthy have endowed.
        As to "different streams" of education. It has been ludicrous to channel every kid in to college. When I went to HS there was auto shop, metal shop, electrical shop, wood shop and Home Economics...which taught kids basic cooking and finance. I do believe an apprenticeship system which we used to have would be a tremendous thing to have for kids who do not want to study social media marketing. Fundamentally you and I may be talking past each other. The idea that one race is evil is a pernicious lie and very dangerous to teach in a pluralistic society. The miracle of America is actually how well we all get along. There is no other country in the world with as diverse a population as we have. Eliminating meritocracy invites mediocrity......and you really would not want America to be a poorer country....

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    Bill Nelson

    The topic has to be addressed, but honestly, which cannot happen. As Eric Holder said, our society has not had an honest discussion about race, but his view of what this meant was not about an open discussion.
    “Give me your four year olds, and in a generation I will build a socialist state.” - Lenin
    With respect to CRT (not the old computer terminals), the discussion from the right has to be crafted with logic on the topic, not on what the proponents mean.

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  7. Jaybrown

    Well, the culture war has already been redefined as racial conflict, and not by conservatives. Solid, centrist parents who are disgusted by the progressive overreach on this will probably win the day, in most venues. But the rot will persist for some time until the pendulum swings far enough. Eliminating the filibuster in the Senate will make it swing faster and further and hurt everyone.

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  8. linda

    The problem is what is generally thought of history class is not history class anymore. It's a perversion. The grandson who is fixated on WW2 was so unhappy when his HS history class spent all of 2 hrs on WW2 but several hours on the role of the black service members in the US military. He's tired of it and gets his history fix from books, documentaries and You Tube. Nothing much in school engages him and he resents the obsession on race as well as the rest of the family who has a black dad, white mom, 3 biracial kids, and two white. If you thumb threw the school district's website it pretty easy to come to the conclusion that a great education is only focusing on race and transgender issues.

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  9. @fakeJohn

    Critical Race Theory is the new Fake News. It has no meaning. It exists only as a politically charged phrase designed to separate and sort people based on their political ideology.

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  10. Mathew A

    "But in the long run, this could be disastrous for the party and the country, because the last thing anyone needs is to redefine the culture war as a racial conflict."

    I don't see how you escape that until you get the woke left to stop making everything about race.

    Basically the whole country already believes that racism is bad (much less slavery). but that's not enough for the woke left.

    Instead they are pushing the new racism. It's not that we are all equal, but that all whites are evil oppressors.

    Once again, they want to judge people by the color of their skin instead of the content of their character. Any wonder that people and especially parents are pushing back against this evil ideology being taught to their kids

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