As a growing number of American students, parents, and teachers are now very much aware, Critical Race Theory is heavily influencing the country’s education system.
From preschoolers to PhDs, American students learn that white people are inherently racist, that minorities belong to a permanently oppressed class, and that the United States is built upon racist foundations.
In recent months, however, Americans growing sick of Critical Race Theory have begun to change the tides. Teachers are refusing to indoctrinate their classes with politicized ideological frameworks. Parents are organizing against leftism in school districts. Their efforts are having tangible results — as shown most recently by the Department of Education decision to back down from encouraging critical race theory in the nation’s public schools.
Despite evident victories, however, America still has a long way to go before it purges Critical Race Theory from its classrooms.
Here are some of the worst examples.
New York — Nine-year-old activists
Fairport Central School District near Rochester, New York, placed fourth graders in “restorative justice” circles to learn about racism.
Using a racial justice curriculum developed by a consulting firm, students were encouraged to partake in activism and uproot racism in Rochester.
According to materials obtained by The Daily Wire’s Chrissy Clark, nine-year-olds must be able to “understand, discuss, and identify examples of racism, segregation, and anti-racism.” Students were shown pictures of children protesting as an example of “anti-racism.” The children’s signs contain slogans like “Black Lives Matter” and “None of us is free until all of us are free.”
As an “exit ticket” idea for teachers, students could watch a video that would help them to “reflect on how we as fourth graders can be antiracists” and what “problem(s) in our school or community [they] want to change.” One example included an image of three young girls with the caption: “Bailey, Khaliat, and Simra meeting with their principal to address their concerns about hiring more black teachers.”
Tennessee — The Constitution is white supremacist
Vanderbilt University professors taught students that the United States Constitution is racist.
As reported by Campus Reform, a Vanderbilt course with over 800 participants asked students on a test whether the founding document was “designed to perpetuate white supremacy.”
The correct answer was “true” — and at least one student in the class lost points after answering “false.”
One Vanderbilt student explained to Campus Reform that professors included the question as a freebie: “All of the quiz’s answers would come directly from a recorded lecture… the questions were exact quotes from the lecture. Even if the student disagreed with the statement about the original writing of the Constitution, they obviously weren’t paying attention to the lecture.
Virginia — Whiteness and ‘white culture’
Left-wing educators pushed Critical Race Theory in a small, conservative town near Richmond, Virginia.
As reported by The Federalist, Powhatan County Public Schools administrators tried to convince community members that teaching critical race theory was no more than a form of encouraging “cultural competency.”
County Supervisor David Williams shared slides from the Virginia Inquiry Collaborative — a group that pushes teaching about the evils of “white culture” through the lens of “systemic racism” — during a June 22 school board meeting. The slides included the emblems of seven participating school districts.
Williams showcased a training slide deck entitled “Construction of a Dominant Narrative: ‘Whiteness,’” which described race as “not based on genetics,” a “social construction,” and “not ‘real,’” yet discussing consequences for the “racialized.” According to the slide, race “was created to and remains the main tool for maintaining social, economic and educational inequality in the U.S. and beyond.”
Community members, understandably, were not thrilled.
“Why are we sending teachers to a conference to re-write Virginia history which focuses on whiteness and the color of someone’s skin?” asked resident Sarah Taylor. “What does this have to do with curriculum in Powhatan County? What does this have to do with math and science? This idea of race being the predominant factor in curriculum has got to go.”
Utah — ‘Microaggressions’
University of Utah staff members were subjected to a training about “whiteness.”
An educator provided a recording of the presentation to The Daily Wire’s Georgia Howe, who reported that participants were informed that a comment or action can be considered a “microaggression” even if it is well-intended and causes no apparent harm.
One diversity instructor explained that a genuine compliment can be a microaggression even if the recipient was flattered by it, as long as the compliment in some way “reinforces” systems of power. For instance, phrases like “You’re so smart for 15!” and “Wow, you look great for your age!” were provided as two obvious examples of microaggressions.
One female participant chimed in: “People tell me I’m too successful to be so young” and “too ambitious.”
“It’s like, you can’t be twenty-six years old and that well-spoken,” she lamented. “It’s like, thanks,” she added sarcastically, “so that really hit home for me.”
Florida — ‘Social justice’ summer camp
The University of North Florida launched a virtual “social justice” summer camp to “create communities of young leaders and future teachers who know that education is an essential element in the fight against racism and oppression.”
Campus Reform reported that the program — “Bridges Summer Camp” — is designed for “young adults who want to explore educational and community spaces from racial equity, social justice and activist perspectives.”
In a video of students describing their favorite memories from their camp experience, one student says that he was impacted when an instructor told him “if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” Another student liked circle discussions — during which “you can hear everyone’s perspectives on different situations and questions.”
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.