CRT: It Doesn’t Exist…And It’s Awesome! [with comment by Paul]

Critical Race Theory has become the number one political issue in the U.S. So, needless to say, it is the top issue in school board elections that are taking place across the country. Thus, in one of Minnesota’s largest school districts, the administration emailed talking points to school board members, telling them how to answer questions about CRT from concerned parents. No doubt many other districts have done the same. Remarkably, this particular email included no fewer than six attachments with talking points on CRT.

These six pro-CRT missives are pretty much interchangeable, although they come from a variety of sources: the school district itself; Education Minnesota, the teachers’ union (this one includes an attack on American Experiment); the Minnesota School Boards Association; the University of Minnesota; the Minnesota Association of School Administrators; and the Council of the Great City Schools.

These six sets of talking points exemplify the liberal orthodoxy on CRT: It doesn’t exist, and it’s awesome! They assert that CRT is found only in law schools (parenthetically, if that is true it is a serious problem in itself) and certainly isn’t taught in K-12 classrooms.

This school district’s memo to board members begins:

Information and questions have been surfacing on social media and in the community regarding the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and/or curriculum and instruction. The discussion has surfaced in some other MN school districts and we want to prepare you with information so that you can address questions as they arise here in a clear and direct way.
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Consistent messaging from the Osseo School District regarding CRT:
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● Critical Race Theory is a specific framework found in law schools that examines the systems, policies and laws that perpetuate racial inequities in our society and how those inequities can be eliminated.

○ It is used to connect the role that race plays in our society through multiple viewpoints and looks critically at systems to better understand the origins of racial inequities.

○ There appears to be confusion about the differences between CRT and equity in public schools. While some people and politically-focused organizations are claiming that CRT is intended for use in PreK-12 schools, that is not the case.

But you know what school districts never say when asked about CRT? They say they don’t teach it, but they never go on to say: “CRT is a racist and anti-American set of dogmas, and we would never allow it into our schools.” Why do you think they would rather have their fingernails pulled out with pliers than say something so straightforward?

Instead, we get the second part of the liberal formula: CRT–which we don’t teach–is awesome! Only, wink, wink, we call it “Equity.” Or “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” Or “Social Emotional Learning.” The best place to see this is in the talking points from Education Minnesota, Minnesota’s dominant political force, that were included in the administration’s memo to Osseo school board members. Education Minnesota’s talking points for school board members (most of whom they got elected) and administrators (most of whom are beholden to them) are embedded below. This is how Education Minnesota recommends that school board members respond to questions about CRT. I am going to quote at length because it is so revealing:

These people are openly anti-American. They make no bones about it. They hate our country and are trying to destroy it, and their control over K-12 education, which is unchallenged in many places, makes that a reasonable ambition. While national attention is understandably focused on Virginia’s election for governor, the country’s school board elections will be more important in the long run.

Wherever you live, seats on your school board are probably being contested. The Golden Rule is, never vote for anyone who is endorsed by your state’s teachers’ union. If you inquire, you can easily find out whether there are pro-America candidates running for your local school board. If there are, you should vote for them. Turnout in school board elections is notoriously low, often in single digits, which is why far-left teachers’ unions have generally been able to select the school boards “against” whom they negotiate contracts.

This year, pro-America candidates have emerged in most states. Some will win, but most, in all likelihood, will fail to overcome the Left’s immense financial resources. But next year may be a different story: this year some tremors, in 2022, the earthquake. With another year, not just to spread awareness of the evils of CRT and the anti-American bias that has largely taken over our public schools, but also to organize, identify candidates, raise a modest amount of money and rally behind them, we may see a revolution.

In the meantime, vote in your local school board election on Tuesday, or whenever it occurs.

ONE MORE THING: The claim by liberals that the radical principles of CRT are not taught in K-12 schools is disingenuous, as demonstrated by the fact that in July, the National Education Association, America’s largest union representing some 3 million teachers, approved New Business Item #39, which expressly endorsed the teaching of Critical Race Theory in the public schools. That resolution went so far as to encourage teachers to teach the principles of CRT even in states where it has been made illegal to do so by the legislature. Such is the depth of the education establishment’s commitment to CRT dogmas.

PAUL ADDS: The way I see it, what’s taught about race in many public schools is a dumbed-down version of Critical Race Theory.

In a way, to deny that CRT is being taught in K-12 because CRT is what’s taught at law schools is like saying that math isn’t taught in elementary school because math is what’s taught in higher grades and students in lower grades are just taught arithmetic.

The difference, of course, is that arithmetic is an indispensable subject and higher math a very useful one, whereas CRT is merely interesting to some people, and its dumbed-down version is merely dumb, and poisonous.

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