Critical race theory

[jp1]

I’m curious what everyone’s thoughts are about it. And, I suppose equally important, what exactly is it and what is the typical K-12 curriculum for it?

[ApatheticNoMore]

I doubt it has anything to do with a K-12 curriculum. Maybe something for college students to debate, ergo inapplicable to actual living .

Seems to me to be some form of focusing on race so much that you throw the baby out with the bathwater. And again of nothing to do with what you would teach in K-12, because if you just want to teach historical instances systematic racism it seems entirely superfluous, you teach red-lineing and stuff of that nature. And that's not a theory.

Things of this nature are still going on (you can call it separate and equal but ...) https://www.huffpost.com/entry/calif...ison_n_3087093

[sweetana3]

Very much in schools K-12 and being battled over right now. Here is more info: https://www.edweek.org/leadership/wh...attack/2021/05

[Tybee]

I can't speak specifically to that, but a couple of days ago, my granddaughter in public school kindergarten wanted to know if I knew who Harvey Milk was and what had happened to him.

That was their lesson this week.

Seriously, kindergarten?

[JaneV2.0]

My understanding is that it's a law school class.

People seem to be confusing it with aspects of American history. Heaven forbid that students learn about the dark side of our collective past.

[razz]

Very much in schools K-12 and being battled over right now. Here is more info: https://www.edweek.org/leadership/wh...attack/2021/05

Interesting article!

[iris lilies]

I won’t get involved in much here about CRT because I know next to nothing about it in the academic sense, with all of its nuances. And it *IS* an advanced academic concept, it started there and in the academic/ legal community.


Yes all of a sudden it’s exploding all over social media. I’m moderating two threads right now on Nextdoor about it. Not thrilled about this. But as long as these threads remain polite, they will remain.

That watered down versions are debated in the Twitter world and of course picked up and promoted in the K-12 arena should not surprise me.

Beware of mainstream media promoting this as THE ISSUE we all need to be fighting about today.

[catherine]

I pulled this part of of the article:

As one teacher-educator put it: “The way we usually see any of this in a classroom is: ‘Have I thought about how my Black kids feel? And made a space for them, so that they can be successful?’ That is the level I think it stays at, for most teachers.” Like others interviewed for this explainer, the teacher-educator did not want to be named out of fear of online harassment.

I like that approach. Those are the two most important metrics for managing a classroom, IMHO.

As far as going up the ladder to people who decide curricula, I need more time to think about it. Do I think that Trail of Tears, the Holocaust, the murder of Medgar Evers, should be taught and discussed? Yes. Harvey Milk in kindergarten? Hmm.. If you take a 5-year old kid to France do you expect them to appreciate the Mona Lisa?

The article also references how in the 1930s, the American Legion tried to outlaw teaching of Socialism/Marxism. Maybe that's part of the reason Scott Nearing got tossed out of UPenn.


How do you legislate which ideas should be discussed and how they should be discussed? And which ones should be banned from discussing? Children learn by example. Young children learn from their parents; older children learn from their peers. A teacher's job is to open their minds to explore different ways of thinking. To teach critical thinking and methods of discourse. I don't know how you legislate that.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I think it's got media attention because of attempts to ban teaching "critical race theory" in most cases without even defining what critical race theory is. Which amounts to pure intimidation. If you define it, it may amount to censorship and some level of intimidation, but at least the rules are clearer, when it can mean anything if it somehow talks about racial issues, it's just intimidation. So not so great.

The thing is I am not at all sure I would be very sympathetic to actual critical race theory (I accept systematic racism has existed). But teaching about slavery and the trail of tears, I'm sorry but when have schools ever not taught that as basic history?

[bae]

I think it's the latest cleverly-manufactured "tempest in a teapot" in the culture wars. Whatever meaning the phrase "critical race theory" had previously is no longer the point.