Credit: Allison Shelley for American EducationA national conservative movement to limit the teaching of race and racism is finding its way into California schools, leading to worry that teachers are being muzzled.
Elected officials nationwide introduced at least 563 measures to restrict teaching about race in 2021 and 2022, and 241 of those passed, according to “CRT Forward: Tracking the Attack on Critical Race Theory,” a recently released report from the UCLA School of Law. Almost all the measures impacted K-12 education, and 70% sought to control teaching and curriculum in the classroom. The most common consequence for a breach was withholding funding.
“We are now living in a country where books and ideas can be banned in the name of freedom and censorship can be applauded as a means to combat indoctrination, and teachers can be fired for trying to teach any idea that someone deems divisive,” said Cheryl Harris, vice dean for community, equality and justice at UCLA Law during a webinar last week.
Sixty percent of the anti-CRT measures were adopted in conservative, or red states, according to LaToya Baldwin Clark, a co-author of the report.
California remains solidly blue, but arguments over the teaching of so-called critical race theory can be heard in some red areas of the state.
In California Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified, Visalia Unified, Paso Robles Joint Unified, Temecula Valley Unified, Ramona Unified and Newport-Mesa Unified collectively passed seven measures restricting instruction about race. Four additional measures were introduced in California school districts but not approved.
The state and local measures almost always invoke critical race theory, a college-level theory seldom taught in K-12 education. It examines how laws, regulations and government practices have perpetuated racial injustice. The theory is not included in California’s voluntary state model curriculum and is only taught in a handful of districts that have adopted an alternative curriculum promoted by the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Consortium, a group of ethnic studies professors and high school teachers.
Critical race theory is often confused with culturally relevant teaching, according to the California School Boards Association.
“These measures purport to ban things like saying anyone should feel guilty or responsible for the past or the present, or that the United States is fundamentally racist,” Clark said.
Critical race theory is now being used to describe anti-gender measures as well as social-emotional learning, according to the researchers.
“In the K-12 context, it’s kind of a boogeyman,” Harris said. “It’s a made-up version. Nobody is teaching this version of CRT and yet it’s all traveling under the same sort of umbrella heading.”
Conservative groups like Reform California are encouraging more school boards to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory and “to demand an honest and balanced view of U.S. history be taught to our children.”
The anti-critical race theory movement was a backlash to demands for racial justice and equality after the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020, Clark said.
“Looking at it in that context, I think we need to understand that this is really about resisting racial progress, not necessarily about CRT,” she said.
Many of the measures opposing critical race theory repeat language in a September 2020 executive order signed by former President Donald Trump. The order banned the federal government and its contractors from offering employee diversity training based on race or gender that the administration deemed “divisive.” The executive order was rescinded by President Joe Biden in 2021.
School officials of both Temecula Unified, in Riverside County, and Paso Robles Joint Unified, in San Luis Obispo County, used similar language as that in the executive order when they wrote measures that referred to critical race theory as a divisive ideology that can result in racial guilt. Both school districts end their resolutions with the same provision, that the theory can be included in classroom discussion as long as that instruction focuses on its flaws.
In Temecula, teachers filled an auditorium in last December to protest the resolution, according to The Mercury News. Union President Edgar Diaz called the resolutions “vague” and a “lightning-rod issue” for education, according to the article written by the Southern California News Group.
The Ramona Unified School District in San Diego used much of the same language in a civic education policy its school board passed on Aug. 12, 2021. The measure prohibits schools from using curriculum or teachers from teaching that one particular race is superior or inherently racist, sexist or oppressive. It prohibits instruction that would make a student feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress” on account of his or her race or sex.
Last April, Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified passed a policy prohibiting teachers from talking about critical race theory or using it as a framework to teach about race. The board doubled down in June with a resolution on the teaching of “controversial issues,” requiring teachers to address all sides of the issue when presenting educational information.
School board President Carrie Buck and board member Karin Freeman voted against the resolution, calling it censorship, according to the Voice of OC.
“At its worst, this resolution positions our educational program for abridgment of free speech and the creation of censorship and bans. This change creates obstacles and impediments for students’ success,” Freeman said in the article. “I anticipate that the curriculum will suffer the consequence of dumbing down.”
“Our goal should never be to graduate modern-day Rip Van Winkles,” she said.
In 2021 the Visalia Unified school board voted against a motion to renew a charter school’s Newsela subscription. The platform provides news articles on topics like social studies and science customized to each student’s grade level. Some of the same board members who voted to renew the subscription two years earlier called it biased and said it teaches critical race theory, according to the UCLA report.
In July 2021 Newport-Mesa Unified School District paused anti-bias training put in place in 2019 after an antisemitic incident involving students after the Newport Harbor Republican Women and some parents campaigned against it.
Two months later the board voted to renew a revised contract for foundational anti-bias training for staff but exclude advanced training that would have explored the dynamics of power, privilege and perspective, according to the district agenda. Students would only receive training if they volunteer.
John Brazelton says anti-CRT sentiment hasn’t impacted him much as a science teacher at Newport Harbor High School, but it has had a chilling effect on other teachers.
“People aren’t teaching everything they did before,” he said.
Brazelton, who retires next year, says teachers aren’t valued in the current climate.
“Teachers are being accused of indoctrinating kids and not being trustworthy in terms of what curriculum to teach and what books we choose to have students learn,” he said. “But then some talking heads are saying we should be packing heat in the classroom. Are we trustworthy or not? Are we valued or not? I haven’t heard of any students being killed by reading the wrong novel.”
In 2021, the California Teachers Association provided guidance to its members about how to deal with politically motivated attacks on racial equity in schools, including avoiding the academic term critical race theory.
“The phrase, unfamiliar to most audiences, has been redefined by the political right as an all-purpose dog whistle. Talk instead about the more honest and more complete education our students deserve,” the guidance says.
The National Council for the Social Studies weighed in on the debate in 2021: “Critical race theory has been used by some as an argument to ban the teaching of such concepts as race, racism, white supremacy, equity, justice and social-emotional learning, as well as to limit the teaching of content such as slavery, Black history, women’s suffrage, and civil rights. Efforts to ban these topics aim to eliminate any discussion of race or the historical roots of racism in our classrooms. The accurate and truthful representation of historical events is necessary and beneficial for all students to learn.”
According to the UCLA report, government officials nationally are on pace to introduce as many anti-critical race theory measures this year as in the previous two years. In response, the CRT Forward Tracking Project will develop model legislation and school policies that lawmakers and school board members could use to ensure history is taught accurately, Harris said.
The American Civil Liberties Union also is pushing back against measures to limit teaching about race and racism, filing lawsuits on behalf of students, teachers and university professors. Its lawyers have argued that the measures violate students’ First Amendment rights and are so vaguely written that teachers and students can’t understand what is prohibited and what is allowed, said Emerson Sykes, an attorney for the ACLU.
“We need universities to nurture new ideas, challenging ideas (and to) challenge norms,” Sykes said. “It’s not the role of a state legislature to reach into a college classroom and tell professors what ideas they can and cannot teach.”
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Michelle 1 month ago1 month ago
As an educator in a high school where students hear the N-word, see it on social media, are hurting, and don't always feel included... We need Ethnic Studies, diversity, and respect for each other. Let the students read about, discuss, and debate CRT and the connotations that it is developing. They need to stay current, develop their critical thinking, and know how to express their thoughts and feelings about their experiences. They also need … Read More
As an educator in a high school where students hear the N-word, see it on social media, are hurting, and don’t always feel included… We need Ethnic Studies, diversity, and respect for each other.
Let the students read about, discuss, and debate CRT and the connotations that it is developing. They need to stay current, develop their critical thinking, and know how to express their thoughts and feelings about their experiences. They also need to be challenged to be creative in finding solutions for their future.
Thinking “outside the box” is what will differentiate them from AI. Let’s prepare them to work on a better tomorrow.
Dr. Wesley Smith 1 month ago1 month ago
Polarizing politics are extremely disruptive, and they are increasingly so in school districts statewide. These dynamics are unnecessarily exacerbated when facts are misrepresented in the media. EdSource recently claimed that the Newport-Mesa Unified School District passed measures restricting instruction about race. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has passed no such measure. The action identified was related to content within anti-bias training—training that continues to include Tools for Tolerance Training at the Simon Wiesenthal Center for … Read More
Polarizing politics are extremely disruptive, and they are increasingly so in school districts statewide. These dynamics are unnecessarily exacerbated when facts are misrepresented in the media. EdSource recently claimed that the Newport-Mesa Unified School District passed measures restricting instruction about race. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District has passed no such measure. The action identified was related to content within anti-bias training—training that continues to include Tools for Tolerance Training at the Simon Wiesenthal Center for our students. Our board of trustees has continued to demand that all students feel seen, heard, valued, and safe, and they have approved curricula that represent the diverse experiences of our students, our state, and our country.
Dr. Bill Conrad 1 month ago1 month ago
In 2022, Mark Leggvwrote a good article answering the question as to whether Critical Race Theory is Marxist. Answering this question does not warrant a simple yes or no. Rather, we will take this opportunity to explore the similarities and differences between Marxism and Critical Race Theory (CRT). Hopefully, this will provide depth and clarity to an otherwise confusing, heated, and partisan debate. First, here is a brief argument. Marxism says that society is split between oppressed and … Read More
In 2022, Mark Leggvwrote a good article answering the question as to whether Critical Race Theory is Marxist.
Answering this question does not warrant a simple yes or no. Rather, we will take this opportunity to explore the similarities and differences between Marxism and Critical Race Theory (CRT). Hopefully, this will provide depth and clarity to an otherwise confusing, heated, and partisan debate.
First, here is a brief argument.
Marxism says that society is split between oppressed and oppressors. Marxism is focused on material wealth and the power it gives the upper class in a capitalist society. This power is always used to oppress the lower class. The solution is abolishing private property.
Critical Theory says that society is split between oppressors and oppressed, but social power also defines those boundaries. The majority group defines what is “normal,” and any morality that restricts minorities’ freedom is therefore oppression.
Critical Race Theory builds on this and says that, in America, white people continue to oppress minorities, not necessarily through individual prejudice, but because they hold more wealth and impose what is “normal” on minorities.
Therefore, one can draw parallels between CRT and Marxism.
As I note in “What is Critical Theory?,” let’s distinguish between the worldview of CRT and the followers of CRT. The often cynical, truth-abandoning worldview of CRT shares roots with the worldview of Marxism because they both believe that society is always split between oppressed and oppressor and that life revolves around this power split. So, when CRT provides an ideological, worldview perspective, it aligns closely with Marxism.
However, many scholars have other worldviews and use CRT like a microscope to examine problems rather than glasses through which everything is perceived. As such, CRT can be used as a tool to see the problem of power abuse and race inequality but must not become lenses through which everything is seen.
This is because much of CRT simply strives for better equality among black and white Americans by studying history, sociology, and politics.
Ben Kohn 1 month ago1 month ago
Moving my daughter out of Ventura Unified School District because the state mandated Ethnic Studies, has been renamed to Ethnic and Social Justice Studies and include lessons from communists such as Paulo Friere and Augusto Boal. Here's the first paragraph: "This course examines how issues of race, class, gender and sexuality are constructed and how they shape life not only in the United States, but also in our local community. Employing historical, intersectional, thematic and … Read More
Moving my daughter out of Ventura Unified School District because the state mandated Ethnic Studies, has been renamed to Ethnic and Social Justice Studies and include lessons from communists such as Paulo Friere and Augusto Boal. Here’s the first paragraph:
“This course examines how issues of race, class, gender and sexuality are constructed and how they shape life not only in the United States, but also in our local community. Employing historical, intersectional, thematic and interdisciplinary approaches, this course introduces key analytical concepts to analyze the development of power and inequality in the United States. Students will examine the various ways that different communities have navigated systems of power to not only participate, but also change and resist oppression. In this year-long course, students will explore the ways that ideology race, class, gender, and sexuality, ableism, and privilege operate in our society. In addition, students will study the role of civil rights and social justice movements in
changing laws and practices in the United States. The course will culminate with a student-driven community action project.”
Notice the second to last sentence sounds like CRT. Or how about “Unit 2: Systems of Power. This unit explores how social hierarchies such as race, physical ability, gender, class, age, and sexuality constitute interlocking systems of power. Students will learn that because these systems are linked, understanding power or oppression requires analysis that shows the connections between systems of power, even when they are not visibly linked or when they contradict each other. Key Words: power, hegemony, resistance, interlocking oppression, whiteness.”
It’s now been implemented that the ethnic and social justice studies will become incorporated into history class and the pilot program was implemented in 2018 which was seven years before the state requirement.
Additionally the school district has guest speaker Trina Greene Brown who gave a presentation to parents that it was the teachers that were oppressing and limiting the students (one of the reasons was teaching in English). Being in Ventura, two school districts over ….Hueneme School District had implemented “STRIDE: a pathway to math equity” that teaches math is racist and is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (look up the website and go to the donor page).
If the school districts are telling parent that teachers, the English language and math are racist, why would anyone be surprised when parents don’t trust the education system anymore and want to check out?
There’s so much more and it seems too late for a change because parents don’t get involved at school board meetings and the ones that do care have already checked their kids out of Ventura schools. My wife and I will be driving 160 miles a day for the opportunity to have our child attend a school district where equal opportunity through education is the goal.
A community is known by the schools it keeps and poor people get educated or they stay poor.
Walter Myers III 1 month ago1 month ago
It is astounding the ignorance I have seen in the posts here, so I will educate you folks on what CRT is as it is obvious you have not read the source materials. Please, before you opine on this subject, verify that you actually have knowledge of CRT and have actually read the source materials. The first sentence of this article establishes a highly misleading premise: "A national conservative movement to limit the teaching of race … Read More
It is astounding the ignorance I have seen in the posts here, so I will educate you folks on what CRT is as it is obvious you have not read the source materials. Please, before you opine on this subject, verify that you actually have knowledge of CRT and have actually read the source materials.
The first sentence of this article establishes a highly misleading premise: “A national conservative movement to limit the teaching of race and racism is finding its way into California schools, leading to worry that teachers are being muzzled.”
To be clear, restrictions on teaching CRT in no way limit the teaching on race and racism concerning the history of slavery and blacks in America. For the record, I am black and grew up in the South, so I know racism in America well, having sadly experienced it firsthand. As a scholar on CRT, I find it appalling that you equate CRT with the historical record of blacks in America. As you know, or should know, CRT arose in the 1970s when a group of progressive lawyers, activists, and legal scholars across the country felt the advances of the civil rights era of the 1960s had stalled legislatively and were being dismantled in areas such as legislative redistricting, affirmative action, criminal sentencing, and campus speech codes. They felt the courts were no longer considering race in redressing historical and current racial discrimination issues. Concerning education, critical race theorists were seeing the re-segregation of most schools and a growing racial achievement gap, which included issues of school discipline, high-stakes testing, and school financing.
Regarding CRT being taught in California schools, Lambert stated that CRT is not included in the state model curriculum. However, there is a link on the state Model Curriculum Projects web page indicating otherwise, as it points directly to the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC), where a cursory reading of the content demonstrates your statement to be false.
Chapter 3 of the ESMC specifically states CRT as a key theoretical framework that can be used in ethnic studies research and instruction, citing an article from the American Bar Association titled “A Lesson in Critical Race Theory.” Interestingly, the referenced ABA article does not mention its underlying neo-Marxist ideology. I believe the intent is to obfuscate the core of CRT ideology and would assert that you cannot separate CRT from its neo-Marxist philosophy.
The text of the ESMC curriculum acknowledges CRT priorities such as power and white privilege, including statements such as, “Ethnic studies courses address institutionalized systems of advantage, and address the causes of racism and other forms of bigotry including, but not limited to, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, xenophobia, antisemitism, and Islamophobia within our culture and governmental policies,” and state that educators can “create and utilize lessons rooted in the four foundational disciplines alongside the sample key themes of (1) Identity, (2) History and Movement, (3) Systems of Power, and (4) Social Movements and Equity to make connections to the experiences of all students.” Thus, I see little educational value in incorporating such divisive and explosive topics in K-12 classrooms, particularly at the elementary levels.
My basic message here is to learn what CRT is and what it is not, and to be accurate in reporting on this issue. If you want it to be “taught” in K-12, please be truthful about the arguments and goals of CRT, as I have not seen any level of honesty. I highly doubt CRT, as a subject, would be appropriate before 10th grade, and if discussed, would be most appropriate in a social studies course (and not a history course because it is not about black history). Again, below is a proper definition of CRT from Critical Race Theory: An Introduction by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic. I believe students only at the appropriate level of age and maturity might realistically engage with it. Indeed, CRT seeks an overthrow and replacement of the foundational principles of America and its Constitution with a utopian, classless, stateless global society, which is precisely what is intended by the adherents of critical pedagogy. As much as they may try, communists have never been able to perfect man such that they can overcome his basic human nature which is as much inclined towards evil as good. 100 million deaths in the 20th century at the hands of communists are an ever-present reminder of that.
Quote: “The critical race theory (CRT) movement is a collection of activists and scholars engaged in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power. The movement considers many of the same issues that conventional civil rights and ethnic studies discourses take up but places them in a broader perspective that includes economics, history, setting, group and self-interest, and emotions and the unconscious. Unlike traditional civil rights discourse, which stresses incrementalism and step-by-step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.”
Ben Derre 1 month ago1 month ago
Both sides are right. But neither realizes it.
Lisa Disbrow 1 month ago1 month ago
I chose to retire from West Contra Costa Unified School District, home of the current State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, because I was forced to participate in a full year of professional trainings that labeled me as fragile, biased, a racist and ignorant after a 34 year career as a multicultural/bilingual teacher. I was mandated to participate in readings by Ibram Kendi on anti-racism, articles by Black Lives Matter that focused on separating kids from … Read More
I chose to retire from West Contra Costa Unified School District, home of the current State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, because I was forced to participate in a full year of professional trainings that labeled me as fragile, biased, a racist and ignorant after a 34 year career as a multicultural/bilingual teacher.
I was mandated to participate in readings by Ibram Kendi on anti-racism, articles by Black Lives Matter that focused on separating kids from their parents and skin color.
My staff was told that we were no longer focusing on academics but cultural transformation. This was 2020-21. Our students were graduating far from literate by 12th grade. West Contra Costa Unified was not interested in reading literacy, the keystone to building knowledge.
CRT has been in many schools for decades. School administrators have been taught to define themselves as “change agents” not educators.
Critical theory in all its variants has been the means to undermine student’s personal responsibility while protecting their right to an education.
The race /gender/politics lens has undermined merit, effort, accomplishment, expectations and race neutral decision making.
The education establishment has embraced the critical theory model because they refuse to focus on academics, knowledge, merit because that is just so white even if you’re not white???
While painting this as a Republican attack. let me remind you that my Democrat friends are now homeschooling, moving out of state and paying for private schools. They’ve fought with their school boards, served on committees, reviewed books with gender identity themes for preschoolers and graphic sexual novels for middle /high schoolers and these Democrats are out!
Stop playing the race card when this is a Marxist effort to undermine individual, family, community stability so that chaos destroys every once thriving community into SF, Oakland, LA.
A teacher
Lisa Disbrow
Replies
Dan Plonsey 1 month ago1 month ago
The training you were subjected to is similar to what we've gotten in Berkeley, and I'm pretty much in agreement with you on this much: the Black/White education gap is not caused by a bunch of supposedly racist teachers. The economic gap is the primary factor, and then district policies and practices do more to widen the gap (e.g., at my school spending 1.5 times as much on an AP science class as on any … Read More
The training you were subjected to is similar to what we’ve gotten in Berkeley, and I’m pretty much in agreement with you on this much: the Black/White education gap is not caused by a bunch of supposedly racist teachers. The economic gap is the primary factor, and then district policies and practices do more to widen the gap (e.g., at my school spending 1.5 times as much on an AP science class as on any other class). The people who are coming in to give this BS “professional development” perhaps are well-intentioned, perhaps not; the result in any case is that they create a smokescreen, or what Adolph Reed has termed a “cover story,” for the root cause which is the many facets of capitalism.
But that’s not CRT. CRT, or the parts that might make their way into a K12 classroom, seeks to explain the history of inequality by race in this country – an inequality which is obvious to students at very young ages. I’ve taught advanced math classes. I had an all-white advanced math class tell me “We’re the smart ones,” “We’re the ones who care about math.” I had to say, do you notice the demographics here? Do you understand that all human sub-populations have the same distribution of mathematical abilities? Other kids are not here because they faced many obstacles which you did not. And some of those obstacles go back for generations – e.g., wealth which some families were allowed to accumulate at the expense of others.
That message hardly undermines effort by anyone. But privileged kids need to understand that the playing field is not even, that the lack of Black students in their advanced classes is not an indication of inferiority – which is the only other conclusion they might settle upon if they don’t understand that bit of CRT. That while success largely depends on effort, the inverse is not true: lack of success does not indicate a lack of effort.
Richard O'Neill 1 month ago1 month ago
The most frequently referenced writer in the crucial first chapter of the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum is Professor Christine Sleeter, whose canon of published work includes such titles as " Critical Race Theory and the Whiteness of Teacher Education" (see https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042085916668957 ) I take issue then with the statement that " The theory is not included in California’s voluntary state model curriculum..." because CRT is unambiguously implied is the Model Curriculum's foundational chapter. I … Read More
The most frequently referenced writer in the crucial first chapter of the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum is Professor Christine Sleeter, whose canon of published work includes such titles as ” Critical Race Theory and the Whiteness of Teacher Education” (see
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042085916668957 )
I take issue then with the statement that ” The theory is not included in California’s voluntary state model curriculum…” because CRT is unambiguously implied is the Model Curriculum’s foundational chapter.
I have encouraged my district ( I am a Trustee) to not use this first chapter and focus instead on prudently harvesting some of the pedagogically sound course designs that follow in the book.
Again it is clear to me that the editorialist is errant is this claim of ” the theory is not included”…
Thank you.
WALTER GARCIA KAWAMOTO 1 month ago1 month ago
In a state where Ethnic Studies is mandated by state law, these CRT attacks are extremely out of place
Eleanor 1 month ago1 month ago
Thank you, Diana Lambert. This is an important story and an important report. Reactionary right-wing ideologues will continue to try to sneak their attempts to erase racial and LGBTQ+ content from the California's curriculum, attempting to indoctrinate students in the process. But in the cold light of day, these efforts will fail in California, because we give our children the information they need to think for themselves, unlike other states that promote hatred … Read More
Thank you, Diana Lambert. This is an important story and an important report. Reactionary right-wing ideologues will continue to try to sneak their attempts to erase racial and LGBTQ+ content from the California’s curriculum, attempting to indoctrinate students in the process. But in the cold light of day, these efforts will fail in California, because we give our children the information they need to think for themselves, unlike other states that promote hatred of anyone that does not align with their narrow viewpoint.
Replies
Dr, Bill Conrad 1 month ago1 month ago
FDR once said that a democracy succeeds when its citizens make wise choices. The ability to make wise choices depends upon a quality education.
We have allowed our education system to atrophy within the United States and we are reaping whst we have sown.
California is in no way immune from fascism.
Dr. Bill Conrad 1 month ago1 month ago
The rise of fascism is palpable within the country now! Make way for Jim Crow 2.0 and worse!