Readers respond to last week’s Feedback Friday topic, which was:
Critical Race Theory
You hear about Critical Race Theory now more than ever before. It’s an academic social theory that was proposed in the 1970s and has been studied among higher education academia in the decades since. It’s not new. Yet today, it’s the topic du jour, and a controversial one at that, as CRT is seemingly making the rounds of debate at local school board meetings, where concerned citizens/parents believe it’s being taught in our K–12 public schools. But it’s not.
Our questions to you:
Do you know what Critical Race Theory is and if so, please explain?
Do you believe it is being taught in our public-school systems?
Do you agree, or not, with the basic tenets of the theory?
Here’s what you said:
The names of many of these movements and talking points are not clear. BLM, Defund, critical race theory. They leave much to the imagination and are not clear on exactly what they stand for. We need some simple slogans and wording so that people can understand what is fundamentally behind them. And I’m not completely clear in what any of them mean; and I’ve even researched.
Lee Norwood, Severna Park
Don’t know who is teaching it, but certainly every American needs to be provided the data showing that one piece of racism and our failure to achieve social justice lies in the area on inequality under the very law that purports to be blind to appearance. The idea is right, but the application of blind justice is nonexistent.
Carol Chisholm, St. Michaels
Critical race theory is being taught, but I guess the educators don’t want to call it that. For them, it is all about equity where the government wants to determine the outcome for selective “oppressed” groups, rather than equality where everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve success. In addition to their teachings about race, our students are asked to sexually identify as something and what pronoun they want to be used to describe them and to question their sexual identity. No wonder kids are confused.
Julia Jones, Edgewater
Personally, I believe objections to Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a continuation of beliefs by many that America’s identity is eroding. What is puzzling is that any state’s action to ban its teaching can only apply to public sector schools. Private schools may choose to include the theory in its curriculum. Moderate religious groups may discuss the theory. What do anti-CRT people think will happen when a private school student talks about CRT with a friend who attends public school?
Michael Alexander, Annapolis
CRT is an analytic concept taught in higher education, college, and graduate schools. It is not part of any public-school curriculum. The concept of CRT is that race has always played a part in the development of the American nation. From the obvious evils of slavery to Jim Crow and other overt policies to less visible things like restricting loans to non-white peoples and businesses, red-lining in urban and suburban development, and the restriction of voting rights and access across the country.
As a former university and public school history teacher, I made it a point to challenge the minds of my students to see issues and events in context but also to see the short and long term effects of said issues and events. Historically, there are many things that have more than one viewpoint, as when the U.S. Constitution states, “We the People,” what does “people” mean?
Racial discrimination is not an issue of the past. The success of the Civil Rights movement was a major step towards equality but not the end. One need only look at recent events in streets all over the country to conclude that America is a work in progress, and we have a long way to go. Discussing Critical Race Theory is a vital part of that process.
John Ebley, Arnold
As usual, a fairly straightforward exploratory subject has been blown out of proportion so far that the issue has become unrecognizable. What is, in my opinion, a legitimate effort to develop critical thinking skills regarding the state of race in this country is now a political cruise missile. I know from experience as a teacher that kids are eager to think deeply, but I also know from experience that parents do not generally want kids with critical thinking skills. Further, I know from social and personal experience that, simply put, the deck is stacked against my black friends and neighbors. It is only deniable if you don’t spend reflective time with black people, and then get all your information about this issue from dumbed-down media, social or otherwise.
Lawrence Wood, Williamsburg
I do not know what Critical Race Theory teaches but I do believe it’s important for students at the high school level to understand the background of race as a part of American history.
Leslie Price, Annapolis
The central tenet of CRT is that race was embedded into American society from the very beginning and that’s it’s still an issue today. I don’t think it’s being taught, but I think it should be—hey, the early settlers enslaved both indigenous persons as well as black Africans (but not whites), and even as recently as the 1930s redlining, a federal policy, kept blacks from becoming homeowners. Today, we see the voting rights of non-whites being threatened in a broad swath of states. Institutionalized racism has certainly contributed to the private individual racism that we see and that the black, Latino, and Asian communities experience. Ignoring racism is no way to address the problems of racism. Just as kids can be taught at an early age to be racist, they can be taught not to be racist.
Marc Knapp, Annapolis
I don’t believe I have heard of this and I’m kind of shocked because I do watch the 5 a.m. news to 7 a.m. and, again, I watch the 5 p.m. news until 6:30 p.m. I do not have a child in school and the last time my son was in school it was in 2008. Maybe that’s why I haven’t heard of it. I like to know things, know enough to make an educated decision on whether I support it or not.
Lisa Linthicum, Brandywine
My understanding is that CRT is a theory about the complicated origins and current remnants of institutional racism in this country. CRT seems to be a topic in some graduate and law school classes. Having taught in K–12 public schools for 30 years, I can say that CRT never came up and is not on any curriculum I ever saw. It is not taught. I think, given that laws discriminating against large segments of our population were on the books until the Civil Rights Era, it would be surprising if there weren’t lingering issues with race in our country and that CRT seems a good way of trying to trace and study where/how it operates.
Susan Buckingham, Chester
