CRITICAL RACE THEORY

Critical Race Theory, the Republicans claim, teaches public school students to hate themselves and America. Facts First: K-12 students are NOT being taught Critical Race Theory. If studied, it is at an advanced upper division or graduate level. I am a retired public-school teacher who has taught American history and politics for forty years.  California curriculum requires a study of the U.S. Constitution and the inventory of laws enacted by Congress and the states.Our Constitution began with a clause that valued slaves as 3/5 of a white man. While we may have amended the Constitution to provide for an equal protection of the laws, we did not amend people’s hearts. Critical Race Theory, explores the laws and institutions that promulgated and perpetuated the racial divide.Critical Republican Theory postulates that such curriculum is anti-democratic and should be banned in American schools. Public school teachers must push back. Disparate treatment is a part of America’s history. We cannot ignore it. It is incumbent upon educators to discuss America’s full history, good deeds and misdeeds, slavery AND the underground railroad, for example.   A responsible teacher covers all. A well-educated student needs all.