Teachers union's critical race theory decision marks escalation in battle
A decision by the country’s largest teachers union to embrace critical race theory, an umbrella term for a racially focused curriculum, has opened a new front in a battle that has swept across the nation.
The National Education Association voted during its annual assembly over the weekend to support teaching critical race theory in K-12 schools, approving a “New Business Item” that, among other things, established a task force for developing a curriculum focusing more deeply on race.
Opposition to critical race theory has animated school board meetings and local political races across the country, inspiring an activist movement some critics have claimed is manufactured.
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The movement's progressive critics have spent months arguing critical race theory is not taught in classrooms nationwide. But now, opponents say the NEA's actions make it undeniable schools are pushing the racially focused teaching style.
“They are now owning up to deception that they were perpetuating in the media for so long that none of this was part of their agenda,” Asra Nomani, vice president of strategy and investigations for Parents Defending Education, told the Washington Examiner.
Nomani said her group established a line through which parents could report policies or lessons that conform to critical race theory — and found the type of racially focused instruction to be pervasive.
“What happened is that, as soon as we started documenting this from coast to coast, the teachers unions, the superintendents association, the school boards, and politicians — and unfortunately, willing activists within the community — also have tried to gaslight us and play this game of whether or not the theory is being taught,” she said.
The union’s explicit endorsement of the divisive form of instruction marks a notable shift.
Opponents of critical race theory have frequently confronted the argument from schools and liberal activists that the material is not taught to children in grade school.
For example, in Loudoun County, Virginia, the battle between parents and the school board made national headlines this spring after dozens of parents joined forces to push back on critical race theory in the county system. At a school board meeting in June, the opposition became so fierce that police arrested at least one person, and board members ended the meeting early due to the chaos.
But school officials continue to insist critical race theory is not taught in any of Loudoun County’s classrooms.
Critics of the teaching style say critical race theory teaches children to see themselves, others, and institutions primarily through the lens of race — which they say could deepen racial tensions.
Supporters of including elements of the theory in curricula say children should understand the role racism has played in shaping modern society so they can correct for historical imbalances in the future.
The definition of critical race theory itself has become a flashpoint in the cultural battle over how large race should loom over lesson plans. Anti-CRT activists include any school policies dictated by race as a marker for whether the theory is active in a school. Nomani cited an example from her own son’s school in which merit-based admissions tests were eliminated for equity.
But those in favor of incorporating more teachings about structural racism argue critical race theory is not being taught if the underlying academic theory isn’t used in the classroom. They say parents who oppose don’t have a firm grasp on what they claim to be fighting.
As in Loudoun County, many schools have been reluctant to label their inclusive policies as critical race theory for fear of stirring outrage among some parents in the community — which is partly why the NEA’s decision over the weekend to associate with the theory attracted attention.
Nomani claimed the documentation of the NEA’s CRT-related vote had been removed from its website as of Tuesday afternoon. A Washington Examiner review of the NEA’s website for the annual assembly did not find the text of the business item that generated so many headlines about critical race theory.
The NEA did not immediately return a request for comment about whether it removed the item.
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Tensions between parents and teachers unions had boiled over months before the critical race theory fight burst into the national conversation because of the unions' role in maintaining pandemic school closures, and some activists have pointed to the months of virtual learning as a catalyst for the anti-CRT movement.
Ian Prior, executive director of the Loudoun-based group Fight for Schools, told the Washington Examiner in June he believed many parents got involved in activism after overhearing what their children were learning during the pandemic when many families worked and learned from home.
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Tags: News, Critical Race Theory, Education, Teachers Unions
Original Author: Sarah Westwood
Original Location: Teachers union's critical race theory decision marks escalation in battle
