Across the country, from school board meetings to state legislatures, heated debates about whether Critical Race Theory (CRT) should be taught in K-12 classrooms have reached a flashpoint. A number of states already banned CRT instruction, with many others sponsoring bills that are moving through their legislatures.
Straight Arrow News contributor Rashad Richey argues that Critical Race Theory is a framework that should be taught to our K-12 teachers so their students can learn to think critically about race.
First of all, it’s been here for decades — it is an advanced theoretical construct. The problem is not that CRT is taught in K-12 education, because it’s not — that’s not your problem. The problem is: It’s not taught and it should be. Let me explain.
While the mechanisms, the theoretical construct of CRT, is too advanced typically for any K-12 learner, some of the elements could be taught to those who teach students. You see we all understand that thinking critically is a good thing. Critical Race Theory, which is one of many theoretical frameworks that looks at social design in order to understand contrast outcomes — this particular theoretical framework simply poses a question: Why?
In that comes a critical analysis of race — not race in the sense of demographics. Let me explain. Critical Race Theory actually teaches that race is a man-made construct. Yes, that’s what it teaches — that race itself, the category, is a man-made construct. But because of that man-made construct, real social dynamics have been produced. Some are adverse, especially to people of color, because people of color have not been the dominant group in the United States of America. This is why you have such extreme numbers as it relates to whites in America, and everybody else. That is simply once again, a theoretical framework.
