Schools are a place where students go to be educated. Kids go to school, they get information crammed into their little heads, they go home and cry. That is the way our forefathers intended it to be. Schools are completely entrusted to mold the minds of our youth, but some people believe the trust is being misplaced.
As of late, concerned citizens across our country have been voicing their concerns regarding the teaching of Critical Race Theory. Now, “what is that,” I hear you ask.
Critical Race Theory (CRT) is an academic theory stating that racism has been built into our legal systems and laws. It was thought up in a meeting of the minds over 40 years ago at Harvard Law School by Derrick Bell, Richard Delgado, and several other renowned scholars.
This college-level academic theory has been around with little attention drawn to it for all this time. That was until recently. In the past few months there has been an influx of claims that CRT is being taught in K-12 schools.
What a ridiculous notion, I say, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. Our own Kansas Board of Education released a statement this summer regarding the teaching of CRT in schools. “Unfortunately, there are some who are conflating CRT with educational equity.” The statement goes on to say “Critical race theory is not a part of Kansas’ academic standards and has never been a part of Kansas’ academic standards.” I think that speaks for itself.
CRT in Kansas schools is a ridiculous notion that was put down by the Kansas education gods themselves. It is my personal opinion, as well as the KSBE, that “Just as we teach our Kansas students to be judicious consumers of information, we encourage all Kansans to educate themselves on what critical race theory (CRT) is and what it isn’t.”
This reaction is certainly not what our concerned citizens of Kansas expected, but I struggle to grasp what exactly it was that they were expecting. Perhaps it is the wish of some that we have another situation like the Kansas Evolution fiasco back in 2005. For those of you unfamiliar with the hearings, essentially there were individuals who had voiced concerns over the teaching of evolution. They did not agree with it so they did not want it to be taught. The vote passed and was not reversed until 2007. This decision made Kansas a laughing stock of education.
Censoring education due to personal opinions is a foolish notion that is nothing but harmful to the people being educated. Everyone has a right to educate themselves and form their own opinions on all matters.
Now of course it is good for adults to be interested in the education of children, however non-educators should not try to control what is being taught. Despite what some may believe, teachers are not indoctrinating students to hate our country. If you are ashamed of the history that is being taught then that shows growth. Just as people grow, education has grown over the years. Today’s curriculum is not the same as what was taught back in the day.
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