Critical Race Theory is a real threat to American civic education, but the media makes it seem that it is a partisan issue and that much of the attention has died down. Yet, the fight continues in classrooms and school board meetings despite the media’s lagging attention span.
Recent events demonstrated that parents are making their voices heard, which spurred school boards to ban Critical Race Theory teachings in the classroom.
In Oregon, the Greater Albany Public Schools Board fired its superintendent, Melissa Goff, in July due to concerns about critical race theory. Goff told a local newspaper, “We have been really focused on making sure we have a strong educational system for all of our kids and making sure they prepared for next steps,” Goff claimed, “and in order to do that, they need to be able to think critically and be exposed to multiple perspectives and grow from learning from other ways of thinking, but instead, what we are seeing both in the actions of this board and in the actions of other boards is that people who have been marginalized in the past are being pushed again to the edges.”
Another Oregon school district in Newburg banned “political symbols” such as the gay pride and Black Lives Matter flags, which could violate Oregon’s state laws on education equity.
In the Dallas, Texas area, the McKinney Independent School District canceled a government elective due to the elective running afoul of the state’s anti-Critical Race Theory law. The Dallas Morning News reported that a nationwide Youth and Government program was a “popular” elective course that no longer complies with state law on social studies that banned political activism and policy advocacy.
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Mars Area School District banned Critical Race Theory and became the first district to do so in the region. The board passed a “patriotism amendment” as a part of the district’s mission statement and required all district buildings and classrooms to display the American flag. It also banned curriculum that would make people “feel guilt or anguish” and barred indoctrination efforts along political or ideological lines. It passed by a vote of 7-0, with two members absent.
Moves to ban Critical Race Theory in public schools came after multiple, high-profile and parent-led protests which engulfed school board meetings across the country in places such as Northern Virginia, Maine, and Texas. These recent events confirmed that parents are concerned about critical race theory and these concerns have been made clear to school board members, who then put these rules into place to ban Critical Race Theory and stop left-wing ideologues to indoctrinate America’s children with their biased, one-sided ideology.
