What do you think? Years ago a good friend said, “I’ll see it when I believe it.” Everyone sees what they believe, but no one can see what they don’t believe. We believe what we have learned.
During the Covid pandemic in 2020 parents saw, heard, and experienced firsthand what their children were learning in K-12, and many became alarmed. They asked teachers, then principals, and finally school boards why they were teaching children these things. Then they opened the can of worms called Critical Race Theory that progressives have instilled in K-12 curricula for decades.
Teachers, principals, school boards, teachers’ unions, the Department of Justice, and the White House essentially told concerned parents “to calm down,” called them “domestic terrorists,” and ordered law enforcement officials to prevent radical parents from attacking professional educators.
In “Battle for the American Mind,” Pete Hegseth and David Goodwin characterized the warning to parents this way: “This is the way it is. This is the future, parents were told. Get with the program! White people are inherently oppressive. Gender is completely fluid. Climate change will destroy the world. And America is the ultimate source of evil in the world. Up is down, left is right, good and evil are subjective—until an educator tells you who or what is good and evil, and then you must comply.”
The Preacher says, “There is nothing new under the sun.” Progressivism is Marxism dressed in 21st Century rhetoric. And, Karl Marx is not the first person to advocate dividing people into identity groups in order to control them. You know, government gives smart and educated people the authority to rule everybody else who should just shut up and accept what the smart and educated people say. Professionals know better than parents what children should believe.
K-12 students receive 16,000 hours of instruction by the time they graduate. What do they think? Beliefs generally follow this order: foundation is family religion or values; then we identify with our culture; our culture leads us to political beliefs that solidify what we think.
In “Battle for the American Mind,” Hegseth and Goodwin note, “The most evident revelation from this development was the theory our kids have been taught about race in the American classroom. Seemingly out of nowhere—and accelerated after the Black Lives Matter riots in the summer of 2020—concepts like white privilege and systemic racism … were splashed across computer screens all over America. Critical race theory had fully arrived (often masked as ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’), along with a full-on attempt to redefine gender, infuse climate fatalism, and turn our children into activists.”
What do you believe? What do you see? What do you think? Did ruling authorities tell you so?
Daniel L. Gardner is a syndicated columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.
10 comments:
It may run far above Mr. Gardner's head but the problem with certain fields of study is not what is being taught but when it is being taught. Critical Race Theory is certainly no subject matter for the minds of K-12 children who are unable to analyze the implications involved. Any teacher venturing into that area should be stopped before confusing children. But the critical revelation and analysis of the preponderance and effect of race and racism on the historic and contemporary machinery of law in America is well worth study in our law schools and doctoral programs. Most of the people decrying that theory can't even define it. Mr. Gardner, Don't burn the book put it in the section of the library where it belongs.
9:33 that would be a huge step forward. Don't talk about it below the college level. In college we should be able to debate most anything. But we have seen some pretty dumb ideas along these lines. For example: white people made laws to put more blacks in jail. (How would that help anyone??); Enforcing immigration laws is racist. Calls for reparations for slavery (no discussion about who blacks would pay if it were determined that their lives are better off today than if their ancestors had been left in Africa). Assuming most white people are racists without asking if most blacks are racist on some level.
So, let's agree that children are better off believing what we should all agree on, that God makes everyone different and it's up to each person to do the best they can in life. Save the CRT discussion for college. But realize that people are saying some pretty crazy thing in the name of CRT.
Best escape from marxist dogma in schools is to give more power to parents: School Choice and Vouchers.
I have never seen a ghost, Bigfoot or a UFO. But I want to believe!
10:42 Perhaps you do not realize that people have also said some crazy things in the name of racist ideology, and in the past much of our public policy was based on those crazy ideas. So it cuts both ways. But more often than not, it cut against the minority. You cite examples of one, but not the other. That's part of the problem.
CRT doesn't need to be taught at any level. People can learn about it on their own -- if they even want to -- and make up their own minds. Always be wary of anything zealots want to shove into the brain of mushminded children at any level of schooling.
10:42 PM- Time to buy a clue!
For example: white people made laws to put more blacks in jail. (How would that help anyone??);
Convict leasing? What is it?
After the Civil War, slavery persisted in the form of convict leasing, a system in which Southern states leased prisoners to private railways, mines, and large plantations. While states profited, prisoners earned no pay and faced inhumane, dangerous, and often deadly work conditions. Thousands of Black people were forced into what authors have termed “slavery by another name” until the 1930s. https://eji.org/news/history-racial-injustice-convict-leasing/
CRT hasn't been taught
EVER in K-12.
IF any of you actually had spent enough time in classrooms, you'd realize teachers are having to teach to the lowest level child as well and those with behavior problems.
They also, except in private schools dealing with the children whose parents are the least educated and economically stable.
It would be a HORROR to teach children in our public schools ONLY what their parents "believe"!
These absolutely bizzare beliefs coming out of the Trumpster crowd is not even worthy of good fiction!
I thank the Lord neither my parents or teachers were interested in censoring what I read but were very good about teaching me to evaluate whether the book I read was based on facts and evidence and to read about the author to have a chance to recognize any biases.
I suspect most of you haven't read a book with footnotes since your last year of education.
I doubt many of you have developed the curiosity to keep up with advances is knowledge once you stopped formal education.
I doubt any of you read the Bible all the way through on your own once and once isn't enough for context.
Nor have you ever once considered or looked to see WHY it was a bad idea to eat pork or fish on a Friday. Because you know NOTHING about the times in which ANY verse was written.
If you look up the names and pictures of the activists who are responsible for CRT, they all look like demons, trolls, and ghouls.
So, trust the kids to evaluate what is fact based lessons on a complicated subject like CRT, when test scores show the average public school student cant handle basic math and reading concepts.
I'm sure it will be fine.
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