There is an effort underway in several Republican states to ban critical race theory from the public school system. Some conservatives have objected to this push, arguing that the precedent it sets could prove disastrous for the conservative movement later on. After all, aren’t we the ones who defend and depend on the free exchange of ideas? If we violate the neutral square in which this free exchange occurs, who’s to say conservative ideas won’t be banned next?
The problem with this argument is that the “neutral square” to which they’re referring, the public school system, is not neutral at all. It is a government-run, government-funded, and government-staffed system, which means the state is going to be thoroughly involved in its curriculum one way or the other. And it is: The state sets academic standards for students, requires attendance, and prescribes common class material that teachers are expected to stick to when teaching.
The question, then, is: What do you want the state teaching your children? One would hope it’s not critical race theory.
CRT, which has been around since the 1970s, has become a toxic and divisive doctrine that is infiltrating the corporate world and the classroom. CRT teaches that racism is present in every structure and system upon which America was built; that white people are and always will be inherently oppressive; and that discrimination in favor of minorities is therefore justified. In other words, CRT promotes a kind of rank racialism that demonizes entire racial groups. By insisting that race is determinative of character, it would destroy any real progress we’ve made over the past several decades.
Here are a few examples of CRT at work: In Seattle, white teachers were told they were guilty of “spirit murdering” black children and that they must “bankrupt their privilege in acknowledgment of their thieved inheritance.” In Cupertino, California, third-graders were instructed to list their racial identities and rank themselves according to “power and privilege.” And in Buffalo, New York, students were taught that “all white people” perpetuate systemic racism, and kindergarteners were required to watch a video of dead black children that warned them about “racist police” who might kill them at any time.
If local school boards and state legislatures have the authority to get rid of this radicalism and protect their students from it, why shouldn’t they?
To be sure, some of the laws proposed by Republican states need work. Tennessee’s, for example, is too vague. It just says “promoting division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class, or class of people” would be prohibited. Couldn’t that then be used by leftists to ban the bans of CRT, which might qualify as a “creed”?
A much better CRT ban is Idaho’s, which specifically prohibits lessons arguing that “individuals, by virtue of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin, are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by other members of the same sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin.” This gets right to the heart of CRT and leaves little room for future abuse.
I have no doubt the conservatives who object to CRT bans do so out of thoughtful concern for the future of the conservative movement. But at a certain point, we need to recognize that refusing to combat the noxious ideologies coming from the Left is the same thing as surrendering the “neutral” public square to those ideologies — especially in the public school system.
Over at National Review, Dan McLaughlin put it this way: Public school children are going to be taught something, so who’s going to decide what that something is? If conservatives don’t, leftists will — which is why we not only have the legal right but the moral imperative to take a stand against a harmful ideology that undermines so many of the values that made this country and its people great, values we’re supposed to conserve.
