Oklahoma City Community College canceled one of its classes following the Oklahoma legislature’s passage of a law that many have referred to as a ban on teaching “critical race theory.”
The course was designed to teach students to “recognize the extent of privilege, prejudice, and discrimination in our society,” according to its syllabus.
“I got an email a week or so ago, saying due to this new law, they were canceling my completely full race and ethnicities class,” Melissa Smith, the course’s instructor, told KOCO 5. “I’m not happy. This is information everyone needs to know.”
BILL BANNING CRITICAL RACE THEORY IN SCHOOLS ONE STEP CLOSER TO ABBOTT’S DESK
The bill, HB/SB 1775, precludes public schools from teaching that “any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex” or that someone’s race or sex determines their “moral character.”
“[After] learning more about HB/SB 1775 and how it essentially revokes any ability to teach critical race theory, including discussions of white privilege, from required courses in Oklahoma … we recognized that HB/SB 1775 would require substantial changes to the curriculum for this class particularly,” Erick Worrell, a spokesman for the college, told the Washington Post, adding the class was not gone but instead “paused.”
Administrators wanted “more time to get this right — or to let the legal issues play out with other universities and colleges before we teach it again in its current form,” Worrell said.
“Our history of the United States is uncomfortable, and it should make us uncomfortable, and we should grow from that,” Smith said. “And I tell my kids all the time, get comfortable being uncomfortable. And if I don’t make you uncomfortable in class, then I’m not doing my job.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I don’t know any professors or teachers who teach that one race is superior to another,” she added. “We teach that … one race and one sex have privileges and that there are, again, inequalities that we need to address.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Oklahoma City Community College for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
