Probably the most salient argument against the current railing against the inclusion of critical race theory in our schools is the idea that parents have little control over their children's education, but should. And, well, they usually don't, at least not on a daily basis. They don't know enough, and under nearly every circumstance, they really don't care that much.
But the fear-mongering that emerged about it--and has caused, now, at least one Democratic gubernatorial candidate who otherwise would probably have won his election (Virginia) to lose it, managed to very effectively gin-up parental control over their children's education--as if they ever really had it at all.
As in many other political rows, reality has been shunted aside. One day, everyone will wonder just how it got the attention it did, including the idea of watching so carefully what's taught on a daily basis. But the illusion of control was established long ago.
It was established with the voucher movement. Republicans managed to convince enough voters and parents, mostly parents with money to burn, that the Burger King concept of educational programming--have it your way--was not only possible but highly justifiable, to break the 'monopoly' that teachers' unions apparently had over the educational system.
Under the canopy of school 'choice,' they could take their monies and invest it somewhere else, thus 'controlling' their children's education without bothering to understand the advantages of the public system, of which there are many that they assume the private sector could also handle. They were wrong, they always have been wrong, but they feel better because they took the money and ran, and feeling better is the whole point, apparently, not actual results. That is called getting hoodwinked, and no doubt thousands still feel fully justified in actually robbing their kids of better educational possibilities.
None of that had anything to do with curricula, since the school districts had almost exclusive control over them, relying on faculties to consult and design within broad parameters. Except when the doors closed inside the hallways and teachers went to work, they sometimes found it necessary to adjust if not re-design lessons on their own, so I suppose the reactionaries have a point. Though they scream as loudly as they ever have, they want someone else to handle the review of curricula, never mind the extra time and bother and expense it may take, not needing to do any of that themselves. They'd rather just complain because blind anger is far easier and genuine caring isn't, which echoes ex- and his minions, most of which they of course are. No doubt someone will find something else for them to complain about, decrying the end of civilization as we know it.
I didn't know this, but critical race theory is a significant part of the Virginia Department of Education's website. You can click on it there. I wasn't making up what I wrote earlier, namely that I had never heard of CRT in all the 30 years I taught, and it had never been mentioned in any of my department's meetings that I attended (which were most of them). No wonder all the screaming; Terry McAuliffe, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, trying for his second, non-consecutive term (Virginia prohibits consecutive terms), downplayed the concept and tried to make it go away. Hindsight is 20-20, but a more direct dealing with the matter might have suppressed the anxiety.
Now that I know how widespread its usage has been, maybe leaning into it and trying to extrapolate its meaning in the total picture might be a better move. But I wonder if it's too late. Again, as in most controversial education issues, it's not supposed to be political, but education is the most political of all our public issues, partly because it's so local and thus so personal.
The memories we tend to have of our own schooling tend to lean toward the pristine and tender, not filled with the conflict and insecurity most of it actually was. That's partly because the older we get, the better we were. It's also because, well, that was then and we have to get on with things, and we'd rather not dwell on the bad stuff that life confronted us with, nearly right from the start.
So it is with parents who took on vouchers in the belief that they 'controlled' their children's education. They only controlled the educational site, not the stuff of education itself. Realization of that has either taken place far too late, or is still drifting in their dreamy clouds that they did the most to take care of their kids in that realm, too.
But the illusion of control is enough. What the Democrats should do is sit down and dream up possible other crazy ideas that Republicans could extend upon us in order to come up with decent responses ahead of time--kind of an idea vault. That way, they can't be ambushed with something like critical race theory and paralyzed about which way to go with it.
Since being defensive and/or dismissive didn't work, they should lean into it now. Continue the conversation or try to, kind of like a guy who MSNBC asked if he knew about it, and he responded not much but what he did know he didn't like. That's ripe for drilling down and getting people to honestly think about it. Granted, they may not, but at least it's a proactive approach.
But that means wanting to establish decent talking points about it and making them in understandable tidbits so they can be absorbed easily. As usual, the reactionary, simplistic, pseudo-grounded words used to object to CRT sound stronger and more salient than the real truth. Have it your way, like vouchers, is an easily digestible but totally misleading description to objecting to CRT. But it works, because it becomes yet another dog whistle. Or at least it did in Virginia, and might have lasting effects elsewhere.
When she was first elected to be Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jill Underly was at a post-election fund-raiser in Madison last summer. I decided to stop by. I managed to pull her aside for a moment and ask her whether she had any strategy to deal with complaints about CRT, because, as I said, "You can see it on the horizon." She admitted that her office hadn't done so yet.
I sure hope that's changed, but I haven't seen anything about it. Many Wisconsin school boards have been assailed about it (including Mequon-Thiensville, a well-educated district, which recalled a controlling majority of the entire school board over the topic--but, thank goodness, failed). No doubt the assailants want the momentum of it, like the false "steal," to last through the next gubernatorial race, when they're unquestionably planning to eliminate Tony Evers from purview and get the state to once again descend into the Dark Ages.
In the meantime, I'll be trying to come up with those talking points. But in doing so, it assumes that CRT has enough legitimacy to be discussed. The damage that its misunderstanding has already done practically demands it. More on that later.
Be well. Be careful. Get a booster shot. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.
Mister Mark
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