But it's very difficult to rebel
openly against the belief system
this belief system of critical
race theory is going to lead
to disaster because it is having
this corrosive effect
and the way that it's being
taught as truth they said not
only do you have to support this
being taught in the schools
but you have to support this
in the home that's a lot worse
than other otherwise I
don't think that it's a question
of if there is some know when we
lift this off our heads
everything will be great.
And we'll see the light I was
happy with that and I know a lot
of parents were very unhappy
with that unhappy with
the direction that the school
going but unhappy with the whole
indoctrination aspect of this
what does it mean to have
children that challenge this
belief system and we need
to flag them and we need to have
conversations with them if they
do that if you don't sign this
your daughter campaign school
and I said well that's sort
of blackmail and you know all
in the name of goodness all
in the name of light
and everything that is
on the side of the angels George
Floyd was really like the light
switch went
off and things just got ramped
up to an enormous degree where
the head of school talked about
some of the initiatives that
they were going to do and they
made it seem like they're going
to integrate this racial
curriculum with anti-racism
curriculum and to everything
every class into math and these
things were promoted as moral
absolutes so if you care about
being a good person,
you will believe these things
right and no and no and adults
have a hard time challenging
that I had a hard time
challenging how are you going
to ask a child to challenge
but I was attracted
to the ideology that now I feel
somewhat differently about
because it was a call
to to the heart to to feel
something for groups of people
that have been marginalized
historically and in the present
I wrote the letter to help
parents to speak up give them
a little bit of ammunition
for how to do it and more
importantly for some cover where
they said, OK.
We're not the first one to do
this.
We're not the first one to do
this publicly this is completely
different you know they
advocated for Black Lives Matter
and they want families
to advocate for Black Lives
Matter but to say that we want
you.
We want your daughter from
kindergarten through 12th grade
we want your family to be
an activist this is what
they're really saying it is not
OK and this is the anti-racism
principle right where they say,
OK, if you're not either racist
or racist it's more even than
that it's that if you just stay
silent you're racist the thing
that really bothered me the most
was how it it takes place
at the level of identity,
how we think of ourselves is
such a deep and important
question for young people
the anti-racist programming
would start by acknowledging
the unique nature of individuals
and they would get the kids
to say you know who are you what
do you like what kind
of preferences do you have right
what what kind of music do you
like how do you define yourself
and then very rapidly they would
shift to a racialized identity
and they would get the kids
to sort of move away from that
and start to interject how
society viewed them
and and accept that
as as a priority I had one
parent tell me very recently
that their kids
their kindergarten daughters had
to draw a picture of themselves
in my daughter's kindergarten
class it was a big project they
drew they could do whatever they
wanted their hair the way they
wanted freckles if they had
the assignment they were given
now whether they were pretty
much only given skin color
crayons and the assignment was
focused exclusively on getting
your skin tone right the only
thing that matters the root
of the word seduction is to lead
right so when you seduce someone
you lead them away from
themselves when you Eda's which
is the route of education you
draw forth who that person is
you get them to you you inspire
them you get them curious
and you lead them
out of themselves so that they
can see who they truly are I was
speaking to a colleague I asked
her have you met the new history
teacher and she said Yeah I know
and I said well what's he like
she said Oh it kind of reminds
me of I said Oh how said, well,
he's a White guy is that it you
know I can hear the objection
in my head to my own objection,
which is see how it feels White
man see how it feels to be
thought of as your race and I
get it right I get it.
But I don't see how that culture
is helping how do you undo
racism by by being pro race
but the anti-racism training is
done by a Consulting Group
called polyana they say over
and over we want to have
the difficult conversations
about race as polyana says that
the school says that we want
to have the difficult
conversation about race no they
don't they would justify it
by saying you know we have
teachers that haven't been
trained in this this is
the latest expertise in this
area so we're actually doing
these older teachers or these
teachers that aren't well versed
in this a favor if you hear
your your daughter singing along
to a song that
has the n-word what do you do OK
look these are not the real
conversations on race does
the school value equity
inclusion diversity anti-racism
over me or any individual
teacher absolutely these are not
the real conversations on why
there were racial discrepancies
in our society on racial
discrepancies in our schools
everything they are doing is
divisive it is tearing people
apart and I have heard privately
parents say,
I am much less likely to have
a playdate with a girl
of another race or much less
likely to reach out to moms
of other races not
because I'm racist
but because I'm afraid of saying
the wrong thing I also have
grave doubts about some
of the doctrinaire stuff that
gets spouted out us in the name
of anti-racism.
Can you elaborate because it
would help me help me understand
like what's going on I think
that one of the things
that's going on a little too
much and we've talked about this
is that the demonization
of being White
and and the attempt to link
anybody who's White
to the perpetuation of White
supremacy how does this
performative minstrelsy of White
people announcing
their privilege how does that
help Black child navigate
the world any better if you try
to say that objectivity is White
supremacy.
What is that telling students
about math which is the most
objective discipline you can
have what is it saying is it
saying that the Persians
the Chinese the Arabs all
the groups globally that
contribute to math is it, saying
that they are all parties
participating in White supremacy
why is it why would you do that
it seems that it's against
the whole project which is math
belongs to everyone math is
a global creation
and to attribute one
of the foundational principles
of it to one race it it negates
all of those other contributions
as or whitewashes them.
So there was a high school
student that you wrote
a rebuttal and she wrote very
well but I think she missed
the point and the key point was
that I know Latin is tight now
and really the question is,
will it be taught in the future
really because to me the writing
is on the wall that they are
going to eradicate things like
teaching Black if you really
cared about equity you talk
about getting rid of sibling
preference legacy preference
and preference for very wealthy
families you would use this huge
endowment for better purposes
there is no real metric by which
success can be measured since
all of the work that needs to be
done you know happens
in the level of unconscious bias
and as as things get more
difficult well this is revealing
more unconscious biases which
require more experts to help
navigate and so it becomes
it's sort of endless boondoggles
which is
terrific if you have a degree
in this area.
And if you have services to sell
these institutions our country
doesn't survive a not teaching
history and civics and it sure
as hell doesn't survive bringing
up our children to hate our own
country I'd want to say
to the student who feels
intimidated or pushed
into silence because they feel
the consequences of challenging
an idea in class or outside
of class are too great is too
great.
I just I want to say be brave be
yourself think for yourself
because you shouldn't have
to lie you shouldn't have
to hide what you think
because the consequences of that
for your growth
and your your long term
well-being is going to be
greater than the short term
difficulties you will face
for speaking out.