An inside look at the role that Critical Race Theory plays in the American education system and politics.
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ritical Race Theory is permeating America’s current pedagogical landscape, but it is being deeply misinterpreted. CRT, is a term that, in recent discourse, has been thrown around without understanding. As a result, it is unnecessarily inflaming political and racial tensions, particularly in public high schools across America. Although Critical Race Theory has many antecedents from centuries ago, its most notable derivation was CLS, the Critical Legal Studies movement. Unlike CRT, CLS examines legal realism and decision-making. CLS states that the laws and societal structures by which we all abide have immanent social biases. The philosophical approach that is CRT itself came to existence in the 1980s from Derrick Bell, the first black professor at Harvard Law School. To attach a definition, CRT is the idea that in order to achieve racial equity, one must not only acknowledge de jure inequalities but also consider history and its adjacent hierarchies; not only is racism embedded into legal policies and systems, but it is also the result of individual prejudices. The recent conflict surrounding Critical Race Theory stems from misconceptions regarding what it is, to begin with. For those in opposition to the teachings of CRT at a high school level, Critical Race Theory has no connection to Derrick Bell’s work; they see it as the general term for anything pertaining to race (or, really, anything that makes them uncomfortable)–– often including the acknowledgment of the existence of racism itself. Despite recent arguments, it is imperative to
36 OPINION
“People define what they feel their own truth is. What your truth may be may not be what my truth is and vice versa.” - Cameron Poole
understand that there is no high school that teaches Critical Race Theory; it contradicts the structure of the American public education system as an institution with the sole purpose of ensuring the compliance of future generations. Regardless, as much as one could study the capacities of race, one must learn, in-depth, the concepts embedded within and also learn how to apply them to various legal structures before it can be deemed CRT; It explores racism’s pervasiveness and ubiquity, ergo, the reason it is so difficult to dismantle. When asked about Critical Race Theory’s role in high schools, Cameron Poole, Chief Officer of Equity and Inclusion and Accountability Coordinator in Clayton, said, “I was introduced to the term and some capacities within it during my senior year of college. I’d never even taken a course on CRT, which is a course that is for more of a graduate level. When people say, ‘CRT has no place in high schools,’ it is because those are college courses. Algebra and calculus aren’t the same, right? But in order to take calculus, you must take algebra. [Critical Race Theory] is kind of like calculus, and what we study at a high school level is algebra, comparatively. People are confused about what is actually being taught in high schools; that is why there is that disconnect.” When addressing the conflict around the discussion of racial issues in schools, Poole said, “People define what they feel their own truth is. What your truth may be may not be what my truth is and vice versa. If it’s not my truth, then why should it be taught? And that’s where everything comes in. I
