What is the Critical Race Theory?

[BmorePat87]

(05-15-2021, 10:27 AM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: I'm legitmately interested to read some examples.  I understand many of the larger talking points that surround the subject (don't necessarily agree with all of them) but I'd like to see them in practice.

Fwiw, I do think it's important for High School kids (and college) to spend some time on this (racial discussions), depending on what is actually being taught and discussed.  Like it or not, race is a huge issue today.  It's unavoidable.  So I think it's increibly naive to think that there isn't benefit in having younger people explore these issues.   We often talk of the "real world" or preparing kids for it and for better or worse this is it in 2021.

Also, I'd be very curious to hear if you think any of this belongs in the lower levels of education.  I would STRONGLY argue it does not.  I think it's incredibly unhealthy to have these conversations with younger kids.  And that goes for ALL kids (let's say 13 and under).  White, black, asian, etc.

It's present throughout my course (since it's a perspective), but in one series of lessons, I apply the concept in a very practical exercise by looking at the history of housing policy in Baltimore city over the last 100 years. I mostly use local articles, researchers, and primary documents.

 The perspective of Critical Race Theory is based on the notion that inequity is built into our social institutions and is less an act of some nefarious individual but rather something that is part of how the machine operates and how we are socialized to perceive the proper function of the machine.

We hammer in the history of slavery, reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights movement, so I start with just discussing contemporary policy. Every discussion starts with redlining (there's a great video from the root that covers it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o-yD0wGxAc) because it's critical in understand the struggle of wealth attainment for Black Americans over the last 100 years. 

Two decades later as our economy is booming, we focus on the migration patterns of the White middle class, specifically looking at Baltimore and using some great maps created by National Geographic that show housing development in Maryland and housing abandonment. Frame this in the conversation of White Flight and examine language from housing covenants for neighborhoods like Rodgers Forge that barred selling homes to Black people. 

Jump to the practice of blockbusting (White realtors selling homes in all White neighborhoods to Black families at above market price then going to White families and warning them to quickly sell before their value dropped too much and then repeating the process) using Edmondson Village as an example. Compare statistics between housing prices and school rankings today in Edmondson Village to Rodgers Forge (communities built by the same developer at the same time). Ed Orser's book Blockbusting in Baltimore is a great resource for this. Look at how retail and professional services (like doctors) left when the neighborhood went from 99% White to 97% Black in 10 years. 

Tie it into Urban Renewal using some great resources from the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/04/29/the-long-painful-and-repetitive-history-of-how-baltimore-became-baltimore/) and compare redlining maps to urban renewal maps. Consider the percentage of Black people among those who lost their homes to urban renewal (nationally about 70% but as high as 80-90% in Baltimore) and how redlining prevented investments in those areas for decades. This leads to a discussion on the fact that it turned homeowners into renters, further diminishing generational wealth. 

This ties into a conversation on gentrification, again comparing those maps to redlining maps and again having the conversation on why those areas were cheap and who was more likely to move into newly gentrified areas. D Watkins has a great narrative about this (which I heavily edit ) https://www.salon.com/2015/03/23/black_history_bulldozed_for_another_starbucks_against_the_new_baltimore/

This is just one way you can apply the perspective. A lot of sociology is engaging topics from various perspectives within the discipline. 

(05-17-2021, 12:25 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: I really haven't gotten any examples or an answer about what this actually entails.  All I've gathered so far is that Robin Diangelo's program is not representative of CRT.

I'll just lay out some questions, hopefully someone here will be kind of enough to answer them.  (Note: All of these questions are specifically related to how it's used in the lower levels of the education system.)

1.) Is CRT a stand-alone class?

2.) If it is a stand-alone class, what other classes are you removing or shortening to make room for it?  (Ex: Gym)

3.) If it is a stand-alone class, is it to be taught every year, or is it taught periodically or as a one-off?  (Ex. 7th, 8th, 9th, etc. vs once in Jr. High and/ once in high school vs only once overall.)

4.) At what age is it most commonly accepted that people think this curriculum should start?

5.) If it's not a stand-alone class is it something that will somehow be woven into their entire curriculum?

6.) Is it something that would just be taught in US History?  (Ex: Spending more time exploring the after-effects of slavery and Jim Crow)

7.) Does it include terms like White Privilege or Institutional Racism?

8.) Would there be a state or federally approved lesson plan that must be followed or would individual teachers develp their own? (I don't trust every teacher in America to tackle such a sensitive subject on their own.  Every profession has hacks, and agendas can be found anywhere.  Teachers are not immune to this)

I'll kinda wait to see the replies before I explain why I think #7 is particully harmful to children.  In fact, I think it's harmful to everyone but like I said I'll wait to better explain myself.

PS For those of you who are actually teaching it or have studied it, I honestly would like to see some of the lesson plans and materials you spoke of earlier.  When I hear that the examples in the media are not reflective of the actual material it seems to me this is an opportunity to correct it.

1. While it may or may not be at the post secondary level, it's a perspective that you would apply in any social studies class
2. If it were, we only require 3 years of social studies, so make it one 4th year social studies class (but again, a perspective so as a sociology teacher, I'd just advocate for sociology).
3. Applied in all secondary level social studies classes
4. 7-9th grade is likely best. The adolescent brain becomes more suited for analytical and abstract discussions.
5. Yes, easily.
6. Reframing US history by looking at how social understanding of race and views prompted policy decisions
7. Yes. 
8. State controls curriculum, so state. Teachers need flexibility to make their own lessons, though, and a properly constructed curriculum is accessible to all teachers and students.


With regards to #7, here's some of what I say about privilege :

Quote:"a set of unearned benefits given to people who fit into a specific social group.” -Sian Ferguson, South African writer

not something to be ashamed of or to be enraged by when someone points out what privileges you have, but it is something to be mindful of.

I discuss which privileges I may have and encourage students to do the same.

Talk about how our lived experiences shape our world view

Quote:

• Our experiences are defined by the privileges we do or do not have
  Our experiences shape our perspective
  Be empathetic of others and cognizant of our own privileges
  Break out of the bubbles we are in and critically analyze other perspectives and experiences.
  

emphasis on respecting the validity of everyone's perspective while also stating that no one's perspective should challenge anyone else's humanity or dignity.

Quote:Cannot truly understand what someone else experiences.
You can support them
You can chose to not actively work to silence their voice
You can use your own privileges to amplify their voice when they lack those privileges
You can listen and make the commitment to actively work to dismantle the structures that granted you privileges not held by others
Your privileges put you in a position to do so for others who lack them.

Talk about how we can work to dismantle systemic inequity by listening to those affected by things we do not personally experience