Richard Hanania on the ideological capture of state education:

[T]he movement to ban Critical Race Theory is naive if it thinks it’s going to change much about public schools… A CRT ban might mean a teacher won’t say “Ok, kids, today we’re going to learn about Critical Race Theory!” but they’ll still teach variations of the same ideas. Neither Robin DiAngelo nor Ibram X. Kendi, the two thinkers that seem to offend conservatives the most, identifies as a Critical Race Theorist. In fact, the American Federation of Teachers just announced a campaign to bring Kendi’s teachings to every student in the country, and they don’t appear to be deterred by CRT bans. This is their full-time job, and they’ll still be at it whenever public attention has moved on from the controversy of the day… A state can ban CRT, but if it does, kids are still being taught by the same people who thought CRT for kindergartners was a good idea in the first place.

Somewhat related. And also. And, you know, for eight-year-olds

An emeritus professor, who wishes to remain anonymous, on the ideology of “white fragility” and its trajectory:

The fundamental claim of White Fragility ideology is that income, wealth, academic, and other outcome gaps are solely the result of white supremacy and can only be eradicated through “anti-racist” measures—that is, by addressing white supremacy, white privilege, and white racism. The behaviour of individuals in groups experiencing negative outcomes is never admitted as a possible driver of disparate outcomes…

If one believes (as is asserted in White Fragility) that all inequality between whites and blacks is due to racism, then racism is a very evil thing indeed and must be eradicated. The mildest action that might be taken to attempt to accomplish this goal is the voluntary re-education of whites. However, according to White Fragility dogma, whites benefit enormously from white racism… [and] are generally unaware that they are doing this. It follows that, given the benefits whites receive from racism, their denial of their own racism, and the discomfort associated with re-education, it is unlikely that many whites would voluntarily submit to re-education. Moreover, even if whites were to voluntarily submit to re-education, according to White Fragility dogma, it is not possible for whites to free themselves of racism. The author, Robin DiAngelo, who is white, makes her living trying to re-educate whites and works very hard at trying to eliminate her own self-confessed racism, but admits that she is still not free of racism.

Nevertheless, suppose that all whites are voluntarily or mandatorily re-educated, but income and other inequalities persist. For example, suppose that mass re-education of whites has little or no effect on the disparate out-of-wedlock birth rate between blacks (currently above 70%) and whites (currently below 30%). According to the tenets of White Fragility, any observed difference in outcomes between whites and blacks is due to white racism. If re-educating whites doesn’t work to eliminate this disparate outcome, the next logical step would be to replace whites who are in positions of power with blacks and other persons of colour. Suppose that after doing this, disparate outcomes persist—for example, the black out-of-wedlock birth rate is still well above the white out-of-wedlock birth rate. If disparate outcomes still persist even after replacing whites in all positions of power, then the institutions themselves must be destroyed…

If the above sounds a little fanciful, a tad dystopian, real-world examples are helpfully provided.

Now, imagine the kinds of minds to which such things might appeal. Say, minds much like these, employed by the schools of Portland, Oregon, where “white shame,” “white guilt,” and psychological “disintegration” – such that the subject becomes estranged from friends and parents, and such that they can’t sleep – are deemed necessary experiences for middle-school children, at least those with pale skin. And do note the casual dishonesty of the educators in question, the willingness to deceive. 

Feel free to share your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.




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