Post by addisona on Feb 23, 2022 10:31:25 GMT
critical race theory isn’t taught in Pa. K-12 schools, but it permeated local school board races
Pennsylvania public schools aren’t teaching critical race theory, but the concept has become a rallying cry for federal and state Republicans, and it seeped into municipal races this election cycle.
The 1776 Project Political Action Committee, which opposes introducing the 1970s theory that examines history through a racial lens in K-12 classrooms, endorsed candidates running for school board in seven states ahead of the Nov. 2 election — including 18 people vying for seats in Pennsylvania.
Unofficial results show nearly a dozen won their respective races in the municipal election, spanning seven districts in four counties across the commonwealth.
“It’s more important than ever that we stop critical race theory because the left is coming for our kids,” mailers sent by the committee ahead of the municipal election said, promoting candidates running for school board in Centre County.
1776 Project PAC Founder Ryan Girdusky — a conservative writer, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, and previous reporter for the far-right media outlet One America News Network — targeted voters with mailers and mass text messages.
The PAC also endorsed school board candidates in Colorado, Kansas, Ohio, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Virginia. On Thursday, the committee claimed that 75 percent of endorsed candidates were victorious, saying they’re “changing the face of school boards across the country” on Twitter.
“Our strategy was to get Republicans to vote,” he told the Capital-Star. “So, we directed all of our mailers to just Republicans and Republican-leaning independents with the goal of getting them out to vote, and they did. That was our entire goal. In some of these close elections, maybe it made a difference. In other places, maybe they just won; they would have won without us. But I think that it probably helped a little bit.”
What is critical race theory?
After experiencing what they considered a “lack of racial progress” after the civil rights movement, scholars developed critical race theory in the 1970s and 1980s, the Associated Press reported. The concept, which is taught in graduate and post-graduate courses, examines how race and law intersect and the idea that institutions were built to maintain white people’s dominance, thus ensuring race-based unequal treatment.
Kimberlé Crenshaw, a law professor and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, explained to Vanity Fair in July that the theory is “based on the premise that race is socially constructed, yet it is real through social constructions.” The concept studies how society looks and operates — and why, she said.
“These are the kinds of questions the other side doesn’t want us to ask because it wants us to be happy with the contemporary distribution of opportunity,” Crenshaw told Vanity Fair.
There is little evidence to show that critical race theory is taught in K-12 public schools; however, ideas related to the concept — such as the consequences of slavery — are discussed in classrooms, PBS reported.
www.penncapital-star.com/government-politics/critical-race-theory-isnt-taught-in-pa-k-12-schools-but-it-permeated-local-school-board-races/
Pennsylvania public schools aren’t teaching critical race theory, but the concept has become a rallying cry for federal and state Republicans, and it seeped into municipal races this election cycle.
The 1776 Project Political Action Committee, which opposes introducing the 1970s theory that examines history through a racial lens in K-12 classrooms, endorsed candidates running for school board in seven states ahead of the Nov. 2 election — including 18 people vying for seats in Pennsylvania.
Unofficial results show nearly a dozen won their respective races in the municipal election, spanning seven districts in four counties across the commonwealth.
“It’s more important than ever that we stop critical race theory because the left is coming for our kids,” mailers sent by the committee ahead of the municipal election said, promoting candidates running for school board in Centre County.
1776 Project PAC Founder Ryan Girdusky — a conservative writer, a supporter of former President Donald Trump, and previous reporter for the far-right media outlet One America News Network — targeted voters with mailers and mass text messages.
The PAC also endorsed school board candidates in Colorado, Kansas, Ohio, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Virginia. On Thursday, the committee claimed that 75 percent of endorsed candidates were victorious, saying they’re “changing the face of school boards across the country” on Twitter.
“Our strategy was to get Republicans to vote,” he told the Capital-Star. “So, we directed all of our mailers to just Republicans and Republican-leaning independents with the goal of getting them out to vote, and they did. That was our entire goal. In some of these close elections, maybe it made a difference. In other places, maybe they just won; they would have won without us. But I think that it probably helped a little bit.”
What is critical race theory?
After experiencing what they considered a “lack of racial progress” after the civil rights movement, scholars developed critical race theory in the 1970s and 1980s, the Associated Press reported. The concept, which is taught in graduate and post-graduate courses, examines how race and law intersect and the idea that institutions were built to maintain white people’s dominance, thus ensuring race-based unequal treatment.
Kimberlé Crenshaw, a law professor and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, explained to Vanity Fair in July that the theory is “based on the premise that race is socially constructed, yet it is real through social constructions.” The concept studies how society looks and operates — and why, she said.
“These are the kinds of questions the other side doesn’t want us to ask because it wants us to be happy with the contemporary distribution of opportunity,” Crenshaw told Vanity Fair.
There is little evidence to show that critical race theory is taught in K-12 public schools; however, ideas related to the concept — such as the consequences of slavery — are discussed in classrooms, PBS reported.
www.penncapital-star.com/government-politics/critical-race-theory-isnt-taught-in-pa-k-12-schools-but-it-permeated-local-school-board-races/