By Nandana Rajesh, Staff Writer
Over the last couple years, with racial injustice cases occurring throughout the country and the Black Lives Matter movement growing in response, the term “critical race theory” has become a part of all of our vocabularies. But the question that most of us are grappling with is: what is critical race theory? In simple terms, critical race theory, (CRT) is the social academic theory that racial injustice is not just a product of racism, but of political and legal prejudices that are intertwined within the U.S. justice system. In short, the U.S. government and everyday societal systems are unconsciously encouraging racism.
The main debate surrounding CRT is whether or not this concept should be taught in schools. Many argue that it should not because it is often taught as fact and not as theory, and this difference can be difficult for young children to grasp.
Loudoun County School Board breaks into chaos amid CRT concerns in June, Loudoun Times
However, I believe it should be taught in schools, if only to the smallest degree. Those who argue that CRT should not be taught in schools say it is because they believe that it labels all white people as unwitting oppressors of people of color, however, this is false. CRT simply states that there are systemic prejudices built into the U.S. that negatively affect people of color.
One example of this is the school system in New York, where the schools are still extremely segregated into black (and other minorities) and white. This is because of the strange zonings and application processes to simply get into public high schools. Often New York housing is also segregated, which in turn makes the schools’ racial populations more uneven.
In addition, many of the high schools in New York are magnet schools that try to attract and serve one race in particular, which further separates students of different races.
The same situation has occurred much closer to home in the past, but was fixed with the revamping of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST)’s standardized admission exam. After being criticized for its lack of racial diversity in its student body, TJHSST decided to remove their entrance exam for the class of 2025. In addition, many weren’t able to afford the application fee of $100 previously in place. The school now has a shortened application process, which involves raising the GPA standard but dropping the application fee and entrance exam.
With these changes, they saw an increase in female, black, and Hispanic students admitted in the last few years. This was a great response to the criticism the school faced, and I believe that it is important to revamp all selective schools in order to make them more diverse and accessible to all students.
I believe that CRT should be taught in schools because it is not offensive to white people as some believe, but rather presents an educational opportunity to raise awareness about situations that desperately need attention. We must make sure that if CRT is taught, it is taught as a theory and not as fact, since this can be unintentionally divisive, and can cause controversy among parents. CRT lessons should also be reserved for middle and high school classrooms, so that young children do not conflate this theory as fact. Children can be extremely impressionable and by teaching them complicated theories, educational professionals can unintentionally influence and sway their opinions towards a certain side.
I also believe that this theory doesn’t need its own class in order to be taught in school. By integrating little pieces of the topic into our classes (especially history and English) we can learn how race and civil rights issues are still relevant issues in today's schools and communities. This will help foster a more diverse and inclusive educational experience.