Should Critical Race Theory be Taught in Schools?

Yesterday as I was scrolling through Facebook, I landed on a post by Fox5 news detailing the outrage of some parents over the incorporation of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in the curriculum in Loudoun County, VA. Horrified by some of the comments of Facebook users, I decided to explore the purpose of CRT in the classroom.

What is Critical Race Theory?

CRT is the practice of questioning and reflecting on the role of race and racism in our society. Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, she emphasized that CRT is a constant practice that critiques the social construction of race and the way institutionalized racism perpetuates inequity today and affects our daily lives. It also examines and acknowledges slavery, segregation, class differences, and other historical events that have led to the oppression of many people of color.

The Purpose of Critical Race Theory in Schools

The purpose of embedding CRT into our education system is to diversify the curriculum and knowledge of students and encourage equity in the education system. More specifically, these include: eliminating the dominant white narrative of history taught in schools, teaching historical and present day inequalities to our students, changing the assessment of our students, dismantling horrible discipline policies that negatively affect people of color (such as zero tolerance that leads to the school-to-prison pipeline), abandoning policies that lead to school funding inequities, and eliminating the racially segregated education of our schools today.

Why are people against Critical Race Theory in Schools?

Critics tend to dislike CRT because they claim that it leads to negative dynamics (oppresor vs. oppressed) and focus on racial identities. According to an article through the Heritage Foundation ( a conservative organization), CRT also “underpins identity politics, which reimagines the U.S. as a nation riven by groups, each with specific claims on victimization and [its] intolerance can be found in schools, the workplace, and the entertainment sector, “normalizing” belief in systemic racism for the average American.” Others also argue that CRTT suggests White people should are all racist and should feel guilty for being white. In the article about Loundon County’s debate about CRT in classrooms, some parenta claimed,

“You cannot tell me what is or what is not racist, look at me, I came to tell you to your face that we are coming together and we are strong.”

“If you’re going to spend millions to call people in our community racists, you better be able to prove it. Also why is ‘equity’ the answer.”

Outside of Loundon County, CRT has been so controversial that at least five Republican-led state legislatures have passed bans on critical race theory or related topics.

The Case for CRT in Schools

Rather than many of these critics analyzing the positives of CRT in schools, many have been influenced by the anxiety of discussing the negative sides of U.S. history and shifting power relations. CRT that not encourage White people to feel guilty, instead it looks at the broad systematic issues in our institutions that can be changed. Personally, I do not understand why people are scared to talk about race and its focus since race was constructed by white people in power to give or deny benefits and privileges. People of color did not just invent race out of nowhere, race has always been a focus of American society especially in the effort to build what America is today. CRT is important for the awareness of our students and others to analyze the deep roots of racism and American exceptionalism while understanding the ways it impacts us till today. Lastly, one of the aims of our education system has been t encourage civic and democratic engagment. Emphasizing the need to vote and learning about different presidents in schools are all with that aim. CRT provides an accessible language for students to understand race and power and eventually use it to analyze our divise political system. I believe CRT could even be a possible way of discourse that could reduce the polarization of our society.