The following article represents the views of the author and not those of TheGeorgiaVirtue.com
Critical Race Theory is a prime example of why public schools will continue to be on the losing side of education.
People on both sides of the aisle have morphed education into some social construct that should reinforce their own beliefs when decisionmakers in education are elected and appointed officials that ebb & flow with the political winds.
The constant change in standards is confusing for kids (and adults, for that matter) because standards are supposed to be a baseline. A teacher who has to watch their every word out of fear of crossing some boundary that continues to move for political reasons is going to end up being a terrible teacher.
Couple that with the fact that people, by nature, want to congregate (and educate) with people who are likeminded in a time when it’s becoming more and more unpopular to do that because there’s a segment of the population that believes aligning with people who think like you is dangerous, snooty, and even racist.
I recognize that private schooling and homeschooling aren’t an option for every family, but at some point, parents have to acknowledge that when someone else teaches your child, they’re not going to teach everything exactly how you would so you might still have some legwork to do.
What I was taught in school wasn’t that big of a deal because we talked about the issues at home, too. Like everything else in life, if something I saw or learned did not align with our family values, my mom would simply tell me ‘There are people who believe that, we don’t always agree, this is what we believe, and here is why.’ She also told me my views might change as I get older…and a few of them did.
The point is that even as a young child, I could comprehend that not everyone believed the same things and that was okay. Obviously that led to some problems down the road in college and grad school because I spent a lot of time arguing with my teachers, but more importantly, I was not some fragile, malleable ward of the state whose values were shattered whenever someone else told me theirs.
I’m not suggesting that people should just stop advocating for what’s in curriculums, there is a balance somewhere…but a major component of education is being left out of the conversation: that no one has an obligation to make sure your child turns out the way you want them to, with the beliefs you want them to hold, other than you.
