Why critique critical race theory and anti-racism?
As an education scholar, my broad research interests revolve around the politics of education. I often contemplate the question: Who gets to makes decisions for education? And I take note when education broadly speaking, and the schooling of children in particular, is used by politicians and other elites to advance their personal and/or professional interests. Because I am interested in politics and policymaking processes, I have used the frameworks of critical theorists to examine and better understand decision-making for schools and the education of children. Critical theorist are interested in power and how it manifests in society, and examining who or what has power in decision-making for education provides a better understanding of policy making in practice, rather than the idealized vision of policy making.
The underlying assumption of critical theorists is that power is present in every interaction—they do not ask whether power exists, they ask how did it manifest in a particular situation. Therefore, as others have observed, critical theory perspectives of the world are often quite cynical. Although I have examined education policies and political environments through a critical theory lens, my critique (in a critical thinking sort of way) of the approaches of the critical theorist that I read in my graduate "critical pedagogy" course was that they were pessimists with no solutions. Beyond that, I didn't think much about critical theories or how the perspectives of critical theorists manifest in the real world. I just thought, this is an interesting, but perhaps unproductive, way to view the world.
Now that I have witnessed how critical race theory in particular, and the anti-racism movement that was born from it, is manifesting in K-12 schools, my perspective has changed. I have written a few articles outlining my concerns, but I want to kick-off this Substack platform with a brief explanation about why I have written (and will likely continue to write) on this topic when, as a graduate student, I didn't express much concern about it and in some ways bought into the assumptions. This platform will be about education beyond schools, but I don't want to ignore pressing issues that are occurring in schools—I consider the application of critical race theory a pressing issue.
An assumption of critical race theory is that racism is everywhere, ordinary, and a permanent feature of all structures of society. The goal of critical race theorists is to uncover and expose racism through an examination of and focus on systemic power. Inherent within the idea of systemic power is the dynamic of the oppressor, who is typically white and male, and the oppressed, who is typically a person of color. As such, when applied in K-12 schools, the goal is to uncover racism, as well as sexism and other -isms that are of concern to critical theorists, across the curriculum—examples abound that illustrate how this is playing out in schools (see here, here, and here for a few examples). My primary concerns relate to how the oppressor versus oppressed dynamic affects school climate and interpersonal relationships, as well as intrapersonal relationships; the disempowering effect on students deemed oppressed, or victims; the lack of nuance in understanding both the good and bad qualities inherent in being human; and the dumbing down of curriculum and expectations for the so-called victims, which I plan to write about at a later date.
Here are the articles I have written on the topic:
"Diversity, equity, and inclusion in K-12 professional development: The mission versus the reality"
"Critical race theory encourages kids to think in all-or-nothing terms"
"Critical race theory and California's Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum"
"Critical theory or common humanity? The case for a liberal approach to social studies education"