Push to ban critical race theory only hurts students

To the editor:

One of the major talking points currently promoted by thousands of parents is that public education should not teach children to hate white Anglo-Saxon culture. But as I see it, the argument against teaching critical race theory (CRT) is faulty.

First of all, in my 40 years of teaching — from Melbourne, Australia, to Eureka, Mont. — I have never come across a teacher or a public school that did such a thing. If a history teacher were to do as the critics of CRT proposed, they would or should be summarily fired. No educator should ever have the audacity to teach their students that some races of people are superior or inferior to others. Full stop.

Secondly, parents who advocate the elimination of CRT from the school curriculum likely don't know what it is. CRT is a dog-whistle argument perpetuated by the propaganda arm of the GOP, such as Fox News, One American News, Newsmax and social media, to create animosity towards groups such as Black Lives Matter or the supposed liberals in the teaching profession.

Opponents of CRT want to ban books they disapprove of, such as “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” Anne Frank, “Brave New World,” “Fahrenheit 451,” “The Color Purple” and or “The Grapes of Wrath.” All classics. Banning books is cancel culture at its worst and ominous in its implications.

In Texas, lawmakers compiled a list of more than 800 books for review. In New Hampshire, students or parents could turn in any teacher who discusses racism.

“Moms of Liberty” offers a $500 bounty to the first person to catch a teacher-perpetrator of violating the states’ new restrictions. Teachers could then be fired or stripped of their teaching licenses.

In other places, parents are demanding childrens’ books about Martin Luther King Jr. or other civil rights figures be removed from their library because they cast white people in a bad light. According to the arguments against CRT, the classic “To Kill a Mockingbird” is too divisive because it takes place in 1930s Alabama and tells the truth about America during segregation.

In the final analysis, the community groups that want to stop critical race theory from being taught in their schools are hurting the very people they profess to be protecting: their children. They are limiting the ability of their teachers to impart to their students one of the main tools they will need in their lifetime — the ability to think critically to analyze differing viewpoints in this world of social media and complex problems.

David James

Eureka