A new study has determined that critical race theory (CRT) concepts are being taught in U.S. schools, despite denials from some individuals or groups.
Of the cohort, 82.4 percent reported having attended public schools.
The four concepts are “America is a systematically racist country,” “in America, white people have white privilege,” “in America, white people have unconscious biases that negatively affect nonwhite people,” and “America is built on stolen land.” Of these, the majority of respondents said they were taught or heard from an adult at school about at least one of the concepts—62 percent, 69 percent, 57 percent, and 67 percent, respectively.
The respondents also were asked whether they were taught or heard from an adult about two gender-related concepts: “America is a patriarchal society” and “gender is an identity choice, regardless of the biological sex you were born into.” Majorities responded affirmatively to both—53 percent and 51 percent, respectively.
The study also asked the students whether they were taught that “discrimination is the main reason for differences in wealth or other outcomes between races or genders” or that “there are many genders, not just male and female.”
“Overall, excluding those who didn’t know, 62 percent were taught that discrimination is the main reason for outcome gaps and a third were taught that there are many genders,” Goldberg and Kaufmann said.
The findings presented have been a preview of the study, and a complete Manhattan Institute report from the study will be published in the upcoming months.
An outgrowth of Marxism, CRT interprets society through a Marxist dichotomy of “oppressor” and “oppressed,” but replaces the class categories with racial groups. Proponents of CRT say that “systemic racism” and “white supremacy” persist in all aspects of American life—despite progress in civil rights throughout U.S. history—and demand the implementation of “anti-racist” policies, such as race-based redistribution of wealth and power along perceived lines of “racial inequity.”
Opponents argue that CRT and its concepts are needlessly divisive and ironically racist.
CRT has become a contentious topic of discussion in American society in recent years, with concerns flagged over CRT-related concepts in U.S. schools starting in about 2021. Parents across the United States have raised concerns and called on their school boards to halt the teaching of CRT-related concepts.
Denials ‘A Semantic Distraction’
Goldberg said the left’s “'CRT is a legal theory taught only in [university] law programs’ retort” is “essentially a semantic distraction.”Data from the study show most of the students—68 percent—weren’t taught opposing arguments or were taught that there are no “respectable” opposing arguments to the CRT-related or gender-related concepts noted in the study.
“Importantly, this rate does not meaningfully vary by race, political orientation, or high school type. ... No evidence, then, suggests that this response reflects respondents’ political biases. Instead, the data suggest that large majorities in all groups have been given the impression that the concepts they were taught are beyond reproach,” Goldberg and Kaufmann wrote.
“If this isn’t indoctrination—unwitting or otherwise—then what is?”
The left has also presented the argument that conservatives are using CRT as a catch-all phrase to attack teachers’ efforts to teach about certain periods in U.S. history that involve slavery and segregation, the authors noted.
“But strong connections exist between the cultural radicalism of CRT and the one-sided, decontextualized portrayal of American history and society that Democratic activists endorse,” Goldberg and Kaufmann said.
The study also determined that “being taught a given concept is robustly (i.e., net of a large battery of controls) positively associated with endorsing it” and that “the volume of CRT-related classroom exposure robustly predicts blaming white people for racial inequality, viewing white people as ‘racist and mean,’ and support for ‘equity-oriented’ policies like affirmative action,” Goldberg wrote on Twitter.
He said the findings from the study “are hardly consistent with the ‘CRT is not being taught in schools’ narrative.”
“Even assuming exposure is overestimated in the current data, it’s safe to say that a sizable share of the pre-college student population is being subjected to this stuff,” Goldberg wrote. “We argue that schools and/or educators that want to teach such concepts should be given the choice of either teaching the diversity of thought surrounding them or being barred from teaching them altogether. Full stop.”
