After 18 months of virtual schooling, families across the country eagerly await the return of in-person schooling this fall. Physical presence plays a pivotal role in forming sociable, emotionally fulfilled, and healthy students.
But many parents look to the coming school year with apprehension: Virtual learning during the pandemic gave parents unprecedented access to the classroom, and much of what they heard from teachers should disturb us all.
Critical race theory rejects nuance and history, fosters division and hate, and tells people to view the world entirely as a power struggle between different racial groups. This repugnant ideology is at odds with two bedrock principles of America: the equality of all humans and the pursuit of justice for all.
Despite the increasing push to mandate critical race theory in classrooms, the federal government cannot dictate curriculum. There are several provisions in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and other federal laws prohibiting Congress and the Department of Education from encouraging, endorsing, or coercing curriculum in local school districts. Further, more federal government action is rarely successful in preserving the rights and interests of American parents and students, but unfortunately this is exactly the tactic this administration is employing in promoting critical race theory as an essential part of schools’ curricula.
As senior Republican leader of the Committee on Education and Labor, I’m working to prevent the federal government from overstepping these boundaries and succumbing to pressure from critical race theory zealots. I’m putting constant pressure on congressional Democrats and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to reject this un-American theory.
And I need your help. It’s incumbent upon all who have an interest in the education system—and we all should have that interest—to reject the invasion of critical race theory material in the education system. State officeholders, school superintendents, schoolboard members, teachers, and parents must all join the effort to recalibrate the education system. Volunteer at your school. Join concerned parent organizations. Write to your local elected officials. Run for office. Get involved.
Critical race theory advocates are not changing course. We must match their resolve. Our country and our children’s future depends on it.