While out in Twitter Gen Pop (code for out of the protected learning spaces of Edutwitter) I found a new friend. Ms. McCall. She doesn’t know me, but I have claimed her. We think alike, at least when it comes to CRT. Critical Race Theory and the legislation being put forth against it is legislation that wants to ban talk of race, racism, identity politics and for sure anything that smacks of the lack of historical empathy that we suffer from in our country. That means we want to indoctrinate our kids, just not in any new ways they have not already been indoctrinated.

I want my students to think on their own. I want them to research, look at ideologies from all sides and know that there is probably not an evil ideology or a good ideology. As long as humans run systems, they will be biased and flawed. But: The more we teach students to examine critically what they learn, the better off we’ll be because critical thinkers do not blindly follow. SO either we want a Nazi Germany repeat or we want to build a nation of citizens who espouse empathy and understanding. Both need critical thinking and critical thinking cannot flourish in classrooms where civic disagreement cannot take place. Teachers, burn your partisanship card, or at least drop it at the schoolhouse door. Your students need a neutral guide to their student led discussions—including discussions on critical race theory.