Despite the critical hysteria of racial theory, we must teach children about racism

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It was a normal day in one of my grade 11 US history class. During class a kid, I’ll call him Billy, asked: Why is it so bad that the police are killing someone? Why is there so much noise about this one? He should have just listened to the police.

While that conversation could have taken place this year, it took place in the spring of 2015, amid media outcry surrounding Freddie Gray, a young black man who died while in custody in Baltimore. But Billy didn’t understand why this was happening, and now, a high school teacher, I was tasked with explaining this national moment to my young student. So I took a deep breath and threw myself into a brief historical context on the history of police brutality, black resistance to it and how it all dates back to the era of rebuilding the Americas.

These conversations often take place in my classroom. Young people want to understand the world around them, and it’s my job to do my best to help them make sense of things, even if it’s just by providing them with knowledge of the past events that created the inequalities. which they regularly witness. Whether it’s police killing unarmed blacks, anti-Asian violence during the Covid-19 pandemic, or viral videos of people making racist 911 calls, students want to know. I am proud to help children make connections between these kinds of events and the history of our country.

This is one of the reasons I’m so frustrated with all the bad reviews going around politicians, social media, and news related to critical race theory and teaching racial history from people. Americas in Kindergarten to Grade 12 Classes. The reality is that kids are talking about race, systems of oppression and our country’s lousy past, from media coverage to last summer’s protests to this same controversy, my students are absorbing these conversations and wanting to know. more. I’m just a teacher, and there’s no way to generalize what’s going on everywhere. But I believe my students are smart and mature enough to handle the truth.

Most people who discuss Critical Race Theory don’t really discuss the theory itself, which is something taught in some law schools, but not as far as I know in most K-12 schools. . Instead, these critics appear to be talking about a brain drain of unrelated buzzwords related to hot topics in society, such as racism, privilege, diversity, fairness and inclusion. Never mind that most haven’t been in a K-12 history class since enrolling.

I taught in predominantly black and predominantly white classes. One trait that is the same in both cases is that parents send their children to school in the hope that their children will be prepared for a better life in the future. Some lawmakers and state experts are exploiting this desire and fabricated a crisis surrounding CRT precisely because most people don’t know what it is. The goal is to scare parents, who will then dissuade teachers from discussing an accurate portrayal of past events in the United States. But the truth is, we should be having these conversations about racism and the unvarnished truth about our past nations with our students. A well-meaning parent should want their children to understand CRT, American exceptionalism, and other frameworks they can use to understand American society.

Teaching children the unsavory realities of American history will not teach them to hate this country. As a black woman and great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of at least one slave person, I grew up with a clear understanding that our country’s past was not all good, for everything. the world, all the time. It is actually because of this that I have made my life the job of helping young people understand history so that they can create a better future. I may have given up on most people my age and older, but the glow I see in my classrooms still gives me hope.

I also believe that we do not help children by lying to them. By telling them the truth about how our country was built, the children appreciate me more. It is one thing to discuss the New Deal as a solution to the Great Depression. It’s another to show them the New Deal housing maps, to tell them how housing assistance has excluded many blacks, and how these issues relate to the current economic and racial maps in many American cities.

It is also important to teach children to assess information from multiple angles, which makes them better in all aspects of life. We should definitely talk about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, but we should also talk about Ona Judge, Sally Hemings, and others they enslaved. We should read the Indian Removal Act, but we should also look at the written documents from the perspective of the indigenous people who were deported. It is by learning all these details that students get a much richer picture of this country when we share the flaws, as well as the successes.

Some may be uncomfortable because discussing race-related issues will lead to questions for which the answers may not be so obvious. Students have asked me if white resistance to Brown v. Board had led to the founding of their school. They also asked if redlining is the reason there are so many more blacks in South Dallas than in the north, where we live and attend school. They also ask questions about issues like patriarchy, capitalism, and oppression that I’m certainly not qualified to answer in 30 seconds. When I first started teaching I was terrified of telling children that I didn’t know the answer. I thought I would sound like a failure. Now I accept the questions and help the children learn strategies for finding answers.

Some say that talking about racism will make children feel bad for being white. Yes, it is difficult to learn that success is very often related to socioeconomic status and zip code instead of hard work and intellect, and some students will no doubt feel bad about living in a society that grants and denies privileges based on a status over which most have no control. But it is a good thing. My grandmother said that when you learn better, you do better. I want children to learn about these systems and work to change them.

Earlier this year, on January 6, I was teaching in a virtual classroom when the insurgency on Capitol Hill began. Fortunately, this was an elective course on racial issues in society. The students and I were grateful for the safe space to process our questions and reactions to this event taking place in real time. It is not unusual for us. My students asked why pandemic conditions varied so much from state to state and I tell them this is the 10th Amendment in action. They are shocked to learn that the elections of 1800 or 1824 were more dramatic than 2016 or 2000.

Ironically, while few K-12 teachers could define Critical Race Theory before 2021, many will likely be talking about it next school year. To me, this will probably look like planning a class discussion on the controversy during my Introductory US History unit and a more in-depth analysis of my racial issues and my courses in the United States. African-American history. As a teacher, it’s such a gift when the news headlines make it so much easier to make the story relevant for my 11th graders.

Jania Hoover, EdD, is a high school social studies teacher and department head in Texas with 16 years of teaching experience in public and private schools. She has designed curricula and currently teaches courses in American history, African American history, Native American history, and racial issues in American society.

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