Maryland Elementary Schoolers To Learn About Privilege and Systemic Racism

Originally Published on The Washington Free Beacon

Montgomery County to teach Southern Poverty Law Center-inspired ‘social justice’ curriculum

Maryland’s largest school district next school year will teach elementary schoolers how to combat "privilege" and "systemic racism," even as about half of its students lack proficiency in math and language arts.

The Montgomery County Board of Education amended its fourth and fifth grade social studies curriculum to include "Social Justice Standards" for "antiracist" education, according to a July 5 announcement. The revised standards, which were developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, lay out scenarios for students to exercise "antibias," such as responding to a classmate with two mothers or a boy playing with dolls. Students also learn about their "identity" in the context of the "dominant culture" and "recognize unfairness on the individual level (e.g., biased speech) and injustice at the institutional or systemic level (e.g., discrimination)."

The curriculum, which will take effect in 2023-2024 school year, comes as Montgomery County’s most recent report card reveals elementary school students did not meet district-mandated academic achievement goals. Report cards also have not been published since the pandemic…