Parents Fending Critical Race Theory Off From Destroying High-Achieving Schools Need To Keep Going

Originally Published on The Federalist

Most parents were upset about their neighborhood schools, which they were paying top dollar to be zoned for, falling short.

Parents in the Texas suburbs took the first step in reclaiming their schools in last week’s school board elections. Conservative candidates triumphed over progressive incumbents in “Frisco, Clear Creek, Grapevine, Southlake, Keller, Carroll, Spring Branch, Richardson, and even in Dripping Springs” (Austin). All of these districts are affluent suburbs with typically stellar public schools.

Many of the conservative candidates ran on opposition to critical race theory (CRT) and mask mandates, and this messaging resonated with frustrated voters. This might baffle observers who don’t actually see teachers in these districts incorporating CRT, except maybe in the elite private prep schools. Nor have there been mask mandates for a long time now. Nevertheless, these two issues played a role in schools, albeit under the surface, and it’s important to understand why this has set off parents.

How Critical Race Theory Atrophied Excellence

While leftist apologists in corporate media like to claim that CRT is a theory bandied about in graduate schools and that K-12 teachers don’t actually use the words “critical race theory,” they are wrong to assume this makes CRT a mythical rallying cry for white supremacist voters. In truth, CRT has brought about bad policy by subverting state governments, school boards, and district leaders with poisonous ideology and bad logic.

According to CRT dogma, all disparities in outcomes between different racial groups are attributable to systemic racism. Thus, if black and Hispanic students fail their classes and are suspended more often than white and Asian students, this must be because of racism, not because they aren’t working as hard or behaving as well. The problem supposedly lies with the discriminatory standards set, not with the students who aren’t meeting those standards…