Rex Kerr
2 min readNov 15, 2021

--

No, I'm politely calling you an obfuscating ignoramus.

Obfuscating, because the term has been hijacked successfully (much like "literally" has been successfully highjacked to mean "figuratively but with extra emphasis"), and it is not an inaccurate broadening of the term in this case because what is being taught is very much the lingo and concepts of CRT, if not the exact field itself. You're complaining about a technicality of usage when you can easily know full well what is meant. (Some of what Rufo tries to pin on CRT is pretty not-at-all-CRT, but if you don't quickly accept the broadening of "CRT" to "CRT-motivated anti-racism", the term is going to get diluted even further by his camp's efforts.)

Ignoramus, because you call it a "legal theory" when in fact it is also an "educational system theory" which is far more relevant when it comes to education. (See, for instance, https://www.unco.edu/education-behavioral-sciences/pdf/TowardaCRTEduca.pdf.)

Anyway, Oregon apparently didn't get the memo about how CRT was only for graduate studies. Look at their grade school ethnic studies guidelines (proposed), from https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/standards/socialsciences/Documents/Ethnic%20Studies%20Webpage%20Communication.pdf.

Third grade:

3.3: Understand the impact and legacy of colonialism on marginalized communities and describe the

decisions made to shape the human characteristics of regions in Oregon (tribal, cultural, agricultural,

and industrial, etc.) with consideration to how bias has manifested into the various social groups and

systems. (Geography)

3.4: Understand and analyze the impact of systems of power, including white supremacy, institutional

racism, racial hierarchy, and oppression. (Historical thinking)

Sixth grade:

6.3 Determine and explain the historical context of key people, cultures, products, events, and ideas

over time including the examination of different perspectives from indigenous people, ethnic and

religious groups and other traditionally marginalized groups throughout the Western Hemisphere.

(History)

6.6 Identify the motivations, tools, and implications of power, authority, and governance as it relates to

systems of oppression and its impact on ethnic and religious groups and other historically marginalized

groups. (History)

High school:

HS.19 Identify and analyze the nature of structural and systemic oppression on

LGBTQ, people experiencing disability, ethnic and religious groups, as well as other traditionally

marginalized groups, and their role in the pursuit of justice and equality in Oregon, the United States,

and the world. (History)

HS.20 Examine and analyze the multiple perspectives and contributions of traditionally marginalized

groups* within a dominant society and how different values and views shape Oregon, the United States,

and the world. (History)

*HS.21 Identify and critique how implicit bias, institutional racism, racial supremacy, and identity

influences perspectives in the understanding of history and contemporary even (Social Science Analysis)

Without getting into whether or not teaching these things is a good idea, or whether it is reasonable to expect students at these grade levels to do justice to these topics as written, do you look at these things and confidently and honestly say, "No, there is no significant component of this that sounds sufficiently motivated by Critical Race Theory to identify it as such"? If you do say that, can you please say what you think CRT is so that we can examine the above with the correct perspective?

--

--

Rex Kerr
Rex Kerr

Written by Rex Kerr

One who rejoices when everything is made as simple as possible, but no simpler. Sayer of things that may be wrong, but not so bad that they're not even wrong.

No responses yet