What the Heck is Critical Race Theory (CRT)?

I’m back. For nearly a year now, I have taken a break from posting here on The Underground Parent. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been paying attention to issues impacting the education of students all across the country. The pandemic has had, and will continue to have, a major impact on our education system and the education of our students. About a year ago, I started seeing and reading articles that raised my concern and had me start following issues related to diversity, equity, inclusiveness, and Critical Race Theory (CRT) permeating our education system. I have read legislative bills from several states related to CRT (even though the bills may not mention CRT). Recently, I watched the two videos included in this post. I wanted to share these videos as a start to presenting information and raising questions about CRT and all the commotion it is stirring up.

This video is from America, Can We Talk? Debbie Georgatos starts off talking about what Critical Race Theory (CRT) is and then two parents talk about what they have learned about CRT and how it ties into with Social Emotional Learning (SEL). The video is about 50 minutes long and well worth the watch.

This is a video of the live stream presentations put on by Moms for Liberty in Williamson County, Tennessee on May 19, 2021. The five excellent presenters It features are Robby Starbuck, Dr. Wenyuan Wu, a Mother of a 2nd Grade Student, Dr. Beth Meyers, and Dr. Gary Thompson. The complete video is about 3 hours long so you may want to watch it in segments rather than all in one sitting. The presentation by the Mother of a 2nd Grade Student is very emotional—you may want to have tissues at hand.

Now, I realize I have not actually answered the question, What the Heck is Critical Race Theory (CRT)? If you have watched these two videos you likely have formed your sense of what CRT is as it may appear in our school classrooms as well as other places.

This is the first post of what I hope will be a series related to CRT. The series will likely be disorganized since there is so much to address and it is hard to know where to begin. Information and issues may be addressed that may include CRT related legislation, whether legislation is really needed, possible impact of legislation, teacher codes of ethics, and activism.