The fight over how schools are handling America鈥檚 history with race and discrimination continues to heat up. But what does it mean when people say it鈥檚 part of a seemingly endless culture war?
The assertion that educators are increasingly using or somehow inspired by critical race theory鈥攁 concept that racism is a social construct embedded in policies and legal systems, and which goes beyond individuals鈥� prejudices鈥攈as triggered a rush of commentary and political reactions, including new laws in at least four states.
The idea of a culture war in education conjures up a host of long-standing, never-completely-resolved disputes over things like sex education, the teaching of evolution, Ebonics, history standards and , and . These and other issues emphasize fundamental divides and power imbalances (real and perceived) in society.
And, in many cases, those with political power seem detached from the educators trying to talk about and deal with those divisions in classrooms.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been dealing with this in some respects my whole career, unfortunately,鈥� said Anton Schulzki, a high school social studies teacher in the Colorado Springs, Colo., district and the president-elect of the National Council for the Social Studies, now in his 37th year of teaching. 鈥淪o much of what we do has become part of the political football that鈥檚 tossed back and forth. Everything鈥檚 become hyper-politicized. ... People are talking past each other.鈥�
Yet a battlefield metaphor like 鈥渃ulture war鈥� can push people into defensive crouches, reduce complex issues to narrow inflammatory terms, and obscure answers to questions especially important at this moment: Just how much influence are ideas like critical race theory, anti-racism, and white privilege having on what鈥檚 taught? How can teachers best discuss competing and emerging narratives about history and race amid a swell of activism and upheaval involving race?
Those are the sort of questions that like won鈥檛 get addressed by, for example, a new political action committee that intends in local school board races. That kind of national involvement in such races isn鈥檛 wholly unprecedented, but the PAC and efforts like it could spur new stress for educators and school communities.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a long history of conservatives in the United States thinking that the public schools are in the thrall of left-wing educators and even political operatives who are looking to indoctrinate American children on the public dime,鈥� said Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, an associate professor of history at the New School, a university in New York City. She added that the purported aim of such indoctrination is 鈥渢o turn your children away from all that is good: God, family, and country.鈥�
So much of what we do has become part of the political football that鈥檚 tossed back and forth. Everything鈥檚 become hyper-politicized.
Some also believe that those whipping up anger at concepts like critical race theory aren鈥檛 just wrong, but creating a damaging distraction from what matters.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to change anything so that one American child gets a better education,鈥� said Chris Stewart, the CEO of , a nonprofit education advocacy network, referring to those fighting against concepts like critical race theory. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to deliver a better teacher, better governance.鈥�
But adversaries of critical race theory and related concepts say not everyone who agrees with them comes from one political party or ideological perspective. They also believe this situation is distinguished by a striking and unhelpful irony: that infusing such ideas into schools perpetuates problems people say they want to solve鈥攍ike discrimination and racism.
鈥淚 would compare the implementation of critical race theory to the same behaviors, like segregated water fountains, that were the reason for anti-discrimination laws in the first place,鈥� said Ian Rowe, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a co-founder of , an initiative that stresses the nation鈥檚 鈥渢rue founding values.鈥�
Still, Rowe cautioned against assuming today鈥檚 fight is just like past ones that get the culture war label, saying that 鈥渆ach issue needs to be evaluated in its contemporary context.鈥�
Student perspectives can also get lost in the uproar. Ismael Jimenez, a social studies curriculum specialist in the Philadelphia school district who used to teach an African-American history course there, said race and racism affect many of his students鈥� daily experiences in ways that other school topics simply don鈥檛.
鈥淪tudents are really negotiating with the complicated reality that exists today,鈥� he said.
What does it mean to 鈥榯each students how to think鈥�?
Perhaps one clear sign that an issue has found itself on the cultural battlefield is when lawmakers get involved en masse.
In 2008, Florida state GOP legislator Alan Hays filed a bill designed to create room for classroom critiques of the scientific theory of evolution as a matter of free speech. Lawmakers in other state legislatures did the same.
鈥淚 want our teachers teaching students how to think, not what to think,鈥� Hays told 91制片厂视频 Week at the time.
Many efforts around that time to resist or create alternatives to teaching evolution fell short, although the issue from education debates.
In a parallel, many legislatures this year have pondered limits on how teachers discuss 鈥渄ivisive concepts鈥� such as systemic racism.
Echoing Hays鈥� words from 2008, Florida Commissioner of 91制片厂视频 Richard Corcoran, in discussing a proposed rule that would require educators to teach a 鈥渢raditional view of American history,鈥� the Tampa Bay Times in May that, 鈥淭he goal of the teacher is to teach kids how to think, not what to think.鈥�
Familiar names, not just phrases, can crop up too in the current round of debate.
For example, the Discovery Institute, a think tank that promotes intelligent design鈥攖he idea that an unidentified master architect controls key elements of the natural world鈥攇ained prominence during battles over the teaching of evolution roughly 15 years ago. Today, Christopher Rufo, who until recently was the director of the Discovery Institute鈥檚 Center on Wealth and Poverty, used his position at the think tank to highlight what he called critical race theory鈥檚 .
In March, was to 鈥渞ecodify鈥� the term 鈥渢o annex the entire range of cultural constructions that are unpopular with Americans.鈥� He did not specify at the time what that might include. (Rufo, who is now a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, did not respond to requests for comment from 91制片厂视频 Week.)
Societal unrest related to schools has often made for good political fodder. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump made a foray into the dispute during his re-election campaign, when he disparaged the focus on racism and bias in social studies classes as 鈥渓eft-wing indoctrination.鈥� And his push for 鈥減atriotic education鈥� and against training in racism and bias has influenced lawmakers鈥� actions this year.
That sort of dramatic, extremely public intervention into classroom curriculum was unusual. But it鈥檚 not completely new.
Forty years earlier, for example, then-GOP presidential candidate Ronald Reagan called for to be taught alongside evolution, and said that religious America was 鈥渁wakening over the issue.鈥�
The tension between discussing ideas about race and applying them
But assuming the current clash over race and identity in America is just like others that have affected classrooms can be simplistic.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e similar. But that similarity doesn鈥檛 mean they鈥檙e the same,鈥� said Jimenez. 鈥淲hen we talk about race, we鈥檙e talking about the very foundation of American society.鈥�
The political and cultural realignment that reached a new intensity after the murder of George Floyd has had a profound impact on how some educators think about racial inequities and their affects on students.
Critical theory should be discussed but not applied. We should be making sure no one is compelled to act on these ideas.
That鈥檚 generated a concern that a focus on these issues will be used as a 鈥渨eapon鈥� against their children who are perceived as privileged in some way, said Adam Laats, a professor of education at the State University of New York鈥檚 Binghamton University who studies the history of American education.
That desire to protect children鈥檚 鈥渟afety鈥� and sense of identity that they derive from home and family has featured frequently in social divisions that played out in schools, he said. But Laats also said some people are now demonstrating a new concern.
鈥淥ne of the things they鈥檙e nervous about is that: 鈥楳y white kid is going to be called a racist,鈥欌�� Laats said. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 worry about that in the 20th century.鈥�
Yet opponents of critical race theory鈥檚 application in schools say proponents of the concept don鈥檛 just want it taught, but want students to be coerced into making deeply personal confessions and professions, a demand that creates a clear cultural flashpoint.
鈥淐ritical theory should be discussed but not applied,鈥� said Jonathan Butcher, an education fellow at the Heritage Foundation. 鈥淲e should be making sure no one is compelled to act on these ideas. We shouldn鈥檛 fear tension. We should protect people from discrimination.鈥�
Racial inequity in education has been one of the defining elements of K-12 policy and politics for decades. Many discussions and decisions about policies covering choice, accountability, academic standards, and funding have hinged on the best ways educators can help students of color. That鈥檚 also part of the backdrop for the current uproar.
But Petrzela said that in contrast to past conflicts that focused on issues like inclusive curriculum, 鈥淭he argument is much more provocative. It鈥檚 that you can鈥檛 understand American economic ascendancy without slavery.鈥�
Lack of agreement over what the debate鈥檚 even about
Sometimes, topics at the center of red-hot cultural disputes aren鈥檛 difficult to identify and define. But in the case of critical race theory in particular, there鈥檚 basic disagreement even about what it is, and the extent to which schools are relying on it.
Jimenez, who鈥檚 been part of a group of educators that鈥檚 pushed Philadelphia schools to , said he鈥檚 rolled his eyes when people raise the alarm about critical race theory in schools. Most teachers, he said, don鈥檛 know what that means, even if they are striving and in some cases struggling to address racism thoughtfully with students.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not supposed to be critical of the mythology that we tell ourselves. If you鈥檙e fearful that it might offend social mores related to American exceptionalism, you hit that same brick wall,鈥� he said.
Just as some see decades-old reactionary forces now attacking ideas like critical race theory, Butcher said systemic racism and critical race theory are longstanding, radical ideas from academia which perpetuate division. 鈥淭hat should have been left in the ash heap of history,鈥� he said.
The fight over classroom lessons about race and privilege in schools has also shown the limit of some alliances in the education world.
Supporters of expanding school choice, for example, have over whether teachers must or should in the tenets of anti-racism in order to effectively teach Black and brown students.
If you鈥檙e fearful that it might offend social mores related to American exceptionalism, you hit that same brick wall.
Stewart, a veteran supporter of expanding school choice, said people can support school choice for different reasons and benefit from 鈥渋nterest convergence,鈥� adding that, 鈥淪chool choice is important for everybody.鈥�
But he said that the school choice movement needs 鈥渁 widespread, multiracial, multicultural push鈥� in order to truly succeed. And white school choice activists focused on fighting ideas like critical race theory and anti-racism, he said, need to ask themselves what their real priorities are.
鈥淲e need a bigger tent, but we don鈥檛 need a bigot tent,鈥� Stewart said.
But Rowe, of AEI, says parents of any and all races are ultimately focused on whether their children are being prepared for success and to have life outcomes that are better than their own.
Activists who try to sell Black families on the idea that their children are oppressed at every turn and face a rigged system, he said, have no business trying to influence parents鈥� perceptions or decision-making power when it comes to schools. There are already laws on the books, against discrimination by race, Rowe stressed.
鈥淭hese families couldn鈥檛 care less about critical race theory, or 鈥榳okeness,鈥欌�� said Rowe, who until recently led a charter school network in New York City. 鈥淭hese parents could not [care less] about what these intellectuals are arguing about.鈥�
Predicting when the fight ends could be a fool鈥檚 errand
These fights come at a time of unprecedented disruption for schools dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. It remains to be seen how any lingering disruptions and distrust in schools affects the debate.
And social media鈥攁s in all contemporary controversies鈥攃an fan the flames while not providing much illumination about schools鈥� actual approaches to an issue.
The overheated arenas of online discourse and national politics can also obscure that 鈥減eople鈥檚 identities are constructed in different ways,鈥� Petrzela said. Mexican-Americans as well as white people, she noted, were skeptical of bilingual education efforts in California decades ago. 鈥淭he idea that there鈥檚 a monolith of the Black community that鈥檚 all on the same page鈥� is false, Jimenez said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 different intellectual genealogies that people are coming from.鈥�
These are like community disputes, family disputes. They fester.
Court cases like over evolution can also have a profound impact on the public鈥檚 perspective. No legal fight involving the current dispute over lessons about race and history has attained that status just yet, although it鈥檚 been at the center of .
Ultimately, it鈥檚 a mistake to think that cultural upheavals involving schools are ever fully resolved, said Laats.
It鈥檚 been decades since the Vietnam War ended, for example, but he said it would be relatively easy to start a fight in many school board meetings over whether America鈥檚 actions in Southeast Asia were justified.
鈥淭hese are like community disputes, family disputes. They fester,鈥� Laats said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 because there鈥檚 a struggle to make a community that a certain issue that鈥檚 been buried for awhile suddenly comes back. The sides evolve. But there鈥檚 always sides.鈥�
