Reclaim Oklahoma Parent Empowerment: Critical Race Theory is the Next Common Core For Oklahoma Students

1.31.2021

Critical Race Theory is the Next Common Core For Oklahoma Students - But Much Worse

Critical Race Theory. What's that about and how could it be worse than Common Core for Oklahoma's students?

Good questions!

Let's start with the first:

Critical Race Theory is an ideal developed from Marxist theory that essentially asks human beings to see the world through a lens that sees people as either oppressed or oppressors based on their race and identity. This gets even more complicated when attempting to determine how oppressed one is - a factor determined by something called intersectionality. For example, if we are comparing three individuals - a black woman, a white man and a gay, black woman - the gay black woman is the most oppressed and the white man is the most oppressive.

Viewing human beings as little more important than their skin color and social choices is extremely limiting and part and parcel of the teachings of Marx, who saw the world as comprised entirely of groups to be pitted against one another for the purpose of creating enough social instability to bring down their elite ruling class.

This is not the view which created America, however. In fact, the United States was created on the premise that "...all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights..." - individual rights - "among them, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." An ideal completely antithetical to Marx.

Let's think on those competing ideals briefly. If all men are created by a Creator to be equal under the law - as individuals - with the same rights and responsibilities each as to another, no one individual should be able to assert more power over another. However, if all men are created to be funneled into specific groups, who are more or less important than others, who gets to determine which groups have standing one over the other, or which group each person should be in? The law? A special arbiter? A church? Do they duke it out amongst themselves?

Unfortunately, Critical Race Theory (CRT) is now being taught from the Board Room to the classroom, and throughout state and federal offices and even churches as America rapidly descends into "woke" culture - a practice former President Trump (who won Oklahoma by 65%) attempted to stop via Executive Order but which was immediately rescinded by President Biden (who lost Oklahoma with 32% of the vote).

How could this be worse than Common Core? While CC homogenized and dumbed down the curricula, destroyed the study of traditional literature and throttled down the ability of students to critically think, CRT assigns students into groups that can then be pitted against one another while teaching impressionable young people that they should judge others by the color of their skin, their sex and choices. Isn't that everything we've traditionally taught young people NOT to do?

This year, Oklahoma Senator Shane Jett is sponsoring a bill to stop the teaching of CRT in k-12 public schools (SB803) for which we'll be asking for support! Please go to the Oklahoma Legislature portal and sign up to follow this bill and then follow our blog for more information.

Following this great video on why Christians should not support CRT (and a great infographic on the same) are a number of links to articles about CRT so that you can better inform yourself and your legislators this session. CRT is NOT OK just like Common Core was NOT OK. Let's get it out of our public classrooms this session.