Critical race theory curriculum in K-12 schools is going 'horribly wrong,' teachers say

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Indiana school administrator facing backlash for speaking out against critical race theory

Indiana school administrator Tony Kinnett tells 'Fox & Friends' that he's being punished for speaking out against critical race theory being taught in his district.

Critical race theory originated in the family of critical studies and seeks to promote what its adherents believe is a pervasive and inescapable racist legacy in the U.S. legal system. The theory has been packaged to children in K-12 schools and teaches them that America is a fundamentally racist country. 

An Illinois high school history teacher, Frank McCormick, told "Fox & Friends" that he decided to blow the whistle on what was being taught at his school because parents are being "gaslit into this lie that CRT does not exist in [K-12] education."

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Proponents and opponents to teaching Critical Race Theory attend Placentia Yorba Linda School Board meeting in Orange County, California. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

"It’s not explicitly taught," he said, "but it’s used as a lens through which curriculum and lessons are filtered … based on …presuppositions that racism is … systemic [in America]."

Critics say that when the theory's concepts are applied to curriculum for K-12 schools, it is an utter disaster. 

Erec Smith, an associate professor of rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania, said in an op-ed, that while "third-graders aren’t reading legal theory from the 80s written by people in their 80s, …  their teachers have likely read the literature, and when trying to put this theory into practice, things go horribly wrong."

Smith argued that there should be a bipartisan push against CRT because it is "adamantly opposed" the foundation of liberty – "free speech, equality, individuality, and the concept of merit." 

"Declaration of Independence" - detail of the painting by John Trumbell.  ("Declaration of Independence" - detail of the painting by John Trumbell)

"You can imagine what kind of 'education' would ensue if teachers implicitly and explicitly demonize these concepts," he said. 

A schoolteacher from New York City, Paul Rossi, said in Bari Weiss' "Common Sense" Substack that his students are frustrated with the indoctrination pedaled through Grace Church High School. 

"[M]y school is asking me to embrace ‘antiracism’ training and pedagogy that I believe is deeply harmful … [for] any [teacher] who seeks to nurture the virtues of curiosity, empathy and understanding," he said. "[Students] report that, in their classes and other discussions, they must never challenge any of the premises of our 'antiracist' teachings, which are deeply informed by Critical Race Theory." 

Additionally, he claimed the school is keeping a lookout for students who are not acclimating to the propaganda culture. 

Tony Kinnett, a former Indiana school administrator who was placed on leave after exposing CRT curricula at his school in a video posted on Twitter, also said that parents are overtly being lied to about CRT.

Lawrence Jones interviews Tony Kinnett, the whistleblower Indiana school administrator - November 26, 2021. (Screenshot/Fox News)

"Parents, when we tell you critical race theory isn't taught in our schools we're lying. Keep looking," the whistleblower said. "It means one thing, go away and look into our affairs no further."

Moreover, some left-wing K-12 teachers openly admit they approve and seek to transmit CRT concepts to their students. A current assistant principal at the Castle Bridge School in Washington Heights, New York, David Rosas, said on Chalkbeat that the controversial topic "is not something I will shy away from… Critical race theory is interwoven in all that I do."

"I needed space to be a teacher who was racially literate and racially radical," he continued. 

A Detroit superintendent, Nikolai Vitti, publicly admitted during a school board meeting that CRT was embedded within the schools' curriculum. 

"Our curriculum is deeply using critical race theory, especially in social studies, but you’ll find it in English, language arts, and the other disciplines," Vitti said. "We’re very intentional about creating a curriculum, infusing materials and embedding critical race theory within our curriculum."

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Despite these facts, the denial of CRT in K-12 has reached some of the highest levels in American politics. 

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has claimed the fascination with CRT is merely a tool of the right to win a culture war - a viewpoint also shared by the National School Boards Association.

When asked by Fox News Digital on how he would respond to the claim that CRT is only taught in law schools, Kinnett said, "That is an incredibly ignorant way of viewing what graduate-level theories are for." 

Yorba Linda, CA, Tuesday, November 16, 2021 - The Placentia Yorba Linda School Board discusses a proposed resolution to ban teaching critical race theory in schools.  (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Kinnett explained that during the course of his Master's studies he was taught CRT and how to apply it into lesson plans in K-12 classrooms. 

"We learned all kinds of educational theories that we were expected to put to use in the classroom," he said.

Kinnett added that CRT concepts taught in classrooms include telling "students that every problem is a result of White men. And that … everything Western civilization built is racist capitalism and a tool of white supremacy – those are straight out of Kimberlé Crenshaw's main points verbatim in [her book Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement]." 

Mike Gonzalez, a CRT expert at the Heritage Foundation, says its goal is to begin a rallying cry for revolutionary changes. "The … Marxian belief [holds] that the purpose of theory is revolution, not just intellectual debate," he said in "The Critical Classroom," a book delving into CRT's verticals in American society. 

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Another example included when a third-grade teacher in Cupertino, Calif., reportedly instructed students on how to "deconstruct their racial and sexual identities, then rank themselves according to their ‘power and privilege.’"

Opponents of Critical Race Theory attend a packed Loudoun County School board meeting, in Ashburn, Virginia, U.S. June 22, 2021.  (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

During a diversity training, teachers at Cherokee Middle School, a middle school in Springfield, Missouri, were provided a handout and were instructed to locate themselves on an "oppression matrix," according to City Journal. The training also denounced "socially unacceptable" White supremacy, which included "education funding from property tax, colorblindness, calling the police on black people, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) as Halloween costumes, not believing experiences of BIPOC, tone policing, [and] white silence."

Additionally, the left-wing media works overtime to flatly deny the prevalence of CRT in the U.S. education system and to silence debate on the matter. 

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For example, on MSNBC's "The ReidOut," host Joy Reid has repeatedly said that CRT is only found in law schools. 

"Law school is the only place where [critical race theory] is taught. NBC has looked into everywhere, and it's not taught in elementary school," Joy Reid said in June 2021. 

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Her guest, Chris Rufo, who has been exposing CRT curriculum across the country, asked to interject and explain his position. "This should be a dialogue, right? Am I right?"

Reid replied, "Well, it's my show, so it's how I want to do it."