Study contradicts claims critical race theory isn't in schools, over 90% students exposed to it

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A recently published study suggests that the overwhelming majority of students in the United States have been exposed to at least one core principle of critical race theory (CRT) despite claims from many on the left that the curriculum is not taught in schools.

Researchers at the Manhattan Institute surveyed responses from more than 1,500 Americans recently out of high school ages 18 to 20, and 90% of respondents said they have heard at least one CRT concept from a teacher or adult at school, and 93% had been taught a core tenet of critical social justice (CSJ), a combination of CRT and radical gender ideology.

The study, which explains that its method is to "interview a random sample of those who have recently graduated from school and can recollect their recent school experiences in order to estimate the extent to which CSJ has become part of American education," found that 62% of students said they were taught or heard from an adult that "America is a systemically racist country."

Additionally, 69% said they have been taught or heard from an adult that "white people have privilege," 57% that "white people have unconscious biases that negatively affect nonwhite people" and 67% that "America is built on stolen land."

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Amy Carney, center, speaks on behalf of parents during a protest against critical race theory being taught at Scottsdale Unified School District before a digital school board meeting at Coronado High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, on May 24, 2021. (Reuters)

The questions were phrased, "Thinking about the school you attended, were you ever taught any of the following concepts in class or did you hear them from adults in the school you attended?"

Paulson Policy analyst Zach Goldberg, the author of the study along with Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow Eric Kaufmann, told Fox News Digital that CRT is an issue that both sides of political spectrum "talk past" each other on while arguing about what its exact definition is.

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To estimate the prevalence of student exposure to CSJ ideas, the Manhattan Institute asked, "Thinking about the school you attended, were you ever taught any of the following concepts in class or did you hear them from adults in the school you attended?" (Manhattan Institute)

"Whatever you want to call it, something's going on in our schools, and we want to really try and move the conversation forward," Goldberg said. "These are all very closely connected concepts that are features of critical race theory, the view that all disparities between groups are the results of social structures. That’s the idea."

"Maybe not the academic version but the idea that systemic racism is also connected to that. From my standpoint it’s like call it whatever you want to call it, but you’re teaching really contentious and empirically dubious ideas as if they were facts."

Prominent voices on the left and in media ranging from American Federation of Teachers' Randi Weingarten to MSNBC’s Nicholle Wallace to actress Whoopi Goldberg to former Virginia Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe have publicly suggested that CRT is not taught in schools despite mounting evidence to the contrary.

Even the Biden White House suggested in 2021 that Republicans opposing CRT in the contentious Virginia election where McAuliffe lost to Republican Glenn Youngkin were "lying."

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Figure 2 summarizes results for all eight items. (Manhattan Institute/Deltapoll survey)

The study also breaks down what kinds of schools the 18-20-year-olds attended and found that CSJ is found in all types of schools.

"The survey found 73% of parochial schoolers, 82% of non-religious private schoolers, and 83% of homeschoolers report being taught at least one CSJ term," the study said. "Even among young people with two Republican parents, 64% of those who went to private school and 71% who were homeschooled were taught at least one CSJ concept."

"Public schools do teach more radical gender theory, with 56% of those who attended one being taught at least one radical gender concept. This figure is somewhat lower among non-religious private schoolers, parochial students, and homeschooled children, but gender theory is present in all forms of school."

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Opponents critical race theory protest outside the Loudoun County School Board headquarters, in Ashburn, Virginia, on June 22, 2021. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

Results of the study also suggest that students who are exposed to CSJ are more likely to feel anxiety and fear about holding an opinion that might be controversial.

"Thirty-eight percent of those who were not taught CSJ reported that they were afraid of being punished, shamed, or expelled for voicing opinions on controversial subjects, rising to between 62% and 68% among those taught at least two CSJ concepts," the study said.

Furthermore, being exposed to CRT and CSJ appeared to drive racial tensions between students.

"Among Republican young people, fear levels jump from 31% to 74% after exposure to CSJ," the study found. "As a likely consequence of this fear, those exposed to CRT become less willing to criticize a black schoolmate, preventing black pupils from hearing useful feedback from classmates. Recalled discomfort with criticizing a black schoolmate at school rose from 32% of those not exposed to CRT to 50% among young people who were taught at least some CRT in school."

"By this measure, CRT instruction appears to have a harmful effect on young people and damages the very people it purports to help."

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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)

Goldberg called the enflamed tensions and changes in attitude "unfortunate" and said "stoking these types of emotions and cultivating them" could "definitely have an impact" on how students of color view whites.

Ultimately, the study's authors write that the data shows the "need for a more activist and reformist orientation toward the existing public system for those who wish to pursue cultural and political change."

"There's a big difference between teaching historical facts and then kind of manipulating historical facts and leveraging them to make a causal narrative about the conditions of today and a causal narrative that is open to dispute and teaching that narrative as if it was fact," Goldberg told Fox News Digital.