In June 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law that bans Critical Race Theory from being taught in the public school system. While its detractors have mischaracterized the law, Texas Representative Steve Toth, who sponsored the legislation, has made clear that no topic is off-limits for discussion. Rather, the law states that schools can't teach that "an individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of the individual's race or sex," he told National Review at the time.
Under the law, students are also spared from adopting "an understanding of The 1619 Project," which redefines America's founding as when the first black slaves were brought over rather than in 1776 when the Founding Fathers declared independence.
Furthermore, students can't be taught that "an individual, by virtue of the individual's race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex."
But according to a new investigation by Accuracy in Media, it appears as though several school districts are ignoring the law.
Accuracy in Media (AIM) conducted this investigation into multiple schools around Texas to understand how this CRT legislation, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, is being handled by educators.
An AIM investigator asked Evan Whitefield, director of science at Coppell Independent School District (ISD), about if the CRT bans will have any effect.
“I don’t think so,” said Whitefield. “The bottom line is, we’ve gotten around it by saying, ‘Well, we’re just not teaching that.’”
The Coppell ISD science department has links to “Phenomenon-based learning” that states this teaching style “has its roots in constructivist learning theory and socio-constructivist learning theory, as well as sociocultural learning theory.” […]
AIM investigators asked Tara Nichols, director of Teaching and Learning at Mesquite ISD, if these laws really change anything.
“It really doesn’t,” she said.
Mesquite ISD utilizes an “equitable” model of education that provides resource links for teachers to books like “So You Want to Talk About Race” and “Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain.”
“Culturally responsive teaching” training has come under investigation before and has been described as “a more-or-less direct repackaging” of the ideas of a “neo-Marxist” educational theory. […]
Investigators also asked Marissa Perez, the English Language Arts and Reading Content Coordinator at Edgewood ISD, how the CRT bans have affected classrooms.
“We do not follow much of what Abbott is trying to get us to do.”
“The superintendent really does what he believes is best for kids and not necessarily what is popular with the crowd, right? Or politics at the time,” said Perez. (The TEXAN)
Another school district provides links to an essay from The 1619 Project about "The Economy That Slavery Built" for an eighth-grade U.S. history curriculum, with the director of instructional technology admitting he thinks they "just fly under the radar."
When AIM asked Millie Reynolds, assistant director of Secondary Social Studies at North East ISD, whether parents are still pushing back, Reynolds said the criticism doesn't go anywhere.
"There are a few, but they don't win the argument," Reynolds said. "Nobody wants to go through that process. What they like to do is talk about it on TV to get votes."
BREAKING: Teachers and school staff in Texas ADMIT they do not follow Governor Abbott's ban on CRT.
— Accuracy In Media (@AccuracyInMedia) February 15, 2023
"We do not follow much of, like, what Abbott is trying to get us to do"
"We're not going to eliminate that (critical race theory)" pic.twitter.com/7LizP1IjLH