Fairfax Schools Indoctrinating Children in "Critical Race Theory"
It’s not uncommon during an election year to hear people discussing the many problems associated with public education – in particular, “there just isn’t enough money to educate our children.” For quite some time, I’ve wondered how this could possibly be true, especially since public education is one of the largest expenditures in the Commonwealth’s budget. But I think I’ve got it figured out -- those who are in charge of the money, don’t always spend it wisely. Let me explain…
Two short months ago, as teachers in Fairfax County were frantically preparing to start the new school year using an entirely new platform for teaching – the online classroom – they, along with principals and other school administrators, were asked to attend a one hour Zoom conference hosted by “celebrity author” Ibram Kendi on anti-racism and “critical race theory” – the leftist ideology that presupposes that it is impossible to not be racist (or, at least for some people).
For his “expertise,” Kendi was paid a whopping $20,000 -- that’s $333.33 per minute, AND the school district spent another $24,000 on Kendi’s books, making them required reading for K-12 students.
In a statement released to the Daily Signal, a Fairfax County spokesperson said Kendi was invited “to speak to school leaders about his book, ‘How to Be an Antiracist,’ as part of the school division’s work to develop a caring culture, one of the goals in the FCPS strategic plan.” Certainly, developing a caring culture within a school system is a noble cause, but the way I understand it, critical race theory and anti-racism do just the opposite.
Specifically, critical race theory was developed out of Marxism in the 1980’s, and its proponents hold the view that both the law and legal institutions are inherently racist. Furthermore, adherents to this theory don’t believe race is biological and grounded; instead, they believe it is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of “people of color.”
In sum, critical race theory assumes that everything about American society is completely racist, and that racial minority groups will never be equal until American society is completely reformed.
In September, the Fairfax County School Board discussed the new “anti-racism” and “anti-bias” curriculum, which is steeped in Kendi’s divisive ideology, that was introduced to the school system this year. That’s right, folks, students in Fairfax County, the tenth-largest school district in the country, with exceedingly high academic standards, and often touted as THE model school system for the entire country is indoctrinating their K-12 students with the warped ideas of “critical race theory.”
It bears noting that Fairfax County is the same school system that still didn’t have their students online eight weeks after Gov. Northam shut down the schools during the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year. Not to mention, in September they revealed that they had been the victim of a ransomware attack, and that private information from the school district had been stolen and published by the offenders. So, this begs the question, why are the members of the Fairfax County School Board and the school superintendent paying large sums of money to Ibram Kendi instead of using their funds to ensure that the virtual learning experience goes off without a hitch?
This is just one example of why it’s vital for taxpayers to pay close attention to their school district’s decisions, to ask questions, and to hold public schools accountable for providing the education our children deserve.
