The proposed changes to Minnesota’s social studies curriculum would embrace Critical Race Theory (CRT). According to the Center for the American Experiment, “The CRT framework can be found throughout the second draft of the social studies standards.”
The Minnesota Department of Education’s Q&A says that CRT is not a part of the curriculum, “CRT is not included in any current or proposed Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards. CRT is a theory that was developed in the 1970s by legal scholars. It may be taught in some master’s or doctoral-level programs.”
The Center for the American Experiment argues that while they do not teach CRT to elementary school children, the framework and ideology of CRT is becoming part of the curriculum.
The center believes the proposed changes to the K-12 social studies curriculum do support the ideology of CRT. For example, some framework for Kindergarten says that kindergarteners will “List groups you belong to and name your role in each of those groups. Examine one of the groups you belong to and describe how the group makes decisions.” Another assignment stated that the kindergarteners will “tell a story about a fair and unfair experience that illustrates power balances and imbalances.”
The elementary school curriculum builds upon the ideas presented in Kindergarten. First graders will, “Construct meaning of the terms ethnicity, equality, liberation and systems of power and identify examples.”
The curriculum says fourth graders will “identify the processes and impacts of colonization and examine how discrimination and the oppression of various racial and ethnic groups have produced resistance movements.” Sixth graders will “identify and explain how discrimination based on race, gender, economic, and social group identity created and continues to affect the history, health, growth, and current experience of residents of Minnesota.”
The ideas also continue through middle and high school. Another example from the high school curriculum says that high schoolers will “examine the characteristics of freedom movements; develop an analysis of racial capitalism, political economy, anti-Blackness, Indigenous sovereignty, illegality and indigeneity.”
Catrin Wigfall with the Center for the American Experiment said that while this second draft is improved, “the draft standards and benchmarks remain committed to pushing subjective narratives rooted in oppression and ideology, and thus contain a strong anti-American bias.”
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Hayley Tschetter is a reporter with The Minnesota Sun | Star News Network. Follow Hayley on Twitter or like her Facebook page. Send news tips to [email protected].
