Rob Murphy

In one of our district meetings we were provided with this response when a parent asks if we teach CRT in our classroom. They suggested to say, "Tell me what you think Critical Race Theory is. I'll tell you if I teach that."

Good luck this school year!

So basically you deflect a question with a question? Hmm..

One way to avoid creating controversy with the parents on those matters is to focus on teaching things that are not likely to be disputed. For example, F = m*a, (a+b)*(a-b) = a^2 - b^2, US, England and the Soviet Union fought against Germany in the Second World War. If you absolutely have to talk about something that is being disputed, start with - there exists an opinion that A is true, but there is a significant number of people who disagree. There are enough undisputed important truths, however, that if you focus on those, you will not find the time to visit the controversial subjects. This is particularly true when you have a group of students that are severely lacking in their understanding of basic undisputed truths. They should get solid with those before they are exposed to things that are being debated.

Education is not just about teaching "facts' but helping them learn how to think for themselves, process and understand what they believe and why (based on facts but also interpreting the world around them).

Good article.

https://www.nytimes.com/article/what-is-critical-race-theory.html?mc=aud_dev&campaign_id=23848634527590063&ad-keywords=auddevgate&subid1=TAFI&adset_id=23848680117090063&ad_id=23848680117360063&ad_name=INTER_20_XXXX_XXX_1P_CD_XX_XX_SITEVISITXREM_X_XXXX_COUSA_P_X_X_EN_FBIG_OA_XXXX_00_EN_JP_NFLINKS&adset_name=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Farticle%2Fwhat-is-critical-race-theory.html&fbclid=IwAR1mvYSp6u42pRZ6QfFYXoeWnvfCgxJvT7o-cCTlyIHTf_4kMrfFs8zqAlk