All Hat, No Cattle

A thread on the folly of the anti-CRT bills and the danger of banning ideas. First, let's get one thing perfectly straight. Not one of the anti-CRT bills I've read bans Critical Race Theory. Not one. So right from the start the public is sold a bill of goods. /1

— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 11, 2021

Moreover, because the language of the statutes is so broad and vague, it will leave teachers, parents, and students deeply confused about their scope. Prepare for complaints whenever parents/students simply feel offended or uncomfortable. /3

— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 11, 2021

Pretty much what I expect under the Texas bill: lots of complaints from folks in the school district (parents or not), not a lot of understanding of what the new law actually says. What it says, in part, is this:

(4)  a teacher, administrator, or other employee of a

  state agency, school district, or open-enrollment charter school

  may not:

                  (B)  require or make part of a course the concept

  that:

                          (vi)  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;

                          (vii)  an individual should feel discomfort,

  guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on

  account of the individual's race or sex; or

                          (viii)  meritocracy or traits such as a hard

  work ethic are racist or sexist or were created by members of a

  particular race to oppress members of another race.

I'm not even sure what that means, which means it's damned near unenforceable in court.  (and oddly, no mention at all of CRT.) Of course, for someone to have standing to complain about a violation of this provision, you'd almost have to be the student of a child.  And what parent is going to waste the coin on lawyers to take their kid's teacher and school to court on this?

Even the lawyers are going to be cautious about that.

In short, banning ideas is dangerous. The statutes are overbroad and vague. Existing civil rights law provides strong protection against radical excesses without resort to banning ideas. The better course of action is replacing bad curriculum with better curriculum. /end

— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 11, 2021