This commentary is by Nicholas Boke, a freelance writer and international education consultant who lives in Chester.
The Springfield School Board has joined the fray — the fray that I’m sure you’re aware of, the one being encouraged by over 100 groups throughout the country, the one that’s trying to keep America’s teachers from teaching about race, gender, and other forms of discrimination.
The fray to which our own Vermonters for Vermont has been adding its two cents’ worth. Unfortunately, that’s about all their effort is worth.
The board’s proposal begins with a list of “Whereases” that sound like they would avidly support all efforts to address the racism that’s inherent in American history, affirming that “racism has no place in American society,” that it “will not tolerate racism and racist conduct” or restrict citizens’ rights to free expression.
After this “we’re really good guys” part, however, Springfield, like many American school districts, turns its attention to critical race theory. CRT has not, to my understanding, been adopted by any school system anywhere. And its opponents seem to understand very little about it.
The proposed document directs Springfield’s superintendent to ensure that the schools will “not use principals [sic] of Critical Race Theory as a curriculum for classroom instruction.”
The two pages are so different you’d think the people who wrote the “Whereas” page had outsourced page two, but not bothered to review it.
The resolution requires the superintendent to prevent the promotion of “Race Essentialism,” which means “race is the most important identity,” or “Collectivism,” saying group identity matters more than individual identity. Racial groups can’t be referred to as oppressors or oppressed, or be considered “morally or otherwise superior because of race or sex.”
Teachers can’t suggest that individuals bear any responsibility for their forebears’ actions.
Finally, teaching that individuals “by virtue of … race or sex, [are] inherently racist and/or sexist” is forbidden.
This last one makes the racism problem of this proposed resolution clear.
Among the realizations that scholars and thinking Americans have made over the past half-century is that America is not the country it would like to be in terms of racial and economic equality.
Unfortunately, the systemic racism that recent events like the murder of George Floyd have revealed has triggered an equal and opposite response from others. For some, it generates the “We’re the good guys! We’re not racists!” beginning of the Springfield resolution. For white supremacists, it generates a “We ARE the best!” response.
It has simultaneously prompted seemingly innocuous comments like that of Vermont state Rep. Brian Smith, R-Derby, who recently told a mostly white Northeast Kingdom crowd that “I’m really quite proud to be white.”
We can assume that Rep. White would insist that he was not a racist. And then wonder if this kind of statement would pass muster if the Springfield resolution were to pass, especially since he went on to say that he thinks everybody should be proud of their race.
Hmm. Isn’t that a form of Springfield’s “Race Essentialism”?
It sure gets complicated fast, doesn’t it, when people gather a smattering of an understanding of a topic that scholars have spent decades trying to figure out?
It sure gets complicated when a bunch of probably very well-meaning people decide to determine what should be taught in something as complicated as American (or any) history.
It sure makes a community look like it either doesn’t know what it’s talking about or, even worse, does know, and is comfortable with racism. And that the community really doesn’t want students to understand the complexity of their national and local past — warts and all — and of the impact of that past on the present and future.
And of those who might just not be white enough to be at ease with what they’re learning if racism isn’t acknowledged.
Dear Springfield School Board, please stick to the basics, like ensuring you’ve got enough teachers and textbooks and that the curriculum’s being taught, instead of trying to jury-rig the curriculum to prevent teachers and students from dealing with the realities imposed on all Americans by our history of systemic racism.
