COLORADO SPRINGS — On Thursday night, the Falcon School District 49 passed a resolution to ban Critical Race Theory on a 3-2 vote.
Critical Race Theory is currently not taught in Colorado schools. According to D49, this decision will not change current instruction in D49 classrooms.
The district first considered this resolution back in June. According to the resolution, the district will not follow several principles attached to Critical Race Theory which they say include:
- Instructors and schools shall not assign individuals or groups of students to participate in class or complete assignments based on their racial identity
- Schools shall not participate in racial bias or stereotyping
- Race Essentialism: the assertion that race is the most important identity
- Collectivism: the assumption that group identity is more important than individual identity
- Accusatory characterization of individuals as oppressed or oppressors according to their race
Twenty-three states have taken action as they have either banned or proposed bans to teach the curriculum, which suggests racism and division are not just based on personal prejudices but are ingrained in some of our country’s institutions.
What is Critical Race Theory?
Critical race theory is a concept that started in the 1970s and examines how race has played a role in shaping public policy. When integration began, but equality still lagged, a Black civil rights activist and lawyer at the time, Derrick Bell, looked at what was happening and asked the question: is this coincidence, or is this structural?
READ MORE: 360: What is critical race theory and why is it causing controversy in Colorado schools?
The idea then became an academic discipline that was born out of critical legal studies in the 1980s.
It is a question still being asked and debated in classrooms today.
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