JACKSON – The Township Council passed a resolution opposing any state education mandate that would not include parental input.
The resolution was presented at a time when Critical Race Theory, which is not currently mandated by the state, has become a controversial subject throughout the nation. The subject has come up at Jackson School Board meetings.
Councilman Alex Sauickie read a portion of the resolution and urged residents to read it in its entirety so they could better understand the reasoning behind why the council supports Resolution 407-R21.
Sauickie said, “I want to read a small portion of it that I think really drives home the whole point. Whereas, the public school system allows parents to have input into the curriculum which is taught to their children in a public school and parents have the right to review such instruction at any time and in a democracy such as that which exists in this country, education is best accomplished through the teaching of students how to think rather than telling them what they should think – an indoctrination of political views has led to catastrophic results throughout world history.
“I will just add, that our history should be embraced and we should learn from it. It shouldn’t be rewritten. I’m the son of a teacher. I’m married to a teacher and I am around a lot of teachers and they don’t want the curriculum that is being forced upon them by the state. I would encourage all parents to raise their voices around that and I am glad to see the council supporting this resolution,” he added.
The New Jersey State curriculum does not include Critical Race Theory.
According to an article in Education Week, boards of education, superintendents, administrators and teachers in the U.S. are facing questions about CRT. Even though school officials are being questioned about this now, CRT is an academic concept that is four decades old. Its core idea is that race is a social construct and racism isn’t only a product of individual bias or prejudice but is something embedded in politics and legal systems.
The subject exploded into debate last spring after the murder of George Floyd. A number of politicians throughout the country are proposing legislation seeking to ban its use in the classroom. Educators have explained that CRT is a way of understanding how racism in America may have shaped public policy. It is usually taught in law school, and rarely in public education.
Individual stories about how white students have been told that people in their history enforced racist social structures show up from time to time. Critics of these statements say that lessons like these pit students of color against white students. These lessons are broadly called CRT.
