BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. – In a 6 to 2 vote, the Berkeley County school board voted to ban the teaching of critical race theory, in any form, within the school district Tuesday night.
David Barrow and Yvonne Bradley opposed the resolution to disallow CRT instruction in BCSD classrooms.
Barrow said he voted “no” because the resolution didn’t clearly spell out what can or cannot be taught.
“I do not want a policy that constricts teachers and makes them vulnerable to being criticized, chastened and disciplined for something they may or may not know they’re supposed to be teaching,” Barrow said during the regularly scheduled meeting. “I think that’s common sense. Does anyone here want a teacher to be disciplined for teaching something they were not told they should not teach? I don’t.”
During the meeting, Barrow asked the board if CRT was currently being taught in BCSD schools.
“I got an email last week about it. I get emails from parents occasionally that will say, ‘This was taught to my child. Who approved this?’” Board Chairman Mac McQuillin responded.
McQuillin and other board members opposed to CRT in the classroom said they agree that students should learn about history, including the difficult aspects of it such as slavery, the Holocaust and Jim Crow laws.
“I do believe that history should be taught. I don’t want to stop our educators. CRT is taught in law schools. It’s a theory that’s way over their (children’s) heads,” district 4 board member, Kathy Littleton, said. “I believe it’s important that children know their history and the history of the children sitting next to them. But I don’t think we need to add the emotional component to it or the guilt component to it.”
“I do believe that history should be taught. We are not opposed to that,” McQuillin added. “But there are certain forms of the CRT that are being taught in our classes that is inappropriate, and it isn’t age-appropriate for our children.”
According to Britannica Encyclopedia, critical race theorists hold that racism is inherent in the law and legal institutions of the United States insofar as they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites, especially African Americans.
CRT critics nationwide often argue that the controversial theory promotes “white guilt” and teaches white people to be viewed as oppressors and minority races as oppressed.
“CRT holds that the most important thing about you is your race – not your behavior, not your values, not your environment,” Dr. James Lindsay, a CRT expert who occasionally appears on PragerU, an American advocacy group that creates videos promoting a conservative viewpoint.
Amarie Sawyer, a graduate of Cane Bay High and former president of the Black Student Union, told Life 5 News that she was disappointed in the vote. She told the TV station that CRT examines the past to find ways to make things better for all.
“It helps people learn, and that’s what school is for and that’s what it’s needed for,” she said.
Last year, South Carolina Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman stated that Critical Race Theory (CRT) ideology had no place in South Carolina schools and classrooms.
“The South Carolina Department of Education has no current or proposed standards that include CRT concepts and will not be adopting any CRT standards nor applying for or accepting any funding that requires or incentivizes the adoption of these concepts in our classrooms,” she said. “We will not provide professional development opportunities or training that seeks to promote CRT amongst South Carolina educators.”
With the resolution passing during Tuesday night’s board meeting, McQuillin called for a policy to be created that clearly explains what critical race theory is and what can and cannot be taught by BCSD teachers.
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