In the book The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, there’s a creature called the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal. This creature is so mind-bogglingly stupid that it believes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you. What makes this funny is the absurdity of that logic. If you can’t see it, it can’t see you? That logic is so ridiculous that you can’t even argue with it. It’s so patently false that it would be impossible to explain to this incredibly stupid creature why it’s wrong.
Same goes for the Eanes School-Board members when they try to explain that applied Critical Race Theory (CRT) is not happening in Eanes. Their argument is so mind-numbingly stupid, it’s hard to know what to say. Now, granted, the logic of the Bugblatter Beast and the logic of the School Board are not the same. But the level of mind-numbing stupidity certainly is.
Um, School Board, you put the concepts of applied CRT right there on the website. We can see it. It’s right there. You said it out loud, you typed it into the computer, and then you posted it on the web. Just because you pretend not to see it, doesn’t mean we can’t see it. It’s right there.
Their repeated response? “Nope, we can’t see it, so it’s not there.”
(1) You included an extensive resource list filled with social-justice advocacy and divisive race-essentializing authors. Ibram Kendi is mentioned repeatedly throughout the list. Kendi is king of applied CRT.
“Nope, we can’t see it, so it’s not there.”
(2) OK, you rewrote the Board Priorities and Administrative Goals, making Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ONE FOURTH of the Board’s Instruction Goals. These goals literally say you want to “[d]evelop a system of equity-focused restorative justice in support of all learners” and you want to “[e]mbed, over time, the ongoing importance of DEI in curricula, instructional materials and resources.” Y’all, that’s applied Critical Race Theory.
“Nope, we can’t see it, so it’s not there.”
(3) In the District Mission and Goals, you replaced the goal of excellence with a goal of an exemplary education. Anyone who’s tangentially connected to schools in Texas knows that exemplary was just the old namby-pamby ranking issued by the Texas Education Agency. Sure, it was the best ranking they gave out—but, at the end of the day, it was simply a TEA designation that meant better than most. All Eanes has to do is meet the state’s old standard of an exemplary district and, boom, School Board gets to check off that goal. No more striving for excellence.
“Nope, we can’t see it, so it’s not there.”
(4) You hired a DEI consultant, Dr. Mark Gooden, who has written papers using Critical Race Theory. He has called CRT useful and not denounced it. His main claims to fame? Consulting with progressive Austin ISD and “writing several articles for various publications and speaking at conferences.” (Several!) Oh, and he’s currently writing a book entitled Five Practices for Equity-Focused Leadership. Hello!?! Equity-based ANYTHING is applied Critical Race Theory.
“Nope, we can’t see it, so it’s not there.”
(5) By the way, did y’all notice that your DEI consultant has big equity goals for Eanes: he’s implementing equity audits and forming equity groups in every school. He’s giving leadership training in which he tries to “help leaders have a better understanding of equity issues and biases and [provide] training on ways to integrate our thinking in this area into our practice.” [Yowch, Dr. G. What does that language even mean?] He has conducted staff training to help teachers “with the idea of teaching and instilling equity in our students.” [Instilling equity in our students?!? How do you instill equity into a person?] So, incoherent as that writing is, we can see that Dr. G’s all about the equity—and that’s applied Critical Race Theory.
“Nope, we can’t see it, so it’s not there.”
Without any effort, that’s 5 examples of applied Critical Race Theory being introduced into the District. In future posts, we’ll expand this list for all the ways that the School Board has encouraged and endorsed applied Critical Race Theory in Eanes.
I’ve got to hand it to the School Board. As a political strategy, the nope-we-can’t-see-it response is brilliant. Busy people don’t have time to go and research applied Critical Race Theory. They trust the School-Board members to tell the truth. All the School-Board members have to do is look earnest and virtuous while simply denying that they’re up to no good. Oh no, we’re not doing that. Goodness, no. And anyone who says we are, well, they’re just trying to smear us. Boohoo.
But on an intellectual level, over and over again, the response of the School Board is so mind-bogglingly stupid that it puts even the Bugblatter Beast to shame.