Fighting Identity Politics
Now is the time to call out dangerous policies like Ethnic Studies that have grown out of identity politics.
Earlier this week, I was simply planning to provide you all a recap of the Ethnic Studies panel that I participated in on September 4. However, Charlie Kirk’s assassination while literally engaged in political debate in the public square put the Ethnic Studies issue in a whole new light for me.
As we’ve discussed here previously, Ethnic Studies justifies the use of violence to achieve political ends and leverages identity politics to encourage “resistance” against the “oppressors.” For me, Kirk’s assassination, if truly the act of political violence it appears to be, is an example of the logical consequences of these ideas.
Ethnic Studies is not just an education issue; it is a manifestation of the destructive identity politics roiling our nation. Politics of any kind—let alone identity politics—has no place in our schools.
In my line of work, it is oft-repeated that cross-examination is the greatest engine ever invented for discovering the truth. In the same way cross-examination tests a witness’s credibility, so too does rigorous public debate test the merits of ideas. The only way to stop misguided ideas is to expose them and present a better alternative, and I am proud to have done my (small) part in this forum!
Ethnic Studies Hurts Those It Purports to Help
MY OPENING STATEMENT:
To begin, each panelist made an opening statement with his/her position on the Ethnic Studies mandate. I highlighted the opportunity cost this misguided mandate represents. The widening achievement gap between Black and Hispanic students and students of other races and ethnicities is a crisis that we have a moral imperative to address, yet there is zero evidence that the costly Ethnic Studies mandate will have any impact on this issue. At the same time, the curriculum is so divisive and discriminatory that we need a law to protect pupils from Ethnic Studies!
Panelist Summer Johnson, an ethnic studies teacher in Oakland, unintentionally made my point for me on discrimination. Johnson was trying to explain the broad appeal of Ethnic Studies but in the process repeated “even” folks who are White have culture:
PANELIST SUMMER JOHNSON: “EVEN” WHITE PEOPLE HAVE A CULTURE
Imagine the experience of a high school student in Summer’s class being told that, yes, “even” he has a culture. That his family history, life experiences, and background count, too. Why do we need to qualify that statement with an “even”? Everyone has a culture. Summer’s statement, coming from a high school ethnic studies teacher and repeated twice, demonstrates open discrimination.
Proponents Cite Feelings, Opponents Bring Facts
RECORDING FROM THE TOP:
To summarize the two sides, the proponents mainly argued that Ethnic Studies, subjectively, pleased some students, while the opponents brought many fact-based arguments against the mandate.
Based on the commentary in the Zoom chat, it appeared the opponents had the upper hand. Indeed, for every student that reported enjoying the class, there are students who viewed it as an insubstantial, easy “A” or felt discriminated against.
Further, the proponents could offer no support for the proposition that Ethnic Studies somehow improves academic outcomes. Instead, its benefits appear to be mainly emotional and therapeutic at this point.
In response, Panelist Summer Johnson appeared to argue that Ethnic Studies should have higher priority than basic Math proficiency and that these scores are somehow an inappropriate measure of student achievement:
MATH IS CONCERNING?
While she stopped short of asserting that Math is racist, that was the direction we were heading.
Conclusion
It appeared to me that Ethnic Studies opponents have the facts on our side. However, we need to do a better job discussing how this misguided mandate negatively impacts students. Highlighting individual stories of anti-Semitism and other forms of institutional discrimination is a great place to start.
While we will know more in the coming days, I also fear that Charlie Kirk’s assassination may well become a gruesome cautionary tale on identity politics’ logical outcome. California’s Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, a manifestation of these politics, holds that all our systems and institutions are “embedded” with racism. (Model Curriculum, p. 45, fn. 12.) The curriculum advocates the use of violence to overthrow the oppressors. (Id., pp. 9-10.)
This type of rhetoric only encourages and justifies the type of political violence that apparently killed Charlie Kirk. It has no place in our schools, and we must expose and defeat these bad ideas in the public square.