by Corrine Murdock
Dr. Carol Swain appeared on The Ingraham Angle last Wednesday to discuss how America’s capital is requiring its teachers to take an 8 hour “anti-racism journey.”
Washington, D.C. public schools are mandating the course, created by Microsoft. The Microsoft Educator Center classifies this course as a beginner level.
“Educators must be courageous and confident in their journey to fully participate in dismantling racism in their learning environments,” reads the course description. “The intention of this learning path is to deeply question power, privilege, and fragility to interrupt teaching practices that marginalize, isolate, and exclude BIPOC [black, indigenous, people of color] students whole-learners in the classroom…”
Dr. Swain shared that she wasn’t impressed by the course videos.
“I watched some of those videos and I lost some IQ points as a result,” joked Dr. Swain.
On a serious note, Dr. Swain observed that Black teachers are the majority at D.C. schools: 67 percent of students are Black, 50 percent of teachers are black, and 30 percent of teachers are white.
“I was wondering, is [this course] for all the teachers? Or is it just for the white teachers? They are a minority,” said Dr. Swain. “And if it’s for all the teachers, [then this course] gives black teachers excuses for the failing students.”
Anti-racist education isn’t the only form of indoctrination in schools.
Swain said that the new trend of social-emotional learning (SEL) is a form of indoctrination for teachers. She said that it ties educators to their emotions when discussing these social justice topics. Dr. Swain added that the psychology of SEL is what makes it so potent.
“It’s real manipulation and indoctrination, and it’s troubling,” asserted Dr. Swain.
Ingraham played two other clips for Dr. Swain. The first was a 2018 children’s video, “How to Talk to Kids About Race,” which encouraged parents to teach their children to be aware of racial differences, racial histories, and racism.
In the other clip taken from a video called “Kids Explain Intersectionality,” children attempt to explain to other children the meaning of “intersectionality.” That is a social justice concept in which certain social categorizations – such as race, class, and gender – make up an individual and determine discrimination, disadvantages, privileges, etc. It often results in the creation of a hierarchy based on identity. The woman who invented the concept in 1989, Kimberlé Crenshaw, also co-invented critical race theory.
Dr. Swain responded that the material was just another detrimental distraction from giving kids a true education.
“[W]hen they focus on the nonsense that they’re teaching in schools, the students are not learning academics. And so, they’re failing, they’re falling further behind, they’re not learning how to read and write and be competitive in the world,” said Dr. Swain. “It’s really a way to take down America. It is critical race theory that is rooted in Marxism. It’s not about helping the students to thrive no matter what their race – and it really harms Americans, all Americans.”
Watch Dr. Swain’s full interview here:
