Math and English? Not so much!
Critical race theory is not being taught in Madison’s schools. That is the official position of our favorite morning daily newspaper published here in the Emerald City. Elizabeth Beyer says it is so. We have to take her word for it, because the newspaper reporter cites no other authority for this:
Critical Race Theory, an academic framework that focuses on racism embedded in the nation’s laws and institutions and isn’t taught in any of Wisconsin’s K-12 schools.
Then why is the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the state taxpayer-funded school overseer, promoting CRT?
The seminars are sponsored by the Disproportionality Technical Assistance Network, which is operated out of DPI at 125 Webster St., Madison. Three DPI employees coordinate the outreach, including Madison school board member Ananda Mirilli.
“Equity is not a mere alternate word for equality, but harbors an assumption: that where the races are not represented roughly according to their presence in the population, the reason must be a manifestation of (societal) racism.” — John McWhorter.
What spin can one put on the Educational Equity Leadership seminars other than to conclude that state Schools Superintendent Jill Underly believes our K-12 schools are fundamentally racist? “Equity” and “Disproportionality” are telltale CRT buzz words. The promo for one of its presentations, “Race: the Power of an Illusion,” declares:
Race resides not in nature but in politics, economics and culture. It reveals how our social institutions “make” race by disproportionately channeling resources, power, status and wealth to white people.
We wish our social institutions had channeled a little more wealth our way! More power and status would be nice, too. Compare the definition above with that of Encyclopedia Britannica:
Critical race theory (CRT) is an intellectual and social movement … based on the premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature … but a socially constructed … category … to oppress and exploit people of color … inherent in the law and legal institutions of the United States … to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites.
What is the end game?
We are waiting for the panjandrums at DPI and the university schools of education to reveal their end game. Exactly what would “fix” the racial achievement gap (given that they’ve failed miserably so far)? More money, of course. But how much will be enough?
- How much power must be reallocated to get young Tavion to quit wrecking stolen cars?
- How many years will it take a black superintendant and majority minority school board to fix Madison schools?
- Do they contend there is a black way to teach and a black way to learn? How did Dr. Ben Carson perform brain surgery without the good offices of the Disproportionality Technical Assistance Network?
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Teachers can teach students but they cannot learn them. Learning is a discipline. If the home isn’t teaching that fundamental skill, the schools must.
Blaska Policy Werkes 
20 responses to “DPI teaches race & ‘disproportionality’”
Gosh, golly, every time I had to plunge a toilet and clean the toilet and the surrounding area that got flooded I thought of those black and brown, male and female coworkers who were doctors and nurses who made way more money, with good reason, than I ever did.
I also think of those moments when I was painting walls, changing light bulbs or ballasts or plowing snow in the middle of the night when they were sleeping.
They made more money than I did because they went to MEDICAL SCHOOL!
I did not, I graduated from high school.
They had the brains and the ambition to work hard to serve others in a way that I was never capable of doing. In short, they had the drive and discipline to achieve a much better life than I could. They live in better houses, have better cars, take better vacations, have better overall life styles than I could ever have.
I’m happy for them.
They worked hard for the fruits of their labor. They deserve what they have worked so hard for.
Now that I’m retired, and even long before I was, I can, could, see that so many of the people that I have worked for or worked with in the past who are white or people of color were outstanding people that I greatly admired because they were so skilled at what they did or do.
More importantly, they were people that you could count on. You know that they had you six. I can’t say that about every person of color or of white people but I can say that the majority of the people of color who were professionals were people you could count on.
Sad, so sad we have come to divide this nation built with the idea “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.
Sometimes I have to ask myself: When we get to Heaven and we are all beings of light and love, will any of the concerns of our mortal life be of any concern then?
LikeLiked by 3 people
“ Sad, so sad we have come to divide this nation built with the idea “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.
Those words were written but it’s not how they lived. Typical politicians, say one thing and do another. THEY divided the nation by race and gender at the outset and it’s our job to try to fix all the division our country was built upon. If they didn’t invent race we wouldn’t be having all these problems in the first place! The founding fathers are not Gods.
LikeLike
Yes.
LikeLike
As a fellow high school graduate who made his own way, l appreciated your comments, Bill. When society expects less of a person, or in this case an entire group of people, that group’s overall health and potential will decay. I don’t care which color that group may be, because it’s human nature. It’s people.
I feel the most for Black parents who are trying to raise their kids to be good citizens, and happy, productive, and kind people.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“Critical race theory is not being taught in Madison schools.” There’s much to suggest that statement is a lie, but no one in the local media will contradict it or investigate whether it’s accurate. There’s one sure-fire way to find out: install video/audio cameras in every classroom in the MMSD and record every lesson that’s taught in every class, every day (and make access to the recordings readily available to every parent in the district). Plenty of employees are recorded every minute they’re at work. Why should teachers be exempt? Maybe DB can introduce this policy after he takes his seat on the board in a few months.
LikeLiked by 2 people
What a great idea. Similar to providing our police with body cameras. Both have my vote.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I see that you have another mole at the DPI. Yes, I’ve been to number of these workshops and they are all CRT. People have objected, but it goes nowhere.
LikeLiked by 1 person
To successfully lead a horse to water, first you must have a thirsty horse. To successfully educate a child, they must first see some value in the knowledge to be gained, and there in lies the problem. This problem is most definitely CULTURAL, and not something imposed by a “dominant society”.
Sixty years ago, as a white student, in a white school, in a white district, I did not question school. We went to school, did our lessons, made passing marks, so we could go on to the next grade level. That is what was expected of us, and we complied. No concessions were anticipated, nor given, No excuses were accepted. In high school I encountered “my” first black classmates, (the children of farmers an railroad workers), and they were “in the same boat” as me, with the same motivations. They faithfully attended, did their work, and all graduated. (unlike a few of their white peers)
Unlike my “herd” school experience, many Asian students are dominated by family driven expectations, with heavy involvement of the parents. “Don’t give it your BEST, give it your BETTER!!!”
What is rapidly becoming “Black Culture” is not confined to black people, although they are the ones overwhelmingly being hamstrung by it. When you see white, brown, and Asian youth, car sub-woofers blaring, pants around their knees, talking like ghetto residents, you know that they have drunk the “Kool-Ade” as well.
Hip-Hop and Rap music did not create this “Black Culture”. BUT the LYRICS did!!! In the 1970’s, while standard pop music was wandering off into the wastelands of social consciousness, one genre of Black music was slowly descending into a form that would come to glorify drug use, abuse of women, violence, crime, and “getting over” on society through illicit means. The music was just the bait for the message, which became a mind-set. Hip-Hop/Rap has come to be not just accepted by generations, but EMBRACED. (#Superbowl Half-time) This creates a conundrum for minority youth…….
How?
When “marginalized minority” Tavion stands before a judge, he requires that the educational system adapt to his “needs” . Every allowance must be made to prevent his failure.
When “Gangsta Rap” Tavion shoots photos of himself holding a hand-full of $1.00 bills, (there must have been almost $20 there), Tavion is a beacon of success, “who don’t NEED no education” because he is “gettin’ over” by his lifestyle choices.
Eventually these affected youth will have to make a choice between honest, fair opportunities, or the delusions of a “Gangstas Paradise”. FIRST they must be shown SOME advantage to gaining an education, and sadly, that probably won’t come from the home. Solve this problem, the rest is easier. The schools, teachers, and programs are all paid for, but the “horses just aren’t thirsty yet”.
“BLASKA, opening the door for the future success of ALL students, and you can GO WRITE IN.”
LikeLiked by 2 people
pANTIFARs, A nice job of summin’ up about 75% of the problems that hold folks of any color down. The other part that keeps those folks down is relieving them of any control over their own destiny. Bill Cleary provides an especially poignant memory.
LikeLike
Bill’s comments just illustrate that there is no “superior race”, only superior individuals. In any group of people who are told that they “can’t” do something, there will be some quietly already doing it. It is not possible to relieve someone “of any control over their own destiny”, (other than by bondage or incarceration). That control must be surrendered voluntarily (ie: socialism, or the self imposed restrictions of a dead-end delusional life style).
Please note the words to this love song about driving around town with guns, looking to kill some people, because they said, or did, something to his bitch.
#1 on the hip-hop charts today, 2/16/22 —https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/nickiminaj/dowehaveaproblem.html
Even at my advanced age, after viewing a martial-arts action film, I can imagine myself taking on assailants, and kicking ass. Soon reality kicks back in, and those thoughts disappear. These youth listen to the “siren songs” of hip-hop all day and night, and probably dream in hip-hop. Reality never kicks in for them. It is the soundtrack of their lives.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The messages in popular media are not driven by the consumer in the magic free market. The consumers do not influence the content nearly as much as the owners of the quasi-monopolistic media companies, which engineer self-replicating themes in the media content. The vast majority of people simply take in the content that is provided to them. Once it’s clear what themes the companies are buying, content creators are happy to provide those themes to the companies – they are not by and large artists “expressing themselves”, they are business people. This is across all forms of mass media (think journalism, tv, etc.). Many themes highlighted in current popular music are at heart American capitalist themes (get money any way you can (preferably by using other people or get rich quick schemes), show off your wealth, only care about yourself and your own pleasure).
The early artists did themselves work with some themes you allude to, but it was not as much glorification but description of existing reality. Many of those artists preached against the systems that created those conditions. The war on drugs created the entire economy and world that this music described. When viewed as Italian gangsters of yesteryear in The Godfather modern whites can relate and think it’s really cool. When it’s viewed as current-day blacks doing the same things it is seen as an abomination.
All of us are in the game of controlling thought. Consider this quote: “If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.”
Carter Godwin Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro
LikeLike
pAnti, you always make notable comments. So when you said, ‘It is not possible to relieve someone “of any control over their own destiny”, (other than by bondage or incarceration),’ it was surprisin’.
You kinda contradict yerself later when ya add, “That control must be surrendered voluntarily (ie: socialism, or the self imposed restrictions of a dead-end delusional life style).”
Isn’t that what I suggested the Left wants/intends to do?
LikeLiked by 1 person
georgessson,
Sorry for any confusion. It probably comes down to the word “relieve”. If you are saying “lift the burdens of personal decision making”, ( nanny state), then you are absolutely correct.
I often deal in satire/sarcasm, so the image of a mugger “relieving” someone of their wallet and watch is a natural one for me. My comment was simply about “imposed vs. surrendered”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This idea that we alone control our own destiny is poetic, attractive, and comforting but not reality. We are not lone individuals in a wild forest. Like it or not, we are part of a society that influences our destiny. If a person arrived from space and was plunked down in Wisconsin they would have zero means for survival without the assistance of other people. They would attempt to “control their destiny” by offering to work for those that own the means of survival, but those whom own the means have no obligation to agree to this proposition. They might just not like the color of this person’s skin, for example.
Sure, we have laws that say you can’t deny employment on the basis of skin color. But we have laws against murder too, and guess what people still do it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
BTW, Helen Pluckrose gives a fairly square opinion of CRT and its woes…
“It is bad psychology to tell people who do not believe that they are racist—who may even actively despise racism—that there is nothing they can do to stop themselves from BEING racist—and then ask them to help you. It is even LESS helpful to tell them that even their own good intentions are PROOF of their latent racism. Worst of all is to set up double-blinds, like telling them that if they notice race it is because they are racist, but if they don’t notice race it’s because their privilege affords them the luxury of not noticing race, which is racist.”
LikeLike
Hey David. Just giving you an update in case you didn’t see it. Came across my phone about an hour ago. Guess who didn’t show up for his preliminary hearing today????? Ding Ding Ding! You guessed it Mr. Flowers. Maybe he was at the walkout at Lafollette High School. Who knows maybe The Black Panther gentleman from Milwaukee is guiding him. One has to wonder why he was attending the student walkout at Lafollette. Looks like a very bumpy rude ahead for Madison Schools.
LikeLiked by 1 person
…..ride not rude.
LikeLike
Dave,
If you could I have an idea for a commercial you could run as a write in candidate.
Take a white guy who is saying something to the people in the commercial who are representing the city of Madison school board that really liberal in complete agreement with CRT.
Then have the school board members reject what he said on the basis that he was a white male.
Then have a female of color who identifies as a male say the exact same thing and have the school board and have them totally agree with what that person said.
The commercial ends with a voice over asking “If the school board rejects an idea based on the race of the person, then what is the difference with that and the KKK in the 50’s rejecting an idea based on the person of color who was presenting that idea?
In my mind: CRT=KKK!
LikeLike
There’s a gaping hole in the right’s understanding of the word “theory”. A theory does not tell us how things should be. A theory attempts to explain why the observable world is the way it is.
So when people on the right say things like “CRT = KKK” in a sense they are right. CRT says that part of why the world is the way it is is because of people’s KKK-like views on race.
Theory doesn’t tell anyone what to do, it observes and attempts to explain. Theory provides a possible explanation for why we see so much inequality between different races. The reason postulated in CRT is racism. It then uses data, history, logic, etc. to correlate the input (racism) to the output (inequality).
It’s difficult for me to understand how a person could believe that the thoroughly documented objective fact that racism pervasively impacted US history would have absolutely no impact on today’s observed reality.
To battle a theory, one must propose an alternative theory that better explains the observations. Please do this. Please explain why there is so much inequality between the different races.
Too often a response to this request is essentially white supremacy. The explanation is often individual choice, to the tune of “people of color have to make better decisions for themselves and their lives will be better”. Thus, they say the broad (statistical) inequality is due to the fact that there are more people of color who make poor choices than there are white people who make poor choices. This is a white supremacy theory: white people on average live better lives, making better choices, than people of color. It is saying that there are some black people that make good choices, some white people that make bad choices, but the % of people in each category differs by race and that difference is only explained by something within the people themselves and not outside social factors. Yes, that theory also explains the observations, but I hope it’s clear why so many people might reject that theory and view people who postulate that theory as racist.
Any other takers? What is a theory that better explains the observed conditions than CRT or white supremacy?
Rather than blathering on and on about CRT, convince people that some other theory should be believed, and suggest interventions based on that belief that could result in less disparate outcomes between racial groups.
Or maybe just straight up say you think we shouldn’t give a darn about the disparity between the racial groups.
LikeLike
[…] obsessed with culture wars? If not critical race theory, what would you call the Democrats’ lesson plan on “disproportionality” at the Department of Public […]
LikeLike