1
Mya Brown
Professor Brown
RC2001-122
19 October 2021
Teach Students Racism is Real
Critical Race Theory deserves to be taught in K-12 public high schools. Having left its
place in university and the law field, Critical Race Theory, or CRT, has entered the vocabulary
and minds of the average American1. CRT, which mainly deals with racism, plays a large part in
American society whether or not we want to acknowledge it. And it is time we do, starting with
children.
One of the biggest problems with Critical Race Theory is the lack of understanding and
resources, misinformation, and disinformation. CRT is a complicated topic with no solid
definition which is why it is so easy for false information to spread 2. And those who lack the
resources will not be able to provide an adequate understanding of it. In the safe, neutral
environment a classroom provides, students can learn about the five principles that make up
Critical Race Theory, why they should care about it, and why it applies to today’s society.
The benefits to teaching CRT to students is educating them on social and racial issues
that affect our society. Both white and colored students can become empowered by learning
1 Tichavakunda, Antar A. “An Overdue Theoretical Discourse: Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice and
Critical Race Theory in Education.” Educational Studies 55, no. 6 (November 2019): 651–66.
doi:10.1080/00131946.2019.1666395.
2 Tichavakunda, Antar A. “An Overdue Theoretical Discourse: Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice and
Critical Race Theory in Education.” Educational Studies 55, no. 6 (November 2019): 651–66.
doi:10.1080/00131946.2019.1666395.
2
about racism, different perspectives, and experiences3. This will allow colored students an
opportunity for them to be heard, for their struggles to be finally heard and acknowledged.
These children will grow up to shape our future. It is vital that they are educated on issues that
affect everyone and make decisions that will unite us, not divide us further. Change does not
even have to wait until they are older, students can organize protests, marches, or even write
to their local government representative to help bring awareness to racism institutions still in
place and help dismantle them.
Slowly, history standards are being changed to reflect changes in our society. Recently,
North Carolina social studies standards have changed to include the word “racism”, but was
formerly supposed to be “systemic racism”. A large part of Critical Race Theory is about how
systemic racism affects colored people. Having the standards change back to “systemic racism”
is just the beginning to help teach CRT in schools.
Along with teaching the principles that make up Critical Race Theory, adding real life
experiences and examples of how racism affects colored people will help further educate
students. Examples can range from any time period in American history up to modern day.
Similarly, experiences can come from any first hand account given by someone who has
experienced how racist institutions affected them in some way.
3 Zalaznick, Matt. “5 Keys to Critical Race Theory’s Benefits for All Students.” District Administration, June
1, 2021 https://districtadministration.com/critical-race-theory-benefits-white-black-all-students/.
3
Bibliography
Tichavakunda, Antar A. “An Overdue Theoretical Discourse: Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of
Practice and Critical Race Theory in Education.” Educational Studies 55, no. 6 (November 2019):
651–66. doi:10.1080/00131946.2019.1666395
Zalaznick, Matt. “5 Keys to Critical Race Theory’s Benefits for All Students.” District
Administration, June 1, 2021 https://districtadministration.com/critical-race-theory-benefits-
white-black-all-students/.
