California high school teaches mandatory critical race theory course
EXCLUSIVE — Required curriculum at a California high school is teaching critical race theory, its tenets, and recurring themes of power, privilege, and oppression threaded throughout retellings of American history.
TL;DR
- North Monterey County Unified School District (NMCUSD) has made an ethnic studies course a graduation requirement.
- The course teaches critical race theory, including themes of power, privilege, and oppression in American history.
- Curriculum materials describe America as an "imperial colonizer" and 9/11 as a catalyst for discrimination against Muslims.
- A "Wheel of Privilege" places straight, white, English-speaking men at the center, with marginalized groups on the outskirts.
- Units cover topics like "Americanization and Whiteness," the "Tree of Racism," and "Othering and Belonging" post-9/11.
- The course aims to foster "critical hope" and "transformational change" through activism.
- Critics like Rhyen Staley of Defending Education argue the course teaches contempt for Western culture and shames students.