In California, CRT is on the move.

As reported by the New York Post, on June 23rd, Hayward Unified School District’s board of trustees cast a unanimous vote.

The Bay Area board approved a mandatory “ethnic studies” program based on Critical Race Theory.

It’s the state’s first such required curriculum covering every grade level — including preschool.

Forty million taxpayer dollars will whack away at white supremacy.

By next year, the course of study will be required for graduation.

An official press release fingers the focus:

The Hayward Unified School District (HUSD) Board of Trustees voted unanimously at the June 23, 2021 meeting to approve a new Ethnic Studies policy for the district and to waive the need for a second reading. …

Ethnic Studies is the interdisciplinary study of race and ethnicity, as understood through the perspectives of major underrepresented racial groups in the United States: African Americans, Chicanx/Latinx, Asian Americans, and Native Americans/Indigenous groups. At HUSD, Ethnic Studies curriculum will include Pacific Islanders and Arab Americans.

The classroom — even one filled with 4-year-olds — is a battleground:

This discipline contends with racism, white supremacy culture, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, and nation-within-nation relationships. By centering the stories, experiences, and perspectives of the groups mentioned, Ethnic Studies uses community content and pedagogy to educate students to be socially, politically, environmentally, and economically conscious of their personal connections to local and transnational histories. The policy and efforts to develop an Ethnic Studies framework are informed by and will include Critical Race Theory and the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum.

Hayward Unified School District board President Dr. April Oquenda praised the new normal:

“It’s important that we teach our students of all ages about their ancestral legacies.”

Of course, there’ll be no way to do that, as teachers won’t know the “legacies” of each individual student.

Therefore, potentially, many students will walk away thinking their heritage lies where it does not.

Nonetheless, per April, Hayward’s equipping itself in the war for racial justice:

“Culture is essential in the fight for racial justice, and the district believes that the promise of the full inclusion of ethnic and cultural groups who have contributed to the development of our country has not yet been realized.”

American education has definitely changed.

In times past, it wasn’t so aptly appropriated as an ideological weapon.

Consider The Washington Post’s 2013 article, “Can You Pass This 101-Year-Old Test for 8 Graders?”

20 questions from 1912:

1. Write in words the following: 5764; .000003; .123416; 653.0965; 43.37.
2. Find the amount of  $50.30 for 3 years, 3 months, and 3 days, at 8%.
3. Find cost at 12 1/2 cents per sq. yd. of kalsomining the walls of a room 20 ft. long, 16 ft. wide and 9 ft. high, deducting 1 door 8 ft. by 4 ft. 6 in. and 2 windows 5 ft. by 3 ft. 6 in. each.
4. A school enrolled 120 pupils, and the number of boys was two-thirds of the number of girls. How many of each sex were enrolled?
5. At $1.62 1/2 a cord, what will be the cost of a pile of wood 24 ft. long, 4 ft. wide and 6 ft. 3 in. high?
6. How many parts of speech are there? Define each.
7. “William struck James.” Change the Voice of the verb.
   Adjectives have how many Degrees of Comparison? Compare good; wise; beautiful.
8. Diagram: The Lord loveth a cheerful giver.
9. Parse all the words in the following sentences: John ran over the bridge. Helen’s parents love her.
10. Define longitude and latitude.
11. Name and give boundaries of the five zones.
12. Name and give the capitals of the States touching the Ohio River.
13. How does the liver compare in size with other glands in the human body? Where is it located? What does it secrete?
14. Compare arteries and veins as to function. Where is the blood carried to be purified?
15. Define the following forms of government: Democracy, Limited Monarchy, Absolute Monarchy, Republic. Give examples of each.
16. To what four governments are students in school subjected?
17. Name three rights given Congress by the Constitution and two rights denied Congress.
18. Who first discovered the following places — Florida, Pacific Ocean, Mississippi River, St. Lawrence River?
19. Sketch briefly Sir Walter Raleigh, Peter Stuyvesant.
20. Name the last battle of the Civil War; War of 1812; French and Indian War; and the commanders in each battle.

Subtract now from then, and that’s called “progress.”

And what’s happening at Hayward is likely to reach California’s corners.

From the Post:

The policy is being pushed throughout the state, with San Diego Unified School District expected to approve a similar plan later this summer, the Wall Street Journal said.

The Salinas Union High School District, meanwhile, recently hired “Rethinking Ethnic Studies” author R. Tolteka Cuauhtin to prep its teachers to implement a similar course — paying $1,500 an hour.

The California Teachers Association has said it “supports a vibrant and robust Ethnic Studies curriculum.”

We’re well on our way to enlightenment.

As for 1912, would modern America’s 13-year-olds ace the exam?

I wouldn’t bet my bottom dollar — I’m not sure any of that stuff is presently taught.

But as for oppression and the absolute importance of skin color, increasingly, today’s tykes are on course for academic excellence.

And here’s a question for you: What questions would properly fit a 2021 8th grade test?

I look forward to your answers in the Comments section.

-ALEX

See more pieces from me:

Mishap or Metaphor? California Sees Nearly 20 Million Gallons of Raw Sewage Released Near the Shore

The Emmys Nominates Its First Biological Male for Best ‘Lead Actress’

Student Alliance Demands ‘Antiracist’ Alerts and a Ban on ‘White Supremacists’ Such as Pro-Life Groups

Find all my RedState work here.

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