AFTER THE VIRGINIA ELECTIONS: I’m still a little giddy about Tuesday’s elections (though Glenn is right about not getting cocky).
But here’s something that I can add: Don’t think electing a governor (or even a conservative state legislature) is going to solve the problem of critical race theory being taught at the K-12 level. The Virginia legislature would be spinning its wheels to pass a statute that says “Don’t teach CRT.” It might as well pass a statute that says “Don’t teach stupid stuff.” Nobody agrees on what constitutes CRT. And we are dealing in part with ideologues who don’t want to agree. They want to teach what they want to teach, and they’ll find a way to say that their chosen curriculum isn’t CRT, no matter how CRT is defined.
Instead, lawmakers would be lending real help by passing laws that allow parents reasonably easy access to a school’s curricular material. State freedom of information acts should already make this possible at public schools, but those may need to be beefed up. This summer I helped an organization called FAIR work on model state legislation that would allow parents of private school students that access too. State legislators might want to take a look.
Ultimately, however, the war must be (and is being) fought at the local level. Sensible people need to run for school board and clean up the curriculum. Yes, Instapundit readers, I mean you. Somebody has to do it.
