In early Dec. 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his new proposed legislation titled the “Stop W.O.K.E. Act.” The act seeks to halt all mention of Critical Race Theory in Florida classrooms and professional settings by allowing parents and teachers to sue school boards and employees to sue corporations. Legal fees will be paid by the state when it is proven that the corporation or school board is, in fact, dispersing Critical Race Theory.
CRT is a college-level political theory that is not proven to be taught anywhere in K-12 schools. The theory is extremely complicated and suggests that racism is ingrained into U.S. legislation and the legal system.
Dana Mills, an associate dean of Research and Strategic Planning of the College of Education at Nova Southeastern University has studied CRT when he was in his doctoral program.
“(CRT) pushes back on biological determinism and redefines race as a social construct that carries with it some significant social disadvantages depending on what group you fall into,” said Mills, describing the theory.
The first time Mills was exposed to CRT was at the doctoral level, but prior to that he had never even heard of it. Throughout his years of experience training future educators and having his own children in the Florida school system, he has never found anything close to it.
“I can’t find a single lesson plan, a single assignment, anything. I can’t find anything that I would define as being a Critical Race Theory perspective on any issue,” said Mills.
Despite its absence from schools, Republican representatives such as Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and Florida’s Governor DeSantis have made the theory a front-and-center election issue for various special races and the upcoming midterms.
“We won’t allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other,” said DeSantis in a press conference.
“We actually have this critical race theory moved into all our schools in Virgina,” said Youngkin in July.
The national debate over CRT first began when a school board in Texas tried to incorporate a racially sensitive – and accurate – curriculum into their classes. What followed was a battle between parents and the school board which has replicated itself throughout the country, according to the NBC podcast “Southlake.”
This proposed law is a step in the wrong direction, said Mills.
“My concern is that when you don’t have an adequate definition for those things, you leave that definition very open-ended so what ends up happening is you have folks that have their own biases shine through. You’re taking away a lot of power from schools, who are the experts in this area, from doing their job and that’s a very dangerous precedent to set,” Mills added.
Mills explained that school boards must also take steps to make it clear to parents and communities that they are not teaching CRT and defining what is CRT and what is not.
But even if this were to take place, the damage done to schools is just beginning.
“There is no indoctrination that takes place. We’re not in the business of trying to change your political persuasions. We’re trying to just prepare people to go out there and take on the incredibly difficult job of being a teacher in today’s schools. Those aspiring educators are going to choose other careers because they are not going to want to deal with the nonsense that’s occurring in the schools today.” said Mills.
