Education prof says CRT influences K-12 teaching
The chair of MSU's Teacher Education department admitted to a local news outlet that higher ed focus on CRT can impact K-12 classrooms.
A university spokesperson told 'Campus Reform' that multiple MSU courses 'discuss Critical Race Theory.'
The chairperson of the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University recently told local news outlets that college Critical Race Theory (CRT) curriculum does affect how K-12 teachers instruct young students.
Speaking to MLive earlier this month, Professor Dorinda Carter Andrews told the local news outlet that, “If [K-12 educators] studied [CRT] while they were in college, it might inform they way they teach...”
Though Carter Andrews qualified her statement by saying teachers are not “teaching the theory to students,” the education professor did not rule out the possibility while speaking to Campus Reform.
“I meant that I am unaware of the theory being taught in Michigan K-12 schools,” Carter Andrews told Campus Reform.
[RELATED: UT Austin prof says Critical Race Theory is ‘much needed’ in schools]
Multiple classes at Michigan State University have curriculum that aligns with Critical Race Theory.
In fall 2008, Carter Andrews taught “Examining Critical Race Theory in Education,” which sought to “use CRT to inform our personal, social, political, and intellectual experiences as racial beings…with the end goals of heightened social consciousness and social transformation.”
The course design is similar to Carter Andrews’ explanation of CRT to MSU Today, university news website, in June.
”It’s a practice or approach that provides language and a lens for examining racism at institutional and structural levels,” Carter Andrews said to MS Live. “Underlying this is the premise that racism is endemic to American society and that white supremacist ideals and practices should be dismantled.”
[RELATED: California university pays faculty to attend CRT training sessions]
Carter Andrews is not the only MSU professor to teach CRT at the institution.
“Some of MSU’s colleges have courses that discuss Critical Race Theory,” MSU Vice President and University Spokesperson Emily Guerrant told Campus Reform.
Samantha Fox, a sociology professor, has likewise taught SOC215 “Race and Ethnicity,” which assigned White Fragility and Ibram X Kendi’s “How to Be An Antiracist.”
“Racism is a historical reality that I live everyday,” Fox told Campus Reform.
Furthermore, MSU speaking events, such as “Reclaiming Education: Teachers of Color Resisting Racism and Reimaging Schools,” use “the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT) to explore the racialized experiences of justice-orientated teachers of color.”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @SergeiKelley
