Commentary By
Jonathan Butcher is the Will Skillman Fellow in Education at The Heritage Foundation.
Officials at an Idaho middle school tried pressuring teachers to judge students by the color of their skin. But state lawmakers rejected this application of critical race theory, a deeply divisive philosophy driving many federal, state, and local policies today.
Idaho lawmakers made the case that school officials should not force students to believe “any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin is inherently superior or inferior.” This is a biased belief that would violate any reasonable interpretation of federal civil rights laws if students acted on it.
Jonathan Butcher is the Will Skillman Fellow in Education at The Heritage Foundation. Idaho lawmakers said that school officials should not force students to believe “any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin is inherently superior or inferior.” Fly View Productions / Getty Images
Key Takeaways
Officials at an Idaho middle school tried pressuring teachers to judge students by the color of their skin.
The critical race theory dogma on display in this Idaho middle school is a philosophy that originated in Germany in the 1920s among a group of Marxist intellectuals
Educators should not treat students differently according to skin color or any other immutable characteristic, nor should teachers tell students to do the same.
After the Idaho legislature recently approved a ban on teachers “indoctrinating” students with critical race theory in schools, the Republican governor signed it into law on Wednesday.
The bill, signed by Gov. Brad Little, does not necessarily ban critical race theory fully, but it bans educators from forcing students to “affirm, adopt or adhere to” any doctrines that claim any person’s race, ethnicity, sex, or religion maintain responsibility for past actions of their identity group. Little wrote in the bill’s transmittal letter that critical race theory “undermines popular support for public education in Idaho.”
“The claim that there is widespread, systemic indoctrination occurring in Idaho classrooms is a serious allegation,” said Little. “Most worryingly, it undermines popular support for public education in Idaho.” The bill, HB 377, was sponsored by state GOP Sen. Carl Crabtree and says, “No distinction or classification of students shall be made on a
T
here was a time you could tell someone you were from Idaho and the only response it would elicit would be something about potatoes or maybe the skiing in Sun Valley. I would know. I grew up in the southeastern corner of the state. My family has farmed and ranched there for six generations. Mention the Gem State these days, however, and what you re likely to get is an earful about our lackluster pandemic response or Ammon Bundy, our iconic failed-rancher-turned-insurrectionist who continues to trespass the Statehouse, embarrassing everyone but his true believers. Someone should find Bundy a job away from the TV cameras. Driving up and down the state fomenting revolution might be fun and glamorous for him, but it s wearing thin with the rest of us.
28 Apr 2021
The Idaho House and Senate have approved legislation that would prohibit schools from compelling K-12 and higher education students to affirm or adopt the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT).
The bill is now on the desk of Gov. Brad Little (R), awaiting his signature.
The Idaho Senate passed HB 377 with a vote of 27-8, following a 57-12 vote in the state House.
CRT investigator and writer Christopher Rufo tweeted the news that the Idaho House had passed the bill “banning critical race theory indoctrination in the state’s public schools”:
BREAKING: The Idaho state House has passed a bill banning critical race theory indoctrination in the state s public schools. The legislation would prohibit schools from promoting race essentialism, collective guilt, and neo-segregation. Onward! pic.twitter.com/ZPR5Y7LqWr