Multiple states banned teaching critical race theory in schools â here's what educators have to say and last updated 2021-06-26 00:53:45-04 The idea of teaching critical race theory has become a contentious issue. Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and a handful of other states have banned the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 classrooms in recent weeks. But what is it? âCritical race theory is the theory that our systems in this country are bound up in race,â said Kerry Goldmann, a lecturer at the University of North Texas. âIt pretty much offers a space where we recognize how race plays a part in everything that happens in the lives of people in this country,â said Jalaya Liles Dunn, the director of Teaching Tolerance program at the Southern Poverty Law Center.