{"id":193810,"date":"2021-10-28T09:46:40","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T13:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=193810"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:45:57","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:45:57","slug":"thisisamerica-panel-features-critical-race-theory-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2021\/10\/thisisamerica-panel-features-critical-race-theory-discussion\/","title":{"rendered":"#ThisIsAmerica Panel Features Critical Race Theory Discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_36076\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-36076\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/education.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1621\/2021\/10\/iStock-1253103314_1024x684-400x267.jpg\" alt=\"Black sneakers surround word cloud about racism. \" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" class=\"wp-image-36076 size-medium img-responsive lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 400px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 400\/267;\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-36076\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This past month, UConn alumni, staff, and students gathered virtually for the #ThisIsAmerica: Critical Race Theory in Schools panel. (Photo credit: iStock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This past month, UConn alumni, staff, and students gathered virtually for the #ThisIsAmerica: Critical Race Theory in Schools panel. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.events.foundation.uconn.edu\/website\/16374\/\">#ThisIsAmerica<\/a>, organized by the UConn Foundation with co-sponsors from across the University, is a series that brings together the UConn community to discuss and unpack systematic racism, social justice, and human rights issues. In addition, it spotlights the individuals, organizations, and movements fighting for justice and equity, and against oppression and white supremacy.<\/p>\n<p>The panel featured four education professionals, including faculty and alumni from the <a href=\"https:\/\/education.uconn.edu\">Neag School of Education<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership <a href=\"https:\/\/education.uconn.edu\/person\/alexandra-freidus\/\">Alexandra Freidus<\/a>;<\/li>\n<li>Superintendent of Guilford (Conn.) Public Schools and Neag School adjunct professor Paul Freeman \u201907 ELP, \u201909 Ed.D.; and<\/li>\n<li>Associate Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs <a href=\"https:\/\/education.uconn.edu\/person\/saran-stewart\/\">Saran Stewart<\/a>, who also serves as director of Global Education at the Neag School.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>UConn alumna Leslie Torres-Rodriguez \u201997 (CLAS), \u201900 MSW, superintendent of Hartford Public Schools, moderated the event, and Nadiyah Humber, associate professor of law, also took part.<\/p>\n<p>The discussion was based upon the controversy surrounding whether the topic of Critical Race Theory (CRT) is being taught in K-12 schools, or whether it remains a subject taught primarily if not exclusively in higher education.<\/p>\n<p>Stewart, whose areas of expertise include access, equity, diversity, and inclusive pedagogy, described CRT as a \u201cbody of legal scholarship and a movement of critical civil rights activists and researchers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are two overarching ideas,\u201d she said. \u201cThe first is to understand how the regime of white supremacy and its systems use policies and regulations to support the racial subordination of people of color. The second aim is to learn how to change and dismantle oppression all together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While it is generally recognized that CRT will be taught in higher education, all of the panelists spoke to the importance of addressing the topics of race and historic and systemic racism openly, factually and honestly in K-12 schools.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no way to understand the United States, our policies, our contemporary society, the pandemic we\u2019re in right now, anything about our country, without understanding some aspects of how race has shaped it,\u201d said Freidus. \u201cIf we say that people cannot teach these things, or if we say that people can only learn these things in the most comfortable ways, which means they will not learn them, then we are saying that we do not want people to understand the society that they live in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Superintendent Freeman made clear that CRT is not taught in Guilford schools, he said it was important to talk about race. Through educating about race and racism, Freeman said he expected the school district would become a more supportive and inclusive environment for all students and would better prepare all students to be a part of a national community that is more diverse than Guilford.<\/p>\n<p><span>&#8220;We want to teach about race and racism. We want all kids to belong. And we want classrooms to be culturally responsive and sustaining, but we do not feel that we need to teach CRT to do those things,\u201d said Freeman.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span>&#8220;We want to teach about race and racism. We want all kids to belong. And we want classrooms to be culturally responsive and sustaining, but we do not feel that we need to teach CRT to do those things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><span>Paul Freeman \u201907 ELP, \u201909 Ed.D.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cCRT is appropriate at the graduate and law school levels, but I do not know any K-12 educators who are lobbying to begin including it in our schools,\u201d said Freeman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the acknowledgment that there is more than one story,\u201d he said. \u201cOur students come to our classrooms with different backgrounds, with diverse experiences from diverse families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said he one example of how they work to achieve this in his community is through a student project called Witness Stones, where students examine the lives and contributions of individuals once enslaved in Guilford. Instead of merely studying slavery in the South, students are learning about it at a hyper-local level. At the end of the experience, the students install a Witness Stone to commemorate the individual&#8217;s life.<\/p>\n<p>When Stewart moved to the United States, she wanted to ensure her two young daughters received the best possible education. She relayed that she quickly discovered that most \u201cA-rated\u201d schools lacked diversity.<\/p>\n<p>She described the ideal situation for education as the point at which \u201cwe can move to a highly diverse town with a highly diverse teaching population that is proportionally representative of the students that they are teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stewart added that she is continuously examining what her children bring home from school to ensure they receive the most well-rounded education.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am militant with my children\u2019s teachers,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you are a parent in a predominantly white institution, you are militant, and you are vigilant about their education and their upward social mobility in this space, for them to come in whole, and leave fully whole as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Beyond the Individual<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>One common argument for excluding teaching about race and racism during primary school is the notion that white students will feel a sense of guilt and shame. Stewart asserted that CRT is not necessarily about the individual.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is at the systemic level,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we do not try to dismantle the systems that enforce racism, we are running a rat race constantly and getting nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the higher education front, Humber, the UConn Law professor, said she uses CRT when teaching her students about law practices in the United States, to help them critically examine how race has impacted both the past and present and to take their analysis far beyond the surface level.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span>&#8220;<\/span>It is at the systemic level. If we do not try to dismantle the systems that enforce racism, we are running a rat race constantly and getting nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">Saran Stewart, Professor<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIn law school, one of the most foundational skills a law student should develop is critical analysis, meaning students should often know how not to take things at face value, learn how to read between the lines of judicial decision making, and identify and spot the real issues,\u201d she said. \u201cUsing a critical race lens helps law students answer the question \u2018What does this case tell us about society and the law?\u2019 and \u2018What does it tell us about society and law at the time the case was decided?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, some suggest that including CRT in curricula may be intimidating for K-12 teachers, who may feel they are not knowledgeable or equipped to teach the subject.<\/p>\n<p>Humber pointed out that educators can seek support on a national level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur educators are supported,\u201d she said, \u201cand the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers have beneficial resources that they put together that provide examples of how to have an anti-racist curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Freidus of the Neag School also stressed that the teaching of CRT does not need to stem solely from schools.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople can educate themselves; that\u2019s the first thing,\u201d said Freidus. \u201cIf the teacher is not sure that they are confident doing this type of teaching, then the first thing to do is get support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/W5e4339RUnI\">Access a recording of the event<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ctpublic.org\/show\/where-we-live\/2021-10-19\/with-outcry-over-critical-race-theory-we-hear-from-connecticut-educators-and-students\">Listen to a <em>WNPR<\/em> interview featuring Stewart and Freeman<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This past month, UConn alumni, staff, and students gathered virtually for the #ThisIsAmerica: Critical Race Theory in Schools panel. #ThisIsAmerica, organized by the UConn Foundation with co-sponsors from across the University, is a series that brings together the UConn community to discuss and unpack systematic racism, social justice, and human rights issues. In addition, it spotlights the individuals, organizations, and movements fighting for justice and equity, and against oppression and white supremacy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":193811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2434],"class_list":["post-193810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 20:39:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193812,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193810\/revisions\/193812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/193811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193810"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=193810"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=193810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}