Critical Theory Taught in the Context of a Specific Subject Discipline is One of the Most Important Facets of Understanding How It's Inclusion Can Benefit Students

Photo by Matthew Bamberg

Through research, critical theory and critical race theory need to be approached with caution. For example, approaching it as a generalized concept, you risk misrepresenting many ethnic and social groups. 

It's a much better practice to include this type of education as it comes up in each subject so students can understand how it can change from one discipline to the next.

ChatGPT explains this well. I've researched the issue for two decades and found what the platform remarks about integrating critical theory into K-12 education. 

I asked ChatGPT the following statement that I have researched and found studies that substantiate the claim to be correct: 

Isn't critical theory best taught in each specific subject discipline?

I couldn't have written a better response. (Please note that no sources are stated here, yet I'm convinced support for it could be easily found in educational databases at university libraries. 

Response from AI: 

Yes, Critical Theory is often most effectively taught within the context of specific subject disciplines. When integrated into the unique frameworks and methodologies of a particular field, it can enrich students' understanding by highlighting how power, inequality, and bias shape knowledge production and social structures in that specific area. Here's why teaching Critical Theory within distinct disciplines can be more meaningful:

1. Tailored to Subject Matter

• History: In history, Critical Theory can provide a lens for analyzing how power and ideology shape historical narratives and which perspectives are elevated or marginalized. For example, students might study how colonization, slavery, or civil rights movements are portrayed differently depending on the perspective of the historian or the prevailing social attitudes of the time.
• Literature: In literary studies, Critical Theory is often used to analyze texts through various lenses, such as feminist theory, postcolonial theory, or Marxist theory. This helps students understand how literature reflects and critiques societal power dynamics, and how different interpretations of the same text can arise based on theoretical perspectives.
• Sociology: In sociology, Critical Theory plays a central role in examining societal structures, institutions, and power relations. It helps students understand how systemic inequalities are perpetuated through laws, policies, and social norms. Concepts like institutional racism, patriarchy, and class struggle are foundational in sociological applications of Critical Theory.
• Law: In legal studies, Critical Race Theory (CRT) offers a framework for understanding how the law and legal institutions perpetuate racial inequalities. By teaching CRT within law, students can critically examine landmark cases, legal precedents, and the role of law in both maintaining and challenging systemic oppression.

2. Contextual Application

Teaching Critical Theory within specific disciplines allows students to see how the abstract concepts of power, bias, and inequality manifest in concrete, discipline-specific contexts. For example:

• In economics, students can use Critical Theory to explore how global economic systems are shaped by capitalism, class disparities, and the distribution of wealth and resources.
• In education, Critical Theory can help future educators understand the hidden curricula, school funding disparities, and the ways schools can either reproduce or challenge social inequalities.

3. Deepening Critical Thinking Skills

In each discipline, Critical Theory can push students to engage more critically with the subject matter by encouraging them to question assumptions, power structures, and traditional knowledge. For example:

• In science, students might explore the ways in which scientific research has been influenced by political and economic interests, or how certain voices have historically been excluded from the scientific discourse.
• In art, Critical Theory can help students understand how art reflects and challenges societal norms, and how different groups have used creative expression as a form of resistance against dominant power structures.

4. Avoiding Over-Simplification

By teaching Critical Theory across different disciplines, educators can avoid the risk of oversimplifying or generalizing its concepts. Critical Theory is complex, and its application differs across fields. For example, race might be a central focus in CRT, while gender or class could be more prominent in feminist or Marxist critiques. Teaching it within specific disciplines allows students to explore these nuances in greater depth, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

5. Promoting Intellectual Diversity

Integrating Critical Theory into each discipline creates space for intellectual diversity and debate within that subject. Students can engage with Critical Theory as one of many lenses through which to analyze their field, alongside other perspectives. For example:

• In philosophy, students might explore both Critical Theory and classical liberalism, comparing their views on individual rights, justice, and freedom.
• In political science, students might debate the merits of Critical Theory versus more traditional approaches like realism or liberalism in understanding international relations.

6. Encouraging Balanced Perspectives

When taught within specific disciplines, Critical Theory can be presented as one tool among many, rather than the only framework for understanding a subject. This encourages students to weigh the strengths and limitations of Critical Theory in light of other approaches, fostering balanced and nuanced critical thinking.

Conclusion

Teaching Critical Theory within specific subject disciplines allows students to see how the theory applies to real-world issues in a nuanced and contextualized way. This approach not only enhances their understanding of the subject matter but also develops their critical thinking skills by encouraging them to question and analyze the power structures, biases, and assumptions inherent in each field. It provides a more balanced, discipline-specific exploration, avoiding the pitfalls of generalization or indoctrination.

Understanding African American Vernacular English (AAVE): Definition, History, and Examples

Photo by Kiana Bosman on Unsplash

First and foremost, when a child walks into the classroom, he/she comes with his language as it is, whether AAVE (African American vernacular, which is what Ebonics is) or Spanish. More than just African Americans speak Ebonics. 

Everyone uses it at one time or another, and within popular culture, it's everywhere, from rap music lyrics to the sounds of hip/hop, expressions for some, which are a right of passage. 

Its evolution from African languages to the current nonstandard English goes as far back as the time when slaves were brought to North America. First and foremost, any well-educated person knows this dialect is contained in classic literature, from books like "To Kill a Mockingbird " to Richard Wright's writings. 

Put your hands together for a warm welcome to Ebonics in the classroom, as many programs teach it through literature within the context of its relationship to standard language. 

"So go 'head, knock some sense into dem head of urs. You be better off accepting everyone and da language dey speak." 

Translate that into standard language, and you'll know how ebonics is taught. I taught from a publication entitled "Toothy Ruthie," a book to help all kids (including African Americans) learn to pronounce the "th" sound. 

Yo, Big Daddy upstairs,
You be chillin'
So be yo hood
You be sayin' it, I be doin' it
In this ere hood and yo's
Gimme some eats
And cut me some slack, Blood
So's I be doin' it to dem dat diss me
Don' be pushin' me into no jive
And keep dem crips away
'Cause you always be da man, 
Straight up!

How to understand, treat and deal with the construct of Whiteness and White Privilege

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is outlawing topics of discussion that he believes would make white people uncomfortable in schools and public institutions. These topics include those associated with past struggles for racial equality and social justice.

The governor is leading a xenophobic movement that misses the point about anti-racist education by ignoring the effects of "white fragility," which is a researched theory about the psychological effects that occur when dominant ethno-racial groups of people learn about historical and current events that have wrecked havoc among the oppressed.  Medical News Today explains that: "White fragility refers to feelings of discomfort a white person experiences when they witness discussions around racial inequality and injustice."

The behaviors and feelings associated with ignorance about social justice among white people are likely to promote racism.  Discussions about race help white people get past their fears and guilt. Researchers quoted in Medical News Today have found that promoting racial stamina through education about oppression, white people may be able to manage racial stressors rather than ignoring or silencing them. Conscious and explicit engagement with people of different races can help break the pattern of fragile behaviors and actions related to race."

It might well be that DeSantis and others are wrong about the assumptions of harm that talking about racism in workplaces and schools might create.

The concept of "white privilege" is tops on the list of "WOKE" education and is being censored by the government in many states. See for yourself two different viewpoints about the term. 

 See the Forbes article, "Anti-Racism 101Clarify 'White Privilege' Once and for All" for more information about how the business community defines the term. 

For a detailed explanation, see Learning for Justice article:
  "What is White Privilege, Really?"

Banning Critical Race Theory Undermines Educating Students Honestly

For the past several decades, talking honestly about equality is how many educators have responded to Critical Race Theory or CRT in the classroom and beyond. The future, however, with respect to the issue being taught honestly in public classrooms  is in doubt as Republicans in many states work to cancel any mention of  it, along with the associated  atrocities that have occurred throughout history.  Demonization of the ambiguous term will certainly make future news; however, in the meantime, it's vital for teachers to cover the topics associated with it.

As a professor perched into a position that advocates for concepts associated with CRT such as diversity, social justice and equality, I’ve come to introduce to graduate students in teacher education many aspects of  the misinterpreted term, which has become a hot topic also addressed by broadcasters of every persuasion and one that is being censored in schools by some state and local governments. CRT has evolved into a wedge issue that will prevent teachers from honestly guiding students  to comprehend the various points of view about the lessons the past has taught us, so that they can decide for themselves what they want for the future.

CRT, in part, has to do with the implied meanings of words. For years, new teachers have been indoctrinated to race theory by analyzing their own backgrounds and those of their students, including race/culture and all language associated with it. All teachers are required to examine how race/culture has affected them and their belief system, along with undergoing a rigorous study of sociolinguistics, which teaches how humans have used language, verbal and nonverbal, to communicate and influence each other throughout time. Using language effectively is required in teaching, both to get students’ attention and to think critically about the world.

 

The media has hammered the term "critical race theory" into the public psyche relentlessly without defining it clearly, so that they can manipulate the public. Teachers do not operate in the same way as several media outlets depict them. Unlike many broadcasters, teachers are cognizant that terms and concepts need to be clearly defined using a variety of methods for students to understand their meaning. Politicians know how to manipulate some media outlets by using loaded terms that antagonize public perceptions of race and culture. They use phrases and slogans filled with implicit racism without defining them, so that the terms can be molded into any shape and form that churns the public into a frenzy by advocating for laws that put restraints on teachers, never regarding their professional training.

 

The validity of CRT is being argued by broadcasters on right-leaning cable networks without proper scaffolding for their viewers to understand the issue. These arguments have failed to explain just what CRT is. Critical Race Theory has been taught for decades since the 1960s, the time Paulo Freire wrote the book "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," which describes how the oppressors in society needed to recognize what they have done in the past and that those oppressed understood what has happened to their ancestors. Parts of the book would be considered a radical treatise about education. However, in the classroom when race issues come up, they often are associated with topics in the history curriculum that cover events such as the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. Teachers work together to carefully plan lessons and units that span across many subjects across the curriculum to provide an equitable education to all students by including multicultural integration, so that they can be taught to make the world a better place through research of historical and contemporary issues from a wide range of publications with varying views about past oppression.

 

The teachings of CRT include problem solving and critical thinking skills so that students can compare, contrast and seek solutions to social problems by reading reputable sources about local, state and national issues.  Common Core standards for speaking and writing can be met by having students discuss and write about them.

 

By studying current events and the history behind them, students can develop solutions to contemporary issues by evaluating their thoughts about how humanity has engaged in irrational thought and acts during different periods of history, along with how they solved the problems that confronted them.  Students can also determine actions of the dominant culture, along with discovering oppression and how people have organized to fight it. CRT topics include studies of race, power and privilege that have existed in both Eastern and Western civilizations throughout history. Make no mistake about it, open discussions of these issues are a vital part of all levels of education because no academic program can function honestly without them.

 

Matthew Bamberg is an adjunct professor of education at National University in San Diego.