Yes, today is the day where the Supreme Court struck down the ability to use race as a factor for college admissions in “Students for Fair Admissions” vs. President and Fellows of Harvard College.
There so IS MUCH I could say about this.
Let’s start here.
The right wing of our country is masterful with the use of words. Anything with the WHIFF of race for the purpose of employment, or any kind of advancement, they immediately tack on the phrase affirmative action.
And of course, no one fights them on definitions, so they co-opt the the term and make it gobbledygook.
Affirmative action was addressed in the 1979 (?) case Bakke vs. California. In this case, affirmative action was defined as using quotas for racial minorities so they can get ahead. This method was struck down immediately.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, IN ITS ORIGINAL SENSE, WAS DEAD. 1979.
No . . . we just keep bringing back the term for any old White person who FEELS like they’ve been discriminated against and it sticks. Any damned thing is affirmative action.
But how many slots do colleges and universities have for legacy admissions? How many slots for athletics? How many slots for cello players.
Nope. Don’t go after those. White people could benefit.
But now, we have a situation, because California and Michigan saw this, that Black and Latino people will have a harder time attending colleges and universities.
That’s right, make sure that they’re guaranteed stuck in minimum wage jobs under someone else’s boot.
I’m not talking about the fancy pants folk like my son. I’m talking about people who go to schools and are raised in areas where college is never something they would think about.
So let’s look at society patterns now.
Notice that the term “critical race theory” is being bandied about without any context? Without definition?
The right has determined that anything that addresses race will be called “critical race theory,” actual facts be damned.
I guess we should throw the term “woke” in there too while we’re at it.
Fact: critical race theory is something I only encountered in law school after finishing first year courses.
If you read that literature, it only applied to approaches to legal cases. Not to K- 12 education. Not to college education. You need a hefty educational background to understand it.
Bottom line: When you hear these terms being thrown out, please get to the bottom of them.
Assuming we know what people are talking about has untoward consequences.
I don’t think you want that.