Thread by @chron

The effect of an ambiguous Texas law banning the teaching of critical race theory is now being seen in real-time.
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Earlier this month, state educators made headlines for their struggles to comply with the law.
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One school administrator requested teachers present opposing views of the Holocaust due to its ideological basis in white supremacy. chron.com/news/houston-t…

Another district pulled books by a renowned Black author for review after parents alleged the books promoted the principles of CRT.
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In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the school said the district will use criteria outlined in Texas House Bill 3979 for its judgment of alleged elements of critical race theory in the banned book.
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So what is it about the new legislation that's leaving Texas schools grasping for ways to comply?
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Vida Robertson, director of the @uhdowntown's Center for Critical Race Studies, said the legislation was intentionally constructed to cause uncertainty among teachers for how it should be interpreted.

CRT is not actually even taught in K-12 education and is instead typically reserved for law school or graduate school students, said Celeste Alana Brown, director of advocacy at San Antonio-based Compass Rose Public Schools.
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In order to comply with the bill, Brown said her district has been following guidelines provided by the Texas Education Agency.

However, those guidelines mostly just restate the language of the legislation.

When introducing the legislation, the bill's author Rep. Steve Toth stated it was "about teaching racial harmony by telling the truth that we are all equal, both in God's eyes and our founding documents."

However, Robertson said that Toth has a romanticized view of the country and that history continues to prove the imbalance between groups and the struggle for equality.

The bill instead fails to consider the feelings of students of color when discussing these moments in history, Robertson said.

"When we're teaching slavery... don't African American children feel discomfort? So we can't teach slavery?"

While the law assumes critical race theory teaches that one race is superior to the other, the fundamental premise of CR is that race is not real and is not biological.

More from @Ariana_NoGrande 👇
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Is critical race theory as complicated as it's being made out to be?