HANK GUO

In February, the Wellesley Public Schools district settled a lawsuit alleging that their usage of “racial affinity groups” and adoption of policy against biased speech in its five-year diversity, equity, and inclusion plan violated the fourteenth amendment. Settling under the condition that Wellesley Public Schools make it clear that affinity groups are open to all students, Parents Defending Education, a national lobbying group, alleged that restricting access to the groups contributed to segregating students. Mirroring a wave of criticism against anti-racism practices across the country, the high school has also become a target for its integration of what parents perceive as the principles Critical Race Theory (CRT) in school curriculums.  

​

CRT is a framework of analysis taught predominantly in law schools and graduate level courses. It is based on the idea that race is a legally constructed idea and biases influence all legal institutions and laws.

​

Critics of CRT maintain that school implementation creates hostility between racial groups at schools and alienates certain students. In an opinion published in The Boston Globe, Richard L. Cravatts, a journalism fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center writes that the usage of CRT creates “binaries of right and wrong” that he says are inhibitory to creating inclusive environments. 

​

“Schools need to be cautious about indoctrinating some students on how they are victims of oppression and how they should identify as such, and how other students, by virtue of their whiteness alone, are oppressors and should apologize for such, instead of fostering racial equality and coexistence,” said Cravatts. 

​

However, some teachers at the high school tell a different story of discussion about race and ethnicity in their classes. Educators at the high school and in the state have confirmed that their usage of race and ethnicity is not CRT, but linked to a broader effort to create safe spaces to examine the role of race and ethnicity in identity. 

​

Teachers at the high school follow the idea of “Culturally Responsive Teaching”, a rubric backed by the Department of Education. They aim to teach students the ability to engage with texts that encompass the complexity of U.S. history. Designed to present various perspectives in school curriculums, Culturally Responsive Teaching also aims to provide the connection between a student’s background and their education. 

​

“I think it’s really important that education be about understanding the full context in which we live. And I think it’s really important for kids to see themselves represented in the texts we read. And also, if not through representation, through discussion, bring themselves to a fuller understanding of what it means to be a person,” said Ms. Alison McCormick, an English teacher at the high school.

​

Christina Horner, an educator and Co-President of World of Wellesley, a local non-profit promoting diversity and inclusion, adds on, noting that Critical Race Theory has been transformed into a buzzword.

​

“I really think that this current lawsuit is another ploy to dismantle and discredit organizations and individuals who are very clear about their social justice priorities,” said Horner

​

Teachers at the high school have also emphasized the importance of representing different racial and ethnic groups in their curriculum to foster an inclusive environment. Diverse American Voices, a senior level English class that offers Honors and ACP level classes, aims to support that effort through its examination of race and ethnicity in literature. 

​

“My hope is that the impact is positive and educational, especially to BIPOC students who may not have had many opportunities to see themselves represented in our English curriculum. But it is vital to us that our students understand that no racial or ethnic group is a monolith,” said Mr. David Charlesworth, a Diverse American Voices teacher. 

​

Through the representation of various works of art and literature from authors and artists from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, DAV hopes to highlight the exclusion minority authors and artists have traditionally faced. 

​

“Well, most immediately, to counteract that exclusion, and more deeply, to recognize that the American narrative (whatever we take that phrase to mean) has never been a single story, a single narrative, a single history. It’s about unfolding the layers, the complexity, the nuance of our shared national identity,” said Charlesworth. 

​

Teachers at the high school build on the foundations of Culturally Responsive Teaching, which outline that must “understand culture's role in education, their students' cultures, and their own identity and biases to 1) affirm students' backgrounds and identities and 2) foster their ability to understand and honor others' cultures." Creating and developing a supportive environment where students are unafraid to tackle complex issues is an integral part of fulfilling that rubric. 

​

However, the inherent discomfort and the proposed cultivation of a divide between students of different backgrounds have also been cited as a reason to bar the integration of race-based awareness from education. 

​

Thirteen states in the United States have passed state bills restricting the usage of perceived tenets of Critical Race Theory in school curriculums, limiting ways educators can discuss race and racism in classrooms. Furthermore, four states have banned teachers from teaching material that would make students feel “discomfort or guilt”. 

​

However, many teachers at the high school feel that it is necessary to tackle the true nature of systemic racism that is institutionalized into social constructs. 

​

“We have to be active in every single classroom, in every single discipline, to build toward a culture where we can bravely engage in discussion that is uncomfortable, because the truth of our history, the truth of education in general, is uncomfortable,” said McCormick. “And so we need to help ourselves and then help students build a tolerance for the kinds of discomfort that challenge our own thinking.”

​

Charlesworth adds to this sentiment, emphasizing the importance of discomfort in not only education but also growth. 

​

“If we uncritically exist within our zones of comfort, transformative learning can’t happen,” said Charlesworth. 

​

The frameworks of Critical Race Theory may not exist in school curriculums, but its complex understanding of race and ethnicity and the roles they play in defining American culture do. Teachers at the high school strive to cultivate an environment where nuanced examinations of the blatant and covert racism present in the history of the United States. They also hope for the incorporation of a wide range of perspectives through the representation of authors from various races and ethnicities to foster the development of student identity in an inclusive environment.

 

Using the basis of Culturally Responsive Teaching, teachers at the high school wish to build on student cultural understandings and give them the opportunity to feel represented in Wellesley. Teachers hope to build on a culture of diversity, equity and belonging at the high school through a nuanced understanding towards the perspectives of historically marginalized groups. 

​

“I think that every teacher should be committing to whatever it looks like in their classroom to create spaces where students see themselves and can bring themselves,” said McCormick.