(National Review) Both critical race theory and radical gender ideology are widespread in American schools and are measurably shifting students to the political left, according to a Manhattan Institute report released Thursday,
Based on a survey of more than 1,500 Americans aged 18-20, the report seeks to inject hard data into a cultural debate often fought with anecdotal evidence. In the last five years, right-leaning activists, politicians, and educators have increasingly raised the alarm about curricula changes in schools.
Researchers Zach Goldberg and Eric Kaufmann decided to put questions to a random sample of students who recently graduated from high school and can recollect their recent school experiences. This allowed them to estimate the extent to which these ideologies have affected American education as a whole.
The first step was to ask respondents whether they had been exposed to fundamental concepts of these ideologies in school. “There are many genders, not just male and female,” read one of the concepts. “In America, white people have white privilege,” read another. “America is built on stolen land,” read a third.
Goldberg and Kaufmann discovered that students had heard about at least one of eight concepts from a teacher or other adult at school. Ninety percent heard about at least one CRT concept, and 74 percent heard about at least one radical gender concept.
Only a third — 32 percent — of students were taught that there are respectable counterarguments to CRT and radical gender ideology.
“Educators who incorporate such concepts into their instruction clearly expect, or at least hope, that doing so makes a difference in the minds of students,” explained Goldberg and Kaufmann, adding that the idea these concepts are only taught for knowledge’s sake strains credulity.
