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Massachusetts

The education system in Massachusetts is awash in CRT at every level. The Department of Education (DOE) encourages all public school districts to gear teaching to “social-emotional wellbeing of students and educators as the foundation for effective teaching and learning,” and to “promote culturally responsive, anti-racist teaching and leading practices that disrupt patterns of inequities and systems of oppression against Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, and multiracial communities.” (source)

This has resulted in many school districts adopting most of the tenets of CRT while parents protest in vain. Few parents likely have any realization that state elections have led to a removal of local control at the district level.

Higher Education

“The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (DHE) is the staff to the 13-member Board of Higher Education (BHE), responsible for executing the Board’s policies and day-to-day operations. The Board of Higher Education is the statutorily created agency in Massachusetts responsible for defining the mission of and coordinating the Commonwealth’s system of public higher education and its institutions. The Board of Higher Education works to create and maintain a system of public higher education which provides Massachusetts citizens with the opportunity to participate in academic and educational programs for their personal betterment and growth, to contribute to the area’s existing base of research and knowledge, and to contribute to the Commonwealth’s future economic growth and development.” (source)

“The DHE will develop a statewide strategic plan focused on equity, to be reflected in our policies, programs, and initiatives. The expectation is that, by doing so, the Massachusetts system of public higher education will enhance economic and social mobility for all citizens, but particularly for those that have historically been underserved and underrepresented, especially students of color, throughout all levels of education.” (source)

K-12 Education

A representative sampling of examples:

The Wellesly Public Schools System segregated students by “affinity groups.” (source)

A chemistry class in a Boston-area high school gave up its 80 minute course time to two students who gave a lecture on “white power” and “white aggression.” (source)

“Sophomores at Concord-Carlisle High School were assigned a prompt based on required reading from the Washington Post. Students were asked to create a slide outlining ‘one form of systemic racism, how it impacted Mr. Floyd’s life and how he responded,’ after they read the piece, ‘Born with two strikes: How systemic racism shaped Mr. Floyd’s life and hobbled his ambition’ in the Washington Post. (source)

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