I recently saw on TV news someone from a school explaining that their school did not teach CRT (critical race theory), but they were committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. There is an old song that says love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage. Well, critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion go together a bit like fusion. They meld and become something that is reacting explosively in our schools.
Many, and you may be among them, don’t really know what is meant by those terms, so let’s take a look at them.
The website InclusionHub.com explains DEI this way:
Diversity: Acknowledges all the ways people differ: race, sex, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, religious beliefs, and more. [Do you see how CRT blends seamlessly with DEI?)
Inclusion: Is about diversity in practice. It’s the act of welcoming, supporting, respecting, and valuing all individuals and groups. [Unless you happen to be Asian or white heterosexual.]
Equity: Is often used interchangeably with equality, but there’s a core difference: Where equality is a system in which each individual is offered the same opportunities regardless of circumstance, equity distributes resources based on needs. We live in a disproportionate society, and equity tries to correct its imbalance by creating more opportunities for people who have historically had less access.
On the surface, this may all sound good to you, but closer examination will convince you that if you are gay, transgender, or Muslim you may have a leg up when a college considers your application. If you are Asian—not so much.
And double-check that Equity paragraph. They truthfully describe equality as each individual being offered the same opportunities regardless of circumstance. To me that sounds like a good thing. However, equity, a word similar enough to let the unwary believe it is the same as equality, gives more and better opportunities to those groups found deserving by the ones making decisions.
If your son or daughter is a high achiever, but not openly gay, or with black or brown skin color, they may be in trouble when their application comes across the college admissions committee doorstep. Did you notice that merit doesn’t enter the picture? The only difference I’ve heard about is those winning awards like the merit scholarship awards. The awards are meritorious—and perhaps that is why their schools delayed giving them to the students who earned them.
The Attorney General of the State of Virginia issued a news release with the heading “Attorney General Miyares Expands Civil Rights Investigation To Fairfax County Public Schools System.” It states in part:
Attorney General Jason Miyares today announced that his investigation into Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology for withholding merit awards will expand to the entire Fairfax County Public Schools system in light of reports and complaints that multiple schools across the county withheld awards from high achieving students. On January 4, Miyares launched a civil rights investigation into the administration of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology for the possibility of unlawful discrimination in violation of the Virginia Human Rights Act. (Emphasis mine.)
Remember the brouhaha In the Loudoun County, Virginia, schools parent/teacher meetings that
resulted in Governor Youngkin’s election because he upheld the rights of parents in the instruction of their children? Apparently that wasn’t sufficient to stop the escapades of those in charge of Virginia’s schools. But why would they not give the kids their national merit scholarship awards? Youngkin said, “”[The schools] have a maniacal focus on equal outcomes for all students at all costs. And at the heart of the American dream, is excelling, is advancing, is stretching and recognizing that we have students that have different capabilities.” (Emphasis mine.)
When asked why this happened, Director of Student Services Brandon Kosatka seems to have told a parent that student leaders delayed delivering the awards, and then did it without any special recognition, to avoid hurting the feelings of students who failed to earn the honors. That, parents, is equity in action.
Instead of worrying about hurt feelings of the less successful, perhaps the ones making that decision should have thought of those winners who were being deprived of using a well-deserved award to help with their college admittance. A better approach would have been to find a way for those not achieving the award to be successful—perhaps in a different path more appropriate to their skills. I wrote about helping your kids be successful in my book Who’s Got Dibs on Your Kids? in chapter 8 titled “Who’s Got Dibs on Your Kids Future?”
We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.
Romans 12:6