Academic Buzzwords
UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCHOOL’S JARGON
Words are important because they shape how we think. When you control the words being used in the culture, you control the thinking.
Words exist so that we can differentiate one thing from another.
The language of Critical Race Theory/DEI appears to be intentionally vague and confusing, making it hard to understand the true goals or how those goals will be measured.
Understanding the functional meaning of these buzzwords below, instead of their sanitized definitions, will help you make better decisions on behalf of your child.
Critical Race Theory (CRT): an academic theory asserting that the most important thing about your child is their race, the color of their skin. Only race defines them. That’s who they are. Not their choices. Not their character. To Critical Race theorists, Martin Luther King was both wrong and naïve. Everything that makes up American Society is racist. This includes Christianity, free markets, traditional marriage, rule of law, traditional family structures, and a representative form of government.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI): the key euphemism indicating the presence and practice of Critical Race Theory in your child’s school; the preferred, “parent-facing” strategy for incorporating oppressor/oppressed philosophies into schools and corporate settings.
Diversity: when used by academic leaders, refers to the presence of, or the percentage of, non-white, non-able-bodied, non-heterosexual males/females in the school population. This kind of diversity excludes diversity of thought and enforces intellectual conformity.
Equity: while traditionally understood to mean fairness or justice, this word is now used by political and academic activists to mean something much more specific: equality of outcomes between different racial or “oppressed” groups; See equality, socialism, and social justice.
Inclusion: to schools, this means incorporating ever-growing members of favored/protected status groups (those labeled as “oppressed”) within the student body. The process of “inclusion” coincides with efforts to create diversity. Diversity is the “WHAT.” Inclusion is the “HOW.” See also “belonging.”
Social Justice: a vague and emotive term referring to the use of governmental authority to directly or indirectly take financial assets from certain “privileged” individuals and redistribute them to others deemed to be more deserving; fairness as defined by those currently holding power; See equality, equity, and socialism.
White Fragility: a concept designed to intimidate and suppress the free exchange of ideas on matters of race; the phrase educators routinely use to describe white parents who complain about or object to Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion programs at their school.
Political Correctness: the art of using softer words and phrases as well as euphemisms to downplay harsh realities and unpopular decisions, events or initiatives; a method for “training” large groups of people to think uniformly.
Racist: those who disagree with the worldview, perspective, or opinions of a liberal person of color or someone advocating on behalf of a liberal person of color.
Oppressed: typically refers to individuals and groups who are not white, male, heterosexual, or able-bodied; a key tenet of Critical Race Theory; CRT provokes discord between the so called “victimizers” and their “victims.”
Equality: instead of its original meaning of equality under the law, and being equally valuable in the eyes of God, the term “equality” has been twisted and is now used by academics and politicians to refer to equal outcomes; See equity, socialism, and social justice.
Belonging: a trendy DEI term referring to 100% acceptance of behaviors, identities, cultures, and traditions within the school environment. Those who are “oppressed” or “marginalized” in the eyes of school officials will be allowed to dress, speak, celebrate or otherwise behave as desired, often in ways that would ordinarily not be allowed, so that they feel safe, like they “belong.”
Trouble Makers: parents who advocate for their child by writing emails, asking difficult questions, organizing other parents, and holding academic decision-makers accountable; those who speak out about political interference in their child’s classes.