PragerU history lessons are neither racist nor wrong for Arizona schools
Greg Moore accuses me in a column of promoting a racist curriculum, PragerU.
He implies that I want “Black, Latino and Native American kids to be the shoulders everybody else gets to stand on as a they climb toward middle-class lives.”
He claims that because I oppose critical race theory I “focus schools on the wrong stuff.“
This is all false.
I am familiar with the evils of racism
I am a Jewish person whose entire extended family was murdered in the Holocaust. I am all too familiar with the evils of racism.
In the summer of 1963, I attended the march on Washington in which Martin Luther King delivered his famous speech. His philosophy of wanting people to be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin has been my philosophy my entire life.
When I was Arizona attorney general, I had more than 30 lawyers working nothing else but civil rights cases. As superintendent of schools, I focus a large percentage of my energy on improving academics in poor schools.
In my department currently, none of the following positions is filled by someone who is white: chief deputy, chief of operations or chief strategist. I am opposed to racial preferences, but this was the result of choosing on the basis of merit.
In 2014 I spoke at 16 historically Black churches in four months and shook the hands of all attending before or after the service. Everyone was extremely warm and welcoming.
Moore’s hostility to me is an exception.
PragerU material is far from racist
I have not required PragerU material but have made it available to those who want it. Its patriotism is appreciated by me, an immigrant who loves this country.
It provides objective history, an antidote to left-wing history such as the “1619 Project” adopted by the Balsz school district.
Moore’s only criticism of Prager is a quotation he gives from Booker T. Washington, which he disagrees with. But he does not allege that the quote is inaccurate.
People falsely accuse Prager of racism because of a cartoon with Christopher Columbus, giving his views on slavery.
It is followed by students from our century, stating that in our century “we view slavery as evil and terrible,” to which Columbus replies, “That’s wonderful! I am glad humanity has reached such a time!”
That is a crucial element to the video.
Why I am fighting critical race studies
More than a decade ago, I successfully fought to eliminate the critical race studies curriculum at the Tucson Unified School District, because of its emphasis on race rather than individuality. I read all of their textbooks and worksheets.
As an example, one worksheet had a page with a line drawn down the middle. The left side described the qualities of people of color, and the right side the qualities of “whiteness“ — a term that author Neil Shenvi describes in the “Antiracist Glossary” as privileges enjoyed by white-skinned people, yet they don’t realize it.
The worksheet was a masterpiece of stereotyping. The qualities of white people were all negative, such as “white people interrupt too much.”
Horne: Schools teach critical race theory under different names
When I went back to the practice of law, critical race theory made a huge comeback. I have renewed my fight. In the process, I have read many works about critical race theory, both for and against.
Critical race theory was begun by Derrick Bell, a Harvard professor, in 1989, along with his students. One of those students, Richard Delgado, wrote “Critical Race Theory: An Introduction.” Here is his definition:
“… [C]ritical race theory questions the very foundation of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.”
My goal: To emphasize academics again
This was the definition that was given to students at Tucson Unified.
One of the reasons they oppose Enlightenment rationalism, which was the philosophy of the American founders, is because it emphasizes logic and the pursuit of truth. They view logic and the pursuit of truth as instruments of white oppression.
They have totally mangled the meaning of previously positive words, such as diversity, equity and inclusion. For them, diversity treats racial groups as monoliths and they exalt stereotypes, as illustrated by the above example from Tucson’s Raza studies.
Race becomes a proxy for worth. Equity replaces the American regime of individual rights with group entitlement. Inclusion only includes that which serves the interest of the allegedly oppressed class.
My focus is to renew the lost emphasis on academics in the schools. I have 18 initiatives to accomplish that.
Compared to that, everything else is secondary.
Tom Horne, a Republican, is state superintendent of public instruction. He also served two previous terms beginning in 2003. Reach him at Tom.Horne@azed.gov.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: PragerU history lessons are neither racist nor required in Arizona
