As a retired educator, I was glad to see someone advocate for teaching critical thinking in schools.
Unfortunately, Mr. Barnes’ opening premises, “seems like everybody is uniformly against (Critical Race Theory)” and advocates’ fears to speak up “are not unwarranted,” show he must have been absent the day critical thinking was covered at his school.
Critical Thinking requires facts, not unsupported assertions.
Facts like,
• the Civil War WAS about slavery
• over 4,000 lynchings and extra judicial murders of Blacks by white mobs occurred in the South 1875-1950 (including 6 in Chatham County)
• housing policy 1945-1965 specifically DENIED access to Federal home loans to Blacks
• agriculture policy up to the 2000’s that allowed local (white) agents to DENY loans to Black farmers, resulting in foreclosure of thousands of Black-owned farms
• under 6% of Black residents in Mississippi were allowed to register to vote before 1965
• poor Black men were purposely infected with syphilis at Tuskegee so white doctors could study the effects of the disease
I agree with Mr. Barnes that “some grown-ups” might “do well to sit in the back of the classroom …” and maybe learn some critical thinking?
Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2021 12:41:37 -0400
From: John Lowe
Subject: Re: Michael Barnes – Critical Thinking