[ Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal . ]
By Fred Lucas
The Daily Signal
Earlier this year, an Aiken County …
[ Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.] By Fred Lucas The Daily Signal Earlier this year, an Aiken County teacher wrote to South Carolina state Rep. Bill Taylor in alarm about critical race theory emerging in public schools. “I know full well the insidiousness of the so-called critical race theory that aims to resegregate society, discriminate against those who are white, victimize those who are black, and render America a nation of identity groups rather than Americans,” the teacher wrote. Hardly a day goes by, Taylor said, that he doesn’t hear from a constituent on the issue. Critical race theory contends that individuals either are oppressed or are oppressors, based on their skin color. The Republican lawmaker has proposed legislation to increase transparency so that parents can find out more about the curriculum in K-12 classrooms. He has 25 co-sponsors for the South Carolina Academic Integrity Act, but he introduced it in the final week of the legislative session, so it will be January before it gets any formal debate. So far this year, Arkansas, Idaho, and Oklahoma already have enacted laws to prevent teaching or promoting critical race theory in schools. At least 11 other states, including South Carolina, have legislation pending. The trend comes as the U.S. Department of Education under the Biden administration is promoting the teaching of critical race theory in schools. Describing his legislation in South Carolina to The Daily Signal, Taylor said: “What it really principally does is, it requires full transparency on the part of all the schools to list all the curricula, the instructional material, to ensure that parents are aware of the details of what is being taught to their children.” If enacted, his bill will require the state to withhold funds from any school that fails to post curriculum. “Transparency is paramount, because parents at this moment—unless they are looking at homework or a quiz that comes home or a homework assignment—they may not be aware of what’s being asked of their children,” Taylor said, adding: The South Carolina bill prohibits schools from using specific resources in teaching, such as The New York Times’ contested 1619 Project, which asserts that America’s true founding was not 1776 but 1619, when the first slaves were brought to Virginia from Africa.
