EDU 295-03 - Special Topic: Culture Wars in US Education: Critical Race Theory and Its Antecedents

4 credits (Spring)

Forty years after its conception, Critical Race Theory (CRT) has ignited a firestorm. In 2021 over twenty state legislatures proposed or passed anti-CRT bills prohibiting divisive teaching in public schools. In this course we explore the CRT controversy by comparing seminal CRT texts to its opponents’ claims. We also investigate prior culture wars in the history of US schooling (e.g. textbook debates, ethnic studies bans, and Civil Rights-era protests) to contextualize today’s controversy.

Prerequisite: Second-year standing.
Instructor: Michaels

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