Equity Framework from the Coeur d'Alene School District
With all the flap over Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Coeur d'Alene schools and the district's denial (which boils down to 'we don't have CRT, we have an Equity Framework'), I thought it best to go to the source material, the Equity Framework. https://bit.ly/3cv9rUm
The first question is: "Where did this document come from?" A little research shows that this is an international effort and is closely tied with CRT. The administrators of SD271 did not create the Equity Framework as an original work. It was spoon fed to them. Taxpayers deserve to know how EXACTLY that happened.
Next question: Is the district actually implementing CRT when they say they aren't? If CRT is swimming in the ocean then the "Equity Framework" provides instructions on how to put on a bathing suit and directions for how to get to the beach. Does the Equity Framework explicitly cite CRT? No, it is just the necessary precursor to a CRT curricula.
Next question: Does it work? Does "equity" produce profound academic improvement? The equity concept is only a few years old so there is not direct evidence that it works. Like Common Core, we are buying a "pig in a poke" with ZERO demonstrated efficacy. At BEST we are using our children as lab rats to test an educational experiment. More likely we are conditioning our students to fail in the real world.
Equity in education is the theory that our educational systems should meet the needs of the individual student, to "give them shoes that fit". That sounds great, but how is that accomplished in practice? In a district with 10,000 students it means there are 10,000 separate teaching methods.
If there is one constant to progressive theories is that they invariably ignore the realities of human behavior. Human society operates on an economy of status. Most human's root motivation is either the acquisition or display of status. This starts very young. If we create an education system that panders to individual needs of the students then the status play will be for the student to command as much of the system as possible; to create behaviors and demands that must be attended to by the educational system. Each student is motivated to outdo the others in their demands for unique attention.
If that isn't bad enough, it gets worse. Now imagine what happens to the student who has learned that the education world will adapt to their demands is put into the real world where everyone else is demanding that everyone adapt to their needs. Chaos.
Society, imperfect as it is, depends on people overcoming their own shortcomings and providing value to that society. The equity Framework will destroy a person's ability to function in society.
By Brent Regan
