Model Letter to Teacher

Dear {Salutation} {Last Name},
I write to express my opposition, as a parent, to both Critical Race Theory and action civics. I do

not wish my child to be taught using either pedagogy.

I teach my children to live up to the ideals of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, and Martin Luther King, Jr., each of whom helped pave the way for the most free, equal, and prosperous society the world has ever known.

I teach them Washington’s lesson that “perseverance and spirit have done wonders in all ages.”

I teach them Jefferson’s lesson that “all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,” including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

I teach them Douglass’s lessons that the Constitution is a “glorious liberty document” and that Americans ought to draw “encouragement from the Declaration of Independence, the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions.”

I teach them King’s dream of a world in which our children “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Critical Race Theory and action civics contradict these ideals.

I know that different teachers have different attitudes toward these pedagogies. If you are reluctant to impose them on my children, I will be glad to support you in any way I can against any mandates the state, the school district, or the school impose on you. If you support them, I wish you to know that I do not desire that you use them and I do not consent to their use.

In either case, I do not wish you to use ideological concepts and pedagogies such as Critical Race Theory (CRT), “The 1619 Project,” and so-called “action civics,” “anti-racism,” and “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” which amount to educational malpractice. These ideological concepts and pedagogies terribly harm children’s schooling because they:

• Divide students by group identities such as race and sex and assign blame to groups of children on the basis of race, sex, and other group identities.
• Champion a distorted notion of “equity” that substitutes equality of outcomes for equality of opportunity as the goal in every area of life, and declare, slanderously, that any departure from equality of outcomes is the result of “implicit racism,” “systemic racism,” or other forms of malice.
• Teach hostility to America.
• Substitute vocational training in radical activism for intellectual inquiry and freejudgment.
• Teach anti-intellectual ideologies, which are self-reinforcing assertions that share a defensive structure that rejects criticism as illegitimate, instead of providing a real education, which must always be open to challenge and disproof.
• Require students to assert, and assent to, these ideological concepts and pedagogies, which thereby create a climate of fear and silence, and compel our children to conform to unjust authority rather than to judge freely and to speak and act fearlessly.

I would be grateful if you would confirm that you do not and will not use ideological concepts and pedagogies such as Critical Race Theory (CRT), “The 1619 Project,” and so-called “action civics,” “anti-racism,” and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in any aspect of my child’s schooling, inside or outside the classroom.

Again, if you do oppose these ideological concepts and pedagogies, and would like my help to support you against being forced to use them, just ask. I will gladly do all that I can to defend you.

I urge you to respond to this letter at your earliest convenience. Best wishes,

{Parent Signature}

Critiques of Critical Race Theory and Action Civics