Critical race theory teaches that the U.S. is fundamentally racist and always has been, that racism is the defining characteristic of American history. Once you teach kids that America is evil, you can justify any kind of Marxist revolution to “fix” it. This is a grave issue that needs our prayers.

From The Center Square: Newly uncovered federal grant documents show that the U.S. Department of Education awarded roughly $2.5 million in taxpayer dollars to a Florida-based education program that trains future teachers and other professionals in, among other things, critical race theory.

The funding came through two grants, one in 2017 and another in 2021. Both grants went to faculty at Florida State University, which has partnered with Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University…

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The program in question is called Partners United for Research Pathways Oriented to Social Justice in Education (PURPOSE).

“The PURPOSE training program’s P–20 theme focuses on researching social justice issues within educational contexts,” the grant says. “Throughout the year fellows will participate in proseminars, within which they will learn about social justice issues…”

In the spring and summer semesters, fellows will participate in proseminars that focus on social justice topics including culturally relevant pedagogy and research design, tools for analyzing oppression, critical race theory, multicultural leadership, and tools for social change and action, which are led both by PURPOSE mentors and guest speakers from both institutions.

Alysia Roehrig, a professor of Educational Psychology at FSU who is listed as the “principal investigator” for the 2017 grant, acknowledged that critical race theory is taught in the taxpayer-funded program. She defended PURPOSE, saying it focuses on training education researchers, not teachers, though some of the fellows do go on to be teachers.

“The purpose of our project is to train minoritized students in education research methods so that they may obtain a PhD and perhaps become university professors,” Roehrig said. “We talk about CRT as one of many frameworks that can be used in conducting research with minoritized populations to address social justice issues in education. It is important to spend federal research money on understanding social justice issues because those from racially minoritized populations (who also pay taxes) are underrepresented in the education sciences.”

Roehrig also said it is important to inform teachers about “structural racism.”

“Without diverse perspectives in the field, it is very difficult to address research questions and issues that are relevant to our diverse U.S. population, or to overcome the pipeline problem (increasing the representation of minoritized students in graduate school and university faculty),” Roehrig said. “CRT has been taught in universities for a while (typically at the grad not undergrad level), but I think it has not been taught or used in K-12 schools…

The grant falls under the federal “Pathways to the Education Sciences Research Training Program.” The Pathways program’s website says it seeks to “increase the number of fellows from groups underrepresented in doctoral study including racial and ethnic minorities, first-generation college students, economically disadvantaged students, veterans, and students with disabilities and provide greater diversity in the types of institutions that provide IES-funded research training.”

That research training, though, often includes controversial critical race theory curriculum, training educators who then go on to teach at all levels of secondary and higher education. The federal program has not just pushed CRT in Florida.

The Center Square previously reported that the DOE awarded millions of dollars to a North Carolina based program that trains future educators in critical race theory.

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(Excerpt from The Center Square. Photo Credit: Getty Images)