Critical Race Theory

February 3, 2023

Thaden Community,

This morning I read another article on recent efforts to prohibit the teaching of “Critical Race Theory” in our schools. It’s a term that I first encountered as a law student in 1995. At that time, it was gaining traction as the designation for a field of inquiry that examined how racism shapes legal systems and practices. My understanding of the term was surely limited, but the importance of the field, however unsettling its findings might be, seemed obvious to me. How can we ignore, for example, the impact of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court’s decision establishing the “separate but equal” doctrine that protected racial segregation for more than 50 years?

In my upper school English elective, American Deception, we are now completing a unit that examines two short novels of “racial passing” in which characters of mixed race assimilate into white society in order to escape the legal and social restrictions of segregation: James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (1912) and Nella Larsen’s Passing (1929). It is fascinating to study these works not only in the context of the Plessy decision but also in conversation with the broader American narrative of self-mastery and self-invention that Benjamin Franklin set into motion with his autobiography (1771-1790) and that F. Scott Fitzgerald questioned in The Great Gatsby (1925).

Am I teaching “Critical Race Theory” in American Deception? The term has recently taken on new, murky, and often politically charged meanings that can create confusion about the scope and purpose of the field. I cannot say with certainty what is happening in classrooms and legislatures nationwide, but I can assure you that American Deception is not designed to indoctrinate students or leave them feeling ashamed or guilty about the history of racial segregation. My goal is to teach students how to think – not what to think – by giving them the critical reasoning skills needed to explore complex questions and important issues from many angles. Most of all, I hope to give my students the confidence and optimism to make America even better.

That is the theory – and the practice – behind our mission as we strive to provide our students with a “balanced and challenging” education. 

Together we fly.

Clayton K. Marsh
Founding Head of School