Report: California elementary school instructs third-graders to rank themselves based on their 'power and privilege'

A California elementary school is pushing critical race theory
on third-grade students, according to a new report. A teacher at an
elementary school in Cupertino allegedly instructed third-graders
to rank themselves based on their “power and privilege” during a
math lesson.

A third-grade teacher at the R.I. Meyerholz Elementary School
“told the eight- and nine-year-old students that they live in a
‘dominant culture’ of ‘white, middle class, cisgender, educated,
able-bodied, Christian[s]’ who ‘created and maintained’ this
culture in order ‘to hold power and stay in power,'” according to
Christopher F. Rufo,
contributing editor of City Journal. The students live in a city
where
67% of the population is Asian-American and the median
household income is
$171,917.

Based on reported whistleblower documents and testimonials from
parents “familiar with the session,” the teacher read from “This
Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and
Do the Work,” which is rated appropriate for children ages 11+,
according to
Common Sense Media.

A summary
of the book from the Olathe Public Library states:

This book is written for the young person who doesn’t
know how to speak up to the racist adults in their life. For the 14
year old who sees injustice at school and isn’t able to understand
the role racism plays in separating them from their friends. For
the kid who spends years trying to fit into the dominant culture
and loses themselves for a little while. It’s for all of the Black
and Brown children who have been harmed (physically and
emotionally) because no one stood up for them or they couldn’t
stand up for themselves; because the colour of their skin, the
texture of their hair, their names made white folx feel scared and
threatened. It is written so children and young adults will feel
empowered to stand up to the adults who continue to close doors in
their faces. This book will give them the language and ability to
understand racism and a drive to undo it. In short, it is for
everyone.

Rufo wrote in the
City Journal, “Students learned that ‘those with privilege have
power over others’ and that ‘folx who do not benefit from their
social identities, who are in the subordinate culture, have little
to no privilege and power.'”

“As an example, the reading states that ‘a white, cisgender man,
who is able-bodied, heterosexual, considered handsome and speaks
English has more privilege than a Black transgender woman,” the
report stated.

The R.I. Meyerholz Elementary School teacher allegedly pushed
the “principle of intersectionality” on the young children and
claimed that those who don’t hold power are oppressed.

The educator purportedly commanded the students to create an
“identity map,” where the children listed their “race, class,
gender, religion, family structure, and other characteristics.” The
teacher then instructed the third-graders to “circle the identities
that hold power and privilege” on their identity maps, according to
the report. Then the students were allegedly told to rank their
“traits according to the hierarchy.”

Rufo said he spoke to some of the parents of children who were
being taught critical race theory. A parent who grew up in China
compared critical race theory to the Chinese Cultural
Revolution.

“[It divides society between] the oppressor and the oppressed,
and since these identities are inborn characteristics people cannot
change, the only way to change it is via violent revolution,” the
parent said. “Growing up in China, I had learned it many times. The
outcome is the family will be ripped apart; husband hates wife,
children hate parents. I think it is already happening here.”

“We were shocked,” one anonymous parent told Rufo.

“They were basically teaching racism to my eight-year-old,” said
an Asian-American parent, who reportedly “rallied a group of a
half-dozen families to protest the school’s intersectionality
curriculum.”

The parents who were against the “woke” lesson plans reportedly
met with the school’s administration. “The administration agreed to
suspend the program,” the report stated. “When reached for comment,
Jenn Lashier, the principal of Meyerholz Elementary, said that the
training was not part of the ‘formal curricula, but the process of
daily learning facilitated by a certified teacher.'”

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