3rd-graders told to rank themselves on ‘power and privilege’

The lesson was reportedly given by a third-grade teacher at R.I. Meyerholz Elementary School in Cupertino, California, during a math lesson.

“First, the teacher 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,” City Journal’s Christopher F. Rufo recently tweeted.

Beware of whites?

Ironically, even though the report notes that 94% of the school is nonwhite and TheBlaze points out that more than than two-thirds (67%) of the city where the students live consists of Asian-Americans – with the median household income being around $170,000 – the Caucasian population was targeted in the instruction.

“The … teacher allegedly pushed the ‘principle of intersectionality’ on the young children and claimed that those who don’t hold power are oppressed,” TheBlaze reported.

One fed-up parent vowed to take action.

“We think some of our school board members are [critical race theory] activists and they must go,” the parent told Rufo, who shared the content of some of the curriculum.

“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,'”Rufo explained in the City Journal report. “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 public-school teacher read the lesson to eight-year-olds from a book – titled This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work – that is rated by Common Sense Media as only suitable for children aged 11 and older, according to whistleblower documents and testimonials of parents “familiar with the lesson.”

The Olathe Public Library provides a summary of the book, which reads:

“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 color 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.”

It appears arithmetic failed to make it into this “math lesson.”

“The teacher had the students deconstruct their own intersectional identities and ‘circle the identities that hold power and privilege’ on their identity maps, ranking their traits according to the hierarchy,” Rufo described. “In a related assignment, the students were asked to write short essays describing which aspects of their identities ‘hold power and privilege’ and which do not. The students were expected to produce ‘at least one full page of writing.’ As an example, the presentation included a short paragraph about transgenderism and nonbinary sexuality.”

Enough is enough …

One Asian-American parent, who rallied a half-dozen other families to oppose the curriculum – was outraged.

“We were shocked,” the parent told Rufo on condition of anonymity. “They were basically teaching racism to my eight-year-old.”

After the parent group insisted during a heated meeting with the principal that the racially divisive instruction must stop, the program was suspended, as inciting students against whites – who make up 6% of the school – appeared senseless and counterproductive.

“At the school, where the majority of families are Asian-American, the students have exceptionally high rates of academic achievement and the school consistently ranks in the top 1% of all elementary schools statewide,” Rufo stressed. “In short, nobody at Meyerholz is oppressed, and the school’s high-achieving parents know that teaching intersectionality instead of math is a waste of time – and potentially dangerous.”

A Chinese-American parent told Rufo that critical race theory brings back memories of doctrine taught in 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 argued. “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.”

Rufo says this uproar and others on the West Coast is a movement seeing Asian-Americans politically mobilizing for the first time.

“In 2019, Asian-Americans ran a successful initiative campaign against affirmative action in Washington State; in 2020, Asian-Americans ran a similar campaign in California, winning by an astonishing 57% to 43% margin,” the report noted. “In both cases, they defended the principles of meritocracy, individual rights and equality under the law – and roundly defeated a super-coalition of the states’ progressive politicians, activists, universities, media and corporations.”

It was emphasized that the stakes have never been higher for the Asian-American community, which argues it has risen to the top from hard work … not privilege.

“For progressives insisting on the narrative of ‘white supremacy’ and ‘systemic racism,’ Asian-Americans are the ‘inconvenient minority’: they significantly outperform all other racial groups – including whites – in terms of academic achievement, college admissions, household income, family stability and other key measures,” Rufo impressed. “Affirmative action and other critical race theory-based programs would devastate their admissions to universities and harm their futures.”

He says the Asian American parents’ first victory at the elementary school is just the beginning as they anticipate future campaigns against the school board.

“At Meyerholz Elementary, the Asian-American families are on high alert for critical race theory in the classroom,” Rufo announced. “The capture of our public institutions by progressives obsessed by race and privilege deserves opposition at every level – the parents of Cupertino have joined the fight.”

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Copyright American Family News. Reprinted with permission.