Has Critical Race Theory & Marxism Crept Into Wyoming Schools?

Wyoming State Senator Ogden Driskill, from Devil's tower, joined me on Wyoming's morning talk show (Wake Up Wyoming) to talk about a new bill he is introducing that tackles the issue of transparency in our public schools. The object of the bill is to allow parents to see, online, what teachers are actually teaching in the classroom.

The concern is that radical teaching such as Marxism and Critical Race Theory might make it into Wyoming classrooms if they haven't already.

Have they already?

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Wyoming school superintendent Balow, Ogden Driskill, and the bills co-sponsor Senate President Dan Dockstader (R-Afton), to support the measure. She said critical race theory has already crept into Wyoming public school classrooms, threatening to indoctrinate the state’s youth against U.S. and Wyoming efforts to rectify those inequalities.

Balow said she had evidence, including notes regarding classroom lessons that “lead students to make conclusions that support Marxism in the absence of any comparison to other theories or other concepts.”

WyoFile requested Balow provided what she said was evidence: handwritten class notes by a Wyoming middle school student that a parent of the student gave to Balow.

According to WyoFile, The notes document some fundamentals of Marxism and struggles between class systems in history, as well as theories about male dominance in societal structures. The seven pages of penciled notes include a 10-question quiz about Marxism as well as references to the role of the industrial revolution in society, the film “Marxist And Cheese” and the notion of “feminism theory.”

In my interview with Senator Driskill, I asked him if providing an online source of what the teacher says is being taught is enough. I asked how we might really know what is being said in the classroom. Really, unless we have cameras and audio running all the time there is no way to know. But Senator Driskill's point with this legislation is a step toward allowing parents easy access to review what is said to be being taught.