The decision comes as PYLUSD banned the teaching of Critical Race Theory in its schools.
Trustees of the Placentia-Yorba Linda school district voted in April to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in their school district. As a result of this decision, Cal State Fullerton has announced they will no longer send student teachers to Placentia-Yorba Linda district schools.
Critical Race Theory emerged from Critical Theory taught in the 1930’s at Columbia University’s Frankfort School, formally known as “The Institute for Marxism.” The theory seeks to blame the West for societal injustices, through criticisms of capitalism, patriotism, family patriarchy, Christianity, sexual conservatism, morality, tradition and the like.
One of CRT’s tenants claims that race is a social construct used as the foundation of political and economic systems in the West, to advantage privileged groups. Adherents to CRT actively look for racism in every aspect of society believing it’s implicit in the culture and systems of the West, and it’s their job to discover the impact.
Residents of the district were informed of the decision by Cal State Fullerton to stop sending its student teachers to PYLUSD citing the district’s policy is in conflict with the goals of the university of forming teachers “with pedagogical approaches rooted in diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice, race and gender theories, cultural linguistic studies, social emotional well-being, and tenets of Critical Race Theory.”
Linda Manion, president of the Association of Placentia-Linda Educators, expressed concern that the CSUF move may cause the school district to lose out on new hires at a time when nationally there is a shortage of teachers.
However, school board trustee Leandra Blades saw this as an opportunity. “I look forward to seeing what colleges and universities we can partner with in the coming months,” she said. “I find it extremely disrespectful and unprofessional that CSUF would send student teachers into our schools with the intention of bringing critical race theory and politics that do not align with our district curriculum.”
Cal State Fullerton is the only university that has taken the decision to no longer place its student teachers within the Placentia-Yorba Linda District according to Alyssa Griffiths, the district spokeswoman.
