How DEI Fails Children and Families

Aaron Kindsvatter, Ph.D. aaron.kindsvatter@fairforall.com

Free Black Thought https://freeblackthought.com

International Association of Psychology and Counseling https://intapc.org

Critical Therapy Antidote https://criticaltherapyantidote.org

Fair Vermont https://www.fairforall.org/vermont/

When many people think “DEI” they think of “MLK”

• We celebrate individual differences, even as we strive to find our common humanity
• “Education must enable one to sift and weigh true from false, the real from the unreal and facts from fiction”
• A focus on our shared humanity is a path to overcoming racism
• “Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that”

DEI is not MLK

DEI and MLK are mutually exclusive

• We must question the foundation of liberal order, including equality, reasoning and enlightenment rationalism. Only when “white” concepts like a focus on individualism, a reliance on the scientific method and hard work are dismantled can we achieve a functional and fair society
• The only remedy for discrimination is discrimination
• This is a time when people of different races must separate. Some races to heal and find their voices among their own; other races to engage in collective reflection on the harms their races have perpetrated.
• There can be no discussion or disagreement about how our country will achieve greatness. Those who are not in lockstep with a specified pathway to greatness must be exposed and shamed until they comply, or else be punished for speaking truths deemed to be immoral

The Developmental Vulnerabilities of Children and Adolescents

• Younger children are highly vulnerable to magical thinking and egocentrism
• The reality filter is not yet formed and so they cannot distinguish a plausible reality from an implausible reality. They are highly vulnerable to exaggeration and to placing themselves into sociopolitical dramas in ways that are very difficult to predict. Children are highly vulnerable to exploitation by motivated adults.
• Adolescents are highly vulnerable to fantasies in which they play either the hero or the victim as they attempt to carve out a sense of self. Many thrive on having power and influence over their parents. They are immensely vulnerable to peer pressure and thus to the threat ostracization. Adolescents are also highly vulnerable to exploitation by motivated adults.
• Implication: Both younger children and adolescents are vulnerable to introjecting (internalizing) activist rhetoric and taking such rhetoric to extremes

Exploitation of Children: The Dark Triad and Political Extremism

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7369609/

• People on the far right and the far left share a common psychology
• Narcissism
• Psychopathy
• Machiavellianism
• A preoccupation with identity

A Model for making Determinations about Classroom Content

Moving past all or nothing

Example of a “Red Light” Scenario with younger children

A public elementary school in Washington, D.C., gave children as young as 4 a lesson on “anti-racism” that asked them to identify racist members of their family. “If you are a white person, white privilege is something you were born with and it simply means that your life is not more difficult due to the color of your skin,” the “Fistbook for Kids” explains. “Put differently, it’s not your fault for having white privilege, but it is your fault if you choose to ignore it.” The “Fistbook for Kids” says anti-racism “isn’t a spectator sport” but requires “being loud, uncomfortable, confrontational and visible to ensure change is made.” A series of questions in the book asks children, “Where do you see racism in yourself? This requires true soul-searching. Be real with yourself, don’t feel guilt/shame and own it. It’s the first step in becoming an anti-racist.”

Critical Thinking

Adopted from the Foundation for Critical Thinking

The Problem�Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.

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The Solution�To think critically, you must be aware of your own biases and assumptions when encountering information, and apply consistent universal standards when evaluating sources of information. In the process of critical thinking intellectual virtues such as intellectual humility open-mindedness and a commitment to reason are vitally important.

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The Critical Thinker

• raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;
• gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;
• thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and
• communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems
• Less susceptible to unsupported global pronouncements�

Critical Believing

The Problem

Critical thinking and associated concepts such as equality, the scientific method, individualism over collectivism and rationality stem from white supremacy culture which oppressed the knowledges and lives of minorities. Because all things that make sense in a white supremacist society flow from white supremacy other ways of knowing are suppressed, and minorities fail to thrive in a system that they had no part in creating.

The Solution

The Solution requires a rejection of “the masters tools” (e.g., critical thinking). We must foster the development of a “critical conscience”. Towards this end we must dismantle systems that rely on liberal order, equality, reasoning and enlightenment rationalism. We must replace this with the narratives and lived experiences of those who have insight into the invisible systems of oppression which run throughout society. Truth must be conveyed by the people who know it, and those who do not know the truth through experience are expected and required to demonstrate belief in the truths that are conveyed.

The Critical Believer

• Rejects the use of “the masters tools” and helps others to understand that these tools are a product “whiteness” designed for the purposes of subjugating people of color and indigenous people
• Rejects objective concepts of truth, and centers narrative
• Assigns “weight” to a given perspective based on intersectional notions of identity
• Communicates in a way that makes contested ideas palatable (e.g., through expansion of the concept of harm)
• Motivated to police compliance with ideology utilizing systems of “accountability”

Critical Thinking vs. Critical Believing

• Critical thinking allows one to adapt to a variety of difficulties. This is because critical thinking is a process of testing differing perspectives and weeding out false assumptions and other forms of erroneous thinking.
• In psychology the application of critical thinking to treat anxiety and depression is called cognitive behavioral therapy
• Critical Believing requires that a person complete a number of cognitive maneuvers and assumptions so that neutral situations that they encounter fit within a pre-determined belief structure. Often the critical believer is asked to find “problematic” elements in daily life and routines. This leads to the Rorschach of despair; a tendency to project beliefs of injustice and harm onto neutral situations. This practice is enthusiastically encouraged by critical social justice activists through DEI initiatives. As Robin D’Angelo says, the question is not whether racism occurred in a given interaction, but how it occurred?
• In short DEI -critical believing- promotes exactly the kind of negative biases that critical thinking is designed to overcome. The negative biases have real world effects, particularly when they are perpetuated by curricula designed to circumvent critical thinking in order to promote critical believing.

Four Cognitive Distortions of DEI

Adopted from the Coddling of the American Mind

1. Children and Adolescents are “Little Adults” (idealization)
1. They should thus be tasked with adult responsibilities to advocate for social changes and should be exposed to adult content in the curriculum
2. Little adults can and should make adult decisions
2. Society should be understood primarily as a system in which privileged and oppressed groups are in constant conflict (global labeling)
• Children as “little adults" should be tasked with understanding and participating in this conflict
3. People are constantly at risk of emotional harm in their day-to-day lives and interactions (catastrophizing)
• Excessive caution should be used in “educating about” and preventing/restricting “harm”, restriction of content/thinking/ speech is an acceptable tradeoff in order to prevent emotional harm
4. Life is a struggle between good people with good ideas and evil people with evil ideas (negative filter)
• The purpose of education is to produce good people with good ideas
• Ignites tribal tendencies

Critical Thinking vs. Critical Believing

• Critical thinking encourages the formation of a disciplined mind that can process complexity and nuance. Whereas critical believing encourages the formation of an insulated and rigid set of beliefs and a wide variety of rhetorical tactics designed to preserve and protect those beliefs.
• Critical thinking is designed to help one thrive in a world of complexity and nuance. Critical believing is designed to preserve a set of beliefs in the face of exposure to complexity and nuance.

The CBT Model and DEI

• DEI seeks to promote critical believing by creating an activist narrative about social injustice
• The creation of an activist narrative requires a circumscription of nuance, hyperbolic interpretations of neutral events and a tone of emergency
• The activist narrative of DEI also seeks to find deeply problematic events in the course of day-to-day life
• The result of the above DEI conditions is the prominence of unexamined cognitive distortions within DEI communities that make reality appear to be deeply troubling for those caught up in the distortions

DEI and Mental Health

• There are several factors that have contributed to the mental health crisis among children and adolescents.
• One of these factors is the growing prevalence of the cognitive distortions that make up the backbone of current DEI policies

Making sensitive decisions about curriculum content. The Red light, Yellow Light, Green Light Model

• Is the material for the education of the children, or the ideological gratification of the adult?
• Does the nature of the material provide a good faith nuanced search for truth or a bad faith attempt to push an political agenda?
• What are the potential trade-offs of teaching the proposed material to a given age of children?
• Does the material promote critical thinking or critical believing?

The two tasks for concerned community members

• See DEI for what it is
• Do not be beguiled by nice sounding words or the appearance of sophistication. DEI is neither nice nor sophisticated.
• Learn to play the what it sounds like/what it is game
• Learn that most DEI language is vacuous and vague and doesn’t mean much of anything. All DEI policies are designed to “open the door” to more extreme versions of DEI and to provide cover for the polarization of the classroom. Learn to look for key elements on DEI proposals, like how it will be enforced.
• Learn that DEI advocates use advancing and retreating definitions to avoid criticism
• Learn to advocate for a Common Humanity approach to school culture as an alternative to illiberal attempts to indoctrinate students and capture institutions.

How did so many people come to adopt such horrible ideas?

The deceptive use of language plays a significant role in the perpetuation of horrible ideas

• Progressive language cloaks illiberal and divisive ideas into highly sympathetic and “nice” sounding language that is difficult to refute or push back against.
• The first step in recognizing DEI for what it is is to begin to play the What it sounds like/ What it is game. Let’s start with the DEI concept of so called “anti-racism”
• Anti-racist [an-tē-rā-sist] n. 1. What it sounds like: A good, moral person committed to opposing racism. 2. What it is: A personal commitment to promote and live out critical social justice orthodoxy as it relates to race endorsing the following assumptions: 1) society, government, and social norms were constructed by white people for the sole purpose of oppressing minorities, 2) racism or complicity in racism is everywhere, and 3) it is the duty of an "anti-racist" to find this deep-seated racism, call it out, and commit to dismantling and restructuring society to address it. Related terms: Anti-racism, Ibram X. Kendi

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• Diversity [də-ˈvər-sə-tē] n. 1. What it sounds like: Recognizing the wide-ranging backgrounds, perspectives, interests, and viewpoints of others. 2. What it is: A specialized term in critical social justice theory that means the creation and maintenance of an artificial community in which individuals are valued based on their superficial identity categories instead of on our common humanity.

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• Inclusion [in· clu· sion | \ in-ˈklü-zhən] n. 1. What it sounds like: The welcoming of different people and recognition of a wide range of genuinely-held political, philosophical, and religious viewpoints. n. 2. What it is: A specialized term within critical social justice theory that signifies a commitment to create an ideological monoculture dependent on the suppression of free speech and expression. This entails excluding people, ideas, concepts, or discussions that challenge critical social justice ideology. Doing so is oftentimes justified as making marginalized groups feel "safe." Related terms: inclusive, safe space, affinity group.

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• Equity [ˈe-kwə-tē] n. 1. What it sounds like: Treating everyone justly and fairly. 2. What it is: An ideological commitment common in critical social justice theory that uses discrimination in order to "correct" past injustices and force equal outcomes between groups. Related terms: Anti-racist

DEI: What is sounds like/what it is

A second rhetorical tactic: different definitions for different situations

The Advancing Definition and the Retreating Definition

• The Advancing Definition
• Used when critical social justice advocates have the “upper hand” in a given situation in which they are highly unlikely to be challenged. Advancing definitions contains assertions and policy procedures that would be highly unlikely to be accepted uncritically by the average person, and that would be applauded by critical social justice activists.
• Example: You can be racist or antiracist, there is nothing in-between. Racism is failure to support antiracist policy, or supporting a racist policy. You should confess your racism. -Adopted from Anti-racist Baby
• In this example, written for preverbal children, Kendi conflates racism with a failure to enthusiastically embrace far left policies and states that failure to embrace them requires a confession. This is an example of an Advancing Definition of Racism

Retreating Definition

• Retreating definitions are used by critical social justice advocates when they before an audience that is highly likely to be skeptical of highly politicized content. Retreating definitions are familiar, reasonable and sympathetic. Retreating definitions always use vague sympathetic language and contain no specific policies.
• Example of a Retreating definition of Antiracism: Anti-racism is simply a principled stand adopted by moral people who chose to avoid supporting racism, and who attempt to reduce the impact of racism on society.

So if you wanted to get these ideas in “through the door” how could you do it?

• Instead of saying: “We must question the foundation of liberal order, including equality, reasoning and enlightenment rationalism”
• You would say: “We aim to co-generate curriculum where students share their lived experiences; their hopes, their dreams. We achieve equity by valuing different ways of knowing and legitimizing the learning that takes place out of school.”
• Instead of saying: “The only remedy for discrimination is more discrimination”
• You would say: “[We believe in]…Distributing resources, power and decision making to marginalized groups or individuals in order to redress marginalization.”

Common Humanity DEI Statement

FAIR statement based on Critical Thinking

Our society is facing a tumultuous time of change, division, and polarization. Our school stands steadfast in its commitment to cultivating open minds and open hearts within our community. We strive to encourage healthy mindsets that will contribute to solving our society’s most vexing problems.

At [school], students learn the importance of curiosity, questioning, and understanding, as well as constructive dialogue and the ability to consider and weigh competing ideas, as they develop the ability to think critically about their world. We strive to create learning environments in which our students can understand different perspectives and appreciate the nuance and complexity of the world around them. We prepare our students to become compassionate leaders who will promote equality, justice, and human flourishing for all.

Pro-human Resources for Common Humanity DEI

• FAIR Teaching Standards and Lesson Plans https://www.fairstory.org/about/
• Fair Success at School Handbook https://www.fairforall.org/success-school/
• FAIR Model Equity Policy for Schools https://www.fairforall.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Updated-Model-School-District-Policy-Educational-Equity.pdf
• FAIR Vermont https://www.fairforall.org/vermont/
• End DEI https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/end-dei-bari-weiss-jews
• The Racism Treadmill https://quillette.com/2018/05/14/the-racism-treadmill/
• Harvard Cancelled its Best Black Professor: Why? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8xWOlk3WIw
• Gender Ideology True Believers https://quillette.com/2022/05/19/gender-ideologys-true-believers/