I covered education for a major metro daily for about five years, and was often frustrated by the reluctance of public school teachers and administrators to trust me to be a careful professional. I felt I was the representative of citizens, of the public interest in the public schools, but also served as a buffer between the schools and “the mob.” Now you see how the mob operates without trusted journalists in between.

    Reporters on the education beat are good and necessary watchdogs on real problems. For instance, they know that CRT means “Criterion Referenced Tests,” a sound replacement for Norm-Referenced Tests, which simply tell how a student performs against an “average,” regardless of content. That was a real solution to a real problem.

     Critical Race Theory is a fictional problem for K-12, a stand-in for a larger frustration that “the mob” has with difficult changes taking place in the wider society. Teachers have enough hurdles getting through the bureaucracy of training and certification. Please keep “cultural competency” to a minimum.

    Yes, filter out the obvious bigots and outspoken ideologues (the right-wing conspiracy theorists as well as any extreme that would kill First Amendment free speech latitude and ban books in school libraries). But for those who love teaching and know their stuff, training doesn’t need to include attitude adjustment. If they want to teach, help them do so. Protect them and other school officials from the “CRT” shouters. And please, trust the journalists!