New Trier's "Identity Project" and CRT
In December, New Trier rolled out its annual Identity Project for freshmen at the Northfield Campus to "provide a safe and respectful learning community for everyone." It was a two-day course where students were to learn about their own "identity" and empathy for others.
But read the line at the very bottom of this flyer (left) regarding the program (click here for a larger image) posted at New Trier. Its "Identity Project" sources material from the critical race theory-based "Courageous Conversations." This is an offering of the Pacific Educational Group which has made millions of dollars over the past 25 years in "equity" consulting. They are a major vendor to the schools in Evanston as well as New Trier.
"Equity," as you'll recall, advocates the redistribution of resources to force equal outcomes, versus an emphasis on equal opportunity, performance, and merit; it calls for using group-based identity politics to separate people along racial and gender lines into groups of "oppressors" and the "oppressed" versus viewing people as individuals.
So what does "Courageous Conversations" teach? Click here to view a sample of a past "Courageous Conversations" national meeting -- including sessions on the highly politicized concepts of intersectionality, equity, critical race theory, culturally responsive instruction, how to explain white privilege to skeptics, etc. Several of the presenters are affiliated with schools in the area including New Trier.
We think the second bullet point in the poster above sums up what the school should insist upon: "Be Kind." Using sources like "Courageous Conversations" that emphasize race, sexuality, and other group-based identities (see bullet point five that reflects that language) is at best a waste of time and at worst divisive and corrosive to school climate.