1/ Concepts derived from critical race & gender theory are being taught to a *MAJORITY* of British schoolchildren, and many are rejecting free speech and British heritage. A thread based on my 2 new @Policy_Exchange reports
policyexchange.org.uk
policyexchange.org.uk
policyexchange.org.uk
policyexchange.org.uk
2/ 73% of over 1,500 British 18-20 year-olds in my @YouGov survey who gave a response say they were taught, or heard from an adult in school, about at least one of 5 Critical Social Justice (CSJ) terms. 59% were taught about at least one Critical Race-derived term
3/ For 68% of pupils, critical race and gender concepts are being taught as fact, not as one side of a debate
4/ Nearly half of Britons 25 and under want J.K. Rowling to be dropped by her publisher compared to 3% of over-50s. Though schools are not the main force shaping young people’s views, they reinforce a progressive illiberal youth culture
5/ Progressive illiberalism is concentrated among younger leftists. Older leftists are vastly more liberal than younger leftists while there is less age difference among centrists & conservatives
6/ Young people are less liberal on speech issues and considerably less attached to Britain’s heritage. But there is a major gender and ideology gap among my 18-20 sample, with young leftists and women noticeably more illiberal and unpatriotic than young conservatives and men
7/ More exposure to CSJ in school is linked with having had a greater fear of being shamed, punished or expelled for speech. 43% of white youth exposed to 5 concepts feared reprisals compared to 19% of those hearing no CSJ. Conservatives were twice as likely to worry
8/ White and Asian young people taught the maximum number of Critical Race Theory concepts are about 15 points more likely to say they felt uncomfortable at the idea of criticizing a black schoolmate than those exposed to no CRT, potentially hampering black progress
9/ We see similar effects among British adults. Those who vote for right-of-centre parties & have had diversity training (often based on CSJ) are significantly more worried about losing their job and reputation than conservatives who did not attend such training
10/ Right-wing voters who have taken diversity training are significantly less willing to criticize a black co-worker than those who haven’t, limiting the flow of useful feedback to black employees. Those worried for their job or reputation are even more reluctant
11/ Nearly half of right voters under age 35 worry for their jobs and reputations. Left party voters and older voters are less concerned, but fully a quarter of British employees worry about being cancelled
12/ Moreover, 42% of over 1,500 18-20 year-olds who support Leave feared being expelled, punished or shamed while at school compared to 23% for their Remain classmates, again showing the substantial political self-censorship gap among the young
13/ Wokeness is unpopular. By a 2 to 1 margin, Britons oppose the cultural socialist position on speech and heritage issues. Just 3 percent who express a view back separating schoolchildren by race into oppressors/oppressed and only 15 percent want Churchill’s statue removed
14/ Speech issues split the far left from the centre left. A minority of those who identify as the leftmost point on a 5-point scale back Kathleen Stock and J.K. Rowling’s speech rights but a clear majority of centre-leftists do
15/ Heritage issues mobilise the right and fragment the left. 73% of Tory, Brexit Party or Unionist voters strongly disagree with moving Churchill from Parliament Square while only 5% of Labour, Lib Dem or other left voters strongly agree
16/ The combination of speech issues splitting the left and heritage/Critical Theory questions fragmenting left while uniting the right creates an electoral wedge. The Tories need to be pursuing these issues while Labour must downplay them or moderate to mitigate damage
17/ Tories should stop shying away from culture. DfE must issue guidance to define CSJ terms as political, not consensual & thus violating schools’ impartiality duties under sections 406 and 407. ‘Systemic racism’ must be specifically excluded from the definition of racism
18/ Ofsted & DfE Guidance should specify that the notion of gender identity, the idea that some people innately identify with a gender that differs from their sex at birth, should not be considered a consensus view, but a politically-contested concept
19/ Tories need to tighten oversight of political impartiality in schools via Ofsted and DfE, with regular reporting. Impartiality needs to become part of the school inspection regime, and of teacher training
20/ Parents need to have a clear route to reporting violations of impartiality duties, with rapid responses. Third-party content providers must agree to make materials public upon request as a condition of contract, and schools must make teaching materials available upon request
21/ DfE and Ofsted guidance should ensure that schools do not make official statements or endorse positions on issues where a significant share of the public disagree, i.e. any issues with a partisan divide of over 20 points /End
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