The Daily Signal - Critical Race Theory Distracts From Real Problems in Education, Ian Rowe Says

Episode Date: June 17, 2021

Public education in New York City is far from what it once was, Ian Rowe, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, says.  “I had a great public school education in New York City kindergarten through 12th grade,” Rowe says. But today, he says, New York City's public schools aren't meeting the needs of students. He notes that in the South Bronx, for example, “only 2%" of students who started ninth grade in 2015 graduated from high school "ready for college." Different factors contributed to this decline, but with students struggling to read and do basic math, Rowe says, ideologies such as critical race theory serve only as a “distraction.”  In 2022, Rowe says, he plans to launch Vertex Partnership Academies in the Bronx, a network of charter-based international baccalaureate high schools.  Rowe joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss why he promotes school choice options in New York and to explain why critical race theory doesn't benefit students. We also cover these stories: President Biden meets the press in Geneva after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin dodges reporters' questions about his human rights record and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.  Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says she is concerned by the leak of private taxpayer information to the media outlet ProPublica. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get you and your crew to the big shows with Go Transit. Go connects to all the main concert venues like TD Coliseum in Hamilton and Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto. And Go makes it affordable with special e-ticket fares. A one-day weekend pass offers unlimited travel across the network on any weekend day or holiday for just $10. And a weekday group pass offers the same weekday travel flexibility from $30 for two people and up to $60 for five. Buy yours at go transit.com slash tickets. This is the Daily Sigmundle podcast for Thursday, June 17th. I'm Rachel Del Judis.

And I'm Virginia Allen. Critical race theory is a distraction from the real problems within our education system. Ian Rowe of the American Enterprise Institute says. Rowe joins the show today to explain some of the core issues within America's schools and why public education is failing to prepare students for college. He also explains what he is personally doing to meet the needs of students in college. New York City. Don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Today's interview was recorded

during the Heritage Foundation's Resource Bank, so please excuse the background noise and chatter. And now, on to our top news. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden held a press conference on Russia from Geneva, Switzerland, following a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the press conference, Biden said he told Putin his agenda is not against Russia or anyone else. Here's what Biden had to say via C-SPAN. Now, I told President Putin my agenda is not against Russia or anyone else. It's for the American people, fighting COVID-19, rebuilding our economy, reestablishing relationships around the world, our allies and friends, and protecting the American people. That's my

responsibility as president. I also told him that no president of the United States, States could keep faith with the American people if they did not speak out to defend our democratic values, to stand up for the universal and fundamental freedoms that all men and women have in our view, that's just part of the DNA of our country. So human rights is going to always be on the table, I told them. It's not about just going after Russia when they violate human rights. It's about who we are. How could I be the president of the president of the the United States of America and not speak out against the violation of human rights. I told him that unlike other countries, including Russia, we're uniquely a product of an idea.

You've heard me say this before again and again, but I'm going to keep saying it. What's that idea? We don't derive our rights from the government. We possess them because we're born, period, and we yield them to a government. Also during the press conference, Biden nearly referred to Putin as former President Trump via the Daily Caller. I caught part of President's Putin's press conference, and he talked about the need for us to be able to have some kind of motor stop around where he dealt with making sure the Arctic was in fact a free zone. Russian President Vladimir Putin dodged reporter questions about his human rights record and Russian. opposition leader Alexi Navani during a press conference Wednesday. Putin answered reporters' questions

following his meeting with President Joe Biden in Geneva, Switzerland. But when pressed on human rights issues by ABC News reporter, Putin instead brought up the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol per the Hill. Take a listen to the interpreted response from Putin. If all of your political opponents are dead in prison, poison, doesn't that send a message that that you do not want a fair political fight. As for who is killing whom or throwing whom in jail, people came to the US Congress with political demands. 400 people.

Over 400 people had criminal charges placed on them. They faced prison sentences up to 20, maybe, 20, maybe even 25 years. They're being called domestic terrorists. They're being accused of a number of other crimes. Seventy of them were arrested right away after the events, and 30 of them are still under arrest. It's unclear on what grounds. And as for the, nobody from the official authorities has informed us about it. Some people died, and one of the People that died that were simply shot on the spot by the police, although they were not threatening the police with any weapons.

In many countries, the same thing happens that happens in our country. I'd like to stress once more that we sympathize with what happened in the United States, but we have no desire to allow the same thing to happen in our country. The Russian president also compared the riots in America following the death of George Floyd to pro-democracy protests in Russia, led by Navani. Putin said America just recently had a very severe events, well-known events, after the killing of an African American. And the entire movement developed known as Black Lives Matter. I'm not going to comment on that.

But here's what I do want to say, Putin said. What we saw was disorder, destruction, violations of the law. And Putin added, we feel sympathy for the United States of America, but we don't. want that to happen in our territory. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the leak of private taxpayer information to ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization is concerning. In a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, Yelan said, this was a very serious situation, and I in the Treasury Department take very seriously the protection of government data.

Yelan said that the breach of confidential taxpayer data has been reported to the Treasury Inspector General and the Department of Justice and said that the IRS Committee, Commissioner is also looking into the situation. The Senate passed a bill earlier this week to make June 10th a federal holiday. June 19th or June 10th marks the day the final American slaves were informed of their freedom. Nearly two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas to declare all slaves free. If it becomes law, June 10th will become America's 12th federal holiday.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that making Juneteenth a federal holiday is a major step forward to recognize the wrongs of the past. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Ian Rowe about America's K-12 education and critical race theory. Americans use firearms to defend themselves between 500,000 and 2 million times every year. But God forbid that my mother has ever faced with a scenario where she has to stop a threat to her life. But if she is, I hope policy. Protected by professional armed security didn't strip her of the right to use the firearm she can handle most competently To watch the rest of heritage expert Amy Swearer's testimony on assault weapons before the House Judiciary Committee Head to the Heritage Foundation YouTube channel. There you'll find talks, events, and documentaries

backed with the reputation of the nation's most broadly supported Public Policy Research Institute Start watching now at heritage.org slash YouTube and don't forget to subscribe to and share. I am so pleased to be joined by Ian Rowe, a resident fellow in domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Rowe, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to the conversation. Now, I know that education is very important to you. Your research focuses on education and upward mobility. You're the co-founder of the National Summer School Initiative. You also serve as a writer for 1776 Unites campaign and your co-founder of Vertex Partnerships Academies, a new network of charter-based schools,

international baccalaureate high schools, which is going to be opening in the Bronx in 2022. So much of your work is around education. Why is education so important to you? Well, it's a great question. I mean, my own personal experience is that my parents who came here from Jamaica West Indies, they were very focused on education. I had a great public school education in New York City, kindergarten through 12th grade, and I went to Brooklyn Tech High School, which is one of the specialized high schools in the city. And that strong foundation of an education, plus my strong family, really created the basis for virtually everything that I have been able to do in my life.

I went to Harvard Business School. I went to Cornell University, College of Engineering. I worked at the White House, major organization. the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And really, I have always felt that my opportunity to have a great tuition-free public education should be something that's afforded to every child in this country, regardless of their race, class, or zip code. And how are you going about making that a priority, that every child really does have access to strong education? So about in 2009 and 10, I was working for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,

and I had experience working at Teach for America, at the White House, at MTV, all these interesting places. But I was really yearning for the opportunity to actually lead schools. I mean, I had done a lot of work in raising money for schools, giving away money for schools, creating media projects around education. But I thought it was important for me to, really get my hands dirty and see what it's really like. And so I had the opportunity to become CEO of a non-profit network of public charter schools in the heart of the South Bronx and the lower

east side of Manhattan. So I became CEO in 2010. And so for a full decade, I ran a network of elementary and middle schools, single sex schools. And it was quite amazing. We had more than 2,000 students, almost all low income, almost all black and Hispanic kids who, and we had more than 5,000 kids on the wait list. So it was really in demand. And the parents that chose to send their kids to enter the lottery, they wanted their kids to have a shot at the American Dream. That they may be from low-income backgrounds, they may face different forms of discrimination in their life, but they knew that with strong schools, strong principals, strong teachers with very high expectations, that their kids could learn pathways to success, to understand

not only from an academic perspective, but the importance of character, the importance of family, the importance of living with integrity, all of those things are really important. So we ran that for 10 years through elementary and middle school, and now I'm launching, as you just mentioned,

Vertex Partnership Academies, which is going to be a new network of character-based international baccariate high schools, again in the heart of the South Bronx, because we want to create more pathways for young people, especially in communities, for example, in this community in the Bronx, only 2% of the students that started ninth grade in 2015, four years later, graduated from high school, ready for college. So think about that. Ninety-eight percent of the kids that started did not,

four years later, be on a track to be able to do math or reading without remediation. And that's, that's criminal and we have to change that. And it hasn't always been that way. I know Thomas Sol talks about how he received a great education, great public education in New York City, and he really laments the fact that, you know, that wouldn't be true today if he was in the public schools. What happened? What shifted?

Well, unfortunately, well, there are a number of factors, but he's right, and I was the beneficiary of a great public education, but there are a lot of factors that have made, it so that we're not succeeding really as a country because as a country, not only in New York, only about a third of all students across race are reading at grade level. If you look at the national assessment for educational progress, which is also known as the nation's report card, it's an assessment that's given every two years in fourth grade, eighth grade, and twelfth grade, I think only about 37% of 12th graders are reading at proficiency. And in math

is not much better. This is a huge crisis for our country and I think sometimes there are major distractions, whether it be the current distraction of critical race theory and other things, take our eyes off the prize that kids of all races are struggling and we need to get back to focus on things like literacy, numeracy as the foundation, and then simultaneously strengthening families. I mean, one of the things that's so challenging over the years is that there's been an explosion in non-marital birth rates, particularly to young women, and that has created a pretty challenging environments for kids. So there are a number of factors, but I think we as a country have to recognize that our public school system, and there are some

amazing teachers, many, many amazing teachers in our system, but overall, we're not getting the achievements that I think our kids deserve. You mentioned critical race theory, and you called it a distraction. Explain first just what exactly we mean when we say critical race theory. We hear that word a lot, but what exactly is it? Yeah, well, it is in the news now, and there are many states that are trying to ban it, so it seems appropriate we should talk about it. Critical race theory is an ideology that insists that America is a racist nation, that every institution is ripe with racism, that we have to look at the world through the prism, of race, any racial disparity must be due to systemic racism. But, you know, again, looking at the

data in education, looking at the National Assessment for Educational Progress, if you look at that same data in 2019 at fourth grade, eighth grade, and twelfth grade, the cumulative number of white students that are not reading a grade level is 3.75 million students. So nearly four million white students are not reading a grade level. It's about 1.4 million black kids at those same grades. And yes, there are more white kids overall in the population. But the fact remains that we have millions and millions and millions of kids of all races not reading at proficiency. That is a crisis for our country. But critical race theory, in my view, narrows the conversation to say everything is about race. Well, it's other.

unlikely that systemic racism is the cause of nearly four million white students at fourth grade, eighth grade, and twelfth grade that are not reading at grade level. How does the narrative of critical race theory impact students? Yeah, it's interesting because, and I think this is a really important point. Critical race theory is a theory. It's an ideology. And so it's very hard to ban an idea. And I think, and we can talk about it later, I think we've got to be very careful not to say that we're trying to ban an idea. you have to really ban what I call the oxygen, the practices that are typically related to a critical race theory regime.

So you'll see examples of it where a superintendent in Evanston, Illinois, will say that in creating their back-to-school plans, only the black students will be allowed to return because of systemic racism. Or you'll have other districts where, as part of their training, or acclamation for kids, they'll do something called a privilege walk. Well, they'll line up all of the students in a horizontal line, and they'll say, if you're white, take two steps forward. If you're black, take three steps backward, right?

Or imagine professional development being done where all the white teachers are put into one room and all the non-white teachers and put into a separate room, and all the white teachers are part of the training. they have to confess their oppressor tendencies to confess their privilege, and the quote-unquote other group is, you know, I was told how marginalized they are. So the last thing our kids, the kids that I lead in the heart of the South Bronx, need to learn is that there's some permanent, marginalized class, and that there's structural barriers that are insurmountable. And I think it's very easy for a critical race theory regime to start to institute this kind of

idea, and again, I think it's a big distraction. Let's focus on literacy, numeracy, the things that are a bedrock for all kids, because there are real issues as it relates to, do kids have school choice? If you're in a district where 98% of the kids are not graduating ready for college, don't you think school choice would be an effective intervention, right? Are teachers schooled and how to effectively teach reading? These are all major issues that affect kids of all races. Yeah, yeah. Well, and as we've talked about,

you're starting these, you've already been involved in charter schools, now you're opening up these high schools in 2022. So talk a little bit about how many students you'll be able to serve through those schools, the types of maybe unique curriculums that you're gonna be incorporating and how you're actually going to be setting these kids up for success.

Yeah, it's a really exciting question. So we're launching Vertex Partnership Academies with the idea, the aspiration is to be a network of schools, so not just one. So the first campus will open in 2022, and it is an international baccleriette model, which for many folks may not be familiar with. It's a world-class curriculum. It ensures that kids are focused on critical thinking. The whole school will be grounded in the four cardinal virtues of courage, justice, temperance, and wisdom.

We're really excited by that, really grounded in the, ideas of equality of opportunity, individual dignity, and common humanity across race. So we're not reducing kids or our faculty to any immutable characteristic, but recognizing each person as an individual. And as the content will be something called the International Bacleria Diploma Program, which is a very rigorous program that sets our kids up to enter and thrive in four-year colleges or universities, and we'll have something called the International Valkyriek Careers Pathway. And the careers pathway will allow a student to be able to take apprenticeships in high school,

in either computer science, architecture, or something in healthcare. Those are our first three industries. And so the idea is that you could graduate from high school with an industry credential with labor market value, if that's what you so choose. And I think it's really important that we start to recognize that college is great or can be great, but it doesn't have to be the pathway for everyone. So we're building Vertex Partnership Academies to be the first of its kind example of schools that has these dual pathways. When I was a student at Brooklyn Tech, there were 14 majors. So I declared my major as an electrical engineer in high school at Brooklyn Tech.

And it was an amazing experience. So we want to bring that forward into Vertex Partnership Academies. Wow. That's so practical. And there's such a need right now, even in society, we're seeing that increased need for individuals to have those practical hard skills, really from a young age, you know, in those fields. So I love that.

What a great model. And also let a thousand flowers bloom, because not only do we want Vertex Partnership Academies to be successful itself, but it now can serve as a moment. model for other localities because one of the things we're doing is that we're allowing networks really high-performing networks of charter schools that only go through eighth grade to be able to partner together to then have the graduates of their schools enter vertex partnership academy so we become a guaranteed high school option for all these great networks

that currently only go through eighth grade and you know that's a that's a that's the power of choice and in New York there's a challenge right now because there's a cap on the number of charter schools that can be opened and one of the things I think that we should all be thinking about how do we how do we fix problems like only a third of our kids being able to read at grade level allow more charter schools allow more innovation allow more entrepreneurs to come together and say I want to build great schools throughout the country well and as we do think about how do we these issues. For those listening who say I want to help but I can't start a charter school or you know they only maybe have so much time so many resources what is your encouragement to them for

how they can get involved and support strong education? Yeah well the first and foremost is make sure your own education in your own household is great support your own children because you know parents are the first teacher and even as someone who has run schools for the last decade and launching a new network, I never want to displace the important role of families and parents in creating rich environments at home so that your kid has a library at home, they have access to good language, good behavior, good character role models. And so the first and foremost thing is ensure that in your own home, you're providing a great education to your own family and to your own children. And then if you want to radiate beyond that, there's nothing like your own school board.

I mean, I just decided to make a run for a school board, and I was victorious. I was very happy with that because I know that that's a very important institution, because as we, you know, we might talk about national politics and all this other stuff, but local school boards is where the action is. And so I would strongly encourage you as someone who wants to make a difference. Get involved. Understand what your schools are doing. Like right now in a lot of districts across the country, parents are concerned. And as a result of COVID, a lot of parents got more visibility into what's actually being taught to their children.

And they weren't happy with it. And so if that was your experience, I would strongly suggest getting involved. And then if you are political in nature, support initiatives around school choice. You know, I have parents in the heart of the South Bronx who are sentenced to send their kids to schools that have not been serving their kids well for generations. and yet we've got middle class and upper class folks across the country who have the power of choice. They can send their kids to private school. They can move to great suburbs, great access to free public schools. Let's let low-income kids of all races have that same power.

Well, and I know at the Daily Signal, we often will have maybe a parent reach out to us or a teacher and ask for resources. You know, how can I really be teaching American values in the classroom? And one of the resources I often send them is 1776 Unites. You write for the campaign. Would you just share a little bit about the curriculum? Yeah. So in early 2020, in response to the discredited project that the New York Times launched called

the 1619 project, which made all these false claims about the founding of our country being somehow 1619 versus 1776. A group of black scholars came together led by Bob Woodson, who's just an incredible person who's for 40 years led the Woodson Center, helping folks in low-income communities become agents of their own uplift by embracing the founding principles around family, faith, hard work, entrepreneurship, education. And we decided to put forth a curriculum that we thought could help teachers, homeschoolers, after-school folks,

who wanted a more complete story of the African-American experience in the United States because so often we seem to be fixated on only the negative narrative. And believe me, the United States does have a history of slavery, and if one wanted to just weave together a story solely of atrocities, you can do that. But that's a very false view. It's a revisionist history. And so we wanted to steal this away from the race hustlers. And so we said, let's tell a more complete story.

So if you go to 1776 Unites, you will now see a curriculum that's been downloaded more than 11,000 times by teachers in all 50 states who want to hear the inspiring stories of, for example, the Rosenwald Schools, which is an idea that Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Institute, created, you know, more than 100 years ago, because he was frustrated that black kids weren't getting access to a high-quality education. So he partnered with Julian Rosenwald, who at the time was the head of the Sears Roebuck retail company, and they built nearly 5,000 schools across the South exclusively for black children and had incredible academic achievements. So an amazing story of resiliency in the face of Jim Crow era segregation, and yet that didn't stop us. And so that's just one of many, many

examples in the curriculum that you can see these stories. And so we can respond to this moment where we're having a national discussion about race, and we should be honest about our past, but all of it, warts and all. And so 1770s. 76 Unites has committed itself to telling these kinds of stories. That's so critical. Thank you for your leadership there, for your service. Thank you so much for joining the show today, Mr. Drew.

We really appreciate your time. Thank you. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us a review and have five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening, and we'll be back with you.

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