David Marcus: Critical Race Theory – here's the right way to teach it in our schools

What we have right now with critical race theory is a mess in which all parties simply talk past each other

"McIntosh’s conception of white privilege has been at the center of anti-racist thought and action in teacher education. We argue, however, that McIntosh’s ideas simplify white racial identity in dangerous ways. We also demonstrate that white privilege pedagogy demands confession, but that confession is a dead end." The McIntosh in question is Peggy McIntosh, activist, anti-racism scholar and Senior Research Scientist of the Wellesley Centers for Women, whose 1989 essay "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" ushered in the concept of "privilege theory" which was borrowed, or dare we say appropriated from W.E.B. Dubois’ concept of the "psychological wage." It demands that White people, students in particular, confess their unearned advantages so as to dismantle them.