KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Going against a district recommendation, the Lansing school board removed portions of the high school English curriculum after a parent complained that her daughter’s course had been “hijacked by a social-political agenda” and was “representative of critical race theory.”
The school board in Leavenworth County, Kansas, last week voted 4-3 to remove certain materials included in Senior Composition and Senior Literature courses, despite the objections of several other parents and students. That decision went against a district committee’s recommendation stating that the content as used in class is “appropriate for the age of students and learning objectives.”
Parent Kirsten Workman successfully challenged materials in a social justice unit, where students explored different topics and wrote expository essays. As a result, the classes will no longer include the video “Oscar Wilde Biography: His ‘Wild’ Life,” the films “The Laramie Project” and “13th,” and the essays “We Should All be Feminists” by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and “Willing to Be Disturbed” by Margaret J. Wheatley.
