When he was Governor of Maryland in 2004, Bob Ehrlich stirred a hornet’s nest when he denounced multiculturalism as “bunk” on a talk radio show. Because many Americans believe multiculturalism merely means teaching children in a wholesome way about diverse cultures, Ehrlich drew heat.

Now, the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME), the main advocacy organization for multiculturalism, is coming to Baltimore to hold its 17th annual national convention from Halloween to Nov. 4. Here is a perfect opportunity to examine the agenda and see if the former Governor had a point or not.

School Board members ought to be particularly interested because they approve the doling of taxpayers’ money for K-12 teachers from every state to attend NAME. They ought to be welcome to sit in on any of the workshops and determine what multicultural messages their teachers are absorbing for use back in their classrooms. (Walk-up registration for the entire convention is $505 after Oct. 20, but surely NAME would cut or waive the fee for official visitors and the press.)

The co-sponsors of multiculturalism’s biggest gathering include several beneficiaries of tax money – i.e., the Maryland affiliate of the National Education Association (a long-time NAME ally), George Mason University, and even the Maryland Department of Education.

School board members could start by attending one of the half- or full-day workshops on Halloween. Here are some of the choices from the NAME program:

·        “The Unbearable Whiteness of Being: Dismantling White Privilege and Supporting Anti-Racist Education in Our Classrooms and Schools.” Taught by a St. Cloud State University professor, this session “is designed to help educators identify and deconstruct their own white privilege and in so doing more deeply commit themselves to anti-racist
teaching and critical multicultural teaching. . . .”

 ·       “Talking About Religious Oppression and Unpacking Christian Privilege.” This session taught by a team of professors “will examine the dynamics of Christian privilege and oppression of minority religious groups and non-believers as constructed and maintained on three distinct levels: individual, institutional, and societal. A historical and legal lecturette {sic} will be presented and participants will engage in interactive learning modules.”

·        “Beyond Celebrating Diversity: Teaching Teachers How to be Critical Multicultural Educators.” Taught by NAME regional director Paul Gorski, founder of the activist group EdChange, this session will start from the premise that multiculturalism’s greatest danger “comes from educators who ostensibly support its goals, but whose work – cultural plunges, food fairs, etc. – reflect a compassionate conservative consciousness rather than social justice. This session focuses on preparing teachers, not for celebrating diversity, but for achieving justice in schools and society.”

Workshops at NAME annual conventions (six of which this writer has attended since 1993 as an observer for The Foundation Endowment) repeatedly advocate the teaching of "social justice.” That term never seems to be defined but its users simplify all American life as a saga of The Oppressed versus The Oppressors. Skin color,  national origin, gender, religion, and sexual preference are among the qualities that put all individuals into one category or the other.

There is method in such vagueness. The great free-market economist Friedrich Hayek once observed that entire tomes on social justice never offer a definition. As Michael Novak elaborated in an article in the journal “First Things” (December 2000), the term becomes “an instrument of ideological intimidation for the purpose of gaining the power of legal coercion.”

Not just in the day-long institutes, but in more than 150 smaller-group sessions that go on almost hourly throughout a NAME convention, presenters instruct  teachers to go back to their schools and become social-justice warriors. Those who are white are supposed to transcend their oppressor status by becoming change agents. Those who are Christian should feel just as guilty as the whites for all those their faith has victimized. Nothing but evil has come from the European cultures that led the way in America’s founding.

It is not necessary to accept this writer’s contention that ideological indoctrination permeates the multiculturalists’ deliberations. Go to www.nameorg.org and read the full convention program. Better yet, ask to attend sessions that are of particular interest to you. After all, your tax money is paying for them, and for the lessons that teachers bring back for your children. Then, decide for yourself if Bob Ehrlich was right.