North Carolina School District Is Training Teachers to Identify Their Own ‘White Privilege’

The largest school district in North Carolina is trying to train its educators to be more effective and “equitable” in the classroom by helping them “rank their societal privilege.”

According to a report by ABC 11, the Wake County School District is calling this training “cultural proficiency.” However, the training seems to point more to identifying “white privilege,” as the focus is on “heterosexual white men”:

North Carolina’s largest school district is focusing on a new type of training when it comes to student equality in the classroom.

Cultural proficiency is designed to help Wake County Schools’ mostly white workforce relate to an increasingly diverse student body.

At a training session in January, a group of Wake County assistant principals took “A Survey of Privilege and Entitlement.” It asked them to rank their societal power.

The activity incorporates the idea that heterosexual white men in America have an advantage and may appear insensitive to culturally diverse students.

Just last week, a middle school in Wake County came under fire for controversial reading topics for 4th graders.

Also, the county’s school board held a retreat to discuss apparent “budget challenges.” Whether or not this “cultural proficiency” training is part of the budget discussions is unclear.

In 2014, Wake County hired Rodney Trice to be Assistant Superintendent of the newly created “Office of Equity Affairs.”

As reported by the News and Observer, the job description for Mr. Trice’s role appears to match up with the proposed “cultural proficiency” training:

“The position is responsible for developing and implementing short and long range cultural diversity, equity and respect; and achieving the school system’s strategic goals and objectives related to diversity in support of the Superintendent and School Board.”

Mr. Trice’s salary was reported at $125,000, and the budget for the office at $218,478.