by Michael Bielawski

There’s a difference between critical thinking and critical believing, former UVM professor Dr. Aaron Kindsvatter told about 50 people in Essex Junction Wednesday night. 

Critical believing is the mindset of the “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) pushed in public schools, Kindsvatter said. 

“The main thing that the critical social justice types want to get you to do is to buy into what they want you to believe and to not question it,” Kindsvatter told the crowd at The Holy Family Community Center in Essex.

Kindsvatter is also the Vermont chapter leader for FAIR, the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. The event was organized and hosted by SPEAKVt.org.

Critical thinking vs. critical believing

He talked about the differences between critical thinking and critical believing.

“Critical thinking is the process of testing different perspectives and weaning out false assumptions or other forms of erroneous thinking. Critical believing … requires that a person complete a number of cognitive assumptions so that the situations that they encounter fit within a predetermined belief structure.”

While looking at the new Essex High School Equity Standards he observed some other alarming concepts taught to young children.

“Critical thinking and associated concepts such as equality and the scientific method, individualism over collectivism and rationality stem from white supremacy culture which oppress [minorities],” he said, describing what the DEI advocates are promoting.

Age 4 children told they can be racist or anti-racist

He talked about how across the nation DEI concepts have been taught to children as young as age 4. This includes telling these white children that they can either acknowledge their inherent racism and become “anti-racist” or they will be deemed a racist.

Kindsvatter, who now runs a counseling service, said that children who still believe in Santa Claus (until about age 8, on average) do not have the mental capacity yet to detect when an adult may be pushing an agenda rather than being genuine.

“Children are of course highly vulnerable to exploitation of motivated adults,” Kindsvatter said.

DEI is not Martin Luther King’s message

Kindsvatter said that many folks who casually follow the news or updates from their schools usually assume that when they hear “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” that essentially means these are the values of Martin Luther King.

He said such is not the case and in fact, it is the opposite.

“When most people hear about DEI they think about Martin Luther King and what MLK tried to tell us in his “I Have a Dream” speech and they think about some of the [values] of colorblindness that MLK was trying to help us to adopt,” he said.

“Those being we celebrate our differences even as we strive to find our common humanity. Education must enable one to sift and weigh truth from false and real from unreal and fact from fiction, and focus on our shared humanity as the path to overcoming racism.”

He read some quotes that he had gathered from within the DEI literature and asked if they sounded like Dr. King.

“We must question the foundation of liberal order including equality, reasoning, and enlightenment and rationalism. Only when white concepts that focus on individualism and reliance on the scientific method and hard work are dismantled can we achieve a functional and fair society,” he read.

A very similar quote can be found on the University of North Carolina website regarding Critical Race Theory.

The author is a reporter for the Vermont Daily Chronicle