We Should Learn from the Georgetown Day Story

Neal McCluskey

When she was nominated for a place on the U.S. Supreme Court, I did not expect the confirmation of Judge Katanji Brown Jackson to offer crucial insights into the importance of educational freedom. It just did not seem to be a part of the buzz around her nomination. I am glad I was wrong.

As Center for Educational Freedom research associate Solomon Chen highlighted earlier, Judge Jackson’s response to Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R‑TX) line of questioning about “critical race theory” in the curriculum of Georgetown Day School (GDS), on whose board Jackson sits, led Jackson to explain that CRT at the school is not a problem. Why? Because, as a private school, people freely choose it — CRT is imposed on no GDS family.

But Jackson’s answer, which I only saw in full yesterday afternoon, offers more than that essential understanding. It is a powerful reminder that freedom enables people to overcome terrible things that government may impose on its institutions. In the case of GDS, racial segregation in District of Columbia public schools.

Jackson’s response to Sen. Cruz should be watched in full:

Of course, private schools have not been bastions of racial integration, and not just because they must charge tuition, raising barriers of wealth that correlate with race. They also reflect popular beliefs and fears. But GDS was not alone in integrating before the U.S. Supreme Court said states and districts had to end forced segregation in public schooling. Some private schools in Florida, Missouri, and North Carolina had done the same.

Private actors can often do what the majority – either political or social – will not, blazing trails that others eventually follow, because they are free to act on their own. But we have to give them the space to do it, and there is far more of that when money follows children rather than being put directly into government schools. In other words, when people have school choice.