DALLAS — A college education is an opportunity to learn real-world applications. Professors typically expand on topics you may have learned in grade school, as well as teach you something you never knew before to broaden your perspective. 

Some Texas lawmakers want to tighten up some of those lessons at the university level if it falls under so-called critical race theory. 

We are about four months shy of the first anniversary of when the critical race theory law went into effect. The law restricts how teachers can talk about race and gender in public grade schools. It’s a surprise to some that lawmakers want to expand the restriction to higher education. 

Almost everything Dr. Rick Halperin teaches is legally problematic if he were to reserve this lesson plan for high schoolers. 

“It’s incredible in 2022 that we’re even talking about this,” said Halperin, a history professor at Southern Methodist University. 

Halperin is free to teach critical race theory without the limitations, because his human rights class is at SMU. His talking points include national historical events where people socially suffered because of religion or skin color.

“Young people should be able to discuss this openly and freely at every university in the country from Key West to Hawaii,” Dr. Halperin said. 

Certain state education laws will not apply to SMU because it’s private. However, Lt. Gov. Patrick wants to see some change in public college classrooms. On his website, Patrick points out his plans to not allow lessons that fall under the state’s definition of critical race theory. 

A portion of Patrick’s statement reads, “Professors must not be able to hide behind academic freedom and poison the minds of our next generation.”

“It’s mind-boggling and disturbing that adults of a certain persuasion would believe that young people should not know of or have the ability to use their own brains to come to a decision,” Halperin said. 

Students of Halperin said even if their degree plan didn’t require this human rights class, they’d still sign up. Most don’t agree with how history lessons were taught in public school, even before critical race theory went into effect. 

“There was a lot of sheltering and coddling... I wouldn’t call it coddling. It was more of hiding from the truth,” said Kennedy Coleman, a political science major. 

“I think that politicians are seeing that the more that this shared history is unpacked and understood, the more implications it has on the way that we vote,” said SMU student Julie Rinker.

SMU classes are capped at 30 students because of COVID-19 protocols. Halperin said the history department expects to see more interest from high school students who will be freshmen in the fall. The only problem he sees with that is if the demand is too high and he’d have to turn some students away.