I got my bachelor’s degree in Sociology. In the four years I spent as an undergraduate, not once was I instructed in critical race theory. Oh sure, I was introduced to some writers whose works were informed by the phenomena, but even as a social science major I did not study it.

It goes without saying that your average fifth grader is not learning it either. But that’s not going to stop a large portion of chuckleheads from thinking they are.

Here’s what the right doesn’t want your kids to learn:

A Washington Post/ABC News poll asked respondents: “How much do you think public schools should teach about how the history of racism affects America today?” A majority of Republicans said it should be taught not so much or not at all. That’s not an objection to critical race theory even in its most expansive definition. That’s an objection to kids learning that, possibly within their parents’ lifetimes but definitely within their grandparents’ lifetimes, the U.S. had explicitly racist laws that have continuing effects today.

The Post/ABC poll follows a Monmouth University poll that asked a slightly different question: Should public schools teach the history of racism? That question didn’t ask about how the history of racism affects America today, but it still found a lot of opposition among Republicans: 43% disapproved somewhat or strongly—and in fact, 34% strongly disapproved.

That’s nearly one in two Republicans who would rather your children not know how we treated Black people in this country for most of its existence. That’s what they’re really bugged about. When they talk of banning critical race theory, it’s simply code for “let’s not talk about racism at all”.