Tag: education

Federal probe sought to refocus school districts’ priorities

A public watchdog has filed a federal complaint against a Wisconsin school district that prefers to hire “diverse” and “culturally competent” teachers rather than effective ones.

Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, says the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District’s 2025-2030 strategic plan details goals of “increasing staff diversity” and prioritizing “hiring and retaining a diverse workforce that better reflects our student population.”

His team, which monitors public officials and institutions for ethics, transparency, and accountability, filed this federal complaint after taking similar action against another school district in Vermont.

“We received a tip from a concerned citizen … and what we discovered when we looked into it was yet another school district that was prioritizing politics and ideology over the civil rights and the needs of students,” Chamberlain summarizes.

They are setting goals for certain ethnicities and using terms like “equity,” which Chamberlain says is wrong.

“People in education know … that means putting the needs of certain students above the needs of others based upon certain characteristics that the students can’t control and using criteria like that rather than merit and looking to improve student achievement overall,” he details.

Though the strategy does include plans to increase student success as well, the Daily Caller says the district admits that only 33% of its third grade students are testing proficient or advanced in literacy and 33% of its eighth graders are earning the same status in mathematics on the state exam.

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Minnesota To Mandate K–12 Ethnic Studies Instruction In 2026

In the coming weeks, school boards across the Land of 10,000 Lakes state will decide on curricula to meet ethnic studies mandates for the 2026–2027 academic year.

There appear to be limited alternatives to the free instructional materials developed with taxpayer dollars and endorsed by the state teachers’ union.

That curriculum instructs 6th graders to learn the 13 guiding principles of the Black Lives Matter movement; 7th graders on how protesters have breached federal buildings; and higher schoolers to “identify plans of action that people have used to resist, refuse, and create alternatives to oppressive systems,” according to the materials developed by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender and Sexuality Studies (RIDGS).

“Students will be able to explain how race is socially constructed and how that social construction has been used to oppress people of color, specifically in relation to Jim Crow, segregation, and racial covenants,” reads the description for the 11th and 12th-grade Jim Crow of the North course.

The Center of the American Experiment, a Minnesota-based education policy organization that opposes partisan and race-based curricula, is helping districts find politically neutral alternatives that it says are more like traditional social studies and history electives and less like social justice advocacy guidance.

“The words ethnic studies have been hijacked,” Catrin Wigfall, a policy fellow with the center, told The Epoch Times.

“But boards [of education] have more power in this than they might think.”

Additionally, state laws allow parents to review a curriculum and opt their child out of any instruction they find objectionable, in which case the school is required to provide alternative materials, Wigfall said.

The Minnesota Department of Education defines ethnic studies as an interdisciplinary area of instruction that “analyzes how race and racism have been and continue to be social, cultural, and political forces, and the connection of race to the stratification of other groups.”

The state law requires public schools to incorporate ethnic studies lessons in mandatory social studies courses across all grade levels, in addition to offering a stand-alone ethnic studies elective course for high school juniors and seniors.

In 2023, the Minnesota Department of Education stipulated that the ethnic studies context is expected to be embedded in other subject areas, including math, physical education, and health, as courses are periodically revised.

The Center of the American Experiment argues that those standards habituate angry, inaccurate, and “identity-first” ideological and political perspectives.

By definition, ethnic studies should focus on global histories, cultures, and religions, but the instruction pushed in Minnesota schools forces a polarizing and narrow political worldview, Wigfall said.

“It’s been a bait and switch campaign,” she said.

The center endorses the American Experience curriculum by the Foundation Against Tolerance and Racism, which Johns Hopkins has approved as a model for ethnic studies instruction, as a suitable alternative to the University of Minnesota’s instructional materials.

In addition, the 1776 Unites free curriculum focuses on historical stories that “celebrate black excellence, reject victimhood culture, and showcase African-Americans who have prospered by embracing America’s founding ideals,” according to its website.

Wigfall said her organization will work with school districts to navigate curriculum choices and the timetable for meeting state requirements across various subject areas.

The center isn’t advocating litigation over the mandate, but local education leaders, under federal Title VI provisions, have legal recourse if they are forced to foster a hostile learning environment under state requirements.

“It will be interesting to see what the rollout looks like,” she said. “When you emphasize tribalism, what does that do to knowledge development?”

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Finally! Department of Ed. Ends One Billion in Student Aid Fraud, Promises More Action

The U.S. Department of Education has reported an end to more than $1 billion in attempted student aid fraud in 2025.

These reforms were needed after the massive waste and fraud resulting from loosened rules during the Biden regime.

“Federal investigators found nearly $90 million in aid had already been fraudulently disbursed, including over $30 million to deceased individuals and more than $40 million to bots posing as students,” according to a report from Campus Reform.

That’s a lot of fraud, but it’s hardly surprising. Under Democrats, fraud and waste are rampant, as we learned in the era of DOGE.

Common sense has returned with the Trump administration.

As Education Secretary Linda McMahon put it, needing ID “to access taxpayer-funded aid is common sense.”

“From day one, the Trump administration has been committed to rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government,” she said. “Merry Christmas, taxpayers!”

As President Trump has emphasized many times, his policies are common sense, and we are the party of common sense.

The Department of Education has also launched a website warning about AI scams posing as legitimate colleges that fool prospective students.

These AI fake sites use fake degrees and deepfake content to mislead students.

Now that we have a real president in the White House, “the Department is building a dedicated fraud detection team within Federal Student Aid to expand enforcement.”

This new unit will help protect students from these fake college scams.

While more work is needed, it’s refreshing that common sense is back, and this administration is doing a lot of work to protect students from these scams.

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Artificial Intelligence In The Classroom Destroys Actual Intelligence In Students

Ialways assumed that before AI destroyed our humanity, we’d at least put up a fight. No, I’m not talking about AI gaining consciousness and physically enslaving us (though I’m certainly not ruling that out as a possibility) — but it is alarming how quick many are to accept AI usage not just in their daily lives, but in education.

As an educator, I’ve heard high school teachers and college professors alike defend teaching AI usage in the classroom: “The technology isn’t going away, so kids have to learn how to use it responsibly.” “AI can be a useful tool.” “Learning how to write the right prompts is a marketable skill.” They say we should not only allow but encourage students to use AI to brainstorm ideas, write outlines, and provide feedback on their work.

On the surface, these suggestions can seem benign. Our society is pushing the idea that AI usage is not only inevitable but good. “You’re a writer,” a silky tone on an advertisement for AI software sings, “even if you are the kind who relies on AI.” Okay, so that’s not the exact verbiage, but that’s the idea we’re being sold. We’re reassured that AI can simply be a legitimate “tool.” You are a writer even if you use an AI generator. You are an artist just by instructing prompts. You are a creator, although it’s the algorithms doing the creating.

If the goal is simply to produce outcomes, one could argue that AI usage should not just be tolerated but encouraged. But education shouldn’t be about producing outcomes – whether it be a sparkling essay or a gripping short story – but shaping souls. The purpose of writing isn’t to instruct a prompt or even to produce a quality paper. The purpose is to become a strong thinker and someone who enriches the lives of everyone, no matter their profession. 

Each and every step of the struggle it takes to write is essential. Yes, it can all be arduous and time-consuming. As a writer, I get how hard it is and how tempting it might be to take shortcuts. But doing so is cheating oneself out of growth and intellectual payoff. Outsourcing parts of the process to algorithms and machines is outsourcing the rewards of doing one’s own thinking. Organizing ideas, refining word choices, thinking about tone are all skills that many citizens in this nation lack, and it’s often apparent in our chaotic, senseless public discourse. These are not steps to be skipped over with a “tool,” but rather things people benefit from learning if they value reason. Strong writing is strong thinking.

But these thoughts aren’t just my own opinions. A recent MIT study shows that AI usage decreases cognitive function like critical thinking. Seems rather odd to insist that something proven to weaken our brains should be introduced to places where institutions of learning, isn’t it?

Many argue that in order to thrive in today’s job market, young people need to master the skill of “writing prompts.” The assumption is that it’s a great skill to learn how to tell a robot to do a job for you; a skill so great, in fact, that we need to send kids to school for it.  For decades, educators have argued kids need screen time to prepare them for today’s job market. They acted as if using the internet were a skill that needs years of training when in reality three-year-olds naturally become experts. Let us first focus on developing the minds of the youth — something best done without AI assistance — and then let them use those skills in the workplace as needed. Students should aspire to be more than mere “prompt writers,” but minds capable of thinking, reasoning, and perseverance.

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NYC teachers discover teens can’t read clocks after school cellphone ban

Time got away from them!

New York City teachers have found that scores of teenagers can’t read traditional clocks after a cellphone ban in schools statewide — because students figured the skill would be useless in the digital era, according to a report.

“The constant refrain is ‘Miss, what time is it?’” said Madi Mornhinweg, who teaches high school English in Manhattan.

“It’s a source of frustration because everyone wants to know how many minutes are left in class,” she told Gothamist. “It finally got to the point where I started saying, ‘Where’s the big hand and where’s the little hand?’”

Many tech-minded teens have no clue what time it is during the course of the school day because classrooms generally only have analog clocks on the walls, teachers told the outlet.

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Judge rules against UCLA prof suspended after refusing lenient grading for black students

A judge has issued a tentative decision against a professor who sued UCLA after he was suspended in the wake of the George Floyd-Black Lives Matter riots after refusing a request to grade black students leniently.

Superior Court Judge H. Jay Ford’s recent ruling against UCLA accounting lecturer Gordon Klein sides with UCLA on all three causes of action: breach of contract, false light, and negligent interference with prospective earnings. 

Klein’s legal team has filed an appeal, and Judge Ford is scheduled to consider that request, or enter a decision finalizing his tentative ruling, at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 9. 

If the judge does not amend his tentative ruling, Klein will receive nothing in a case in which he sought a $13 million dollar award, alleging the university and a former UCLA business school dean destroyed his lucrative expert witness practice when it publicly suspended him. 

“It’s a bloodbath against Klein. It rewards him nothing,” said documentarian Rob Montz in a documentary on the controversy he published last week first reporting on Ford’s Dec. 1 ruling titled “When a Professor Took His Cancellation to Trial.”

“No punitive damages, no compensatory damages,” Montz said. “Gordon doesn’t get a dollar.”

Klein, who has now taught at UCLA for about 45 years, argued in his lawsuit he averaged about $1 million annually as an expert witness in many high-profile corporate cases. 

But he argued his suspension meant he would have to disclose that administrative punishment, hurting his credibility with jurors and effectively making him undesirable as an expert witness. 

Ford, in his 30-page ruling, agrees UCLA had the contractual right to place Klein on administrative leave while it investigated the massive controversy surrounding Klein’s email to a student rejecting his request to grade black students leniently and the viral uproar it created. 

“UCLA had the right to determine what public response was necessary to address and mitigate the immediate [and] extraordinary public outrage toward both Klein and UCLA arising from the public disclosure of Klein’s email,” Ford wrote.

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Leaked Powerpoint from University of Illinois Course Reveals Far-Left Indoctrination in the Classroom

College campuses across the country are one part education and two parts far-left indoctrination factories.

The latest example comes from the University of Illinois, located in Urbana-Champaign.

Fox News Digital obtained slides from a student whistleblower from an education course for first-semester students, EDUC 201, titled “Identity and Difference in Education.”

The course, which is required to graduate, forces 1st year education majors to prioritize equity, LGBTQ+ issues, privileged identities, and preferred pronouns.

The student whistleblower accused the professor of turning the class into an indoctrination seminar.

The 25 slides originated from the lesson “Living in Uncertainty: Understanding Immigrant, Migrant, & Refugee Student Populations” in week 15, taught by Professor Gabriel Rodriguez in the school’s College of Education, which focused on immigration.

Fox News Reports:

The first slide features a photo of a person holding a sign at a demonstration that reads, “No human being is illegal.”

The fifth slide is called “Language Matters,” and polices students’ language about immigration and immigrants.

“Using terms like ‘illegal immigrants,’ ‘illegal aliens,’ or ‘illegals’” is harmful, the slide says, explaining that using those terms is “dehumanizing and degrading,” that they reinforce existing negative stereotypes about immigrant communities and connect immigration with criminality, that they fuel perspectives that immigrants have no rights and that they facilitate “scapegoating communities for larger systemic issues.”

Explaining the difference between immigrants and refugees, the presentation insists, without making the distinction between illegal and legal immigrants, that, “Immigrants migrate to pursue better opportunities (e.g., work, education).” Refugees flee other countries to avoid “persecution, conflict, or violence.”

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Boys aged just 11 to be sent on ‘anti-misogyny training courses’

Schoolboys aged just 11 will be sent on “anti-misogyny training courses” as part of a new Labour scheme to “protect women and girls”.

Secondary school pupils in England displaying “worrying behaviour” could be enrolled in the programmes in a pilot scheme which may even be expanded to include primary schools down the line.

The courses would be led by teachers or external contractors alongside normal lessons.

Girls would also be eligible if they display “harmful” behaviour – but Labour’s focus is on boys.

Ministers are to unveil the initiative on Thursday as part of a broader strategy aimed at cutting violence against women and girls by half within ten years.

All secondary schools will be required to deliver lessons on healthy relationships.

Teachers will receive specialist training to discuss topics including consent with their students.

A new helpline will offer support to teenagers worried about their own behaviour in relationships.

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Ed Department: Nearly 2,000 Minnesota ‘Ghost Students’ Fraudulently Received $12.5 Million

In Minnesota, home to the largest population of Somali immigrants in the U.S. and the site of numerous fraud investigations, fraudsters received $12.5 million in student loan and education grant money, according to a letter Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

The letter calls on Walz to resign, and states that a new fraud prevention system at the department has found over $1 billion in “attempted financial aid theft,” including by international fraud rings and artificial intelligence (AI) bots.

“[Y]our careless lack of oversight and abuse of the welfare system has attracted fraudsters from around the world, especially from Somalia, to establish a beachhead of criminality in our country,” McMahon wrote. “As President Trump put it, you have turned Minnesota into a ‘fraudulent hub of money laundering activity.’”

“At the beginning of this year, the U.S. Department of Education became aware that fraudulent college applicants, especially concentrated in Minnesota, were gaming the federal postsecondary education system to collect money that was intended for young Americans to help them afford college,” she said.

McMahon referred to the fraudsters as “‘ghost students’ because they were not ID-verified and often did not live in the United States, or they simply did not exist,” and noted that, “[i]n Minnesota, 1,834 ghost students were found to have received 12.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants and loans.”

They “collected checks from the federal government, shared a small portion of the money with the college, and pocketed the rest–without attending the college at all,” according to the letter.

The letter comes after Somalis in Minnesota, in particular, have been exposed as having massively defrauded American taxpayers. They have even reportedly funded terrorists back in their country.

The news surrounding Somali fraud includes allegations of multiple scams, including claims that an autism “provider” enrolled Somali children who did not have an autism diagnosis in a welfare fraud scheme.

The outrage, among many other cultural problems with Somalis, has resulted in President Donald Trump intending to cancel some Somalis’ temporary protected status.

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Ending the Woke Monopoly: White House Takes Aim at Higher Ed’s Ideological Capture

Last week, the White House convened an education roundtable with U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon titled, “Biased Professors, Woke Administrators, and the End of Free Inquiry on U.S. Campuses.”

Secretary McMahon opened the event by stating, “It was an honor to be at the White House today with this dedicated coalition of students, faculty, institutional leaders, and policy advocates to highlight the issue of woke ideology and the capture of our institutions of higher education. DEI policies have turned universities from free marketplaces of ideas to purveyors of manufactured ideological conformity, chilling free speech and undermining academic rigor.”

She explained, “We are committed to working with higher education leaders to reverse course from these decades of decline.”

The Secretary highlighted actions taken by the Trump Administration, including dissolving DEI programs, enforcing merit-based practices, and guiding universities to comply with federal law, noting that over 400 institutions have made substantive changes. The U.S. Department of Education is working to incentivize universities to operate with fairness, academic rigor, and civil discourse.

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