Tag: education

Illinois sex ed classes to teach gender expression as early as K-2 starting next school year

Starting next school year, schools in Illinois teaching sexual education lessons will start as early as kindergarten.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday signed Senate Bill 818, which his office said will modernize sex education standards with age-appropriate content for grades K-12.

The measure requires the Illinois State Board of Education to provide the standards for schools that teach sex education by August 2022. Schools don’t need to adopt the standards unless they teach sex ed. Parents will be able to opt their children out.

The law states the curriculum will align with and be updated alongside the National Sex Education Standards. Those standards are cultivated in part by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, or SIECUS. That group has the tag line “Sex Ed for Social Change.”

Among the standards for grades K-2 are defining gender expression, different kinds of families and types of sexual abuse. Grades 3-5 go into anatomy, gender identity and sexual orientation. Grades 6-8 will learn about different types of sex, different types of sexual exploitation and trafficking. Grade 9-10 will learn about the history of “reproductive justice.” Grades 11-12 will learn about power and privilege within sexual relationships.

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Scholars Insist Preschoolers Must Be Taught ‘Antiracism’ ‘Throughout the Day’

What kind of education do preschoolers need?

A scholarly quartet has ideas, and they recently revealed them online.

For the Summer 2021 edition of the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC) journal, science was dutifully dropped.

The authors of “Viewpoint. Creating Antiracist Early Childhood Spaces“:

  • Rosemarie Allen — associate professor of early childhood education at Metropolitan State University of Denver
  • Dorothy Shapland — assistant professor of early childhood education at Metropolitan State University of Denver
  • Jen Neitzel, Ph.D. — executive director at Educational Equity Institute
  • Iheoma U. Iruka Ph.D. — research professor of public policy and founding director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

First of all, what is “antiracism“?

UCLA law professor and Intersectionality Matters! podcast host Kimberlé Crenshaw helps out:

“Anti-racism is the active dismantling of systems, privileges, and everyday practices that reinforce and normalize the contemporary dimensions of white dominance. This, of course, also involves a critical understanding of the history of whiteness in America.”

Per CNN, microaggressions to avoid:

  • “Don’t blame me. I never owned slaves.”
  • “All lives matter.”
  • “I don’t care if you’re white, black, yellow, green or purple.”

“The focus on racial equity following the murder of George Floyd,” the NAEYC piece begins, “has resulted in conversations about racism that were unheard of less than a year ago.”

And now, the four figure, an antiracist approach must be enacted and sustained.

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AP Exam Requires Students To Choose Answers Indicating Voting Laws Are Racially Biased

The College Board has been accused of indoctrinating students in ‘woke’ politics by requiring them to choose an answer on an AP Government exam indicating voter ID discourages black people from voting. 

“Nothing to see here, just an official AP Government practice exam forcing students to falsely say voter ID is racist and urging them to overturn voter ID laws in order to pass the test,” tweeted Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist.

The multiple-choice question asks, “Based on the infographic, which of the following claims would an opponent of state voter-ID laws most likely make?”

Students’ options for an answer are as follows:

  • (A) Voter-ID laws are likely to decrease turnout among African American voters because they are less likely to have government-issued IDs.
  • (B) Voter turnout will likely decrease by 10% if voters are required to present a government-issued ID to vote.
  • (C) Voter-ID laws will likely decrease election fraud, which will increase voter confidence in institutions and thereby increase turnout.
  • (D) African American voters who do not have government-issued IDs are likely to participate at the grassroots level and exert influence through channels other than turning out to vote.

Answer A is correct per the test rubric.

The following question on the test asks: “Based on the infographic, which of the following strategies would a group seeking to increase turnout likely pursue?”

Students are expected to select “Lobby state legislatures to overturn voter-ID legislation” in order to be marked with a correct answer.

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How To See If Critical Race Theory Is In Your Kids’ School—And Fight It

The left avoids the term “critical race theory” and instead uses terms like social justice, equity, diversity training, anti-racism, culturally responsive pedagogy, anti-bias, inclusion, and more. Businesses, colleges, government institutions, and school districts around the country have developed their own, unique titles for this type of teaching and training.

This makes it easy for the left to say things like: “We’re not teaching CRT” or “CRT is a term made up by Republicans” or “CRT is a QAnon/right wing conspiracy theory.” While these institutions may not always openly label their extremist ideas about race critical race theory, we all know it is alive and well. It’s not new. And the left is engaged in a game of semantics.

I guess we should thank lockdowns for bringing classrooms into our homes and allowing parents and citizens all over the country to see exactly what is being taught to American children. Students of all ages are being taught racism under the guise of equity, social justice, and all the rest. These teachings have opened our eyes to the indoctrination going on in every level of our society.

“Why don’t you want justice?”

“Don’t you think equity and inclusion are a good thing?”

I’ve had this exact conversation with the high school principal at the school two of my children attend. Yes, I want justice. Yes, I want to include people. But that’s not what is going on here.

What the schools are doing is making children pay for the sins of their ancestors. They’re teaching kids that a person can pick his sex, and there’s an unlimited number of genders and sexual identities to choose from.

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The ACLU Has It Backward: Schools Should Worry About Being Sued For Teaching Critical Race Theory

On July 8, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin sent a letter to each school district administrator in the state specifically invoking the national and local controversy over “critical race theory” and attempts to limit its teaching. In that particular context, the letter “reminds” the districts of anodyne statutory directives to teach an “understanding of human relations, particularly with regard to American Indians, Black Americans and Hispanics” and that curricula should reflect “the cultural diversity and pluralistic nature of American society.”

The letter warns schools they can be sued for creating a racially hostile environment and notes they have a legal obligation “proactively to remedy and end any racially hostile environment in their schools.” That “will often necessarily include discussions of race.” It claims that undefined “culturally responsive” teaching will enhance the performance of racial minorities.

While the ACLU never says “teach CRT-derived concepts or else,” it takes little imagination to pick up that message. It’s as if the ACLU is saying, “Maybe there is no such thing as CRT in the schools, but there had better well be CRT in the schools.”

Critical race theory (CRT) is a quantum ideology: Now you see it; now you don’t. Its defenders tell us that it is, at most, an “academic theory” limited to law school musing and nowhere to be found in public schools. Except when they claim that schools must teach it.

On July 8, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin sent a letter to each school district administrator in the state specifically invoking the national and local controversy over “critical race theory” and attempts to limit its teaching. In that particular context, the letter “reminds” the districts of anodyne statutory directives to teach an “understanding of human relations, particularly with regard to American Indians, Black Americans and Hispanics” and that curricula should reflect “the cultural diversity and pluralistic nature of American society.”

The letter warns schools they can be sued for creating a racially hostile environment and notes they have a legal obligation “proactively to remedy and end any racially hostile environment in their schools.” That “will often necessarily include discussions of race.” It claims that undefined “culturally responsive” teaching will enhance the performance of racial minorities.

While the ACLU never says “teach CRT-derived concepts or else,” it takes little imagination to pick up that message. It’s as if the ACLU is saying, “Maybe there is no such thing as CRT in the schools, but there had better well be CRT in the schools.”

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Study Finds Most Highly Educated Americans Are Also the Most Vaccine Hesitant

A new report by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh has found that the most highly educated Americans are also the most vaccine hesitant.

The researchers canvassed no fewer than 5 million Americans who responded to surveys on whether they were “probably” or “definitely not planning on getting a COVID vaccine.

The results will shock many.

“More surprising is the breakdown in vaccine hesitancy by level of education,” reports UnHerd. “It finds that the association between hesitancy and education level follows a U-shaped curve with the highest hesitancy among those least and most educated. People a master’s degree had the least hesitancy, and the highest hesitancy was among those holding a PhD.”

In addition, while the lowest educated saw the largest drop in vaccine hesitancy for the first five months of 2021, those with PhD’s were the most likely to not change their minds.

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Arizona Senator Facing Child Molestation Charges Sponsored Kindergarten Sex Ed Bill

An Arizona state senator facing multiple felony child molestation charges was one of several sponsors of a Democrat-led bill calling for sex education classes for pupils as young as kindergarten age.

Although the bill, SB1340, died in committee last January, Sen. Otoniel “Tony” Navarette was a key sponsor of the legislation that would have required all schools in Arizona to teach sex education instruction starting in kindergarten.

The bill’s other sponsors were Arizona Sens. Lela Alston, Kirsten Engel, Rosanna Gabaldon, Sally Gonzales, Juan Mendez, Jamescita Peshlakai, Athena Salmon, and Raquel Teran.

According to the proposed legislation, dubbed then as the “Safe and Healthy Students Act,” the bill sought to provide “sex education that is medically accurate and age-appropriate for pupils who are in kindergarten programs and in grades one through twelve.”

Other key provisions included a focus on helping pupils “gain knowledge” on the various developmental aspects of adolescence, “including how pregnancy occurs,” to help pupils develop skills in decision making regarding sexuality and relationships, and to discuss groups, such as LGBTQ, that “historically have been more vulnerable to sexual abuse and assault,” as well as matters involving “affirmative consent.”

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Oregon Suspends High School Graduation Standards To Make ‘Equitable’ Rules For ‘Students Of Color’

Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D) signed a bill last month suspending proficiency requirements for high school graduates for the next five years.

Brown quietly signed into a law a bill suspending her state’s proficiency requirements on July 14. Oregon is expected to go without proficiency standards for high school graduates until new rules are crafted and implemented in 2024. Those new rules will likely not apply to high school graduates until 2027; however, as Oregon education officials are reluctant to change standards for students that have already entered high school, according to The Oregonian.

The governor’s office did not announce her signing of the bill in a signing ceremony nor in a press release. The signed bill did not appear in the legislative database as signed until July 29, an uncommon occurrence for a bill that was signed over two weeks prior. A spokesman for the governor said that suspending proficiency requirements would aid the state’s minority students.

“Oregon’s Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color” stand to benefit from the legislation, Brown’s deputy communications director Charles Boyle told The Oregonian in a statement. “Leaders from those communities have advocated time and again for equitable graduation standards, along with expanded learning opportunities and supports.”

Oregon’s proficiency requirements mandate that all high school graduates demonstrate a roughly 10th grade level competence in reading, writing, and math. Those standards were first suspended last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic as students were taken out of classrooms and school was moved almost entirely online.

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