Tag: education

If You Liked Common Core, You’re Going To Love Joe Biden’s Anti-American Civics Project

It’s deja vu all over again. A coalition of government- and billionaire-funded nonprofits has a “bipartisan” plan for national curriculum goals, this time concerning U.S. history and government. Today this “state-led” coalition is releasing a major report they hope will get the attention of the Biden administration and state governors to “collaboratively” enact their vision nationwide.

Remember, these sorts of national plans are supported by people on the right and left, so there can be no need for further investigation or any public questioning. The experts have got this problem all figured out. Your children and the nation’s future are in their hands. Trust them, these are experts under whose leadership the nation’s civic and historical knowledge not only hasn’t improved but may be at the worst point in possibly all of American history, because of — oops, I mean in spite of their best efforts!

More than 300 “leading scholars” have spent 17 months putting together a “roadmap” for “what and how to teach integrated K-12 history and civics for today’s learners.” It’s a “cross-ideological conversation about civic learning and history at a time when our country needs it the most,” so don’t worry your pretty little heads about anything and let the experts sort it out! What could go wrong?

What, you heard that the Smithsonian is saturating its exhibits and materials with social-justice saturated fake history and forking over good taxpayer money for racist propaganda, and therefore you’re a bit concerned about their involvement in this project? What’s wrong with you, the Smithsonian is an old and venerable American institution! Republican senators are putting billions of dollars behind its promotion of cultural Marxism!

Did we mention this project is also bipartisan? The education secretaries for Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama are all on board, of course. They presided over a massive decline in U.S. education quality and increase in bureaucracy, so you know it’s a good idea!

The DC uniparty has just the perfect solution for American kids’ dangerous ignorance about their nation’s founding principles, system of government, and history. It’s making them into political activists! It’s called “action civics.” Isn’t that exciting? Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were big fans. Remember them? So are Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, those models of respect for the U.S. Constitution!

No, kids don’t need to know anything to lobby their local, state, and national governments, that would ruin the effect. Everyone knows learning is boring! What’s fun is action! Action civics! You know, like the nation saw in the past year or so, all those refreshing young people protesting in the streets for racial justice.

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CA teachers union president who led school closure charge seen dropping daughter off at in-person preschool

A group known as Guerilla Momz is calling Berkeley Federation of Teachers president Matt Meyer a hypocrite after spotting him dropping his two year old daughter off for in-person instruction at a private pre-school.

“Meet Matt Meyer. White man with dreads and president of the local teachers’ union,” the group wrote in a tweet on Saturday along with video footage of Meyer. “He’s been saying it is unsafe for *your kid* to be back at school, all the while dropping his kid off at private school.”

Meyer told Fox News in a statement that the video, which blurred out his child’s face, was “very inappropriate” and an intrusion of his child’s privacy. He added that there were “no public options for kids her age.”

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Citing Racial Inequities, Boston Public Schools Suspend New Advanced Learning Classes

A selective program for high-performing fourth, fifth and sixth graders in Boston has suspended enrollment due to the pandemic and concerns about equity in the program, GBH News has learned.

Superintendent Brenda Cassellius recommended the one-year hiatus for the program, known as Advanced Work Classes, saying the district would not proceed with the program for new students next year.

“There’s been a lot of inequities that have been brought to the light in the pandemic that we have to address,” Cassellius told GBH News. “There’s a lot of work we have to do in the district to be antiracist and have policies where all of our students have a fair shot at an equitable and excellent education.”

New students will be admitted in the fourth grade by standards to be determined at the school level, according to a BPS spokesman.

There will be no new students admitted in the fifth or sixth grades, the spokesman said, but those already in advanced work will be allowed to continue.

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Virginia school system cancels Dr. Seuss, citing racial ‘undertones’ in writings

Celebrated American children’s author Dr. Seuss is now considered too controversial for one of Virginia’s largest school districts, a new report reveals. 

For over two decades, Dr. Seuss’s birthday has been celebrated in schools as Read Across America Day — a day dedicated to the importance of reading and literacy. The day falls on Dr. Seuss’s birthday in honor of the impactful author, whose books have helped countless children learn to read across the globe.

But folllowing pressure from activists, Loudon County Public Schools is reportedly dropping the annual Dr. Seuss celebration. 

“Realizing that many schools continue to celebrate ‘Read Across America Day’ in partial recognition of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, it is important for us to be cognizant of research that may challenge our practice in this regard,” Loudoun County Schools said in an announcement reported by the Daily Wire.

“As we become more culturally responsive and racially conscious, all building leaders should know that in recent years there has been research revealing radical undertones in the books written and the illustrations drawn by Dr. Seuss,” the school district continued.

Learning for Justice, a liberal education advocacy group, was reportedly behind the pressure campaign against the celebrated children’s author. The organization pegs itself as a group that seeks “to uphold the mission” of the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center, according to their website.

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I Took An Anti-Racist Training Workshop For Parents. Here’s What I Learned.

The push for “anti-racism” is moving beyond the classroom. School districts are now insisting that parents spark conversations about race and gender at the dinner table, at the movie theatre, and when their child is browsing the internet.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, one of the nation’s most affluent areas, parents of elementary-aged children were encouraged to participate in a “caregiver” training program on “anti-racism.” The program was run through Ashburton Elementary School in the Montgomery County Public School district.

The session lasted about an hour and was run by a “restorative justice” advocate hired by the school district.

Ashburton Elementary is far from the only school to host these programs, be it for teachers or children, or parents. In fact, Ashburton Elementary’s Principal told parents that teachers and children have been engaging in “anti-racism” activities for months now.

I attended the elementary school’s anti-racist training workshop for parents. It was run by Greg Mullenholz, the school’s principal, and Yael Astor, a “restorative justice instructional specialist” who works for the district.

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Coach Fired For Questioning Woke Curriculum

A new court case reminds us that having an opinion can be hazardous to your career.

David Flynn had been a winning football coach at Dedham High School in Massachusetts. His two children attended Dedham schools. Last fall he learned that his daughter’s seventh-grade history class, “World Geography and Ancient History I,” had been re-routed from discussing the classics and instead turned into a series of indoctrination sessions in the new woke ideology.

Without consulting or notifying parents, Dedham Public Schools loaded down the seventh-grade history class with contemporary topics on politics, race, gender, stereotypes, prejudices, discrimination and diversity. Naturally, these topics were presented from a progressive perspective and embedded with the usual biases and tropes that are accepted as gospel by left-wing educators.

For example, class materials labeled police officers and white people as “risk factors” to all black people and suggested that white people inherently see all black males as threats. A teacher used a cartoon character of herself wearing a BLM t-shirt, just in case some kids did not get the point.

Flynn did what any concerned parent might do when learning about his child being indoctrinated. He and his wife expressed their concerns to the history teacher and principal of the school – then later to Superintendent Michael J. Welch and three members of the Dedham School Committee. However, the school system had no interest in engaging in constructive dialogue. In October the Flynns removed their children from the school.

The issue came back to haunt Flynn in January when he was called into a meeting with Superintendent Welch, DHS principal Jim Forrest and athletic director Steve Traister. Welch confronted Flynn with one of the emails he had sent to the Dedham School Committee and asked him, “What are we going to do about this?” By the end of the meeting Flynn was informed that DHS was “going in a different direction” with their football program, and moments later a statement was released stating that Flynn was removed as head coach because of “significant, repeatedly expressed philosophical differences with the direction, goals and values of the school district.”

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Teacher Asked Students to List Their Political Party and Why, Then Publicized Their Responses, It Didn’t End Well

There’s been a lot of controversy over Joe Biden’s seeming reluctance to want all the public schools opening up as soon as possible. Obviously, that’s not making a lot of parents very happy.

But if they saw what just happened at Porter Ridge High School in Indian Trail, North Carolina, they just might not want to send their kids back.

A teacher, as part of an assignment, asked kids to list what political party they would choose and had them write it down, and explain why. The teacher then publicized to the rest of the class what each student had chosen and what they had written, with conservative students being bullied, according to WCNC.

One mother described how her daughter was bullied for being a Republican. She said that the daughter got threats, “These threats that, ‘we’ll show them!’ Or, ‘I can’t wait until I see her,’” the mother explained.

Students took pictures of the students’ answers with their names next to them and spread them throughout the school so kids from other classes were soon involved in the bullying and threats.

The mother said given the “climate” now, “people are too politically charged up” and she said it’s “just creating a toxic environment.” She blasted the teacher. “That teacher put a target, he outed these children.”

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Utah teacher under investigation for tweeting that he hopes “more Republican senators are killed”

An investigation is underway after a Utah high school teacher posted a tweet following the Capitol riots calling for the killing of Republican senators.

The tweet was made by Parowan High School humanities teacher Brian Townsend. A concerned parent posted a screenshot of the tweet on an Iron County School District Facebook group, saying that Townsend’s tweet was “not appropriate” and “unacceptable.”

Townsend’s tweet, dated February 13, said, “I only hope that next time a president incites a riot at the Capitol, more Republican senators are killed.”

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Maryland Teacher’s Aide Gets ‘Administrative Leave’ After Masturbating While Kids Watched On Zoom Call

Maryland teacher’s aide Marc Schack, who works with disabled children and has a side business in which he dresses up as a pirate named “Captain Sillybones” and hosts children’s parties, was caught masturbating on a Zoom call as his special ed class watched.

After being caught masturbating on camera as children watched, Schack simply said “my bad” and was placed on administrative leave. The school’s administration claims the administrative leave is unrelated to his shocking performance in front of the children, however, and is simply because they misplaced his background check file.

Schack claims that he believed he was done participating in the class, and turned off the camera. Moments after believing he was disconnected from the students, he turned around and began masturbating vigorously. The video was recorded and eventually posted to social media.

“I thought I was logged out when class was over,” Schack told Bethesda magazine. “I had no clue that Zoom was still on. Why would I do that? That’s my job. I had no clue that Zoom was on. I mean, that’s just crazy behavior.”

“It was just a mistake on my part,” Schack said, adding that he thought he had turned off his connection to the virtual call. “I’m only human. It was my bad.”

He claims, “I’m not a pervert or anything like that, you know,” and noted he was told by administration that he was placed on administrative leave after masturbating before the conference call full of minors because they “misplaced his background check file.”

“You gotta believe me on that,” Schack insisted. “I thought I was in the privacy of my own home. I had no clue.”

According to the New York Post, Schack has worked for Maryland’s Montgomery County Public Schools for over 21 years, and “also runs Pirate Magic, a business that throws ‘pirate parties’ for youngsters while he portrays a character named “Captain Silly Bones”.

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