Tag: public schools

The End of Basic Education: Biden Issues Public School Critical Race Theory Order

The Biden Department of Education has quietly proposed a new rule prioritizing the use of federal tax dollars for K-12 schools that replace traditional education with “culturally responsive teaching and learning” – more commonly referred to as critical race theory. This is the most significant move by the federal government to redefine the nature of state-funded public schools in U.S. history.

Although the current effort to push public schools receiving federal funding to adopt a detailed indoctrination agenda may feel new and overwhelming for parents, the truth is that the Biden attempt is simply the last phase in a decades-long effort to control local schools and press the progressive agenda on our children. With the power of taxpayer-funded purse strings, the federal government sends a message to public schools that if they want financial aid they must “teach” critical race theory and prioritize its ideologically anti-American, anti-traditional agenda over traditional education.

Under Obama, public schools were thrust into the controversial world of Common Core, a series of federal mandates that included “awareness education” involving a progressive view of race, gender, and so-called “equity” (not to be confused with “equality”).

Under Biden, a far more aggressive level of federal control over our nation’s K-12 classrooms will replace history (and objective truth) with identity politics and a warped view of American civics and institutions. In many cases, teachers are told to hide the racially divisive curriculum from parents. In others, students are encouraged to report the words and views of their parents and caretakers as examples of institutional racism. The initial goal is the indoctrination of young minds, but the long view is to aggregate power behind an alien political worldview that fed the dehumanizing machines of the Soviet Union and communist China.

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Washington public school staff taught that they are ‘implicitly and explicitly upholding racism and white supremacy’

Employees of the Lake Washington School District in Washington state were subjected to “equity classes” where white staff members were told that because of the color of their skin they were “implicitly and explicitly upholding racism and white supremacy.”

The curriculum for the training came from Robin DiAngelo’s book, What Does It Mean to Be White? DiAngelo wrote in the book that “whiteness” or “white identity” identity means to be “socialized as a white person, enact Whiteness by implicitly and explicitly upholding racism and white supremacy, and participate in the rewards of being perceived white.”

The staff were allegedly each given a copy of the book to read. DiAngelo’s website describes “white fragility” as “a state in which even a minimal challenge to the white position becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive responses. These responses function to reinstate white racial equilibrium and maintain white control.”

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California Weighs ‘Equitable Math’: Goal of Obtaining Correct Answer Is Racist

The California education department is considering implementing a statewide math framework that promotes the concept that working to figure out a correct answer in math is an example of racism and white supremacy invading the classroom.

The framework, titled “A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction: Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction,” is intended to be “exercises for educators to reflect on their own biases to transform their instructional practice.”

The “Equitable Math” website states its training manual was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the primary private source of funding for the Common Core State Standards.

“White supremacy culture infiltrates math classrooms in everyday teacher actions,” the document states. “Coupled with the beliefs that underlie these actions, they perpetuate educational harm on Black, Latinx, and multilingual students, denying them full access to the world of mathematics.”

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Minnesota high school student who was falsely accused of sending racist Instagram messages to a black classmate fears for her safety despite officials confirming they were a hoax

A high school student from Minnesota has spoken out about being falsely accused of sending vile racist messages to black classmates, after the incident was exposed as a hoax.

Avery Severson, a sophomore at White Bear Lake High School near St. Paul, was falsely accused of sending the racist direct messages, prompting outrage and a student walkout.

But school officials said that an FBI investigation revealed that the female student who created the hateful messages wanted ‘to raise awareness of social and racial injustice’ by staging the stunt. They refused to name the true perpetrator.

‘I was just shocked when I saw that they were accusing me and I felt unsafe. I felt unsafe at school,’ Avery told Fox News on Friday. 

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Virginia Teacher Says ‘Marxist’ Critical Race Training is Damaging the Community

Loudoun County in Virginia has been engaged in a months-long battle between parents and officials over the direction of their public schools.

Last year, the school system spent almost half a million dollars on race-based education materials. Parents and even some teachers are objecting to the introduction of Critical Race Training.

An advanced placement teacher is the latest to speak out.

Sam Dorman reports at FOX News:

Virginia teacher says critical race theory has damaged community as frustrated parents demand changes

An Advanced Placement Government teacher in Loudoun County, Virginia is speaking out about what she calls “Marxist” ideas that have prompted intense infighting among county residents.

“We’re told that we’re living in a county that’s suffering from systemic racism and I think that that whole notion has done nothing but damage our community and our school since they began pushing equity,” teacher Monica Gill told Fox News this week.

She added that teachers were told to “disrupt and dismantle this systemic racism. And I can tell you, one thing that’s for sure, it has been disruptive because there are parents who disagree with this ideology, there are teachers who disagree with it, there are students who disagree with it — and it is harmful.”

Her comments came amid a raging debate over the county’s controversial equity and diversity trainings, forms of which have surfaced in schools across the country.

Not all of the teachers in the district agree with this view. Some of them are completely on board with the woke agenda and resent parents for objecting.

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Nutty Professors Argue That LGBTQ Sex Ed Should Be Taught in Elementary School Before ‘Cisnormative Values’ Become ‘More Deeply Ingrained’

Two professors at Montclair State University in New Jersey are arguing that LGBTQ sex education should be taught to kids in elementary school before “cisnormative values” become “more deeply ingrained.”

The professors, Eva Goldfarb and Lisa Lieberman,  believe that “substantial evidence supports sex education beginning in elementary school, that is scaffolded and of longer duration, as well as LGBTQ-inclusive education across the school curriculum and a social justice approach to healthy sexuality.”

According to a report from Campus Reform, the researchers examined several studies that involved preschool classrooms. According to the researchers, one indicates that “young children are, in fact, quite capable of understanding and discussing issues related to gender diversity, including gender expectations, gender nonconformity, and gender-based oppression.”

They claimed that “4-year-olds expressed an inclusive understanding of marriage and a social justice stance on LGBTQ rights.”

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California Ethnic Studies Advisor To Teachers: Be ‘Extra Careful’ About Parents Seeing ‘What Materials Are Being Used’

The Santa Clara County Office of Education hosted an ethnic studies training wherein the presenter told teachers to be “extra careful” about parents seeing the material being used to teach children. 

In November, Santa Clara County in California held a training designed to explore the district’s newfound “ethnic studies” initiatives. According to slides posted by City Journal contributor Christopher Rufo, the presentation began with a “land acknowledgment.” Land acknowledgments are admissions that teaching is taking place on land that was conquered by Americans, though once belonged to Native Americans.   

The Santa Clara land acknowledgment claims that the schools “occupy the unceded territory of the Muwekma Ohlone Nation.” 

Part of the presentation examined the alleged “roots of settler colonialism.” The presenter, Jorge Pacheco, who is also an advisor for the state’s ethnic studies curriculum, blamed colonialism on oppressive white males who allegedly used “genocide, private property, God/religion, classism, patriarchy, and white supremacy” to create the United States. 

The presentation also encouraged teachers to “infer the imperialist motives” of Christopher Columbus to disparage America writ large. 

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‘Cheese is racist’ storm as hundreds back ban on dairy foods in school

Alison Plaumer, from the global environmental movement, has led a petition for more plant-based meals to be served in schools and other venues. She told one council there is a “racist element” to serving dairy because she believes a large percentage of the BAME communities is lactose-intolerant. More than 240 people have backed the campaign so far, reports Sussex Live.

Speaking at Brighton and Hove City Council meeting in March, Ms Plaumer said: “Arguably, there is a racist element to serving dairy too much because 65 per cent of the world’s population are lactose intolerant, many from the BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) community.

“Loads of parents around here give lots of support to this. What do children want? They want action. They want it now.”

The petition, seen by the authority, requests two plant-based days are introduced at state-run schools as soon as possible – and for all council-run events to be plant-based once the pandemic is over.

Broadcaster Jeremy Vine called the idea bonkers on his Channel 5 show.

People online have also blasted Ms Plaumer.

One posted: “If people think food is racist then they are not qualified to be near a school.”

Another said: “I am lactose intolerant and not from the group you name so what point were you making? Food cannot be racist.”

One person shared: “I wish these snowflakes would just melt away.”

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I Refuse to Stand By While My Students Are Indoctrinated

I am a teacher at Grace Church High School in Manhattan. Ten years ago, I changed careers when I discovered how rewarding it is to help young people explore the truth and beauty of mathematics. I love my work.

As a teacher, my first obligation is to my students. But right now, my school is asking me to embrace “antiracism” training and pedagogy that I believe is deeply harmful to them and to any person who seeks to nurture the virtues of curiosity, empathy and understanding.   

“Antiracist” training sounds righteous, but it is the opposite of truth in advertising. It requires teachers like myself to treat students differently on the basis of race. Furthermore, in order to maintain a united front for our students, teachers at Grace are directed to confine our doubts about this pedagogical framework to conversations with an in-house “Office of Community Engagement” for whom every significant objection leads to a foregone conclusion. Any doubting students are likewise “challenged” to reframe their views to conform to this orthodoxy. 

I know that by attaching my name to this I’m risking not only my current job but my career as an educator, since most schools, both public and private, are now captive to this backward ideology. But witnessing the harmful impact it has on children, I can’t stay silent. 

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