McAuliffe Backtracks on Parents' Involvement in Education: 'I’ve Always Valued the Concerns of Parents'

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe released a new campaign advertisement where he appeared to take back comments he made in September about whether parents should have a say in their children's school curricula.

"As parents, Dorothy and I have always been involved in our kids’ education," McAuliffe said in the ad. "We know good schools depend on involved parents. That’s why I want you to hear this from me. Glenn Youngkin is taking my words out of context. I’ve always valued the concerns of parents."

"It’s why as governor we scaled back standardized testing, expanded pre-K, and invested a billion dollars in public schools," he continued.

This comes after the one-time governor said during a Sept. 28 debate that "I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach." He later doubled down on his initial remarks.

McAuliffe's debate comments were in reference to the controversy surrounding critical race theory, which has prompted parents to show up to school board meetings to voice their outrage over the teaching of the doctrine.

Critical race theory asserts that the United States is inherently racist and alleges that a person is either privileged or oppressed based on their skin color.

McAuliffe also said in a recent CNN appearance that he would oppose "moving money" from public education to private schools. This, despite sending his own children to private Washington, D.C. schools with annual tuition of $30,000.

The Republican candidate for Virginia governor, Glenn Younkin, launched an ad last week in support of parents speaking out against school policies that they find problematic.

"Virginia parents have a right to make decisions on their children’s education. That’s the Virginia I grew up in. Terry McAuliffe wants to change that," Youngkin said in the ad.

In the ad, he also slammed a recent memorandum from the Department of Justice that announced a "partnership among federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement to address threats against school administrators, board members, teachers and staff."

A Friday poll from the Trafalgar Group shows Youngkin with a one-point lead over McAuliffe in Virginia’s gubernatorial race as the candidates prepare for election day on Nov. 2. A recent Fox News poll also has the race extremely close, but with McAuliffe leading by five percent. Both polls are within the margin of error.

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/landonmion/2021/10/18/mcauliffe-backtracks-on-parents-involvement-in-education-ive-always-valued-the-concerns-of-parents-n2597644

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Math teacher is placed on leave for wearing feather headdress and performing Native American dance to teach kids 'easy way to memorize trigonometry terms'

A California math teacher was placed on leave after she was filmed donning a feather headdress and doing a bizarre 'Native American' dance for her students.

Footage of John W North High School math teacher Candice Reed wearing feathered headgear while chanting 'SOH CAH TOA' -a mnemonic for remembering the definitions of the trigonometric functions sine, cosine, and tangent- went viral this week.

The Riverside Unified School District said it does not condone the teacher's behavior and have placed Reed on leave while the district conducts an investigation into the incident.

'These behaviors are completely unacceptable and an offensive depiction of the vast and expansive Native American cultures and practices,' the district said in a statement to the community.

'We are deeply committed to implementing inclusive practices and policies that honor the rich diversity of our district and the greater region. We will be working with our students, families, staff and community to regain your trust.'

The video was posted to Facebook on Wednesday by Shadae Johnson, a member of the Urban Indigenous Peoples Advisory Council Member in Vancouver. Johnson said the footage was filmed on Tuesday by a Native American student in Reed's math class.

According to Johnson, the student started recording after several minute's of Reed 'war hooping and tomahawk chopping' because he 'felt that violence was being committed against him and he had the right to record.'

It appears that Reed was using the dance to teach the students the trigonometric functions, which help solve almost any problem related to finding either a side length or angle measure of a right triangle.

Johnson attached footage of Reed doing the 'tomahawk chop' while chanting the math mnemonic in the front of the classroom.

At one point Reed just screeches it while jumping up and down while waving her arms and then dramatically runs out of breath and rests her head on a wall.

A projection of a stick figure with a feather headdress surrounded by two teepees can be seen on the white board behind her.

In another recording of the lesson plan, Reed was captured jumping on a desk in the back of the classroom while a student hangs his head in embarrassment and other students look at each other awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable and confused at her behavior.

After jumping off the desk she continues to shriek 'SOH CAH TOA' while hopping and running in an exaggerated manner to a silent classroom.

Another clip shows her on top of her desk, legs crossed and arms outstretched praying 'please tell me the secret Indian (illegible) but they don't hear' she then snickers, adding 'because obviously this is ridiculous.'

She is then recorded going to the corner of the classroom and saying she 'ran into the rock god' while students can be heard groaning 'oh my god'

Reed, clearly amused with her performance, laughs to herself as she lays the rocks out on her desk.

Johnson said she hopes Reed is held accountable for her actions and included contact information for school officials in her post.

'I am sharing this video because these behaviours can no longer be swept under the rug!' she wrote.

'We need to end discrimination and violence against indigenous youth in schools! We're not in the 1960s any more, she should know better!' Johnson added.

According to a Twitter user who widely shared the video, Reed has been doing this lesson plan since at least 2012.

The clip has caused outrage online, with many wondering what possible educational purpose Reed's routine could have served for the students.

One person tweeted: 'The worst thing is the teacher probably didn't even think this was disrespectful or offensive. Completely oblivious as the kids watch, aghast and alarmed. Oblivious, as she grew up in a cultural bubble.'

'This is from Riverside, CA? I'm from there and Native from the Cahuilla Band of Indians,' another person tweeted. 'How is this happening when there are literally at least 10 Native tribes in the surrounding area. UCR (University of Ca Riverside) works with Natives in the are and she didn't know??? Expressionless face.'

Someone else tweeted: 'As an educator, there is NO WAY that there is a justifiable reason for that.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10122583/Math-teacher-placed-leave-wearing-feather-headdress-performing-Native-American-dance.html

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China, Islam threats to democracy force changes to Australian history classes

School kids will be taught that Australia is the “greatest country on earth‘’, in a new cutback curriculum with a focus on phonics and times tables.

Year 2 students will no longer be asked to identify “racist statues’’, federal Education Minister Alan Tudge will declare on Friday when he reveals that the draft national curriculum has been more than halved from 3281 to 1443 pages.

Warning against the rise of Communist China and fundamentalist Islam, Mr Tudge said Australian children should be taught more about the importance of democracy, freedom and patriotism.

“We should expect our young people leaving school to have an understanding of our liberal democracy and how it is that we are one of the wealthiest, most free, most tolerant and most egalitarian countries in all of human history, which millions have immigrated to,” he will tell the Centre for Independent Studies.

“If they don’t learn this, they won’t defend it as previous generations did. “We must do more to impress upon young Australians how extraordinarily lucky we are.’’

Mr Tudge said a “negative view of our country, our history and our future” was harming children’s mental health.

“Ultimately, students should leave school with a love of country and a sense of optimism and hope that we live in the greatest country on earth and that the future is bright,’’ he said.

“If they are constantly fed a negative view of our country, our history and our people, then we will exacerbate existing problems. “Let us be positive about our country.’’

Mr Tudge will reveal that the draft curriculum has been changed so that seven-year-old students will no longer be expected to “assess the morality of historical statues”. “How that ever got into the draft (in April), I do not know,’’ he says in his speech.

The revised curriculum will teach students that “our democracy is based on our Christian and Western origins, with a reference to the importance of the values of patriotism and freedom’’.

“The influence of authoritarianism and communism is growing in the world, particularly with the rise of an assertive China,” Mr Tudge said.

“Fundamentalist Islam remains a dominant force in any countries, as we are seeing in Afghanistan.

“There has not been a more important time to teach children the origins, values and singular greatness of liberal democracy since the 1940s.”

Mr Tudge said the curriculum was still too “long and deeply bureaucratic’’ compared to New Zealand’s school curriculum which has just 120 pages, and the UK’s 306-page document.

The original draft, released in April, would have forced teachers to wait until Year 4 to teach the times tables, but the new document reinstates the maths rote learning to Year 3.

It will also put more focus on teaching children to read and write using phonics – learning the sounds of letter combinations.

Mr Tudge said the revisions meant the curriculum had “gone from an F to perhaps a C, but Australian students deserve an A+.’’ “With education standards in decline in Australia over the last twenty years … it must aim higher,’’ he said.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/china-islam-threats-to-democracy-force-changes-to-australian-history-classes/news-story/1cd5d04ab37a7d4b5447434b90de4519

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