I remember how it was -- JR
Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Social and Emotional Indoctrination in Schools
Social and emotional learning is the latest trend at your child's school. SEL sounds beneficial, but that's a disguise. In truth, it indoctrinates kids with extremist ideas many parents don't condone.
On Nov. 22, the Hartford Courant reported that West Hartford, Connecticut, elementary school parents are in an uproar. They're complaining that teachers are putting words such as "nonbinary" on the chalkboard and telling kids, including kindergarteners, they can live life as a gender different from what they were assigned at birth. Parents were told by school authorities that they can't opt their children out.
Most Americans think parents should have the final say on what children are taught. From Treasure Valley, Idaho, to Greenwich, Connecticut, school board candidates made SEL an issue in elections earlier this month.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita encouraged parents to speak up and cautioned that SEL programs shift "the role of teachers from educators to therapists."
Fighting SEL is an uphill battle because it's not only favored by the left-leaning educational bureaucracy; it's also big business. "The SEL ecosystem today is flush with dollars," reports Tyton Partners, SEL industry consultants.
Billions in federal COVID-relief money for schools is being used to buy SEL programs and fund SEL instructors. Advocates and companies that produce the materials lobby Congress and the federal Department of Education to ensure legislative language precisely matches what they're selling.
But parental opposition is also surging. Attorney General Merrick Garland asked the FBI to look into parents protesting issues like SEL at school board meetings. His son-in-law is a co-founder of Panorama Education, a company raking in millions selling SEL materials to school districts. Conflict of interest?
And what about the billions of dollars the Democrats' Build Back Better legislation allocates to child care and pre-K? Will that money pay to indoctrinate even younger minds? Likely, "yes." At least a dozen states, including New York, have already adopted SEL standards for preschool.
As for elementary schools, gender dysphoric kids make up less than 1% of the school population. Protect them, of course, from bullying and discrimination. They need to feel safe. But don't brainwash the rest with one-sided, repeated lessons about gender issues.
West Hartford is reported to hammer away grade after grade, starting with a kindergarten-level book about a teddy bear who knows in his heart he is a girl teddy, not a boy teddy. Then, a book about Aiden, who knows the sex he was assigned at birth is "wrong." Then, a book about choosing pronouns. And another is about a girl named Jazz who changes her gender identity. Are kids reading that many books about the U.S. Constitution?
One Arkansas father objected that his fifth grader's teacher showed a video of a transgender activist's speech. Then, the teacher, wearing a "Protect Trans Lives" T-shirt, invited the class to a pride celebration: "I'll be at Pride from 1-6! I hope to see you there!"
SEL was originally sold as training children to control their emotions, manage their time and make good personal decisions. Teachers have always tried to instill these life skills. They're the same American values Benjamin Franklin proselytized in his autobiography 200 years ago.
But recently, SEL purveyors, including the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, have openly revised their goals. CASEL advocates for "transformative SEL" to promote "justice-oriented civic engagement." Translation: Make your kids into activists.
A South Bend, Indiana, school district adopted SEL two years ago to curb substance abuse and bullying. Now, parents, recognizing the radical messaging, are demanding more oversight.
Who's in charge of what your child learns? Parents need to take control. It's not an easy fight against the combined forces of educational profiteers and left-wing activists. But the stakes are too high to accept defeat.
******************************************
There's a New Lord and Savior at Catholic University...And It's Not Jesus Christ
Paintings depicting George Floyd as Jesus Christ hang in both The Catholic University of America’s campus ministry office and its law school, The Daily Signal has learned.
Catholic University appeared to shrug off responsibility for the painting Monday, telling The Daily Signal that artist Kelly Latimore’s painting “Mama” depicts “the Virgin Mary supporting the body of the dead Christ”—although the artist has indicated repeatedly that his painting depicts both Floyd and Jesus.
“You can identify Jesus by the marks in the halo,” said Karna Lozoya, vice president for university communications. Lozoya would not further address the matter with The Daily Signal.
“The icon has no place at The Catholic University of America; it is blasphemous and an offense to the Catholic faith, but it is not surprising at all that it was put there,” a junior at Catholic University told The Daily Signal in an email. “It is just another symptom of the liberalization and secularization of our campus.”
“There are many students, faculty, and staff who are concerned about this, but there is nothing we can do,” added the student, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal from the university administration. “And if we sound the alarm, we will be labeled racists.”
I mean, when Catholic universities start dabbling with this "woke" crap, trouble is ahead. And the Church already has a ton of other issues on its hands. They don't need to make things worse. Remove this painting. A mural is fine, but the intent and undertones here are pretty explicit; just look at the painting.
******************************************
England’s most prestigious universities failing to boost social mobility, IFS finds
Well-known universities, including Exeter, Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge, were found to have done the least to help those from the lowest-income households, in analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) that for the first time ranks higher education institutions in England by their contribution to social mobility.
The research comes as the government details new measures that would compel universities in England to improve the performance of local schools and pupils, and to do more to help their graduates find rewarding careers.
The IFS study found that Oxbridge and other highly selective universities admit so few people from disadvantaged backgrounds that their impact is far outweighed by other institutions recruiting low-income students in greater numbers and helping them into higher paid careers after graduation.
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) is the sole example of a member of the Russell Group of leading universities with an outstanding record in both admitting a high proportion of students who had received free school meals and boosting their career prospects.
Prof Colin Bailey, the principal of QMUL, said he was “incredibly proud” of the achievement by staff and students.
“Recruiting students from backgrounds typically under-represented at universities, and supporting them to succeed, is at the heart of everything we stand for as a university,” Prof Bailey said.
The IFS examined the school, university and workforce history of nearly 1 million young people in England who took GCSE exams between 2002 and 2006, and tracked their careers until around the age of 30. From the data it constructed a social mobility index, using the proportion of disadvantaged young people admitted to a university or course and their later progression into a job in the top 20% of earnings.
“Despite having very high success rates, we see that the elite institutions do very poorly in terms of mobility rates, as they let in so few low-income students. Instead, low- to mid-ranking institutions, often based in London, are the best performers in terms of mobility,” the IFS said.
The University of Westminster admitted 22% of students who had previously been on free school meals, with one in four going on to well-paid jobs, giving it one of the highest social mobility ratings of 5.6%. In contrast, Bristol university admitted only 1.2% of pupils previously on free school meals – meaning that despite more than 40% progressing to highly paid careers, its rating was 0.4%.
The IFS calculated the average mobility rate across all universities in England to be 1.3%, which it said was “well below our benchmark rate of 4.4%, the rate you would get if there were equal access to university for all income groups”.
The figures also showed that high average graduate earnings did not equate to improved social mobility. “It is plausible that policies that restrict funding for low-returning courses could come at a cost in terms of social mobility,” the IFS noted, in reference to rumours that the government was looking to cut funding for courses based on graduate incomes.
The Sutton Trust, which helped produce the research, said it showed universities can be powerful vehicles for social mobility, and that graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds are much more likely to end up as a high earner than those who don’t go to university.
Sir Peter Lampl, the trust’s founder, said universities should “give young people from low income backgrounds a break on the grades they need to get in, as their grades, in many cases, do not reflect their potential”.
Michelle Donelan, the universities minister for England, will unveil new efforts to involve higher education in offering tutoring and summer schools for all local pupils. The government also wants a greater emphasis on universities helping their graduates find skilled employment, and more support for any students in danger of dropping out.
“We need to send a message to every disadvantaged young person thinking about higher education that they will have the support through school, college and university to get there and achieve a positive outcome,” Donelan will say.
The Department for Education has also named John Blake, a former teacher who is currently a policy director for the Ark schools multi-academy trust, as the new director for fair access and participation at the Office for Students.
***********************************
My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
*******************************
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment