I remember how it was -- JR
University of South Carolina blasted over 'White Student Accountability' meeting
The University of South Carolina is being criticized by a conservative student organization over a "White Student Accountability Group" meeting that was hosted at the school.
An email sent to University of South Carolina College of Social Work students invited them to attend the "White Student Accountability Group" meeting that was hosted on April 26, according to the conservative student organization Turning Point USA.
According to the event description for the "White Student Accountability Group," participants would learn about their "responsibility to dismantle racism in our practice and everyday lives."
"The purpose of engaging in this project is three-fold:
1) To help social work students recognize both their contribution to and responsibility to dismantle racism in our practice and everyday lives,
2) To encourage students to use their voice, power, and privilege to enact change in their classrooms, community, and practice,
3) To support students in developing skills to host similar groups among peers or colleagues to expand the community dedicated to racial equity and justice," the reported event description states.
A University of South Carolina Spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the "White Student Accountability Group" was part of a student's project and was not officially sponsored by the College of Social Work.
"The Accountability Group was part of a student’s project and was not part of an officially sponsored College of Social Work activity. The meeting was open to everyone and was strictly voluntarily," the spokesperson said.
Several universities across America have "White Accountability Groups," such as Loyola University Maryland and the University of North Texas.
Several faculty members from the University of South Carolina College of Social Work signed a statement, posted on the school's website, "in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and the Black community who persevere through the reality of oppression on a daily basis…"
"As part of our pledge of solidarity, we recognize white privilege and silence contributes to the horrific racial inequities and we commit to fostering growth of our critical consciousness so that we cease to be complicit in the persecution of the Black community," the statement continues. "In our view, the indifference of color-blindness is ineffective in supporting anti-racism and ameliorating white supremacy. Education must stand as an institution of anti-racist action, grounded in the recognition that no one is free and equal until the violence and discrimination perpetrated on the Black community is dismantled."
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Oregon's 'Menstrual Dignity Act' requires schools to place feminine products in boys' bathrooms
Oregon public schools will be required to provide feminine products along with instructions on "how to use" those products in all K-12 bathrooms regardless of gender, in accordance with the state's "Menstrual Dignity Act" signed into law last year.
The controversial mandate, solidified by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, was set to go into full effect during the 2022-2023 school year. A 2021 statement from Portland Public Schools detailed how the act would be implemented long-term.
"Starting next year (2022-2023), products will be available in all restrooms (male, female and all-gender) in every PPS building where education occurs," the statement read.
"To ensure timely compliance, PPS ordered 500 dispensers. Dispensers have been installed in all elementary and middle school girls' restrooms, and more will be installed in all remaining bathrooms, including boys' restrooms, next year.
"Instructions on how to use tampons and pads will be posted in all bathrooms," the source added.
The statement also stressed the need for students to learn about growth and development, noted that some physical education courses are implementing lessons on "the four pillars of Menstrual Dignity" and encouraged parents to have similar discussions with their children to help reduce the "shame and stigma" surrounding menstruation.
The Oregon Department of Education also doubled down on the controversial content by issuing a "Menstrual Dignity for Students" toolkit in March, complete with instructions on how to use menstrual products, segments on faculty and staff training, classroom instruction and tips for "menstruation-positive" language for families.
The toolkit also emphasized the need for menstrual products in all bathrooms because lack of access disproportionately impacts "students of color, students experiencing disabilities, and students experiencing poverty."
"Importantly, [the Menstrual Dignity Act] affirms the right to menstrual dignity for transgender, intersex, nonbinary, and two spirit students by addressing the challenges that some students have managing menstruation while minimizing negative attention that could put them at risk of harm and navigating experiences of gender dysphoria during menstruation," a segment of the introduction read.
"Research also connects gender-affirming bathroom access to supporting student safety at school," the toolkit said.
Republicans outraged by the bill spoke out on the measure. Gubernatorial candidate Bridget Barton slammed Brown for the policy, as well as her stance on abortion, in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"Radical leftist woke policies are destroying Oregon from our streets to our businesses to our schools. But as a mom, a new grandmother, and a Republican candidate for Oregon governor, I can't believe we're even discussing this -- America's most unpopular governor, Kate Brown, is putting free tampons in the boys bathrooms of Oregon's elementary schools.
"Clearly Brown cares more about what's going on in the bathrooms than what's going on in the classrooms," she said.
Barton noted another policy flaw among the state's education system, saying that Oregon's students rank 46th in the nation in reading and math after Brown revoked allegedly "racist" academic requirements.
"We’re at the bottom of the barrel and the career politicians spend our taxpayer money on tampons for little boys," she said. "I'm respectful of all, but it's fair to let little boys be little boys, and little girls be little girls. Instead, leftist education bureaucrats are pushing this radical nonsense, spending precious class time coming between Oregon parents and their kids, creating activist factories instead of strong community schools.
"Oregon's kids deserve so much better from their schools; right now Oregon's public schools don't deserve our kids."
Barton said she is running to "put a stop" to these leftist policies and to better education in her state.
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NY Times newsletter breaks down ruinous school closures: 'Remote learning was a failure'
A New York Times newsletter broke down the negative effects of school closures Thursday and affirmed what many believed to be true during the pandemic: "Remote learning was a failure."
The New York Times' David Leonhardt outlined the learning loss experienced by students who stayed home for remote learning in 2020 and 2021. "On average, they lost the equivalent of about 50 percent of a typical school year’s math learning during the study’s two-year window," he wrote.
He noted that keeping schools closed throughout the pandemic made "economic and racial inequality in learning" much worse.
"Low-income students, as well as Black and Latino students, fell further behind over the past two years, relative to students who are high-income, white or Asian," the newsletter said.
"Were many of these problems avoidable? The evidence suggests that they were," Leonhardt wrote, adding that remote learning did more harm than good. "Many school administrators probably could have recognized as much by the fall of 2020."
Unfortunately, many left-leaning officials appeared to only change course on remote learning following the omicron outbreak in winter 2021-22.
New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait wrote in January that the progressive left likely was starting to notice that school closures throughout the pandemic were a "catastrophic mistake."
"Many liberals are complaining that the recent debates over short-term closings are creating a hysterical overreaction from people still angry about the 2020-21 school shutdown," Chait wrote. "Perhaps a first step to building trust that we are not planning to repeat a catastrophic mistake is to admit the mistake in the first place."
Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers (ATF), was criticized Wednesday for a lack of self-awareness with regard to teachers unions and their role in keeping schools shuttered throughout the pandemic.
Weingarten, who lobbied for years to delay the reopening of schools, said this week, "Our kids are in crisis … for two years of disruption, two years of looking at the screens, two years of not having a normal kind of routine and rhythm, recovery is really tough."
A 2020 New York Times op-ed admitted that former president Donald Trump was "right" about keeping schools open.
"Some things are true even though President Trump says them," Nicholas Kristof wrote at the time. "Trump has been demanding for months that schools reopen, and on that he seems to have been largely right. Schools, especially elementary schools, do not appear to have been major sources of coronavirus transmission, and remote learning is proving to be a catastrophe for many low-income children."
Still, the Chicago Teachers Union defied their city's order to return to in-person instruction in early January 2022 amid an uptick in omicron cases, which prompted a lot of backlash, even from liberals.
Even Mayor Lori Lightfoot came out against the union and threatened to withhold pay from teachers.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/ny-times-newsletter-breaks-down-ruinous-school-closures
***********************************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)
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