Friday, August 05, 2022


Portland Schools Teaching Young Children About ‘Infinite Gender Spectrum’

A Portland school is teaching children as young as kindergarteners about the “infinite gender spectrum” and gender “colonization,” according to public documents.

The curriculum implemented in 2021 at Portland Public Schools in Portland, Oregon, teaches K-12 students that there is an “infinite gender spectrum” and that they can make up their own pronouns, according to public documents. The students learn that gender is “colonized” by “white colonizers” who are trying to “erase many cultures, including what some might now call ‘queer’ or ‘trans’ people.”

Middle school students learn in science that different “persons” have different genitals that are not specific to any gender because “gender identity is about how you feel about yourself inside,” the documents show. Students practice identifying and labeling the parts of their body by looking at a diagram of each genital area.

One lesson states that “you cannot ‘see’ gender because any gender can look any way” and that any gender can use whichever pronoun they want, the documents show. Students can express gender through makeup, how one talks, how one moves, and through clothes, the lesson says.

Third graders answer the question, “What happens if you don’t want to be a boy or a girl or nonbinary?” as a part of the lesson, the documents show. Students are taught that language is gendered and if students are unsure of someone’s gender they should use gender-neutral words like “Mx” instead of “Mr.” or Mrs.” and “folx” instead of “girls and boys,” according to the documents.

The students learn that colonization is “taking over” and eliminating “places, cultures and identities of Indigenous people,” the documents state.

“When white European people colonized different places, they brought their own ideas about gender and sexuality. When the United States was colonized by white settlers, their views around gender were forced upon the people already living here. Hundreds of years later, how we think and talk about gender are still impacted by this shift,” a presentation in the documents reads.

Students are taught about “dominant identities” with an example being a white, rich, Christian boy, the documents show. Those with “less power” should describe themselves as having a “non-dominant identity.”

Those who identify as “straight” or “cisgender” are dominant in gender identity and those who are “queer” are non-dominant in identity, according to the documents.

Portland Public Schools told The Daily Caller News Foundation its gender and sexuality education is “consistent with anti-bias education and Oregon law.”

“We make certain that our curriculum is LGBTQ+ inclusive for students who identify as transgender, gender non-conforming, gender-queer, and queer to create a safe and inclusive environment for all of our students,” the district said in a statement. It also said parents can opt out of “any components” of a sexuality education class.

************************************************

‘It’s My Legal Duty to Safeguard Children Against Harm’: British Headmaster

By introducing children to knives, skinning rabbits, and shooting guns, Mike Fairclough isn’t a typical British headmaster. His approach to teaching has brought him criticism in the past, but it is his insistence on speaking out against lockdowns and COVID-19 vaccines for children that has become his biggest challenge.

Fairclough has 20 years’ experience in running the state-funded West Rise Junior School for 7- to 11-year-olds in Eastbourne. He was also one of the very few voices in education to express concern over the response to the Covid virus pandemic and its impact on children.

He told The Epoch Times he has been a “reluctant campaigner,” but felt it was his “legal duty to safeguard children against harm.”

“I can see that there’s the potential harm that could result from a child taking the vaccine,” he said. “We certainly have no idea about the long-term safety data, and therefore that’s why it’s worth raising the alarm.”

Fairclough recently wrote the book “Rewilding Childhood,” in which he used the experience of lockdowns to urge parents to join a “call for rebellion: a liberating, transformative, joyful rebellion, proven to encourage confidence and resilience in children.⁠”

In the UK, two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine are being offered to almost 5 million children aged 5 to 15.

Fairclough was recently suspended from Twitter for writing that the next “Prime Minister must be vocally committed to safeguarding our nation’s children against harm” and asking, “In light of new and emerging data about vaccine injuries and vaccine deaths where do you stand on this?”

Unlike many in education, he has openly shared his views, saying that the “government blindly followed China into destructive lockdowns” and that “lockdowns harmed our children.”

Fairclough’s approach to education is certainly different too. There are 362 pupils at West Rise who come mainly from the local council estate, places which are often part of England’s poorest neighbourhoods.

“It serves a community which has quite high social and economic deprivation,” he said.

He added that the school has a very close connection to nature, with a farm, a forest school, beekeeping sites, and children are taught to use knives and guns and to forage for food.

Fairclough teaches that it is important that children are “not just responding to instruction.”

“That isn’t really about education at all, that’s essentially just creating conformist individuals,” he said.

“It’s my whole point with kids. It’s like kids are not only easy to inspire with clearly inspiring stuff, but they themselves take it to the next level so they are naturally inquisitive,” he said.

“There’s a reason why all of those traits get dumbed down and sort of belittled by the adult world, and it’s because if you’ve got children who ask questions and who are imaginative and take risks and are comfortable with the unknown … they then turn into adults with the same traits,” said Fairclough.

“And that’s dangerous for governments because then people start … asking questions of those in power,” he added.

Dr. Tony Hinton, an NHS consultant in ear, nose, and throat surgery, who is supportive of Fairclough and who wrote the foreword to his book, has also been vocal about the harms of lockdowns on children and has repeatedly stated that children must not be given the COVID-19 jab.

“I think of all the people that are being treated the worst it’s children,” Hinton told The Epoch Times, expressing concern for what has happened to children over the last two years. He added that in his own practice, he has seen an increase in children with hearing or speech problems.

Like Fairclough, Hinton is a rare voice questioning COVID-19 narratives in the British medical community. In May, Hinton was permanently banned from his Twitter account for questioning the safety of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant women.

In terms of children growing up in a “controlling, fear-mongering world,” Hinton said Fairclough’s approach “was valuable” in that it “encouraged children to inquire.”

Fairclough said there are “a lot of teachers and heads with the same view as me,” but many can’t speak out for fear of losing their job.

“I’m in exactly the same position,” he said. “I have already been investigated twice for being outspoken about this; on both occasions the authorities have dropped the complaint, which has come from criticising the vaccines for the kids,” he said.

“I do feel frequently very worried about my position. I mean, I can’t afford to lose my job and lose my house,” said Fairclough, who is a father of four children.

“However, I haven’t got a choice. Particularly as I am the only voice in education I am aware of,” he said.

*************************************************

International students are applying for Australian visas in record numbers

Good for university finances

The number of international students applying for visas hit an all-time record in June, giving heart to universities and other education providers who are looking for a strong bounce back in student numbers.

In an update sent to education providers on Monday, the Home Affairs Department said that about 42,700 student visa applications had been lodged in June, in a post-Covid rush to return to Australia.

“This is the largest number of offshore applications received in a single month in the last 10 years,” the department told education providers. Because the number of international students coming to Australia in the past decade is far higher than in earlier decades, the June figure is an all-time record.

The department said that the high numbers seen in June are continuing, with an average of 10,000 student visa applications a week being received during July from offshore applicants. In comparison, only 34,015 student visa applications were received in June 2019, before the pandemic.

International Education Association of Australia CEO Phil Honeywood said the figures showed that demand was recovering “notwithstanding the reputational damage” which Australia had suffered as an education destination during the pandemic.

“This latest data proves there is still a strong appetite to study in Australia,” Mr Honeywood said.

The record number of applications will put even more pressure on the Department of Home Affairs which has struggled to process the volume of student visa applications since borders opened at the end of last year.

In an effort to speed up processing the department has assigned 140 more people to visa processing in its overseas offices since May.

Last week Immigration Minister Andrew Giles said 62,000 student visas had been finalised since the beginning of June but warned that the situation would not change quickly.

“The processing of visas will continue to be a major priority for this government, but reducing the backlog of applications can’t happen overnight,” Mr Giles said.

“People reallocated to dealing with the visa applications on hand need to be trained and skilled before they can go about this important work.”

Currently the international education industry is lagging well behind the boom conditions it experienced pre-Covid, when the value of Australia’s education exports reached a record $40.3 billion in 2019.

The latest student data from the federal Education Department, issued on Monday, said that 171,000 international students had commenced courses in the five months to May this year, 31 per cent less than in the same period of 2019.

Mr Honeywood said it was important to learn from experience as international education recovered from Covid.

“Lessons learnt from the pandemic show that we need to build back better,” he said. “Going forward, the key concerns include visa processing times, motivation of student applicants and diversity of source countries.”

Currently international students have no limit on the hours they work since the Morrison government removed the previous 40 hours per fortnight restriction in an effort to ease labour shortages.

However this has raised concern that international students are being attracted to Australia by the prospect of working to earn money in a high wage economy rather than coming to study.

If the Albanese government does not move to reinstate the work hours restriction there are fears it could damage Australia’s reputation for quality education.

***********************************

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)

*******************************

No comments: