Teachers want to ‘save’ kids with social justice — try just teaching them

It’s become apparent that there are people who believe they must do everything possible to save us from ourselves. They’ve entered nearly every industry that allows them authority and have proceeded to anoint themselves as the arbiters of social change for your own good, or in the case of the educational system, for your children’s benefit.

Since the death of George Floyd, savior teachers have taken it upon themselves to force-feed the doctrine of social justice ad nauseam to the most innocent of audiences.

They’ll exclaim that these actions are for the benefit of your child’s future, but their priority will always be the upliftment of themselves because saviors never do anything without the purpose of receiving congratulatory acknowledgement.

This month, Harlem educator Billy Green was named New York State’s Teacher of the Year — but not without criticisms from parental advocates that he focuses far too much on “wokeness” over course work and basic skills. Indeed, one of his algebra lessons had little to do with math, but instead aimed to teach “the vocabulary of inequalities to empower my identities in America.”

Woke progressivism has become a framework for narcissistic saviors to mask themselves with, as it provides strategy, language and worldview that’s performative enough to garner the attention they seek without the substance to benefit anyone else.

When Green was discussing his working at lower performing schools, he’s quoted as saying “I chose to work at those schools, they didn’t choose me. They NEED me at the worst schools.”

You must possess an exceeding high amount of arrogance to believe that any employer needs you, implying failure without you. The savior always believes that their existence is empirical to your success and without them, you will inevitably fail.

When they don’t receive the recognition they feel they deserve, the savior will revert into the momentary victim as a defense mechanism. In Green’s case, him being Puerto Rican, black and gay is the reason that he believes the Department of Education doesn’t want him to supposedly “succeed” and why the mayor hasn’t said anything to him about his award.

There are some jobs that require minimal ego even when you’re one of the best in the field; teaching is one of them. There is a reason a firefighter says “I was just doing my job” after rescuing someone in dire need: it’s because they are here to serve the public and serving the public should require no congratulatory measure.

The public would find it distasteful if the same firefighter complained that they had yet to receive an award or a phone call from the mayor for their heroism and it should be equally distasteful coming from a public-school teacher.

The more parents are becoming involved in their children’s education, the bigger the threat they’ve become to uncovering this population of savior teachers. Under the authority of a savior teacher, your children’s purpose is to inflate their ego to a satisfactory manner — educational results be damned.

Woke progressive saviors want your children to be subservient to the will of their ego and embrace being impaired as victims of American society. They’ll continue to flaunt their credentials and experience to make parents feel insecure about their involvement in their children’s education. But this strategy is running thin.

Our children don’t need saving, they need serving by teachers who understand they are aides for the public, not adversaries against it.

https://nypost.com/2022/09/23/teachers-want-to-save-kids-with-social-justice-try-just-teaching-them/

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UK: Fury at 'witch-hunt' sacking of math teacher who refused to use a teenage pupil's preferred pronouns without obtaining parental permission first

A maths teacher has been sacked after refusing to affirm a pupil’s gender change because he wanted to first obtain the permission of the student’s parents.

Kevin Lister is taking legal action against his employers for unfair dismissal, claiming he is a victim of a ‘witch-hunt’ for challenging ‘dangerous transgender ideology’.

He has been backed by campaigners as well as Tory MP Danny Kruger, who said he was ‘very concerned’ because recent government guidance says the teacher had been within his rights to apply caution.

Mr Lister, a teacher at a school in Swindon, had enjoyed an unblemished 18-year teaching career before he was dismissed for ‘gross misconduct’ this month.

He had refused to refer to a biologically female student, aged 17, by their preferred male name and he/him pronouns in A-level lessons.

The 59-year-old teacher told The Mail on Sunday he was concerned that the ‘out-of-the-blue’ request amounted to social transition, which could put the teen on a pathway to irreversible medical treatments.

‘I wanted at least to make sure that my student had parental support and was making an informed decision,’ he said. ‘As a parent myself, I would have been furious if my child had taken this step and I hadn’t been told anything.’

Mr Lister said he was ‘gobsmacked’ when he approached the safeguarding officers and was told the parents would not be informed about the student’s wish to identify as male in the classroom. The school’s guide to supporting transitioning students states that staff should ‘maintain confidentiality and only tell others about the person’s trans status with their permission’.

Mr Lister said he then found himself in an ‘impossible position’: ‘I ended up pointing to her as politely as I could to avoid either dead-naming her or supporting transition without parental consent.’ A few weeks later the student wanted to enter a female maths Olympiad.

Mr Lister said: ‘I put the names of the students on the board who wanted to take part and I put her name up on the board as being a female’s name to enter a female maths competition.’

Earlier this year, Mr Lister discovered some students had made accusations of transphobia against him and he was suspended in February, pending an inquiry, and escorted off the school grounds.

A disciplinary hearing last month upheld three complaints, namely that he had ‘subjected a gender-transitioning student’ to ‘transphobic discrimination’ and ‘harassment’ and ‘refused to use’ their preferred name and he/him pronouns.

He was also told in a letter earlier this month by the school’s vice-principal that he had ‘degraded’ the student by pointing in class and he was ‘insensitive’ by writing the female name on the board relating to the Olympiad.

The letter, which announced his dismissal, added: ‘We acknowledge that you are entitled to your beliefs, however, it is my view that your treatment of [the student] violated his dignity.’

Mr Lister has refuted the allegations against him, saying he was simply trying to protect his student’s welfare.

Last month the then Attorney General, Suella Braverman, said the law was clear that under-18s could not legally change their gender, meaning schools were under no legal obligation to address children by a new pronoun.

Mr Kruger, MP for Devizes, Wiltshire, said: ‘I am very concerned that a school agreed to affirm a child’s transgender identity without parental consent.’

A spokesman for the school said: ‘We are unable to comment.’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11246431/Swindon-teacher-sacked-refusing-use-pupils-preferred-pronouns-without-parental-permission.html

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New Yorkers, facing poorly performing schools, need more choice

By Lee Zeldin

Every New York student deserves access to a quality education regardless of race, ethnicity, wealth or ZIP code. The reality, though, is poorly performing public schools, violence, pandemic policies, woke educators and curricula run wild have forced more and more parents to explore other options, such as charter, private or parochial schools and in some cases homeschooling.

To truly raise the bar, we must lift the antiquated cap on charter schools, implement tax credits for school choice and Education Savings Accounts, extend advanced and specialized academics, protect merit-based entry exams into specialized schools, expand technical training and so much more. The status quo just doesn’t cut it.

My twin teenage daughters are going to the same public high school I attended, and my wife Diana and I are very happy with the quality education they’re receiving. All New Yorkers aren’t so fortunate, and many have been forced to make hard decisions about their children’s education.

An example of how New York has failed many of our children is captured in a study comparing the quality of education in New York and Florida. Both states have roughly the same student population, but that’s where the similarities end.

Florida has a greater number of black, Hispanic and low-income students. It also spends far less: $9,986 per student versus $24,882 per student in New York. Testing of fourth-grade students in both states show very different results; Florida students of all backgrounds scored higher in math and reading, ranking near the top of the national scale, while New York ranked 40th and 28th respectively.

What a shocking gap when the Empire State spends 2½ times the tax dollars per student as Florida.

A primary option for many parents seeking a better education for their children has been charters: independently operated schools funded with your tax dollars. Yet Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democrats in Albany have stalled raising the cap on the number of charter schools around the state.

In August, New York City charter schools welcomed more than 145,000 students to 275 schools throughout the five boroughs. That’s roughly 15% of all city students receiving a public education. About 80% of these students come from economically disadvantaged families choosing charter schools because they felt traditional public schools simply weren’t educating their children.

The proof of success is in charter schools’ four-year high-school-graduation rates, which are four times that of local public schools. It’s quite remarkable the superior scores that charter-school students receive on standardized testing compared with their public-school peers. And it’s even more striking when you consider the cost per pupil is $17,626 versus roughly $28,000 in traditional New York City public schools.

While the solution might be found in a charter school, the problem is that demand far outweighs the number of available seats, leaving more than 50,000 students on waiting lists. This situation can only be remedied by lifting the cap on the number of charter, a cap that’s become obsolete with these schools’ proven success in New York City and state over the past two decades.

Some parents may feel that private or religious schools or even homeschooling are the right choice for their children. Many struggle to pay the tuition, or, in the case of homeschooling, one parent is forced to give up a full-time job so their children can receive a quality education. Already facing runaway inflation and skyrocketing taxes, these hardworking New Yorkers deserve relief in the form of tax credits, savings accounts and other reasonable options that will lessen the bite of tuition costs or homeschooling.

By providing true learning choices for our students and their parents, we’ll also create competition that will spur all schools and educators to provide a better education to remain viable.

The greatest asset we have is our children; they are the future of the Empire State and deserve the best education possible.

https://nypost.com/2022/09/25/new-yorkers-facing-poorly-performing-schools-need-more-choice/

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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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