I remember how it was -- JR
Teachers Union Files Legal Challenge Against Restrictions on Race and Gender Lessons
A teachers union in Tennessee filed a federal lawsuit against the state’s education department over its restrictions on curriculum surrounding race, sexual orientation and gender identity.
According to ABC News, the Tennessee Education Association and five public school educators are behind the lawsuit against the 2021 law. The law was implemented to keep devise ideology, like Critical Race Theory and gender theory, out of public schools.
The law reportedly requires an "impartial discussion of controversial aspects of history" as well as "impartial instruction on the historical oppression of a particular group of people based on race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion, or geographic region." Specifically, the law prohibits teaching that a person “by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously” and other concepts regarding “systematic racism.”
In a statement, Tanya Coats, the president of the Tennessee Education Association, claimed that the law “interferes with Tennessee teachers’ job to provide a fact-based, well-rounded education to their students.”
The lawsuit reportedly claims that “Tennessee educators have been faced with the threat that a student or parent will trigger an enforcement proceeding under the Ban's ill-defined standards, resulting in termination, license revocation, and reputational damage, for teaching lessons they have taught for years,” adding that it has impacted field trips to historical sites.
On X, the teachers union claimed that students in the state will fall behind because of the law.
During the 2021 bill signing, Gov. Bill Lee’s (R) press secretary said that he “believes Tennessee students should be taught history and civics with facts, not divisive political commentary,” The Tennessean reported.
Since then, other states, like Florida, have passed laws prohibiting this kind of divisive curriculum in the classroom
*****************************************************
A Back-to-School Warning
Parents of children going back to school — be warned! Your kids will continue to learn Marxist theories, hyper-sexualization, anti-American propaganda, social justice advocacy, and that capitalism and America are racist. They will be taught to hate themselves, others, and their country.
You would think that with all the legislation passed around the country to curtail these insidious pedagogies, parents could be more assured that teachers would get back to academics. Unfortunately, there is an abundance of evidence that teachers and administrators are admitting they will continue to indoctrinate children by finding ways to get around the new laws.
In fact, when the battle over critical race theory emerged two years ago, over 5000 teachers across the country signed a pledge initiated by the Zinn Education Project saying, “We, the undersigned educators, refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events — regardless of the law.” Accompanying The Zinn Education Project pledge is a statement that reads, “The major institutions and systems of our country are deeply infected with anti-Blackness and its intersection with other forms of oppression. To not acknowledge this and help students understand the roots of U.S. racism is to deceive them.” The Zinn Education Project provides training and materials to schools based on the approach to history highlighted in Howard Zinn’s controversial book A People’s History of the United States. In 2019, Dr. Mary Grabar published a book titled Debunking Howard Zinn wherein she identifies Zinn as a communist and provides evidence to expose the lies in his rewrite of American history.
Another example of school officials evading the law is found in a South Carolina law prohibiting the use of State funds to teach tenets of critical race theory. Many South Carolina school districts skirted the law by using federal COVID relief money to continue implementing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Social Emotional Learning, which are all conduits for Marxist critical theories.
Other tried and true ways to equivocate the law are also being implemented. Just as nearly every state in the nation rebranded their Common Core standards a decade ago to sidestep push-back from lawmakers and parents, an Idaho principal and district instructional coach said they would merely rebrand Social Emotional Learning as “behavior adaptations,” and “mental health curriculum.”
Moreover, many districts around the country are doubling down on grooming children into believing they are a gender contrary to their biological sex. Fargo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Rupak Gandhi brazenly said he will not “openly out any student because of one law.” It appears school officials will not only continue to influence children to reconsider their biological sex, but they will continue to do it behind the backs of parents.
There is a ray of hope in California’s Chino Valley Unified School District where parents recently applauded the removal of California School Superintendent Tony Thurmond from its school board meeting. Thurmond spoke in opposition to a proposed local school district policy “to require teachers to notify parents of students that identify as transgender.” Even in very liberal California, parents object to indoctrination and local districts are stepping up to regain control of their classrooms despite pressure from State government to push their anti-parent policies.
Parents, as well as every freedom-loving American, need to be aware of what is happening in government schools with their tax dollars. Parents should start by watching the groundbreaking documentary Truth & Lies in American Education to become fully informed of the array of dangerous philosophies children are taught. Then they can connect with others in their community to fight this battle for the minds of children. It ultimately is a battle of good versus evil.
A parents’ first line of defense should be to protect their children. The toxic agenda in government schools is tantamount to child abuse. Once children are safe, we must work together to protect our countries’ freedom. If we don’t stop the indoctrination of children, we will lose our very freedom. As Abraham Lincoln said, “The philosophy of the school room for one generation is the philosophy of the government of the next.”
https://townhall.com/columnists/sherifew/2023/07/30/a-back-to-school-warning-n2626343
***********************************************Canadian principal’s suicide after alleged bullying for his ‘whiteness’ in CRT training sparks investigation
A Toronto school board and an education minister announced they are launching investigations Thursday into a professional development training after a former principal died by suicide following a lawsuit in which he alleged emotional distress from antiracist trainings and the fallout that followed.
The sessions included concepts from critical race theory.
Before his death, Richard Bilkszto, a 60-year-old former principal, sued the Toronto District School Board for emotional distress after he attended a training where he was accused of being a racist.
Bilkszto alleged in his lawsuit that Kike Ojo-Thompson – who runs an equity firm called the KOJO Institute – said that Canada was racist and has “never reckoned with its anti-Black history.”
When Bilkszto disagreed with the instructor and challenged her comments, he was condemned for appearing to undermine a Black woman, the lawsuit said.
“We are here to talk about anti-Black racism, but you in your whiteness think that you can tell me what’s really going on for Black people” Ojo-Thompson said, according to the lawsuit filed by the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism.
Ojo-Thompson was not directly sued by Bilkszto – it was directed at the district.
She has denied the allegations in FAIR’s lawsuit and did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
The principal also alleged he was called a “White supremacist” for sharing his beliefs.
The fallout from the training catapulted into further issues relating to the matter, and the family believes it was a hostile environment that took a serious toll on Bilkszto’s mental health.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce called the allegations raised by Bilkszto “serious and disturbing” Thursday.
A spokesperson told Fox News Digital that his staff will launch a review and present action items to ensure “this never happens again.”
“I offer my heartfelt condolences to Richard’s family and friends, as we remember an educator that truly went above and beyond for his students,” he added. “No staff member should ever be subject to harassment while in their place of work.”
The family released a statement following his death, listing the district’s KOJO training as part of the principal’s emotional distress.
KOJO, who ran the training in question, is an equity consultant which promulgates critical race theory. CRT holds that society is rigged against certain groups on the basis of skin color.
It decries the idea of succeeding by merit as a “myth,” and ranks races into privilege categories, with White people considered unfairly privileged.
Using this lens, its original theorists believed that only present-day discrimination can combat the deeply embedded systemic oppression they believe were intentionally built into every societal structure and system.
“We know that anti-Black racism is operating within education because of the outcomes we see for Black students,” Ojo-Thompson said. She further claimed that racism is embedded within all systems, and offers consulting to corporations, governments, etc.
During a follow-up session a week later, Ojo-Thompson allegedly recalled their disagreement from the first session and used Bilkszto’s efforts to challenge her claims as a “real-life” example of someone supporting White supremacy.
“[N]avigating the whiteness of the education system is a daily hardship,” Ojo Thomson has said. “The dominance of whiteness is not natural but the result of the legacies. Equally, the subordination of Blackness is also not natural.”
As other examples of KOJO’s CRT, the company’s slide deck on instituting an equity agenda criticizes “Eurocentric/Anglocentric curriculum,” “assimilationist culture,” and “school disciplinary policies.” The slide deck suggests that institutions – such as the educational system – can be wielded to influence society and the district’s community.
It asked, “How are institutions leveraging their power and proximity to inform the community’s narrative?” KOJO also calls for the elimination of disparities through “[w]ork that is focused on the systemic and structural context.”
Ojo-Thompson also believes in another idea central to critical theory, which is that individuals can belong to multiple categories of oppressed groups. The term for the concept is called “intersectionality.”
“With every identity that is subordinated due to the legacies, we face discrimination and oppression in a way that is interlocking. Each form of oppression impacts the others,” Ojo-Thompson said.
The Toronto district was contacted for comment, and referred to a previous statement, in which they announced the “investigation into the circumstances surrounding the tragic passing of Richard Bilkszto.”
The district will be using an outside agency, King International Advisory Group, to conduct its investigation.
“Our intention is for this investigation to be conducted in a professional, sensitive and respectful manner,” the district said.
The KOJO Institute previously released a statement, which said, “The death of Richard Bilkszto is a tragedy and all of us at KOJO Institute offer our condolences to his loved ones.”
It denied all allegations and added, “This incident is being weaponized to discredit and suppress the work of everyone committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
******************************************************
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)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
******************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment