‘It’s Almost Everywhere,’ Scholar Says of China’s Infiltration of America’s K-12 Schools

China’s infiltration of American K-12 schools is “almost everywhere,” according to Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars.

“That is, in every state that we’ve looked at, we have found instances of it, but I would say it’s concentrated in the feeder schools to elite education, which means mostly West Coast and East Coast, but not exclusively those,” Wood says.

“The effort here is, China’s not just spreading around its resources promiscuously across the land. It’s looking for places where buying influence will yield results in the long term,” he adds. “So, it’s widespread, but much more prevalent here on the East Coast and California.”

In April, The Heritage Foundation awarded the National Association of Scholars its Innovation Prize, which “is intended to spark creative disruption in the conservative movement as we strive to ensure the future of American self-governance.” (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.)

Wood joins today’s episode of “The Daily Signal Podcast” to discuss some of the concerns surrounding the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in our education system and some of the other work the National Association of Scholars has been doing in addition to digging into China’s infiltration of and influence in K-12 schools.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/08/15/its-almost-everywhere-scholar-says-chinas-infiltration-americas-k-12-schools

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Back to What Type of School?

As millions of children return to public school, it's a good idea to again examine what they are being taught and what is being left out. It also offers an annual opportunity for parents to ask if their kids are being educated or indoctrinated.

At the recent convention of the National Education Association in Orlando, Florida, reports told of delegates waving rainbow signs proclaiming: "freedom to teach" and "freedom to learn." The demonstrators oppose parental concerns over what they regard as pornography in certain books, an opposition that has tarred them as "book banners." Peculiar how it's "academic freedom" to introduce books that promote behavior and ideas many parents oppose, but "censorship" to object to them.

The NEA adopted two amendments supporting "reproductive rights" for women. "Forced motherhood is female enslavement" read a second amendment. This is appropriate for prepubescent children, or students of any age? The delegates continue to favor the LGBTQ-plus agenda, which professes to advocate for sexual and gender equality under the law. They also approved a measure supporting "asylum for all."

How is any of this preparing children to compete with China and other nations in math, reading, and science?

It is not. The New York Times reported last October: "U.S. students in most states and across almost all demographic groups have experienced troubling setbacks in both math and reading. ... In math, the results were especially devastating, representing the steepest declines ever recorded on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as the nation's report card, which tests a broad sampling of fourth and eighth graders and dates to the early 1990s."

It hasn't always been this way. Joel Belz, a columnist for World magazine, recalled in 2006 a 1924 education pamphlet designed to prepare eighth graders for high school. It had the lengthy title "Stephenson's Iowa State Eighth Grade Examination Question Book." Belz thinks most high school seniors today would find the questions challenging.

They include arithmetic: "A wall 77 feet long, 6 1/2 feet high, and 14 inches thick is built of bricks costing $9 per M. What was the entire cost of the bricks if 22 bricks were sufficient to make a cubic foot of wall?"

Grammar: "Define five of the following terms: antecedent, tense, object, conjugation, auxiliary verb, expletive, reflexive pronoun."

Civil government: "Name three township, three county, and three state officers and state what office each person holds..."

I'm betting not many students today could name their members of Congress, much less local officials.

Other categories were geography, physiology ("beginning with food in the mouth, trace the course of digestion, naming the juices with which the food is mixed and the results. What is the reason that spitting on the street is dangerous to the health of a community?"), history, music, and reading. These were supported by a daily salute to the American flag and other expressions of patriotism.

Who decided these subjects and practices were unnecessary to a well-rounded education and equipping children to become good citizens and lead prosperous and healthy lives? Is it the teacher's unions and other activists who see schools not as places for educating the next generation, but as indoctrination centers for their secular-progressive worldview?

Some parents have begun moving away from public schools. Increasing numbers are homeschooling their children or taking advantage of school choice programs.

For the rest, get them out now while you are still able to save their minds, spirits and the country.

https://townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2023/08/17/back-to-what-type-of-school-n2627127

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Law lecturer sacked after 'objecting to curriculum that indoctrinated students in gender identity theory' at Open University

A law lecturer has claimed she was let go from the Open University after raising concerns about teaching gender identity theory. Almut Gadow, 43, says that she questioned curriculum requirements including teaching diverse gender identities and encouraging students to use offenders' preferred pronouns.

She maintains that her role was 'to present facts' and says that she was sacked for questioning the need to 'indoctrinate students in gender identity theory' after changes were made to the curriculum in the 2021/22 academic year.

Gadow stressed the perceived importance of not allowing offenders 'to dictate the language of his case in a way which masks relevant facts', adding that she felt the new requirements 'distorted equality law and normalised child sexual exploitation'.

But the professor said she was told her forum posts on gender identity were deemed 'serious insubordination' and that persistent comments on identity, paedophilia and sex offending were judged 'serious bullying and harassment'.

Gadow was ultimately let go from the institution in November for gross misconduct after 'almost ten years' with the institution, and now seeks to raise funds to support a legal battle.

Writing on a fundraising page, Gadow said: 'When I raised these questions, in an online forum for law tutors to discuss what they teach, management had no answers. 'Months later, they were cited as reasons for my dismissal.

'Managers spuriously alleged that my 'unreasonable questions' had created an environment which 'isn't inclusive, trans-friendly or respectful', thus violating the transgender staff policy and codes of conduct.

'In fact, I had broken no lawful rule by probing the academic soundness of what I was expected to teach.'

She claims that 'some treated 'minor attraction' as part of the 'diverse sexualities and gender identities' Open University law teaching now seeks to 'centre'', alleging that the criminal law module featured an assignment in which students had to discuss a relationship between an adult and a minor.

She said that describing the child and adult as each other's 'boyfriends' would yield marks, and that students would lose marks for considering 'whether the adult was grooming the child or committing a sexual offence'.

When she asked for clarification, she says her appeals were 'described as further misconduct'.

On CrowdJustice, the lecturer has so far raised £16,690 of £70,000 in a campaign to support an employment tribunal claim against the university.

£70,000, she says, will cover the cost of the preliminary hearing, disclosure of documents and preparation of a trial bundle.

She alleged that she has 'been unfairly dismissed, harassed, and discriminated against because I reject gender ideology and believe in academic freedom.

'My case raises complex points of human rights, academic freedom, free expression and equality law.'

Gadow plans to argue that 'valuing academic freedom is, in itself, a protected belief under the Equality Act' - the central piece of legislation legally protecting people from discrimination in the workplace and wider society.

Writing on her fundraising page, she said: 'I see free speech as a distinguishing feature between democracy and totalitarianism, not a battleground between left and right.

'My family has seen both German dictatorships, the fascist and the socialist, right and left, suppress speech and purge academia of dissent and dissenters.

'I hope my daughter can one day go to a university that does not eliminate wrongthink(ers).'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12422831/Law-lecturer-claims-sacked-Open-University-questioning-gender-identity-curriculum-requirements-felt-normalised-child-sexual-exploitation.html

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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)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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