Sunday, November 19, 2023


"Diversity, equity, and inclusion", what a joke! It is one thing the Left do NOT believe in

Tony Kinnett

As mobs extolling diversity, equity, and inclusion violently attack Jewish and white students at K-12 schools and on college campuses across the nation, I regretfully write: Told you so.

In 2021, when I was still the science coordinator for Indianapolis Public Schools, then the largest public school in Indiana, I had seen the eerie effects of race-based education on the students sitting under it.

I watched with horror as black students were told they always would be inferior because of systemic racism and white supremacy; white students were told they were responsible for the evils that plagued all minorities; and Hispanic and Asian students either were ignored or pandered to, depending on the day.

None of these racial accusations was founded on reproducible or quantifiable evidence, but the rage of Marxist philosophers like Herbert Marcuse and Paulo Freire, who claimed that a social or ethnic group’s oppression was because of the success of others. Such arguments ignore the history of the United States, a rising tide that lifts all boats via individual freedoms and the adventurously Abrahamic “American dream.”

No, historical data didn’t matter to teachers who were more concerned with social justice and equity than meeting the needs of students suffering from the consequences of fatherlessness and social media addiction. Instead, many liberal teachers hastened to the messianic cries of teacher unions that pushed critical race theory in the form of patently false historical narratives like The New York Times’ 1619 Project, in which Nicole Hannah-Jones simply made up entire portions of a narrative in order to paint the United States as a deeply racist place.

When I watched history and English teachers in dozens of classrooms tell students that those who didn’t take up the banner of decolonization were fascists, bigots, and Nazis, I made a prediction.

On Oct. 5, 2021, I sent these tweets:

Students are watching as many teachers paint political opponents as ‘white supremacists’ and ‘domestic terrorists.’ This teaches them that those who disagree are a serious moral evil, and that they are in danger. This will lead to mob violence, and it will be horrific.

If students believe that someone in their class who disagrees with them is a racist, terrorist, Nazi—and see the student continuing to live unchallenged—the only solution will be violent & intimidating force against the individual—for the sake of the group.

I cited a then-recent incident in which two white, male students were swarmed by angry, liberal students for sitting in a “multicultural space” at Arizona State University.

My call was echoed by hundreds in the education reform space who were witnessing similar, equally disturbing scenes playing out before their eyes—but to little avail. The beast of racial rage continued to grow as this poison festered under the Biden administration, which praised its new hires and appointees for their skin color and sexual preferences rather than for their qualifications and achievements.

Racial attacks increased in frequency and brutality as parents began rushing to pull their children from schools.

In March 2022, students at a Florida middle school faced battery and hate crime charges after police said they attacked white students “using racial taunts and slurs.”

This past February, elementary students at an Ohio public school forced white students to say “black lives matter” and beat those who didn’t.

The leaked manifesto from the transgender shooter who killed three adults and three children at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, was filled with a bloodlust to kill “privileged white kids.”

This kind of filth isn’t relegated only to white students. It affects other students from ethnic groups that Black Lives Matter chapters have described as “colonizers” as well.

Four 11-year-olds were harassed and received death threats at Manhattan Beach Middle School in California because they are Jews.

BLM and LGBTQ+ groups consistently echo ethnic-cleansing statements and voice support for Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization that raped and murdered about 1,200 Israeli citizens Oct. 7.

On Oct. 12, an Israeli student was beaten with a stick outside a Columbia University library.

On Nov. 6, a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was arrested for allegedly hitting a Jewish student and spitting on an Israeli flag during a vigil for the more than 240 Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

On Nov. 10, two Jewish college students in Ohio were assaulted and a Jewish center near Ohio State University’s Hillel Wexner Jewish Student Center was vandalized.

These acts of violence have increased to the point that they’re costing students their lives.

Students at Rancho High School in Las Vegas posted a video of a fight on Nov. 1 in which student Jonathan Lewis was stamped and kicked to death by a group of 15 black students.

Less than a week later, Jonathan died in a hospital. His father says he was beaten to death for confronting the assailants, who had stolen something from a smaller boy before promptly throwing the smaller boy in a trash can.

Conservative activist, commentator, and podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey responded: “Disturbing how common this seems to be.”

Stuckey is correct.

Leading liberals, including those inside the Biden administration, appear to have little desire to condemn racism as a whole; they put effort only into cataloging and heaping scorn on crimes committed against Muslims or black individuals.

After the young woman who “identified” as a man slaughtered children in Nashville, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre warned against transphobia. After the surge in antisemitic assaults, Jean-Pierre warned against Islamophobia.

The White House hasn’t published initiatives against racial discrimination, equally condemning racism of any sort, but has chosen to decry only “white supremacy.” The White House hasn’t published a condemnation of antisemitism amid the greatest wave of violence against Jews since the Holocaust, but it did launch a full initiative against Islamophobia.

The Left has been carefully selective in the types of racism it endorses and decries—and our children have picked up on the message. These lessons they’ve taken to heart have already resulted in the assault and death of innocent students in just a few short years.

Children listen and learn when Teen Vogue writer Najma Sharif posts “What did y’all think decolonization meant? vibes? papers? essays? losers,” in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. Children listen and learn when BLM chapters praise Hamas’ slaughter of Jews as an “equal struggle” with that of black Americans.

I told you they would.

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

Leftist Illinois lawmakers just axed state’s sole school choice program

Since the pandemic exposed the corruption and decline of public schools throughout the country, school choice programs have become more popular than ever, especially among lower-income families who typically cannot afford to send their children to non-public schools. This has led to states passing an avalanche of school choice bills, with some even offering universal school choice via education savings accounts.

While the sudden rise in school choice programs is welcome news for many Americans, there has also been a backlash in several blue states, where lawmakers and teacher unions are scrambling to prevent school choice from gaining a foothold.

Take Illinois for example, where state lawmakers recently axed the Prairie State’s lone school choice program: the Invest in Kids Act.

In 2017, the Illinois Legislature passed the Invest in Kids Act, which allowed private donors to provide money to six state-approved private school scholarship funds in exchange for a tax credit. Since its inception, the program has granted 40,940 private school scholarships. This year alone, the program has awarded scholarships to 9,656 students.

Most of the students who have received scholarships from the Invest in Kids Act reside in Chicago. More than half are black or Hispanic. And, all students receiving scholarships live in households that have incomes below 300 percent of the federal poverty level. In other words, the Invest in Kids Act was specifically designed to lend a helping hand to families living in poverty-stricken neighborhoods, where local public schools are failing to keep students safe and academic achievement is lagging.

According to a recent poll, 63% of Illinois voters support the Invest in Kids Act, including 67% of Independents and 60% of Democrats. Nearly seven in 10 Black and Hispanic voters also support the program, which will end at the close of 2023.

As expected, most of the pushback to extending the Invest in Kids Act beyond 2023 came from teacher unions. For instance, Illinois Education Association (IEA) President Al Llorens celebrated the decision to sunset the program, saying, “It is a new day in Illinois. We are incredibly grateful to our lawmakers for choosing to end the voucher scheme known as Invest in Kids. This program sent millions of taxpayer dollars to private schools and was created under the guise of helping students of color, but we now know the funds went primarily to white students.”

Likewise, the Chicago Teachers Union applauded the decision to end the program, calling it “a significant milestone in the fight for anti-racist, gender affirming, pro-immigrant, equitable and fully funded public schools.”

In blue states like Illinois, teacher unions wield vast power and they are unafraid to exercise that influence, especially when it comes to dismantling competition from non-public schools.

Unfortunately, the teacher unions’ war on school choice produces collateral damage that has a disproportionately negative impact on low-income families who remain stuck in poor-performing and unsafe public schools.

The teachers unions incorrectly claim that voucher programs like the Invest in Kids Act diverts money from public schools, which they constantly claim are woefully underfunded. However, this is simply not true. Illinois public schools spend, on average, nearly $18,000 per pupil whereas the private school scholarships granted under the Invest in Kids Act averaged $5,900 per student. Since the Invest in Kids Act was passed in 2017, Illinois has increased public school funding by more than $2 billion. Moreover, Illinois spent $39.1 billion on public education last year, of which 99.8 percent was allocated to public schools and 0.2 percent was left for school choice.

And, if non-public schools are such a threat to the very existence of public schools, why do 39% of Chicago Public School teachers send their own children to private schools? Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who voiced opposition to the Invest in Kids Act after initially supporting its extension while campaigning, along with many of his Democrat colleagues in the Illinois Legislature, also send their children to private schools. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

In Illinois, about 85% of students attend public schools, but only 38% of families think K-12 public education is “headed in the right direction.” Based on the results 2023 Illinois School Report Card, which shows Illinois public schools are failing miserably to properly educate the next generation of Illinoisans, this is hardly surprising.

The solution to a deteriorating public education system, which has operated as a near-monopoly for decades in Illinois, is more, not less, competition. All Illinois families, regardless of their household income, deserve the chance to send their children to the school that best fits their unique needs and circumstances, whether that be public, private, or charter.

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

Aussie’s major private school claim sparks fierce debate

Note the last paragraph below. It is the major reason I sent my son to a private school

A young business owner has caused a stir after claiming there is a “huge difference” between private school and public school educated Aussies.

Zane Marshall, founder of marketing agency Lux Social, recently took to TikTok to claim that a whopping 70 per cent of CEOs in Australia all attended private schools.

He claimed that, “despite what people say”, private school students have a big advantage when it comes to finding success after school.

While Mr Marshall noted the level of education also plays a “huge part”, he believes the networking opportunities provided to privately schooled students are what really sets them apart and gives them “the biggest advantage” those who go through the public system.

“When I compare my friends that went to private schools, they all went off into really high paying job or got these amazing opportunities early on through their network from the private school,” he said.

“Whether it was sporting team, whether it was a friend of a friend that they went to school with, someone’s uncle, someone’s dad – they all got really great opportunities through the network in the school.”

But Mr Marshall believes the most important advantage of private education is the “high level of confidence and self-worth” instilled in them by their teachers. “I didn’t get that at public school,” he claimed.

The young Aussie’s claims sparked a major debate among viewers, with the video racking up over 1500 comments.

There were many who completely disagreed with Mr Marshall’s assessment, with some pointing out a lot of the families who send their kids to private school already have the connections he spoke about, along with the money to support their career aspirations.

“Yeah it’s not the education.. it’s the fact that most people going to private school are ahead economically already and easy to climb the ladder,” one commenter said.

“Unfair advantage. Taxpayers shouldn’t pay a cent to private education,” another wrote.

One commenter claimed her brother went to private school and, while he is financially successful, he is suffering trauma from his school years.

“I went to a public school – absolutely killing it with zero connections,” another said.

One person also claimed: “I think it’s only fair that you mention the highest university drop our rate are those from private school.”

However, there were still plenty of people who agreed with Mr Marshall, with many former private school kids chiming in on the debate. “All my corporate jobs have come about from my private school connections so I agree,” one wrote.

“Spot on! I went to a private school and I walked into jobs because of the school I attended,” another said.

One person believed private education was worth the money because it drills into students the importance of being “well dressed and having high public standards”.

“Private schools hold kids to a much higher standard than public schools. Kids will naturally aim higher after school with more confidence,” another said.

Others went was far as to claim that private schools don’t tolerate the same behaviours as public schools, therefore students “actually get the chance to learn”.

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

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: