Arizona School Board Bans Christian Student-Teachers

An Arizona public school district says they will no longer hire student-teachers from a Christian university.

The Washington Elementary School District voted unanimously to end a partnership with Arizona Christian University because of the school’s religious beliefs.

The school district said the university’s values posed a threat to LGBT students.

“We cannot continue to align ourselves with organizations that starkly contrasts our values, and say that we legitimately care about diversity, equity and inclusion and that we legitimately care about all of our families," said school district president Nikkie Gomez-Whaley.

Three board members identify as members of the LGBT community — including Tamillia Valenzuela. She wears cat ears and identifies as a bilingual, disabled, neurodivergent queer black Latina.

The school district released a statement defending its decision:

“The Washington Elementary School District (WESD) Governing Board is committed to creating a welcoming environment for all our students, families, and staff. While we recognize the right of individuals to practice their faith, public schools are secular institutions. To that end, the board unanimously voted to discontinue its partnership with Arizona Christian University (ACU) whose policies do not align with our commitment to create a safe place for our LGBTQ+ students, staff, and community. This is not a rejection of any particular faith as we remain open to partnering with faith-based organizations that share our commitment to equity & inclusion.”

Ms. Valenzuela says she has a problem with the university’s call for their students to be committed to Jesus Christ and to transform culture.

Arizona Christian has provided student teachers for the past 11 years without any issues.

But Board Member Kyle Clayton - who is also gay - says they don’t want educators to teach through a biblical lens.

In other words, Washington Elementary School District is openly discriminating against Christians.

“The school board's recent decision to ban ACU students from serving as student teachers was done for one reason only: our University's commitment to our Christian convictions," said Arizona Christian president Len Munsil. "That's wrong, it’s unlawful, and it will only hurt the district’s students. Religious liberty and freedom of conscience are bedrock American principles. We are exploring our options to defend the rights of our students.”

Munsil said the university has partnered with the school district for years and more than 100 students have served in the classroom.

"Administrators have time and again asked us to send more ACU students because of the quality of our students' work and their love and servant's hearts for all. The school board's recent decision to ban ACU students from serving as student teachers was done for one reason only: our University's commitment to our Christian convictions," he said.

It's flat-out discrimination.

Just consider how the nation would have reacted had the school district banished LGBT staffers from its classrooms.

If there's room for teachers who fly the rainbow flag, there must be room for teachers who fly the Christian flag.

https://townhall.com/columnists/toddstarnes/2023/03/07/arizona-school-board-bans-christian-student-teachers-n2620302

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College Industrial Complex's Left-Wing Lies

Families saving for college and encouraging their kids to aim for the top are getting scammed by the left-wing college industrial complex. Colleges distort and outright lie about who gets accepted, education quality and what it costs. If they were selling auto loans and used the same deceptive tactics, they'd be in jail.

Columbia University announced last Wednesday that it is permanently eliminating SAT and ACT test scores as part of the undergraduate admissions process -- the first Ivy League school to go permanently test-optional. Columbia issued a slippery statement about making admissions "nuanced" and "respecting varied backgrounds, voices and experiences." Truth is, Columbia is ditching merit for diversity. Without admitting it, Columbia has replaced an academic mission -- providing a rigorous education to a group of prepared students -- with a new one: social engineering.

Expect other colleges to follow. Elon Musk commented Saturday that "very few Americans seem to realize the severity of the situation."

President Joe Biden made equity the mission of all federal agencies. On March 1, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona blasted the higher education industry's "unhealthy obsession with selectivity" and urged a focus on "upward mobility."

That's politics. But parents making the biggest investment of their lives, except buying a home, ought to know what they're paying for: a rigorous classroom experience for their youngster, or a bit part in a social experiment.

Colleges don't want the public to discern what's going on. That's why they're railing against U.S. News & World Report rankings, published annually. The rankings factor in, among other things, test scores, graduation rates (after six years), how much debt students have when they leave, class size and faculty credentials -- precisely the facts families need.

Nearly all colleges made SAT and ACT tests optional during the pandemic. And most institutions are sticking with that temporary policy for the current year. Not the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which already reinstated testing. Dean of Admissions Stu Schmill explains that it's "not all about who comes in the door but also who goes out." A quarter of students admitted to MIT in the fall of 2020 scored a perfect 800 on the math SAT, and none scored below 700. Schmill recalled that a decade earlier, when MIT admitted students with a wider range of scores, fewer made it to graduation.

The American Civil Liberties Union slams ACT and SAT tests as "unjustifiable barriers for historically underrepresented students of color." The issue is more complicated. The tests have been screened to prevent bias. But high schools in areas serving Black and Hispanic students tend to be lower quality and offer fewer advanced placement courses, leaving students unprepared.

Sadly, most colleges are more interested in being politically correct than ensuring their student body can do the work.

They're also apprehensive about a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, due in June, that is expected to curtail or outlaw considering race in admissions. In lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, test scores were used as evidence showing how these universities rejected high-scoring Asian and white applicants to promote diversity. After the June ruling, many institutions will likely eliminate testing to get rid of any evidence of racial favoritism. Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law predicts that institutions will find ways to prefer minorities "that can't be documented as violating the Constitution."

A majority of Americans consider it wrong to favor any racial group in admissions. But right versus wrong be damned. The left-wing higher education establishment will likely find ways to do it, and worse, cover it up.

Race isn't the only thing colleges lie about.

The U.S. Education Department's College Scoreboard lists colleges' graduation rates. But check the fine print. Graduation is defined as earning a diploma within eight years. Who has time or money for that?

A staggering 91% of colleges misrepresent their costs, according to a Government Accountability Office investigation.

Columbia confessed it falsified class sizes and faculty credentials to U.S. News & World Report.

Despite nonstop virtue signaling, the higher education establishment is anything but virtuous. Americans need to stand up to these liars.

https://townhall.com/columnists/betsymccaughey/2023/03/08/college-industrial-complexs-left-wing-lies-n2620313

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A U.S. High School Reportedly Collaborated With Chinese State Military-Affiliated Institution

One of the United State’s top public schools reportedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars from groups affiliated with China’s military, The Washington Examiner reported.

Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST), which is part of Fairfax County Public Schools, reportedly partnered with Tsinghua University High School (TUHS) in 2014 “to assist it and China generally with adopting the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and advanced lab research TJHSST is famous for,” the report noted. TUHS is affiliated with Tsinghua University in Beijing, considered by the U.S. government to be a Chinese military institution.

As a result, the Thomas Jefferson Partnership Fund (TJPF) received thousands of dollars of donations from Chinese interests, parental rights group Parents Defending Education revealed and shared with the outlet (via The Washington Examiner):

The Thomas Jefferson Partnership Fund (TJPF) received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Tsinghua University as part of this agreement. TJPF also received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Ameson Education and Cultural Exchange Foundation as well as the Chinese company Shirble, which were both led by men tied to China’s United Front Work Department, the Chinese government’s foreign influence campaign.

[...]

The Pentagon assessed in 2020 there were “Military-Civil Fusion linkages” with Tsinghua University, noting the school's "People's Liberation Army-affiliated labs." A report prepared for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) in 2022 noted the PLA Air Force “established the ‘Dual-Enrollment Program’ with Tsinghua University.”

[...]

TUHS says it is “attached” to Tsinghua University and is “directly under the Ministry of Education.” TUHS’s principal noted the school is “under the guidance” of the CCP, and leaders of the TUHS include CCP officials. TUHS International’s advisory board also includes Mao Daqing, part of the “United Front Work Department of CCP Central Committee.”
Jerry Dunleavy, who wrote the piece, said that the agreement was signed between the principles of Thomas Jefferson and TUHS at China’s embassy in the U.S.

According to PDE, a newsletter from TJPF in 2014 said that the relationship between TJHSST and TUHS will “help to fulfill a long-term goal of the school, that of sharing TJ’s uniquely successful approach to teaching science and technology with other schools in order to expand educational opportunities for students, no matter where they reside.”

The Examiner added that Ambright Education Group, which is connected to the Chinese government, helped establish “Thomas Schools of China” modeled off of TJHSST (via The Washington Examiner):

Ambright said the “Thomas Schools of China” came about through “collaboration" with TJHSST, and its 2019 recruitment flyer said it was “establishing Thomas Schools of China” in Shanghai, Hefei, Jinan, and Nanjing by incorporating “advanced school operations” from TJHSST.

The Thomas Schools emphasize they are “modeled after the curriculum” of TJHSST and aim to "support the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” Its steering committee includes former Chinese government officials.

“We already knew the Chinese Communist Party infiltrated America’s colleges and universities through ‘Confucius Institute’ programs,” PDE President Nicki Neily told the Examiner. “However, it is frightening to discover the same problem occurring in K-12 schools.”

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/madelineleesman/2023/03/07/high-school-china-ties-n2620299

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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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Left-Wing College Industrial Complex Puts Diversity Ahead of Merit

Families saving for college and encouraging their children to aim for the top are getting scammed by the left-wing college industrial complex. Colleges distort and outright lie about who gets accepted, education quality, and what it costs. If they were selling auto loans and used the same deceptive tactics, they’d be in jail.

Columbia University announced last Wednesday that it is permanently eliminating SAT and ACT test scores as part of the undergraduate admissions process — the first Ivy League school to go permanently test-optional. Columbia issued a slippery statement about making admissions “nuanced” and “respecting varied backgrounds, voices and experiences.”

Truth is, Columbia is ditching merit for diversity. Without admitting it, Columbia has replaced an academic mission — providing a rigorous education to a group of prepared students — with a new one: social engineering. Expect other colleges to follow. Elon Musk commented Saturday that “very few Americans seem to realize the severity of the situation.”

President Biden made equity the mission of all federal agencies. On March 1, the Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, blasted the higher education industry’s “unhealthy obsession with selectivity” and urged a focus on “upward mobility.”

That’s politics. But parents making the biggest investment of their lives, except buying a home, ought to know what they’re paying for: a rigorous classroom experience for their youngster, or a bit part in a social experiment.

Colleges don’t want the public to discern what’s going on. That’s why they’re railing against U.S. News & World Report rankings, published annually. The rankings factor in, among other things, test scores, graduation rates (after six years), how much debt students have when they leave, class size and faculty credentials — precisely the facts families need.

Nearly all colleges made SAT and ACT tests optional during the pandemic. And most institutions are sticking with that temporary policy for the current year. Not the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which already reinstated testing. Dean of Admissions Stu Schmill explains that it’s “not all about who comes in the door but also who goes out.”

A quarter of students admitted to MIT in the fall of 2020 scored a perfect 800 on the math SAT, and none scored below 700. Mr. Schmill recalled that a decade earlier, when MIT admitted students with a wider range of scores, fewer made it to graduation.

The American Civil Liberties Union slams ACT and SAT tests as “unjustifiable barriers for historically underrepresented students of color.” The issue is more complicated. The tests have been screened to prevent bias. But high schools in areas serving Black and Hispanic students tend to be lower quality and offer fewer advanced placement courses, leaving students unprepared.

Sadly, most colleges are more interested in being politically correct than ensuring their student body can do the work.

They’re also apprehensive about a Supreme Court ruling, due in June, that is expected to curtail or outlaw considering race in admissions. In lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, test scores were used as evidence showing how these universities rejected high-scoring Asian and white applicants to promote diversity.

After the June ruling, many institutions will likely eliminate testing to get rid of any evidence of racial favoritism. Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law predicts that institutions will find ways to prefer minorities “that can’t be documented as violating the Constitution.”

A majority of Americans consider it wrong to favor any racial group in admissions. But right versus wrong be damned. The left-wing higher education establishment will likely find ways to do it, and worse, cover it up.

Race isn’t the only thing colleges lie about. The Education Department’s College Scoreboard lists colleges’ graduation rates. But check the fine print. Graduation is defined as earning a diploma within eight years. Who has time or money for that?

A staggering 91 percent of colleges misrepresent their costs, according to a Government Accountability Office investigation. Columbia confessed it falsified class sizes and faculty credentials to U.S. News & World Report. Despite nonstop virtue signaling, the higher education establishment is anything but virtuous. Americans need to stand up to these liars.

https://www.nysun.com/article/left-wing-college-industrial-complex-puts-diversity-ahead-of-merit

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The problem on campuses isn’t ‘wokeness’—it’s certainty

Stories of campus political excesses pile up like bodies. To cite a few recent examples: There was the law student group at Berkeley that banned Zionist speakers, the Stanford Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative, and the Valdosta State University professor who taught that sex isn’t dichotomous.

I am not a fan of the word “woke.” I find it to be dismissive, snarky, and generally unhelpful. Yet, it’s the go-to term for many people who wish to express their concerns about colleges today. It’s meant to refer to a narrow, progressive political ideology that, critics say, limits free speech, suppresses debate, and forces students and faculty alike to self-censor. But the very real challenges have been misdiagnosed by both higher education’s critics and its defenders. Campuses don’t have a “wokeness” problem. They have a certainty problem.

Righting the ship, as they say, requires understanding what’s making it sink. I’ve written here and here about the “Certainty Trap.” The Certainty Trap refers to a resolute unwillingness to consider the possibility that we’re wrong or that we’re not right in the way we think we are. It has cousins in intellectual arrogance and incuriosity, but those concepts don’t quite go far enough. After all, if I tell someone to be intellectually humble or curious, there’s a tacit assumption that they can identify where they lack those things in the first place.

It turns out that we’re not great at recognizing exactly what it is we should be either humble or curious about. It’s a bit of a paradox in the sense that, if you understand your own need for humility, you’re already halfway to a solution. So how do we tackle a problem we can’t directly observe? We tackle it by learning to think differently—by recognizing that our clue that we’re falling into the Certainty Trap isn’t a feeling of being certain. No, the clue that we’re falling into the Certainty Trap is when we feel the urge to harshly judge and demonize those who disagree with us. When we see the answers as simple, only a stupid or evil person could think otherwise.

Here’s what this can look like in practice, taking the three examples I mentioned at the beginning. First, when things get heated over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, don’t just point to the need for viewpoint diversity. In the Berkeley case, when a student group at Berkeley Law School “barred supporters of Zionism from speaking at its events,” it was because they thought the right answers were obvious. The trick is to show them they’re not. As I wrote here, this might include asking questions like: Can people on both sides be aggressors and victims? Whose claim to victim status matters more? What is the difference between self-defense and unprovoked aggression? What is the right way to compensate people who have been wronged? Who deserves compensation, in what form, and when? And, of course, who should decide all these things? Certainty keeps us from considering these questions.

Second, when Stanford initiates its “Elimination of Harmful Language Initiative” to “address harmful language in IT at Stanford,” they’re making various assumptions that have gone unspoken. One of the biggest is that intent doesn’t matter. To take one example from the linked document, “crazy” is considered offensive. But, who declared this to be the case? How should we think about people’s sensitivities? Are the norms of what’s acceptable set by the most sensitive person in every room? Should they be? Taking it one step further, how should we think about the role of intent? My point isn’t that people’s feelings of being offended don’t matter or that having good intent is exculpatory. The point is that certainty keeps us from diving in.

In the third example, at Valdosta State, a parent complained about the “woke” way the professor was leading a discussion about gender and biology. The instructor had taught that “sex, instead of being a dichotomy, is bimodal, meaning there are two large lumps (male and female) with other in between (intersex).” The real problem? Certainty. There are debates in biology about whether what the professor said is right (which is part of the reason this is in the opinion section). There are also debates about the prevalence of intersex conditions and whether biological sex should be considered binary or bimodal. None of this means the instructor shouldn’t have said what she said. But it can’t, in good faith, be presented as definitive.

Certainty has at least two implications, both of which are powerful. One is that it leads us to stop asking questions. Given we can’t know ahead of time where the next question will lead, this forecloses our ability to create or access new knowledge. The second, related but subtly different, is that it leads us to conclude that there are no questions to be asked, by anyone. And this changes social norms. It changes what we think is socially acceptable and what isn’t, leading us to view dissenters and contrarians as moral abominations who deserve to be punished.

The good news is that the problem of certainty is actually easier to solve than a battle over political ideologies. That’s partly because certainty can come from the left, right, or center. Right now, the certainty that underpins several of the left’s views on hot-button issues has powerful effects on higher education, simply because that’s the prevalent political orientation on campus. But, if the pendulum were to swing in another direction, and campuses were made up of people convinced the 2020 election was stolen, certainty would still be just as much of a problem. The way to address it is twofold. The first step is to recognize the root problem. The second is to start asking questions, and to do so while understanding that the most important thing often isn’t answering the questions, but generating them.

Certainty can take any of these forms: declaring knowledge as definitive, treating the path forward or the solution to a contentious problem as though it’s obvious, behaving as though there is a clear “right” decision in conflicts between different values or the interests of different groups, or failing to recognize that, when it comes to heated issues and problems we care about, pretty much any solution has both costs and benefits. Each of these elements of the Certainty Trap assumes a simplicity that not only doesn’t stand up, but actively constrains our thinking.

In 2023, lean into ambiguity. It’s not as bad as you think.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/campuses-certainty-problem

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Australia: The Left’s aversion to teacher quality is harming our kids

The Productivity Commission has recently thrown down the gauntlet on teacher quality, and its importance to the nation’s economic health. Despite the difficulties and complexities, we should pick it up and finally embrace the challenge.

Australia’s educational woes are well documented, with student learning outcomes in free-fall over the last two decades. But a recent report by the Productivity Commission has provided a ray of light.

Its report into Australia’s education system found the largest single factor in student success, and their ability to go on and make a meaningful economic contribution, is teacher quality. As a former teacher myself, I would say: quelle surprise!

The commission determined that students taught by above-average teachers will earn almost $500,000 more over their lifetimes than those taught by average teachers. Not exactly loose change. So, we need to have an overdue and difficult conversation about teacher quality.

Let’s get one thing straight: the majority of our teachers are amazing. They care for the students they teach. They’re dedicated and expert. Before entering Parliament, I was the head of a large secondary school in my electorate, so I know this first-hand.

Nonetheless, as is the case in any profession, some teachers are not currently up to scratch. Do you know someone who, as a result of struggling to get a job elsewhere, ultimately fell into teaching?

I do. And recently, I’ve been really concerned to find out that one in 10 new teachers can’t meet the necessary standard in critical learning areas like numeracy and literacy. Moves are afoot to change this.

Back in 2016 a Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students was introduced. I’m hopeful that it will ultimately become a valuable tool. It’s also good that universities are lifting the ATAR scores required for admission to teaching degrees.

I’ll concede that not every teacher has to be a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist. Yet mastery of their chosen subject area is essential. Teaching requires significant intellectual grunt.

There’s a lot more to do at the front end, but here’s a much trickier question: how do we support the 300,000 Australian teachers – currently plying their craft – to be their very best?

One response must be to put in place meaningful and rigorous systems of teacher appraisal.

I commenced my teaching journey fifteen years ago. As a 24-year-old, entirely new to the profession, I could not believe the amount of autonomy I had. There was certainly no appraisal. What’s more, there were no key performance indicators. Indeed, there was very little oversight of any kind.

This meant that I could teach whatever I wanted, however I wanted. Coming from the fishbowl of politics, as a staffer, I loved my newfound freedom.

Teacher autonomy is hard-wired into the culture of our school systems which we borrowed from the British public school model. After a hundred and fifty years, that’s no easy thing to change. But it’s certainly not conducive to best-practice, or personal growth.

Change has started, albeit slowly, in the best private schools. A small proportion of schools have excellent models in place.

These involve regular lesson observations by a school leader and targeted feedback; student surveys about teacher performance; professional development informed by a mentor; and goal setting with ongoing reviews to assess progress.

Of course, powerful public sector unions are stridently opposed to processes such as these. Yet, in my personal experience, they can be enacted in a way that is highly supportive of staff.

I’ve been appraised myself on many occasions. It’s nerve-wracking, sure. But what I’ve seen is that the many fantastic teachers are affirmed, while those who are struggling are supported to get better, or find a job that better fits their skills.

These conversations are difficult. As a (biased) former teacher I have a high regard for those still in the profession. Yet facts are facts. Our students have never performed worse in the crucial areas of literacy, numeracy, and science – at least not since the Program for International Student Assessment commenced publishing its reports in 2000.

Of course, the quality of teaching is not entirely to blame for this. But it can play a huge part in arresting Australia’s learning decline. That, says the Productivity Commission, will pay real dividends for us all.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/03/the-lefts-aversion-to-teacher-quality-is-harming-our-kids/ ?

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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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Arkansas Poised To Move to Universal School Choice

Arkansas’s state legislature is expected to pass a universal education savings account plan this week, making it the fourth state to enact a universal school choice policy in the past year.

Governor Sanders, formerly President Trump’s press secretary, has made school choice a hallmark of her short time in office. She announced her plan — called Arkansas Learns — after her moment on the national stage delivering the Republican rebuttal to the State of the Union address.

Ms. Sanders’s plan takes the form of education savings accounts, disbursements of state funds for education-related costs directly to families. ESAs have won favor among school choice advocates over the past decade for their flexible approach to spending.

Unlike traditional vouchers, ESAs can be used for any number of approved items — including school tuition, textbooks, tutoring, and homeschooling curricula — and unspent funds can roll over from year to year, incentivizing families and retailers to economize.

“We want to make sure we’re empowering parents by giving them educational freedom accounts to allow them to make the best decision about where and how their kids should be educated,” Ms. Sanders said in a Fox News interview last month.

The annual disbursement per child is roughly equal to the per-pupil funding at a public school in the state. In Arkansas, ESAs — known as Education Freedom Accounts — would roll out at around $7,500 per student, with provisions for adjustments based on inflation.

The legislation would increase accessibility to ESAs over a three-year span. The 2025-26 academic year would be the first that any Arkansas student would be eligible for an ESA.

If Arkansas passes the Learns Act this week, it will be the fourth state to enact a universal school choice program — following similar measures in Arizona, Iowa, and Utah. West Virginia has a near universal program, with 93 percent of students statewide eligible for ESAs, according to EdChoice.

School choice is just one component of the sprawling education bill, which clocks in at more than 140 pages. The Learns Act also includes provisions for public schools, including raising the minimum teacher salary to $50,000 a year.

Democrats have pushed back hard against the bill. In a statement last week, the state’s Democratic Party called the legislation a “scam” to “dismantle and defund our public school system.”

“This bill does not address the state’s responsibility to provide a suitable, efficient school funding system,” a state legislator, Joy Springer, said.

Ms. Springer and her allies’ efforts matter little in the Arkansas legislature, though, as it is held by a Republican supermajority.

The bill is expected to pass the state legislature this week. An earlier version passed the state senate, but a technical amendment was added regarding public school teachers’ employment rights.

The amended bill was passed by the house and will likely have a quick turnaround in the senate by mid-week, making it ready for signing by the governor by the end of week.

https://www.nysun.com/article/arkansas-poised-to-jump-on-school-choice-bandwagon

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Your children belong to you, not a school. If you don't fight, you'll lose them

By Karol Markowicz

My co-author Bethany Mandel and I set out to write our new book, "Stolen Youth: How Radicals Are Erasing Innocence and Indoctrinating a Generation," to answer this question and teach parents how to lay down the marker and say: mine.

It’s a question that, not so long ago, we didn’t feel we needed to ask.

In October of 2021, Virginia gubernatorial candidate, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, said, "I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach."

Taken on its own, the comment might even be benign. Sure, parental involvement in education had always been a prediction of student success. A 2010 study called "Parent Involvement and Student Academic Performance: A Multiple Mediational Analysis" by researchers at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro found "children whose parents are more involved in their education have higher levels of academic performance than children whose parents are involved to a lesser degree." But should parents be designing a curriculum? Maybe not."

The exchange, however, wasn’t about which math curriculum to use. It was about whether parents had a right to demand pornographic books be pulled from the library. Suddenly the question of parental involvement seems clearer to most people.

The left says it doesn’t happen, pornography in libraries is a right-wing bogeyman, and yet parents at school after school keep discovering these books at the school library.

What’s happening here?

We encapsulate the current moment into the word "wokeness" and it really took hold during COVID. Leftism has always existed but wokeness is something new. Wokeness demands that up is down and black is white and pressures you to believe it too. Wokeness pushes a separation between parent and child.

Wokeness pushes a separation between parent and child.

We open our book with a history chapter and the roots of this wokeness in totalitarian regimes of the past. We trace how places like the Soviet Union, Mao’s China, Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge, and others, tried to sever the family connection as a way of pushing their indoctrination on to the kids and, by extension, the parents.

We are seeing it happen in America today. Kids are told to keep secrets from their parents. Sometimes the secrets are life-changing.

Just recently the story broke about a Long Island teacher who had transitioned a child from girl to boy behind the backs of the parents. The child is 9.

The teacher assigned the student a new boy name and referred to the child as a boy. The parents were only alerted to what was going on when the girl started having suicidal ideation.

The important point about this story is that it took place in a "red" area. It happened in a red hamlet of a red town in a red county. Parents who think they are safe from the reaches of wokeness because they live in a conservative area have to think again.

We heard so many stories like this one, about parents being cut out of their child’s life.

Part of the reason we wrote this book is we saw the concern that so many people have, correctly, about the indoctrination that happens at college campuses. What alarmed us is that it starts far earlier than college now and parents seem unprepared to grapple with the onslaught.

This wokeness doesn’t just target children at school. We trace the way this forced conformity has taken hold at medical schools, teachers’ colleges, publishing companies and so on.

Everyone is afraid to speak up and step out of line. We chart parents who have shown bravery in fighting for their children and show other parents how to take a stand.

It’s going to take a fight but it will be worth it. Because whose child is this? Yours. Fight for them.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/your-children-belong-you-school-fight-lose

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The ‘anti-discrimination’ bandwagon – coming to Australian schools

You have to hand it to the ‘anti-discrimination’ warriors – they are effective. Watch them go from city to city preaching ‘tolerance’ and ‘diversity’, the only catch being you must submit totally to their worldview.

This cottage industry has seen great success in Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory: jurisdictions that have all sought to curtail religious freedoms. Since taking the reins of power in Canberra, the Albanese government has similarly been only too happy to oblige – accepting calls for a review on religious exemptions for schools in federal law.

But the feel-good, anti-discrimination messaging of the review’s supporters disguises a radical agenda, one which strips schools of protections that allow them to operate according to a self-determined set of values.

The new provisions, released by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), fly in the face of religious freedom and parental rights. As it stands, political parties would be allowed to hire staff who share their ethos, while schools would not.

Most fair-minded individuals would be appalled by such blatant double standards.

The Institute of Public Affairs’ submission to the Commission’s inquiry found the proposed reforms would; curtail the right of parents to give their children an education consistent with their values; facilitate sectarianism by pushing religious disagreements into the courts; and give government bodies, such as the Australian Human Rights Commission, the power to control what faith-based schools can do, say, and teach.

The ALRC wants government agencies to enforce compliance with new restrictive standards. And yes, you read that right, the ALRC essentially wants to take parents out of the equation and disregard the values and beliefs they want instilled in their children.

It is something straight out of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, except it’s likely to become reality in Australia.

Make no mistake, religious freedom is under direct attack in Australia, and the first formal steps towards new religious discrimination laws have been taken by the Albanese government.

Out with the old and in with the new. Freedom, choice, and Judaeo-Christian values are to be replaced with a rigid creed, which entrench radical ideologies on gender and sexuality.

Worse still, the ALRC wants its reforms extended to all religious bodies in due course, which is perhaps the most concerning part of the whole Consultation Paper. If the narrative that religious protections are harmful to certain marginalised groups takes hold, then the cottage industry of activists has won.

Left-wing activists have been working hard for years to normalise this very idea with little courage shown by religious groups, who have typically been desperate to accommodate the howls of activists at every turn.

The bottom line is that when harm is equated with hurt feelings and is used to put a stop to the dissemination of genuinely held beliefs, religious freedom is dead. The proposed changes will foster greater intolerance and, as such, impacts all people of faith: Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians alike.

By pushing for legislative change, the ‘anti-discrimination’ warriors have ensured their cottage industry will continue to thrive long after this debate fades from public discussion.

Advocates have praised the reforms as progressive, but ultimately the recommendations are in direct conflict with Australia’s long-standing tradition that upholds religious toleration and pluralism.

In the name of progress, ‘anti-discrimination’ warriors are determined to throw out the Western intellectual tradition and replace it with identity politics and Critical Race Theory. Here, the subjective feelings of the individual are elevated above basic freedoms of religion, association, and expression.

Fortunately, there has been some pushback from the Christian community on this issue. Two major Christian schooling associations that represent 150,000 students across the country, have pulled out of the consultation process with the ALRC. The groups claim to have ‘lost faith’ in the inquiry remaining ‘balanced’ in addressing the issue.

As one Catholic Bishop warned late last year, preventing religious schools from requiring staff to teach in line with the school’s faith would strip these schools of their religious essence, while ushering in a Woke quota system for hiring, rather than a system based on shared worldview.

The provisions, if enacted, will also do parents a disservice by taking away their choice to send their child to a school with a genuine religious ethos.

This move against religious freedom also highlights a deeper and more troubling phenomenon occurring across Australia, the detachment of the political class and inner-city elites from mainstream Australians who want their freedoms preserved and to get on with their life.

As you go about your busy day, you may ask yourself, why all the fuss? As former High Court Chief Justices Mason and Brennan once wrote in a joint judgment, freedom of religion is the ‘paradigm freedom of conscience’ and ‘the essence of a free society’.

Ultimately the proposed changes will foster greater intolerance and impact all people of faith – Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians alike. This is not only a serious problem for religious freedom, but also seriously problematic for free speech.

Never forget, many had to fight for the freedoms we enjoy today, we must ensure they are not surrendered in silence.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/03/the-anti-discrimination-bandwagon-coming-to-a-school-near-you/ ?

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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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Bank of England discriminates against private schoolchildren

Lawrence Goldman

Let me begin with a recent experience of my own. I intend to take a group of my students to the ‘Slavery & the Bank’ exhibition at the Bank of England’s museum which runs until the end of April 2023. The Bank itself did not trade in slaves as an institution, but some of its earliest Directors certainly did on their own account, and in 2020 it ‘commenced a thorough review of its collection of images of former Governors and Directors to ensure none with any such involvement in the slave trade remain on display anywhere in the Bank’. The exhibition contains much more than this about its involvement in slavery, right up to the Bank’s role in the payment of compensation to slaveholders in the 1830s and 1840s after the Emancipation Act in 1833.

Looking through its website to find out about group bookings, I read the following: ‘Can I bring a state school or community group? Yes, we welcome state school and adult community groups. We can offer you a free group talk or presentation…’. Can that really mean that the Bank doesn’t welcome groups from independent schools, I wondered? (Declaration of interest at this point: I have been a governor of two private schools, one of which I attended myself long ago before it became independent). I sent off an email to find out. What came back was even more astonishing than the specific reference to ‘state’ schools: the museum was open to all but “it’s the presentations that are only available to state primary and secondary schools’”. You can look but you can’t touch, is about the size of it. We’ll let you in if you’re from a private school, but we’ll reserve the special educational experience for some other children.

Set aside any views you might hold about private education in general. This is not about the rights and wrongs of that. This is simply about discrimination, and a type of discrimination which makes it less easy for some children to learn than others. Why should children learning history be divided in this way? And who made the decision to treat children from one type of school differently from children from another? Would the Bank discriminate among people coming to its exhibition on grounds of colour, or race, or religion, or sexuality? I would hope not. Why then does one group of children get treated better than another?

The exhibition is designed to explain the Bank’s role in slavery and the slave trade. I commend their honesty. But how can the Bank mount such an exhibition while brazenly treating two groups of children differently? If it has a mission to explain, that mission must be for everyone, and for everyone’s children.

I have asked for an explanation and I’ll keep our readers updated.

The incident may be small but it’s a remarkable illustration of the double standards in so many of our institutions which focus on past wrongs while oblivious to their present vices and failings. Is this a case of virtue-signalling, therefore? Probably. At the very least a museum engaging with the subject of slavery in particular should be very clear that it is not itself perpetuating division and discrimination.

The Bank has been criticised severely in recent months for its abject failure in controlling inflation, its primary responsibility. Institutions that fail in small things tend to fail in big things as well. Many have called for the resignation of the Governor of the Bank. I call for the resignation of whoever devised this particular form of discrimination among children learning history.

One final thing. The Bank of England has taken down the portraits of those of its Directors who were involved with the slave trade. That is to hide from its history, a cowardly and altogether convenient method of covering up the truth. No one need ever know because the evidence has been removed. The morally correct course of action would have been to keep the portraits visible and explain who the subjects are using plaques, perhaps even with a permanent exhibition on the history of the Bank, including any links to slavery. It would have reminded the Governor and his staff that all economic decisions have moral consequences, and it would have made them better bankers.

https://historyreclaimed.co.uk/the-bank-of-england-remembers-slavery-while-perpetuating-discrimination/

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Teachers union head Randi Weingarten mocked for blasting DeSantis in ill-formed tweet

Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten lashed out at Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — firing off a tweet riddled with grammatical errors that accused the potential 2024 presidential hopeful of “banning everything he dislikes.”

“DeSantis should be fixated on the cost of living issues in Fla – housing is unaffordable, home insurance even worse, but instead he is exanding gun access, defunding, public schools, & banning everything he dislikes – teachers, journalists & the vulnerable,” Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, wrote Sunday.

Her claims — as well as the misspellings and misplaced commas in her tweet — generated criticism on social media, with DeSantis’ deputy press secretary arguing Weingarten should instead focus on why so many parents have left New York for the Sunshine State.

“Maybe it’s because they wanted to be as far away as possible from schools where Randi has influence,” Jeremy Redfern wrote on Twitter.

Carlos Lopez-Cantera, former lieutenant governor of Florida, ripped Weingarten for her spelling and grammar mistakes.

“My teachers always called me out for not proof reading my spelling and grammar, and they were right in doing so,” he tweeted. “Below is from the president of the national teacher’s union.”

Actor Dean Cain, meanwhile, quipped, “Why is she always commenting on everything? I thought she was the head of the mafia — I mean teacher’s union.”

Last week, Weingarten went viral for a speech on the student loan crisis in front of the Supreme Court described by critics as a “meltdown”

The teachers union prez punctuated her angry remarks to demonstrators with a series of wild body movements and frantic pointing gestures.

“During the pandemic, we understood that small businesses were hurting, and we helped them, and it didn’t go to the Supreme Court to challenge it. Big businesses were hurting and we helped them, and it didn’t go to the Supreme Court to challenge it,” Weingarten said as she began to jump up and down.

“All of a sudden, when it’s about our students, they challenge it! The corporations challenge it! The student loan lenders challenge it! That is not right! That is not fair! And that is what we are fighting for when we say cancel student debt!,” she screamed, her voice cracking at times

https://nypost.com/2023/03/07/teachers-union-head-randi-weingarten-mocked-for-blasting-desantis-in-ill-formed-tweet/

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Hundreds of parents, kids to rally at City Hall to push Dems for more NYC charter schools

Hundreds of parents, kids and educators are expected to rally Tuesday at City Hall to demand lawmakers lift the cap and open more charter schools in the Big Apple.

The pro-school choice push comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to lift the cap has faced fierce resistance from state Democratic legislators allied with the anti-charter teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers, including state Sen. John Liu (D-Queens), who chairs the committee on New York City education.

Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Adams has gone wobbly on school choice, complaining about the additional costs that could be imposed on the city to open more charters.

He testified at a recent budget hearing that the state should help pay the bill.

Parents who will attend the 11 a.m. rally said it’s time for politicians to listen to the parents.

“Parents like me want the best for their child. Right now, there’s so many families where I live in Central Brooklyn that don’t have access to high quality schools,” said Brooklyn public school mom Natasha Cherry-Perez.

“More public charters means more access to a great education that can change your child’s future. Parents need their choice respected and supported.”

The head of one of the organizing groups, the pro-charter Democrats for Education Reform, also said it’s time for lawmakers to do the right thing.

“This rally is about empowering parents who overwhelmingly want and deserve the right to choose the best school for their child,” said DFER NY Executive Director Jacquelyn Martell. “It’s time to change history and expand options for these families!”

A recent Morning Consult/DFER survey found that nearly two-thirds of parents — 64% — said they support increasing the charter school cap, while just 23% of parents said they were opposed, with the remainder undecided.

Charter schools are publicly funded, privately run schools that typically have a long school day year and school year that traditional public schools students.

Students at charter schools largely outperform neighboring district schools on the state’s standardized Math and English Language Arts exams, a Post series revealed.

The overwhelming majority of charter schools are non-union and have more flexibility to operate and set their own curriculum.

About 90 percent of students in charter schools are black and Latino. pro-charter advocates, among them former three-term Republican Gov. George Pataki, who approved the original charter school law, said it’s racist to deny minority students the opportunity for a better education.

Former Gov. David Paterson, who expanded charter schools when he was in office, also supported Hochul’s cap lift.

Critics have also accused some lawmakers, including Sen. Robert Jackson (D-Manhattan), of being hypocrites for sending their own kids to private school while opposing the charter school option for mostly poor and working class minority parents who can’t afford private school tuition.

Opponents complain that charter schools divert resources from traditional public schools amid declining enrollment.

https://nypost.com/2023/03/06/parents-rally-to-urge-pols-to-lift-the-charter-school-cap/

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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)

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http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

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

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Massachusetts school faces federal investigation for 'racial segregation' after barring white students from auditioning for school play

A theatre production at Newton North High School has landed the school district under federal investigation by the Department of Education after the company barred white students from auditioning.

The Massachusetts school's Theater Ink program put on a show titled 'Lost and Found: Our Stories as People of Color,' which according to the show's audition packet acted as 'a reserved safe space for this exploration and for people of color to be vulnerable and support one another.'

At the time of auditions last fall, the student director posted a video to the company's website declaring that 'All BIPOC [Black, indigenous and people of color] students at North are invited to audition.'

It was at that point that the grassroots national movement Parents Defending Education got involved and filed a complaint with the federal government that the school districted discriminated against students on the basis of race.

The claim noted that the audition criteria, which included asking students about their race and ethnic identities violated 'both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.'

PDE President and Founder Nicole Neily told Fox that the school's administration 'failed their student body by allowing a racially-segregated production to move forward - and missed the opportunity to impart the lesson that racial discrimination is always wrong.'

In the Lost and Found audition packet, students were told that weekly rehearsals for the production would include 'organized discussions about race and identity in our lives.'

The Newton Public School system, which is the entity being investigated by DOE, previously told Fox Digital that it is committed to encouraging all of its students to participate in the theatre program, 'particularly students of color, who have been vastly underrepresented in our programs.'

'While centered in the stories of the lives of our students of color, no one is turned away or excluded from participating or having a role in the ‘Lost and Found’ production of Theatre Ink, Newton North's teaching and working theater program,' said the district.

'The Newton Public Schools do not exclude students based upon color, race, ethnicity, or religious background.'

However, NPS also condoned and offered a message of support for the Lost and Found theatrical endeavor, seemingly offering a stamp of approval for the high schoolers' casting practices.

'We are proud of our students for the hard work they do to not only assemble a diverse group of performers, but also to challenge each other to have difficult conversations around societal issues,' said the district.

'Theatre Ink has consistently provided opportunities for students to tell and celebrate the narratives and stories of those who have been historically underrepresented.

'Amplifying the stories, experiences, and history of students of color is just one component of our diverse fine and performing arts programs,' the statement continued, additionally offering that it fully supports 'the premise and educational value of this performance.'

One graduate of Newton North High School shared on Facebook how disheartened she was by the news that her alma mater had segregated its theatre program and is now facing an investigation.

'What on Earth, I am appalled,' she wrote, sharing a link to coverage of the story. 'This is not the High School I graduated from. We were All Tigers. Apparently not anymore. It’s Time to clean house and remove activist educators.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11822971/Mass-school-investigation-barring-white-students-auditioning-school-play.html

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School Administrators Undermine Excellence To Promote “Equity”

The American education system is being rigged by hard-core, radical leftist administrators and teachers and their unions. But their efforts go beyond implementing racist policies, corrupting our children with anti-American, pro-Marxist propaganda, sowing gender confusion and canceling parental rights. They’re also diminishing and curtailing hard work and success.

The latest example: 17 schools in Virginia did not notify students and their parents of National Merit awards those students had earned. That outrageous behavior was based on the bizarre claim that letting the students know about their commendations would not promote the school administrators’ stated objective of “equal outcomes for every student, without exceptions,” regardless of academic performance or lack of dedication to their studies.

Such intentional and disgraceful conduct is shocking. The receipt of such awards can be a key factor in the decisions made by college admissions officers as well as organizations that award scholarships. As someone who was able to attend college because of financial help from a National Merit scholarship, I find it despicable that these woke officials deliberately hurt the ability of their students to get into the college of their choice or to win the scholarships that could help them pay for school.

This misbehavior may have a long-term, deleterious effect on many of the affected students and, in particular, on their professional careers.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has proposed a new law to prevent this from happening again. He has also asked Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares to investigate the matter as a possible violation of the state’s education and civil rights law. But for the nearly 1,000 students who may have been hurt, all of this will come too late.

These reports surfaced only because of the persistence of a local woman and author, Asra Nomani. Nomani’s son, Shibli, earned one of the National Merit commendations. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a magnet school in Fairfax County, Virginia, that has earned a reputation as one of the best high schools in the country. It’s a school I know well: My daughter graduated from there 10 years ago, before its administrators started implementing these types of insane policies.

The school, however, withheld the information regarding Shibli’s award from the family for two years. The director of student services at Thomas Jefferson, Brandon Kosatka, and the school principal, Ann Bonitatibus, were apparently responsible for implementing this policy.

When Ms. Nomani pressed Mr. Kosatka on why the school failed to notify them about the award, he admitted that they withheld information about the time-sensitive academic honors because they did not want to hurt the feelings of those who didn’t receive such accolades.

Misbegotten policies like this do not merely have isolated effects. For instance, this policy, which was initiated at Thomas Jefferson and spread to other schools, primarily hurt Asian American students. Thomas Jefferson is already involved in a lawsuit filed by the parents of Asian American students because of a new admissions policy it implemented several years ago that discriminates against their children on the basis of race. And we are awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court on the discriminatory admissions policies of Harvard and the University of North Carolina in litigation brought by Asian American students.

All of this was discovered in late December. Even though the administrator at Thomas Jefferson admitted that this was a deliberate policy, the affected school districts suddenly claimed it was just an “error” as soon as it cane to light. This claim is very difficult to take seriously, and all the administrators who devised and implemented this egregious policy still have their jobs.

What really happened was captured by Ms. Nomani when she said that the “equity warriors out there want to talk about dismantling the systemic injustice, but they are actually now the purveyors of this racism and discrimination.” Truer words were never spoken about what is happening in our schools today.

https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/school-administrators-undermine-excellence-promote-equity

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Canada: Catholic Student Suspended – Then Arrested – For ‘Opposing Gender Ideology’

In a sickening update in February — that should shake the conscience of every defender of human rights and freedoms in Canada — police in Ontario arrested 16-year-old Josh Alexander for attending class at his Catholic school, after he was suspended for protesting the allowance of males who identify as females to use girls’ bathrooms. I have been following the developments of this story from the beginning. See HERE and HERE for background. Thankfully, focus on the case isn’t going away, but is attracting increasing media attention across Canada, the U.S., and the UK.

To sum it up: Ontario student Josh Alexander was penalized with a 20-day suspension last year by his Catholic school “after he organized a walkout in protest of male students being permitted into the girls’ washroom.” In an interview around the time of Alexander’s initial suspension, the teen told LifeSiteNews that he believes, in accordance with Catholic teaching and the Bible,?that there are only two sexes. Under the freedom of religion, Alexander has the guaranteed right to affirm this belief.

Or so we thought.

Liberty Coalition Canada (LCC) took up Josh’s case and sent a “Notice of Intention to Appeal Suspension” to Mary-Lise Rowat, Superintendent of Educational Services at Renfrew County Catholic District School Board. But Josh’s situation deteriorated, and fast. LifeSite news wrote in an update in February:

Alexander’s lawyer, James Kitchen, the chief litigator for Liberty Coalition Canada (LCC), told LifeSiteNews that Renfrew County Catholic District School Board won’t “permit him (Alexander) to attend school for the rest of the year because, according to them, Josh’s beliefs constitute ‘bullying of trans students.’”

What nonsense. Mind you, the school is bullying Josh over his religious rights and freedoms, while doing severe damage to what the school proclaims about honoring Catholic teachings.

In an update reported by Fox News, Kitchen stated that his client’s legal battle shows how freedom in the country is rapidly eroding. He further warned that Canadians “do not understand the gravity of the threat their government increasingly poses to religious freedom, which he said is ‘essentially dead’”. One of the first things Justin Trudeau did when he first became Prime Minister in 2015 was to shut down the Office of Religious Freedom.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/canada-catholic-student-suspended-then-arrested-for-opposing-gender-ideology/

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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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The trouble with ‘microaggressions’

Welcome to the divisive and somewhat sinister world of racial ‘microaggressions’. Loosely defined as ‘a subtle slight or action that leaves people from a minority group feeling upset, offended or uncomfortable,’ the person who has delivered the insult might even be oblivious they have caused offence. The latest manifestation of its chilling effect on workplace relationships came in an employment tribunal case brought by Christabelle Peters, a black British academic.

Peters, a lecturer in American cultural and political history, sued Bristol University over a series of microaggressions. One of her complaints was that the nameplate on her door did not have her ‘Dr” title on it. Her grievances included claims that her office furniture wasn’t delivered on time and that payslips were not delivered to her office pigeonhole. Peters also accused a senior lecturer of telling her ‘nobody gives a shit about Africa’ after she pitched a research idea about the continent.

Did the university partly help bring this case on itself?

The tribunal ruled in Bristol University’s favour: it found that the nameplate issue was an ‘admin error’ and heard that another lecturer experienced the same problem. The tribunal in Bristol was also told that nameplates at the university are often prepared by junior workers who were mostly unaware of who the lecturers were.

Did the university partly help bring this case on itself? After all, it has made a big song and dance of publishing a detailed guide to help staff and students identify, report and counter microaggressions. which it defines as ‘the everyday slights…that members of marginalised groups experience in their day-to-day interactions’. Peters presumably took this advice to heart. Among the microaggressions the guide lists are women ‘being mistaken for being in a role more junior than the role you hold’ or when ‘an assertive female manager (is) labelled as ‘bossy’ while her male counterpart is described as a ‘good leader’.

How has it come to this? The theory — if that is not too strong a word for something based on hunches and feelings rather than concrete evidence — is that microaggressions reinforce ‘white privilege’ and undermine a culture of inclusion.

The savants who promulgate this nonsense are the usual mix of antiracism ‘experts’, organisational psychologists and HR departments looking for quick and easy fixes to workplace culture and practice. They appear deliberately blind to the obvious flaws.

First and foremost, a mindless institutional witch-hunt, rooting out and punishing perceived racial slights through the simplistic catch-all category of microaggressions, is simply not the panacea it is cracked up to be. Training programmes based on such a flimsy premise might well succeed in marginally increasing awareness of ignorant comments, but at what cost? Surely a more likely outcome over time is a divisive and inflammatory workplace.

Daft ideas like this merely encourage a dangerous belief that one group is always the aggressor and the other the victim. Which is surely racist in itself. It is a statement of the blindingly obvious that assumptions, biases and aggression can, and do, often go both ways. Other equally damaging consequences flow. People will be tempted to keep their beliefs and opinions to themselves, especially if they think they are likely to be punished for any minor infringement however unintentional.

Most damning of all is the danger of a form of workplace apartheid taking hold because people will feel safer mixing with those from similar backgrounds. They might choose simply not to engage with anyone from an ethnic minority, just in case an innocent or well-meaning remark is overheard, misunderstood and reported.

This purportedly antiracist orthodoxy is slowly but surely taking a stranglehold in offices everywhere, but universities in particular are leading the charge. The overall impact is to heighten everyone’s sensitivity to any form of workplace slight, turning offices into factories of grievances, resentments and ultimately tribunal claims. That’s exactly where Peters ended up. She lost and rightly so — but no one should be surprised if there are other similar cases in the pipeline.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2023/03/the-trouble-with-microaggressions/ ?

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Video Emerges of Black Students Allegedly Attacking, Forcing White Students to Say 'Black Lives Matter'

A harrowing video has surfaced of a racially charged schoolyard incident that rocked an Ohio community last month.

Kenwood Elementary School in Springfield, Ohio, came under national scrutiny after it was reported that children there were assaulted after refusing to say “black lives matter.”

The incident occurred on Feb. 10 and, according to a police report, involved a number of black students who targeted their white classmates.

The black students demanded that the white students say “black lives matter” and recorded them making the proclamation.

Students who declined? According to police, they were “chased down and escorted, dragged, or carried to the playground” and forced to utter the words.

WKEF-TV has now acquired surveillance footage that shows what exactly went on in the schoolyard.

In the videos, you can see white students being rounded up, thrown to the ground, and forced to kneel in front of their black classmates.

The disturbing footage may change the tune of some parents who gave surprisingly evenhanded responses to WHIO-TV when the incident first came to light.

“I’m angry as a parent, but I understand they are children,” said Ryan Springer, whose 12-year-old son was one of the hazing victims.

“It’s not OK to hate anybody because of their skin color or their gender or sexual orientation, or anything like that. Nobody should be hating anybody. … They should just be worried about being children,” he said.

Springer did wonder how school authorities allowed these racial tensions to boil over on the school playground.

“Where was the school staff when all of this was taking place? And why? Why did it get so far?” he asked.

The school district is currently working with police to investigate the matter.

https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/video-emerges-black-students-allegedly-attacking-forcing-white-students-say-black-lives-matter

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MN parents, teachers blast school board over botched handling of violence in schools: Our children are dying

Parents outraged as violence surges in Minnesota schools
St. Paul community leader Rev. Darryl Spence discusses the growing outrage from Minnesota parents, teachers and students over violence in their schools.

Teachers and parents in St. Paul, Minnesota are torching the city school district for its complacent attitude regarding violence in schools.

In wake of the fatal stabbing of 15-year-old student Devin Scott, St. Paul community leader Rev. Darryl Spence is begging Americans to not accept leaders lack of action as "politics as usual."

"Well, most of it is happening, like you can imagine, because of gang violence. It's just a continued circle. I am in strong support of bringing SRO's [school resource officer's] back into the building. I was there for the immediate aftermath of the stabbing. I saw the chaos caused by the lack of connection between the school and the police department," Spence said during an appearance on "Fox & Friends Weekend."

Parents and teachers in St. Paul, Minnesota gathered at a school board meeting in wake of rising violence in schools.
Parents and teachers in St. Paul, Minnesota gathered at a school board meeting in wake of rising violence in schools. (Fox News)

"The police department had no idea of the lay of the school, what was the best route out, how to best get kids back to their parents. So, yeah, I think it's caused because of the school board decided not to have SROs in the building."

Spence's comments come in response to the school board's controversial decision to remove school resource officers from the building.

No students proficient in math at 19 Minnesota public schoolsVideo
Teachers echoed Spence's concerns, one saying that the school board has been "negligent" in their response.

"It was amazing how many teachers, how many educators still beg for help. They literally were begging for help. I myself raised the question, how are the children?" Spence asked, Saturday.

"We have to quit bickering at the top and start looking out for our children. Our children are dying out. We are losing children at an alarming rate. We have to do something different. We can't keep being politics as usual," he explained to co-host Pete Hegseth.

Rev. Darryl Spence joined "Fox & Friends Weekend." Saturday, to weigh in on St. Paul's schools' unprecedented crime wave.
Rev. Darryl Spence joined "Fox & Friends Weekend." Saturday, to weigh in on St. Paul's schools' unprecedented crime wave. (Fox News)

In response, Hegseth issued a provocative question to Spence, asking "Are teachers able to enforce discipline in these schools?"

"In their words, no they can't," Spence began. "I heard it over and over. It's more, I think we have to be honest. This has to start at home. Kids have to come to school ready to learn. My pastor, Pastor Patterson actually works in the building, at Harding. And he says, all he sees is kids walking the hall. He has the ability to say, please go to class. But if he turns the corner, there they are, the same student. They come to the building, but they don't go to the classroom," he continued.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams says when America 'took prayers out of schools, guns came into schools'Video
While noting that kids are dying at an "alarming" rate, Spence concluded by calling on the city school district to implement honest policy reform.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/mn-parents-teachers-blast-school-board-over-botched-handling-violence-schools-children-dying

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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)

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

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