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31 January, 2022
Jeff Jacoby: More education choices, fewer education fights
WITHIN HOURS of being sworn in as Virginia's new governor on Jan. 15, Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order empowering parents to decide whether their children should wear masks in school. That effectively made masking optional for students across the state, triggering a backlash from education officials who support mask mandates. Seven school boards quickly filed lawsuits to block Youngkin's order. "We will fight it to the end," vowed a defiant Jason Kamras, the superintendent of schools in Richmond.
In justice to Youngkin, he was elected on a platform of strong support for parental rights in education and opposition to COVID-19 mandates. And his executive order lays out a reasonable case for not obligating schoolchildren to wear masks. It notes that the health benefits of masking children are "inconsistent," but that the costs — such as delays in language development, difficulty breathing, and increased feelings of isolation — can be significant. "While the Center for Disease Control recommends masks," the order states, "its research has found no statistically significant link between mandatory masking for students and reduced transmission of COVID-19."
In justice to Youngkin's critics, on the other hand, a solid majority of Virginians support mask mandates in schools. A Washington Post poll in September found that 69 percent of voters statewide approved of a statewide mask mandate within school buildings. A survey conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University yielded similar results: 71 percent of Virginia residents agreed that masks should be mandatory in K-12 schools.
On the merits, I sympathize with those who don't want children forced to wear masks. Youngkin is right: The claim that schools with unmasked kids are at greater risk rests on shaky evidence. On the other hand, why should a policy favored by a large majority of parents in a given school or district be overridden by a governor's edict? Youngkin claims that his order "bans neither the wearing of masks nor the issuing of mask mandates" — it simply lets parents decide. But that's disingenuous. A mandate is futile if it's unenforceable. And making masks optional is no option at all for those who fear an outbreak unless masking is universal.
This is not, however, a column about masks. It's a column about minimizing disputes by maximizing choice.
What is true of mask mandates in Virginia is true of a wide variety of school policies in every state: Parents disagree, often profoundly. They come down on different sides of important issues, and in a one-size-fits-all school system there is no way to accommodate them all. Only when there is school choice can incompatible priorities coexist.
Should classroom lessons advance an "anti-racist" agenda focused on the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow, or should they emphasize the ideal of colorblindness and judging individuals by the content of their character? Is it more important to expose students to classic literary works of the Western canon or to lesser-known works by female, nonwhite, or LGBT authors? Should the K-12 curriculum include — or shun — prayer and religious instruction? What should kids in school be taught about sex? About gender identity? About abortion, guns, immigration, American history? Should teachers be union members? Should everyone wear masks?
Reasonable people can hold very different views on such matters, most of which are zero-sum policy questions that cannot be resolved through compromise. Whatever course of action is adopted is apt to greatly please some parents and deeply distress others. When kids' education is at stake, passions often boil over. There have recently been numerous scenes of angry parents venting their outrage during school board meetings. But such protests aren't new.
"Throughout American history," the Cato Institute's Neal McCluskey has observed, "public schooling has produced political disputes, animosity, and sometimes even bloodshed between diverse people. Such clashes are inevitable in government-run schooling because all Americans are required to support the public schools, but only those with the most political power control them."
Discussions of school choice commonly focus on achieving better educational outcomes for children in underperforming public schools or from economically deprived families. By now there are scores of empirical studies documenting such gains. A statistical survey published last year by the University of Arkansas concluded that "expanding parental options in education . . . is consistent with improvements in average student performance for US states." And those improvements aren't limited to the students whose parents take advantage of school-choice options to move them out of traditional public schools. Researchers have repeatedly found that when families have the option of using vouchers or educational savings accounts (ESAs) to pay for non-governmental schooling, public schools tend to improve.
But robust school choice programs do more than boost grades and test scores. They also have the power to lessen hostility and keep communities from fighting over what gets taught and how schools should be run. One-size-fits-all is sometimes inevitable — everyone has to drive on the same side of the street — but it's a poor template for education in a society committed to freedom. Far better is a system of schooling premised on pluralism, freedom, and respect for the rights of parents to make choices for their kids. No elected official decides what clothing children should wear, what religious beliefs they should be taught, or what pediatrician they should go to. In matters great and small, society trusts parents to exercise good judgment. Only when it comes to education is the government presumed to know what's best.
Things may be changing. The COVID-19 pandemic sharply increased discontent with public schools. Support for school choice has soared. "How have your opinions on homeschooling changed as a result of the coronavirus?" asked a Morning Consult poll last month. Fully 68 percent of respondents said they were more favorable to homeschooling now than they were before the pandemic. Support was high as well for publicly funded school vouchers (supported by 77 percent of school parents), ESAs (81 percent), and charter schools (68 percent). Nationwide, school choice programs were created or expanded in 22 states and the District of Columbia last year.
At a time when so many trends in American life have been bleak, this embrace of school choice is something to cheer. The more liberty parents have to choose how, where, and what their children learn, the more tolerant and peaceful America's educational landscape will become. If anyone should know that, it is Virginia's new governor, who campaigned on a platform of respect for parents. He could have ordered simply that each school be free to adopt the mask policy it thought best — and that mothers and fathers be free in turn to choose the school they thought best. Less coercion and more liberty: That's the formula for keeping the peace.
https://jeffjacoby.com/25978/more-education-choices-fewer-education-fights
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This Mom’s Side Job Just Cost Her Children A Decent Education!
A mum-of-three who went viral for her OnlyFans account has now revealed her children have been expelled from their school as a result.
Tiffany Poindexter, who lives in a close-knit Catholic community in California, says she’s received backlash after her secret OnlyFans account was exposed.
Crystal Jackson – who goes by the name Tiffany Poindexter online – found herself embroiled in a row after mums in her East Sacramento community found out about her OnlyFans page, which has since made her up to $100,000 (£71,000) a day.
Mum-of-three Crystal says she then learned via email on Sunday evening (21 February) that her children had been expelled from school after she went public about the bullying she has experienced.
The entire reason three California children were tossed out of the local Parrish Catholic school is that the optics are awful. The actual truth has nothing to do with the dogma spoon-fed into young impressionable minds at Sacred Heart Parish in Sacramento.
Instead of addressing the real and actual education needs of students, by using the controversy to teach some root basics of human biology and psychology, the Catholic hierarchy prefers to pretend certain issues don’t exist. They would rather protect pedophile priests who abuse children in secret because at least they do it quietly.
https://theinformedamerican.net/this-moms-side-job-just-cost-her-children-a-decent-education/
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Liberals Caught LYING To You About The “Banning” Of MAUS comic book
From Fact to Fake news real quick. This is how the left makes every truth spin into fake news once it didn’t fit their narrative.
They previously reported how a Tennessee school district has banned a book about the Holocaust. The said book was all about the author’s parents surviving the Holocaust and McMinn Schools has been accused of banning Maus. The book is a highly respected and Pulitzer Prize-winning book.
I couldn’t see any reason why would a school would ban such a book like this. No reason because the truth is they didn’t make any ban, the school only removed the book from the 8th-grade curriculum but it is still available in the school’s library.
And the school’s reason for removing it from the 8th-grade curriculum wasn’t because of the Holocaust but because they didn’t want the 8th graders reading content with curse words in it.
Leftists couldn’t see the difference between the two. The book is still available in the school libraries and it can still be read by the students it’s just no longer part of the required curriculum.
Take a look at how the media and the radical left is spinning the truth:
To ban #Maus for being an uncomfortable read is, in fact, to be against teaching the Holocaust, regardless of the school board member’s protests to the contrary.
As of the moment I only cite one media outlet that’s brave enough to cover and show the truth.
Here’s an excerpt from the Red State:
McMinn County, Tennessee, made the news late last night and it will, I suspect, make news today. If one is a devotee of the left, McMinn’s school board is composed of knuckle-dragging Neanderthals and anti-Semite book-burners. Reality is different.
McMinn County has a total population that wouldn’t fill a baseball stadium but it became a lighting-rod on Wednesday, when its school board voted to remove one book from the 8th grade language arts curriculum.
The book, titled, “Maus,” is a serialized graphic novel. “Graphic novel” is another way of not calling a 296-page comic book a comic book. Its subject is the Holocaust, and it’s illustrated with animal metaphors. Jews are mice (thus the title), Germans are cats, and the French are frogs. The author of “Maus” is Art Spiegelman. “Maus” is told as an interview with Spiegelman’s father (a Polish Jew) who survived the Holocaust. Published in the 1980s, the novel uses heavy-line cartoon imagery to tell a story of the Holocaust. In 1992, it won a Pulitzer Prize by special award.
https://thepatriotnation.net/liberals-caught-lying-to-you-about-the-banning-of-maus/
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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30 January, 2022
Mom Sticks Up to Virginia's Largest School District on Mask Mandates
On Tuesday, Carrie Lukas showed up to Forestville Elementary School with her two young children, ages 9 and 7, unmasked. The school is located in the Fairfax County Public School system, the largest district in Virginia and one of the largest in the country. Despite Gov. Glenn Youngkin's executive order leaving the decision of whether children should be masked up to parents, Lukas' children were sent home and suspended. Further, the school's security officer called the police to shoo away a handful of other parents who had gathered, and Luke Rosiak, a reporter for The Daily Wire, whose child will be eligible for that school next year.
Lukas, who spoke to Townhall about the experience, explained that school had also been made aware the night before by her. She explained she let them know "I was going to be exercising my rights" and understood her children might be suspended. Lukas emphasized in our conversation that she likes her school, and has no ill will towards them, but shared "I'm frustrated with Fairfax County Public Schools, I think it's important to make my views known."
She also shared that she had been speaking about this issue before and encouraging others to get involved in such a way. The Independent Women's Voice (IWV), which Lukas is vice president of, in addition to being president of Independent Women's Forum (IWF), encouraged parents to sign onto a letter.
The suspension is consistent with news from last Friday that students in the school system who did not wear masks would be disciplined in such a way, though a text message sent to families attempted to do damage control that same night.
A point Lukas emphasized throughout is that she had a nice conversation with the assistant vice principal, who did not want to suspend her children and tried to do so as nicely as possible. However, Lukas also emphasized that the behavior from the security guard, who is not normally at the school, seemed "really aggressive."
Rosiak was also there to witness and film the exchange, but because he and the other parents were being treated so harshly and aggressively by the security guard, it became an even bigger deal than was likely necessary. Lukas referred to the matter of the security guard calling the police as "tremendous overkill."
Not only was a security guard present that day, which is out of the norm, but so was a press person, both of whom were sent by the school system to handle the exchange and try to block coverage of it. "Had they sat there and treated us like I was trying to treat them, it would kind of have been a non-story," Lukas shared.
She would go on to respond, when asked by Townhall, that the school "definitely did not want press to witness this."
It was the lack of trust that Lukas perceived existed, which she said bothered her the most, considering that the school system is the one breaking the law.
Rosiak was treated as if he were part of the paparazzi or a criminal. Even if there were more parents there, though, and had brought signs, Lukas went on to question why it would be an issue.
"Heaven forbid we had had people who showed a sign, what would have been so terrible about that," Lukas wondered. "It's just the extent of having this absolute 'you must comply and how dare you question us.' That's the thing, it was like they were so outraged that one of us might possibly push back on their authority, when in my mind, I think they're completely in the wrong. They're completely disobeying our duly elected governor's executive order just for political reasons. It's completely senseless."
Lukas' children are back in the classroom, masked, as she does not want them to miss a lot of school, she shared. When asked what the motivation behind Tuesday was, she spoke to being a voice for other parents, and even teachers, in the district, who feared being ostracized and who did not have such jobs where they knew they had the backup that Lukas has.
"I thought it was important for them to have to show the consequences of their decision," Lukas shared, referring to the school. "I think they were hoping parents would just comply and nobody would push back." Lukas went out to call out the school as well. "They denied my kids educational services, based on their decision not to follow this executive order." Lukas explained that she put it in legal terms in a letter that she suffered a harm with such a loss.
"I think it's important that they had to do that so that they know that there are aggrieved parents like me who know they have potentially actionable claims against them. I wanted them to know."
As Landon reported on Monday, Fairfax is one of seven boards in the commonwealth to sue Gov. Youngkin, with those districts asking for an immediate injunction on the order.
At issue, according to the school boards, is whether the governor's executive order can override the local school board's authority. Youngkin, however, as has Attorney General Jason Miyares, have framed the issue as parents having authority over their children.
Lukas will be attending a school board meeting on Thursday night she shared.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/rebeccadowns/2022/01/26/mom-sticking-up-to-virginias-largest-school-district-rule-on-masking-n2602430
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Left Barely Masks Its Contempt for Parents’ Involvement in Education
As a rule, leftists are pretty stealthy about expressing their true feelings, preferring to pose as “moderates” until the time comes to actually impose their radical agendas.
That results in a good deal of dishonesty when it comes to their message, but every so often a whiff of candor does leak out—only to be quickly suppressed.
The Michigan Democratic Party made just such a gaffe last week when it posted on Facebook the unattributed sentiments of one of its leaders:
Not sure where this ‘parents-should-control-what-is-taught-in-school-because-they-are-our-kids’ [narrative] is originating, but parents do have the right to send their kids to a hand-selected private school at their own expense if this is what they desire.
The message continued:
The purpose of public education in a public school is not to teach students only what parents want them to be taught. It is to teach them what society needs them to know. The client of the public school is not the parent, but the entire community.
Predictably, the post was scrubbed within hours and replaced with a bland disclaimer:
We have deleted a post that ignored the important role parents play—and should play—in public schools. Parents need to have a say in their children’s education, end of story.
And just as predictably, it was the end of the story as far as the media were concerned.
Perhaps remembering how Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe last fall scuttled his own gubernatorial campaign by smugly proclaiming that he didn’t “think parents should be telling schools what they should teach,” newspaper editorial boards across Michigan and the rest of the nation evidently convinced themselves the second, sanitized post more accurately reflected the party’s sentiments.
Parents, however, are getting better at sifting through the education establishment’s lies. That’s a good thing, because they’re more brazen than ever.
The insistence, for example, by radical leftist teachers unions that students be force-fed toxic critical race theory nostrums over parents’ objections illustrates how much credence liberals give to dissenting voices far more vividly than phony posts from party hacks.
Just one year ago, educational leaders, media elites, and leftist politicians were assuring parents that critical race theory was a complicated area of study only taught in law schools. But with students banned from the classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic, parents got to observe firsthand the propaganda streaming into their living rooms via remote-learning lessons.
Immediately, the narrative changed from “There is no critical race theory in K-12 classrooms” to “If you don’t like it, you’re a racist.”
School board meetings became more contentious as parents of all demographics showed up by the hundreds and even thousands to express their displeasure at what their children were being taught.
School board members across the country began imposing more and more restrictions on how many people could speak at their meetings and for how long.
Ultimately, they began canceling public meetings altogether so they wouldn’t be confronted by the angry people paying their salaries.
President Joe Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, even issued a memo comparing those parents to “domestic terrorists” for refusing to stand idly by as their tax dollars are used to transform public schools into socialist indoctrination centers.
The scandal was compounded when public records requests revealed emails showed Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona requested the National School Boards Association ask for Garland’s help in targeting those parents in the first place.
Garland eventually walked back his words, and the National School Boards Association disavowed the letter, but the damage was done.
Members of Congress and parents groups are calling for Cardona’s resignation, but like their allies in Michigan, Garland and Cardona aren’t on the hot seat for failing to articulate their true feelings. It’s because they most certainly did.
The past year has demonstrated all too clearly for parents and well-meaning teachers alike just how badly our educational system can unravel when controlled by leaders who care more about flexing their power than about the students who suffer significant developmental, social, and educational setbacks as a result.
As we mark National School Choice Week (Jan. 23-29), we applaud the parents fighting for and taking back control of their kids’ education, as well as the teachers who are leaving their radical unions behind and no longer pushing a political agenda they don’t support.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/01/27/left-barely-masks-its-contempt-for-parents-involvement-in-education
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Older people say school curriculum is ‘too woke’, Australian values must be protected
Generations are split over whether schools should protect Australia’s “inherently Western and Christian” values, as academics slam the curriculum.
Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg says people would be supportive of keeping Australia Day but also establishing a second day to celebrate the country’s Indigenous heritage. “More Indigenous leaders are talking about the value of keeping the day on 26 January because it is a day of truth telling,” Mr Bragg told Sky News…
Seven in 10 Baby Boomers think more needs to be done to nurture and protect Australian values.
Overall, more than half of Aussies want to see our values protected, according to an exclusive YouGov poll commissioned by News Corp between December 27 and January 10.
But there are big differences in opinions between the generations, with 15 per cent of Gen Z – those born after 1997 – going as far as saying there should be less emphasis placed on Australian values.
The survey of 2297 people also found that one in four Australians have concerns that the school curriculum is too ‘woke’.
Fiona Mueller, an adjunct scholar from the Centre for Independent Studies, said while teachers tried to instil respect, compassion and fairness in schools, the current curriculum made it almost impossible for students to develop a deep appreciation of our “inherently Western and Christian” based Australian values.
“There is no overarching intellectual and academic framework that places Australian values at the heart of learning,” she said.
“It is ironic that the dominance of themes such as climate change, racism, globalism and all the other -isms makes it hard to maintain a clear emphasis on longstanding Australian values.”
Temaeva Legeay-Hill, 21, who is studying accounting and finance at university in Melbourne, said the combination of compassion and giving people a fair go was her interpretation of Australian values and ones that the government promoted on its Home Affairs website.
She said Gen Z was becoming increasingly disconnected with these values because they were not seeing them in society.
“Based on the data, our First Nations peoples are not being given a fair go,” Ms Legeay-Hill said.
“Academically they have lower levels of numeracy and literacy and poorer health outcomes.”
She said Gen Z would only want to nurture Australian values if they were authentic.
Meanwhile, the poll also showed that 56 per cent of people believe the curriculum should continue to include lessons on Australia’s links with Asia, Indigenous Australians and the environment.
While a quarter felt the curriculum had become too “woke”, Gen Z does not agree with that sentiment.
Ms Legeay-Hill said including “humanity into academia” was not a bad thing and helped to strengthen cultural bonds.
Glenn Fahey, a research fellow in education policy, said today’s curriculum was contributing to children having a “negative, pessimistic view of Australia – and life in general for that matter – that will feel foreign to past generations and to parents”.
He said there was nothing woke about learning of Australia’s role in Asia, the lives and histories of Indigenous Australians, or the environment, but it depended how the subjects are taught.
He said a “woke” example of Australian history is to paint it “as a racist, genocidal country rather than recognising that we live in the most harmonious and successful multicultural country in the world”.
“The problem is that students may only get a one-sided, politicised view that fails to provide the full context,” he said.
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/baby-boomers-say-school-curriculum-is-too-woke-australian-values-must-be-protected/news-story/855bcdd3dc53db60784d0709519a5793
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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28 January, 2022
GOP Governor Creates Tip Line to Report CRT in Schools
Critical Race Theory (CRT) in schools has been a hot-button issue in recent years. In my interview with former Nevada attorney general and current Senate candidate Adam Laxalt, he described how CRT "is one of the main constructs that is being used to force this radicalism on our country." Now, one GOP governor has implemented a tip line for parents to report it.
On Monday, newly-elected Virginia GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that his administration set up a tip line for parents to report schools teaching "divisive" CRT curriculum to their children.
In an interview with radio host John Fredericks, Youngkin said the tip line is "for parents to send us any instances where they feel their fundamental rights are being violated, where their children are not being respected [and] where there are inherently divisive practices in their schools."
"We are asking for input from parents to make sure we can do right to the source," Youngkin stated in the interview.
In the interview, Youngkin discussed reports broken recently that a Fairfax County high school's lesson plan included "Privilege Bingo," where children who are white, male, Christian, or from a military family are considered "privileged."
"We're asking folks to send us reports and observations that will help us be aware of things like Privilege Bingo," Youngkin said in the interview.
"We're going to make sure we catalog it all," he added. "That gives us further ability in rooting in out."
Youngkin took office on Jan. 15. Hours later, he signed a slew of executive orders aimed at Wuhan coronavirus mandates and prohibiting CRT in schools.
"I'm not a lifelong politician. I'm a guy that stepped up to run for office at a time when I think that Virginians needed a different kind of candidate," Youngkin said in the interview. "I'm going to absolutely do what I promised I was going to do. Every time."
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/madelineleesman/2022/01/25/gop-governor-creates-tip-line-to-report-crt-in-schools-n2602337
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PA School Board Member Bizarrely Tells Parents “I Don’t Work for You”
Considering that they work for the taxpayers, especially the parent taxpayers that send their kids to local schools, it’s probably fair to say that school board members “work for” parents in at least one form or another.
Unfortunately, some of the members of America’s school boards might be so intoxicated with power, power they’ve been using to push mask mandates and anti-American propaganda on young children, that they’ve forgotten who they work for.
One such school board member is from the York Suburban School District in Pennsylvania. He, Richard Robinson, wrote a bitter op-ed for the York Dispatch titled “With all due respect … no, I don’t work for you.” As you might expect from the title, it’s him yelling to the world that he doesn’t think he works for parents.
He begins his piece by lamenting the fact that more parents have started showing up to express their displeasure with things like mask mandates and CRT, writing:
It is a requirement of local school boards to provide opportunities for public comment. This provision gives residents of a school district the chance to vent their spleens about exorbitant taxes or demand subjects be taught properly the way they were during the most frigid period of the Cold War. In the past, more often than not, nobody showed up.
Not these days. As social media outlets, national news broadcasts and our local newspapers tell us, school boards are now the new battleground in the fight for America’s future.
Some members of my community appear to interpret this part of board meetings as the occasion to tell board members why they have the collective intelligence of a village idiot and how the school district ought to be addressing real problems. When the board does not fall in line with each and every demand, we are accused of ignoring the thoughtful, unbiased, sincere and righteous ultimatums of our community.
He has to listen to parents that are worried about their childrens’ future. How terrible.
But that’s not all. He later goes into attacking the parents that show up for their various forms of ignorance in the face of his obviously brilliant intellect and school-managing skills, saying:
"With all due respect to the men and women who snarl, “I’m a taxpayer! You work for me!” No, I don’t work for you. I was elected by people who voted to represent you. It is not the same thing. You may also be surprised to learn every member of a school board is a taxpayer, too. I come from a long line of taxpaying men and women."
With all due respect to the people who introduce themselves as doctors without mentioning their specialties or credentials and expect their pronouncements to be accepted as unimpeachable: When I have a toothache, I don’t go to an oncologist. To me, the logical person to consult about a virus is a virologist. When a person introduces him or herself as a doctor, their education, training and experience matter to me. After all, Jack Kevorkian was a doctor.
To Robinson, because you don’t have the proper credentials, you don’t get to worry about your child’s future. Want to complain about the teachers pushing anti-white racism on students in the form of CRT? Go back to school for six years first so that you can speak to such a dignified member of a random PA school board. And refer to him as “your eminence,” I suppose.
https://trendingpolitics.com/pa-school-board-member-bizarrely-tells-parents-i-dont-work-for-you
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Mask Plan for VA's Largest School District Involves Suspension Threats, Claims to Be 'Within a Caring Culture'
The Fairfax County Public School system, which is the largest in Virginia and one of the largest in the country, is seeking to do damage control when it comes to masking policies within the district. On Friday, Parents Defending Education circulated a "Principal Briefing" that orders administrators in the district to suspend students for refusing to wear a mask. That same night, the district texted families a link to a "Message from the Superintendent - Maintaining Mask Requirements Within a Caring Culture."
"Tonight, we are aware that some internal communications around our mask regulation - which has been in place since we first returned to classrooms - are being shared out of context," the post, which is addressed "Dear FCPS Community[,]" begins. It's signed by Superintendent Scott S. Brabrand.
Parents Defending Education provided slides of the briefing that includes one slide noting "FCPS Mask Regulation Remains Unchanged," with such a message as this:
Our overarching goal is to work with students and families in a collaborative manner, to keep the focus on teaching and learning while ensuring the safety and security of all students and staff. As a caring culture, we work to inform and educate rather than engage in confrontation.
As Parents Defending Education summarized from the slides, with added emphasis:
Regarding “Intentional Removal / Refusal to Wear Face Covering,” he said: “Intentional removal of or refusal to wear a face covering during the times face coverings are required by all students will be treated as a violation of the Regulation 2613 (Student Dress Code). This includes indoors on school property and transportation.
This will result in an “SRR Violation of BSO7 (Dress Code),” and noted: “BSO3 (Refusal to comply with staff requests…) may be used as a secondary infraction code to document refusal despite redirection from staff.” The point has a big “NEW!” graphic beside it.
The “Response” will be swift with a “1 day OSS,” which means “Out of School Suspension” for students who don’t wear masks.
The briefing says: “1 day OSS for an infraction using the new SUS-M suspension code (this process will enable staff to monitor data regarding this unique situation and gives students the ability to return the next day to comply with the regulation).” Slide 12: “1 day OSS,” “OSS” means “Out of School Suspension.” “SUSP” is the typical code for a suspension.
Asra Nomani, the vice president of strategy and investigations for Parents Defending Education provided a statement, highlighting the overreach. "Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand is turning school staff into the mask police and punishing children to win a public opinion battle in Virginia that was decided at the ballot box. Parents elected Gov. Glenn Youngkin to office to win back parental rights over issues from what is taught in schools to whether a child wears a mask at school. Mr. Brabrand, who is on his way out as superintendent, is setting up a showdown with Gov. Youngkin--and parents," she said.
The blog post letter from Brabrand in reality actually doubles down on the briefing:
In accordance with state law, our regulation requiring universal masking remains in place until further notice. Students will be required to comply with the requirements of Regulation 2109.2. Face masks are included in the student dress code and failure to comply remains an SR&R violation. Intentional removal of or refusal to wear a face covering during the times face coverings are required by all students will be treated as a violation of Regulation 2613. In addition, per federal guidelines, students must continue to wear masks at all times on school buses or other FCPS transportation.
We are working towards a day when we can begin to roll back these safety measures, including universal masking. But for right now, we must continue to protect and serve all our students, including our most vulnerable. More than anything else, these mitigation measures allow them to safely remain in our schools.
We hope that our community will support each other and work together to find the right time for us to begin to remove some of our layered prevention strategies, but this is not the time. I hope that with that in mind, our students will arrive at school on Tuesday with their masks in place. If not, we will follow the regulation, but we will do so with sensitivity and compassion.
The briefing comes in light of Gov. Glenn Youngkin's (R-VA) first week in office. Within hours of taking office on Saturday, he issued a series of executive orders, including one that "delivers on his Day One promise to empower Virginia parents in their children’s education and upbringing by allowing parents to make decisions on whether their child wears a mask in school."
The governor also spoke of that "fundamental right" of parents during his first address before the General Assembly on Monday.
Youngkin had consistently made it part of his campaign to advocate for parents deciding whether or not their children should wear masks to school.
On Sunday, the day after Youngkin took office, families had also been texted a reminder about the district's masking policy.
Virginians not only elected a Republican governor last November, but Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares. Throughout his many media interview this week, Miyares referred to himself as the "new sheriff" in town when it comes to enforcing the law and has assured Virginians that this administration will fulfill campaign promises
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/rebeccadowns/2022/01/21/virginias-largest-school-district-masking-plan-involving-threats-of-suspension-claims-to-be-within-a-caring-culture-n2602204
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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27 January, 2022
Supreme court to review race-conscious admissions policies at Harvard, UNC
<i>This sounds very hopeful, given the present court. Leftist racism might at last take a hit</i>
The Supreme Court said it would decide whether to prohibit the use of race-conscious admissions in higher education, agreeing to consider challenges to policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.
The court in a brief written order on Monday said it would consider a pair of challenges by a group called Students for Fair Admissions, led by conservative legal activist Edward Blum, which sued both schools on the same day in 2014.
The lawsuit against Harvard alleged the school used quota-like racial-balancing tactics that artificially raised the standards of admission for Asian-American applicants, in violation of federal civil-rights law. The challengers alleged Asians were admitted at a lower rate than whites, even though their overall academic scores were better.
Harvard rejected the claims of discrimination and said it only considered race in a flexible way, as one factor among many in building diverse classes of students.
Under the Trump administration, the Justice Department supported the lawsuit, but the Biden-era department abandoned that position and offered support for Harvard in a legal brief last month that urged the Supreme Court to turn away the challenge.
A Boston-based US district judge and a federal appeals court each sided with the school.
The lawsuit against UNC was similar to the Harvard allegations, though it added claims that the flagship public university in Chapel Hill violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection.
The challengers alleged the school unlawfully factored students’ race into the admissions process, favoring Black, Hispanic and Native American applicants and even caused them harm by inviting them into classrooms for which they weren’t prepared. The university, they said, didn’t fully pursue race-neutral alternatives to diversify its student body.
UNC in court papers said it has made progress on diversity but continues to face challenges in admitting underrepresented minorities. The school said it considered race as one of dozens of factors when evaluating applicants, which “may sometimes tip the balance toward admission in an individual case -- but it almost always does not.” A federal judge sided with UNC in October. The challengers then sought to bypass appellate review, asking the Supreme Court to go ahead and hear the case along with the Harvard litigation.
The Supreme Court is expected to consider the cases during its next term, which begins in October. Under that timeline, a ruling would be expected by June 2023.
Harvard President Lawrence Bacow said the court’s decision to review the cases puts at risk the ability of schools to create diverse campus communities, “which strengthens the learning environment for all.” He said Harvard would continue to defend its admissions practices. Given the lower courts’ unanimous rulings and Supreme Court precedent on the matter, he said, “there is no persuasive, credible evidence warranting a different outcome.”
UNC spokeswoman Beth Keith said the school would defend its admissions process, which it terms holistic. “As the trial court held, our process is consistent with long-standing Supreme Court precedent and allows for an evaluation of each student in a deliberate and thoughtful way,” she said.
“The cornerstone of our nation’s civil-rights laws is the principle that an individual’s race should not be used to help or harm them in their life’s endeavors,” Mr. Blum said, alleging that Harvard and UNC “racially gerrymandered” their classes to hit quotas. “It is our hope that the justices will end the use of race as an admissions factor at Harvard, UNC and all colleges and universities.”
While declining to comment on the litigation, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration believes “in the benefits of diversity in higher education.” By taking the cases, the Supreme Court will be directly considering whether to reverse course on more than 40 years of precedent allowing some consideration of race in admissions. Current law permits schools to consider an applicant’s race in narrow ways, but not as a rigid set-aside for minority applicants.
The court’s 1978 decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke barred the use of racial quotas but said schools could use race in some circumstances for assembling a diverse student body. In 2003, the court in Grutter v. Bollinger upheld the University of Michigan Law School’s use of race in admissions. And in 2016 the court ruled the University of Texas at Austin’s process passed constitutional muster, in another case backed by Mr Blum. Each of the decisions sparked deep divisions at the court.
Many selective colleges use what they call a holistic admissions review process, taking into consideration factors including academic credentials, extracurricular achievements and recommendations, as well as an applicant’s background. The goal, admissions officers say, is to ensure they enroll a mix of students whose life experiences and outlooks can enrich the educational opportunities of their classmates.
In writing for the court majority in the 2003 Grutter case, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said the use of racial preferences wouldn’t be necessary 25 years on. Schools, though, say other systemic inequities, including ones baked into the K-12 education system, mean alternative efforts to improve diversity without considering race aren’t yet effective enough on their own.
Admissions officers say that just admitting students with the best grades in the hardest classes, or only taking those with top SAT or ACT scores, would close out opportunities for students whose schools had limited course offerings or who couldn’t afford expensive test-prep programs. By admitting students based on just test scores, one Georgetown University study showed, colleges would end up with student populations that are overwhelmingly whiter, wealthier and male.
By also considering an applicant’s background -- overcoming hardship, growing up with grandparents or taking care of a younger sibling, or otherwise making the most of limited resources -- admissions officers say they can spot other candidates with potential and achieve the aimed-for educational benefits of a diverse class.
Dozens of higher-education leaders have backed Harvard and UNC in the legal battle, as have corporate executives who say their talent pipelines would grow more homogeneous if affirmative action were disallowed.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/supreme-court-to-review-raceconscious-admissions-policies-at-harvard-unc/news-story/d53b7f498f088cd5e5ef06da49171638
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NYC professors sue over forced representation by 'antisemitic' union
A group of New York City professors is suing for the right to no longer be represented by a labor union they say is antisemitic and has targeted the educators due to their beliefs.
City University of New York professors Avraham Goldstein, Michael Goldstein, Frimette Kass-Shraibman, Mitchell Langbert, Jeffrey Lax and Maria Pagano have filed suit against the college, a slew of New York officials and the union, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY, seeking to no longer be forced to pay dues to PSC.
All of the educators resigned from PSC last summer after the union issued a resolution in support of the Palestinian people and condemning Israel. Five of the six plaintiffs are Jewish.
PSC's resolution stated that the CUNY union "cannot be silent about the continued subjection of Palestinians to the state-supported displacement, occupation, and use of lethal force by Israel" and goes on to say, among other things, that the chapter would consider officially supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel.
The plaintiffs say the resolution was "anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish, and anti-Israel," and that PSC has "single[d] them out for opprobrium, hatred, and harassment based on their religious, ethnic, and/or moral beliefs and identity." The professors say that being forced to be represented by and financially support the union violates their constitutional rights.
They also claim that the union representing them not only stands contrary to their own beliefs, but has proactively targeted them due to their religion.
The court filing alleges that Professor Michael Goldstein, who has taught at CUNY for 32 years and whose late father was a longtime chancellor of the institution, "has experienced anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist attacks from members of PSC, including what he sees as bullying, harassment, destruction of property, calls for him to be fired, organization of student attacks against him, and threats against him and his family."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nyc-professors-sue-end-forced-representation-by-union-anti-semitic
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Cops as teachers?
It’s no secret that educators have faced a nearly impossible task over the past two years. Even before the pandemic changed the way school was done, teachers were often heralded as overworked, underpaid heroes.
Now, many schools are facing a crisis as teachers have gotten sick or retired early and substitutes are hard to find, leaving parents in a bind as they try to continue their own work lives as well as their children’s education.
One public school system in Moore, Oklahoma, found a unique temporary solution.
“Moore PD is a proud community partner of Moore Public Schools,” the Moore Police Department posted on Facebook on Jan. 18. “This week, several on-duty officers are serving in the classroom as schools continue to face teacher and staff shortages.”
“We are thankful to be able to assist our community during these difficult times.”
Police Chief Todd R. Gibson said the officers volunteered for the gig and are not getting paid anything apart from their normal salary for taking on the job.
“Police officers did not have to participate, they chose to,” Gibson told Fox News. “These officers are deeply connected to the community and the schools. They always enjoy the opportunity to interact with the future of our community in a helpful way.”
https://flagandcross.com/police-officers-step-in-after-schools-left-in-shambles-over-staffing-issues/
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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26 January, 2022
As I Found Out With My Daughter, Not Even Catholic Schools Are Safe Havens From Gender Ideology
My husband and I looked to a Catholic school to be an ally in our fight to break our daughter free from the grip of gender confusion. We were naive.
Our daughter, now 15, was 13 when she was coached into believing that she was born in the wrong body and could change to be the opposite sex. This led her to self-loathing.
But instead of finding a partner within the Roman Catholic Church, we discovered that our local Catholic high school had adopted procedures that promote transgenderism. This situation has left us with no safe place to educate our child and a profound feeling of disappointment and abandonment.
As I previously wrote for The Daily Signal, our daughter’s transgender identity came with little warning. She started ninth grade at a public charter high school in the fall of 2020, but due to COVID-19 didn’t actually set foot in a classroom.
During the first week of online classes, I noticed that all her teachers were referring to her by male pronouns and a male name. My husband and I were stunned.
We later learned that our daughter, who had been happy as a stereotypical girl up until puberty, had “come out” to her school as “trans.”
When I contacted the charter school, her designated counselor cheerfully informed me that the school permits children to “lead” and self-identify concerning gender without consulting their parents.
The school’s basis for this clandestine social transition was to ensure the “safety” of the child. By extension, the policy must have assumed that all parents are “unsafe,” because a police officer and a Child Protective Services worker soon appeared at our door to ask questions and look around.
We were angered that no one at the school saw fit to clue in the child’s parents on the situation. Moreover, the teachers blatantly hid the name change by sending me emails using our daughter’s given name. Thus, triangulating the relationship among teacher, child, and parents.
Groomed for New Identity
From discussions with our daughter and a deep dive into her internet use, we came to learn that she was being brainwashed by others into thinking she was a male. She was in contact with older trans kids, so-called glitter families, adult males, and internet influencers.
They directed our daughter to dangerous, sexually explicit websites. They instructed her that if she didn’t like her body, she was trans. They taught her how to bind her breasts and dissociate from her body.
We saw too that she was consumed with anime and manga, which don’t simply feature innocuous, doe-eyed comic book characters but include gender-bending, highly sexualized creatures that can disrupt reality in a young brain.
Our daughter clearly had been groomed for her new identity.
We transferred her to the local Catholic school later that fall, believing that the school would be a partner in helping our child come to love herself.
We looked to our Catholic school to support us in this endeavor. Instead, we found out that the school was directly pushing the transgender ideology through one of its “inclusion” clubs, called the Pride Student Union or PSU.
The spring welcome email from the Pride Student Union relayed all of the student officers’ preferred pronouns and included an announcement by the club president, a biological female, that she was “queer.” (“Queer” is a term that has expanded in youth circles to refer to those who believe all sexual norms should be obliterated.)
This email explicitly stated that the club’s formal meetings are “teaching” meetings. The most recent such meeting, it said, was about black history and queerness. (The trans movement clearly has acted on advice to link its message to the more popular civil rights movement.)
Meeting With the Principal
I met with the school principal, who I’ll call Ms. K, and the school’s chaplain, Father B. I told them my daughter’s story. I begged them to help me. Instead, they simply offered excuses.
Principal K and Father B said that the Pride Student Union’s most recent formal meeting on gender had not been sanctioned by the school, and may have occurred without faculty oversight. But I know that the faculty member was invited to an earlier meeting on gender, so I was skeptical.
Principal K and Father B tried to argue that the club doesn’t “teach” anything. I disagreed.
They went on to say that they couldn’t control what students do on their own time. They went so far as to compare the gender meetings to off-campus parties that weren’t sponsored by the school. It was obvious to me that they wanted to distance the school from the club to protect themselves from possible legal ramifications.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/01/25/as-i-found-out-with-my-daughter-not-even-catholic-schools-are-safe-havens-from-gender-ideology
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Antifa Shuts Down College Event as Administrators Blame Republican Students
Republican students at a New Hampshire Ivy League college say the school’s administration deserted them and made false and embarrassing allegations against them in order to avoid bad publicity by canceling an event under heavy protest by the far-left extremist group Antifa.
The live event scheduled at Dartmouth College was called “Extremism in America” and was to feature conservative personality Andy Ngo, who has been violently attacked by Antifa in the past.
Antifa and its sympathizers made several threats against the event including offering money to anyone who assaulted Ngo. A local group called Dartmouth Anarchists also posted violent insinuation about the event on social media, with one member tweeting: “So long as we stand, Dartmouth will never be a safe space for [right-wingers] to spew their misinformation. Wear black to show your solidarity and hide your identity!”
The event was hosted by Dartmouth College Republicans. The club’s president, Griffin Mackey, told The Epoch Times that local and state police were well prepared for the advent of any violence from the group and had a SWAT team in place before the event began.
“Moore Hall may have been the safest place in all of New Hampshire,” said Mackey.
Just hours before Ngo was about to take stage, school administrators ordered the live event to be transitioned to a virtual event only. The schools later issued a statement blaming the move on failures of the College Republicans.
“In light of concerning information from Hanover police regarding safety issues, similar concerns expressed by the College Republican leadership, and challenges with the student organization’s ability to staff a large public event and communicate effectively (including dissemination of the visitor policy and a prohibition of bags in the building), the College has requested that the Extremism in America panel be moved online,” the college wrote in a statement it released after moving the event online.
However, emails exchanged between Anna Hall, senior assistant dean for student life at Dartmouth and the College Republicans show the student group had sent out emails to registered attendees days before emphasizing that backpacks would not be allowed at the event and that student ID would be strictly required. The group also posted notices on the college’s online bulletin and around campus, the emails show.
Mackey told The Epoch Times he believes the real reason the college canceled the event was to avoid “bad publicity” and any potential fall out from it.
Chloe Ezzo, Vice President of Dartmouth College Republicans, added that Hall made an arbitrary last-minute request for the group to provide additional staffing as if she was trying to create “reasons” to cancel the event.
After the cancellation of the live event, members of Dartmouth Anarchists took to social media and declared “victory.”
“By going virtual on such a short notice, they seriously disrupted our event, embarrassed our organization, and created a roadmap for derailing these kinds of activities,” Mackey told the Epoch Times.
Hanover, NH State Police, Hall, and other college administrators did not respond to requests for comments by The Epoch Times.
In a 2021 evaluation of free speech on college campuses, The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), gave Dartmouth College a “C” in Free Speech.
Despite protests, the school did not cancel the scheduled live appearance last year by Madison Cawthorn, who would later become the youngest Congressman to be elected. During his speech, The Democratic Socialist Club at Dartmouth College chanted obscenities at the police.
However, Antifa and its sympathizers made it clear that it was prepared to wage an aggressive protest against Ngo.
A couple of days before the event, The Green Mountain John Brown Gun Club posted on social media that it had “called up reserves” of “Antifa super soldiers” to be on hand for the event.
And in a tweet just a few days earlier, Antifa member Jonathan Dylan Chase offered money to anyone “who managed to assault Ngo” during his Dartmouth appearance.
Chase is a member of the Portland Oregon-based Rose City Antifa charged with violently attacking Ngo in 2019.
In a video captured by a local reporter, a group of demonstrators can be seen dousing Ngo with a milkshake, punching him, and yelling at him in an unprovoked attack.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/antifa-shuts-down-college-event-as-administrators-blame-republican-students_4234239.html
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Texas Teacher On Leave After Calling Students “Complete And Utter Morons” She Wouldn’t Save Them If They Were Drowning
<i>The district is mostly Hispanic</i>
A Texas teacher is on administrative leave after a video showing her ranting about her students and her job was circulated online.
The unidentified teacher at Lamar Consolidated ISD’s Harry Wright Junior High School in Richmond was placed on leave after she was heard calling her students “complete and utter morons.”
“If I have to keep dealing with kids that are complete and utter morons, I’m done,” the teacher can be heard saying in the video which was recorded by a parent.
The teacher, who was in her first year at the school, also can also be heard complaining about her job, “I want to be fired at this point,” she said in the video. “I literally am going to hurt myself if I have to keep coming here.”
The teacher went on to say that she would not save her students if they were in danger. “I have never in my life dealt with kids that are so awful that if they fell into a river, I would let them float away,” she said.
The video spread like wildfire on social media and sparked online discussions, with many people asking why she ever wanted to be a teacher.
Some others defended her without condoning the behavior by pointing out that teachers are overworked and stressed especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lamar CISD issued a statement responding to the video, confirming the teacher had been placed on leave. “Wednesday night (January 12), we were made aware of a video circulating on social media where a Wright Junior High School teacher is making disturbing comments,” the school district said.
“Of course, we take this very seriously and are actively investigating this situation. Wednesday night (January 12), the employee involved was made aware not to report to the campus and was placed on administrative leave Thursday morning (January 13),” the statement continued.
The district added: “Parents trust us with their students every day and, unfortunately, the actions of a single person have the potential to breach that trust. That is why it is important to underscore that the hardworking, dedicated staff at Wright Junior High School work to create a place where all students feel included and valued, and the comments made in the video are not a reflection of the campus as a whole.”
https://zerohourpatriots.com/texas-teacher-on-leave-after-calling-students-complete-and-utter-morons-she-wouldnt-save-them-if-they-were-drowning/
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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25 January, 2022
For Parents, School Choice Provides Hope
There’s a local coffee shop that has become a hub for people working from home who also want to get out a bit. As we all sit in front of our computers, taking calls and working from large community tables, it never fails that someone, usually a parent, sees my “Love Your School” logo—and asks me what I do.
“I help families learn about their education options. Do you have kids?”
Without a second thought, a conversation has begun, and parents begin to share about their kids and their concerns, curious if I might be able to offer some hope for their situation.
I love these conversations—because I do have hope to offer. Its name? School choice.
Parents worrying about their children’s futures is nothing new, but the last two years have compounded those worries and added a dose of fear.
“Will my child ever catch up? Why are they still struggling so much? How can I afford all these extra tutors? I think they need an evaluation, but everyone says they’ll grow out of it. I’m so worried about my child’s future, I think about it all the time.”
In addition to new challenges brought on by COVID-19, parents also have concerns about what their children are being taught in the classroom.
Our nonprofit, Love Your School, recently helped the Neagra family, who were looking for a new school. When I asked why they were searching, the family explained that policies related to the handling of COVID-19 and “radical social education being taught to our elementary students” necessitated a change.
They were so thankful that they could access an Empowerment Scholarship Account (also known as an “education savings account”) because they were in a D-rated school district.
They, like so many other families we work with, never knew until the last couple of months that they even had this option in Arizona. How many other families are drowning in the same worry and fear over their children’s futures but are left with no knowledge of their education choices at all?
Just a few weeks ago, another team member and I set up a table outside of a popular grocery store in South Phoenix, Arizona. “Hola! ¿Tienen niños?” we’d ask, as folks popped in for lunch at the taco shop just inside. The number of conversations we had on an average Tuesday lunch hour was almost unbelievable.
Sure, we had cold Jarritos in our branded koozies for the taking, but that was barely of interest. The possibility that we had something to offer these families who were clearly already thinking about their kid’s education was the draw. The thought that someone might listen to their story and provide ideas, options, and hope for their child’s current situation or struggle was the appeal.
Thankfully, hope is just what we had—along with some branded swag.
As we celebrate National School Choice Week, we should share with anyone that will listen the opportunities that school choice provides. We should plan events, make phone calls, and wear our yellow scarves to bring awareness to all of the incredible education options that families have access to across the United States.
I’m reminded of all the families I’ve met the last few years who felt they got a second chance for their kids because of school choice policies, my own included. I credit an education savings account to helping my two oldest boys get the therapy and curriculum they needed so they could learn to read.
I can’t imagine our lives or their future without these opportunities.
This National School Choice Week, when everyone is looking for hope, school choice advocates have the opportunity to give it. This week, and every week after.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/01/24/for-parents-school-choice-provides-hope
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California mom takes legal action against school district 'after two teachers secretly manipulated her daughter, 11, into believing she was a transgender boy and gave tips on how to bind her breasts'
A California mother is taking legal action against a school district, claiming that two teachers secretly manipulated her 11-year-old daughter into believing she was a transgender boy.
Jessica Konen filed a legal claim against Spreckels Union School District last Wednesday - with that claim a likely precursor to a lawsuit. She alleges that Buena Vista Middle School teachers Lori Caldeira and Kelly Baraki 'planted a seed' in her daughter's head that she was bisexual, then went on to convince the youngster that she was actually a transgender boy.
Konen also claims that Caldeira and Baraki - who ran the school's 'You Be You' equality club - provided information for her daughter on how to bind her breasts to stop them developing. She says the school kept her in the dark about what was going on until a December 2019 meeting.
After schools closed and went remote during COVID in March 2020, Konen says her daughter, who has not been named, was once again happy to identify as a girl when away from the influence of the teachers and school bosses she is now on the verge of suing.
Caldeira and Baraki are also said to have 'stalked' social media for children they believed may have been transgender, but insist uncovered communications between them were only made in jest.
A legal claim filed Wednesday states that Spreckels Union School District was responsible for 'extreme and outrageous conduct' that led the student on a path toward transitioning as a boy and drove a wedge between mother and child. Konen is being assisted in her claim by free speech group The Center for American Liberty.
Attorney Harmeet Dhillon told DailyMail.com that since filing the case, she's heard from parents across multiple states, who describe 'secretive trans grooming' by school officials - similar to what Konen has claimed.
One of Konen's chief complaints was that she was kept in the dark by the school about her daughter's participation in the club, literature teachers provided, and a 'gender support plan' created by administrators.
'Parents are supposed to have access to all the educational records of their children,' said Dhillon, who filed the case. 'The concept that the schools have a right to be running secret, don't-tell-your-parents clubs and don't-tell-your-parents programs and actively coaching children how to mutilate themselves, which is you know, not growing your breasts, is certainly not consistent with California law.'
I’ve heard from parents in other areas who describe similar secretive trans grooming by school officials. Did this happen to your family?
While Konen said her daughter had revealed she was bisexual, the mother was unaware she was identifying as a boy until she was called to a meeting at the Buena Vista Middle School principal´s office in December 2019 when her daughter was in 7th grade.
She wasn't told the purpose of the meeting until her daughter entered the room and sat across a table from her and teacher Lori Caldeira broke the news.
'I literally was caught off guard. I was blindsided,' Konen said. 'I didn't even know what to feel like because I didn´t even know where it came from.'
She said her daughter was also caught by surprise. She had told teachers she wanted to notify her mom, but didn't know they set the meeting up that day.
Konen said she gave the school permission to use a boy's name for attendance purposes and tried to be supportive, but it was difficult.
When schools went to remote learning during the pandemic in March 2020, Konen said her daughter began returning to her 'old self' and now uses her given name.
But it wasn't until this fall that Konen began to question how her daughter got on the path to a different identity, after an article by journalist Abigail Shrier circulated around town.
Shier's book, Irreversible Damage, has documented the explosion in children claiming to be transgender - particularly the sharp rise in girls claiming they are actually boys.
The tome has railed against decisions to prescribe young children with hormone therapy, or push them towards a path of gender reassignment surgery. Shier has won multiple awards for the book, but has also been met with howls of outrage from some pro-transgender campaigners over what they claim is baseless scaremongering.
In a leaked recording from a California Teachers Association conference, Caldeira and Kelly Baraki were quoted discussing how they kept meetings private and 'stalked' students online for recruits.
'When we were doing our virtual learning - we totally stalked what they were doing on Google, when they weren't doing school work,' Baraki said. 'One of them was googling 'Trans Day of Visibility.' And we're like, 'Check.' We're going to invite that kid when we get back on campus.'
Neither Caldeira nor Baraki could be reached by The Associated Press for comment. Caldeira told the San Francisco Chronicle the quotes were accurate but taken out of context or misrepresented. The stalking comment was a joke, she said.
Caldeira, who has been awarded as a role model for inclusion, defended their work, saying students set the agenda and the teachers were there to provide honest and fair answers to their questions.
The teachers were placed on administrative leave in November. They had attended the conference on their own time, but the district said, 'many of the comments and themes stated in the article are alarming, concerning, disappointing' and didn't reflect their policies.
The district hired a law firm to investigate, which is ongoing, and the UBU club was suspended.
Konen was applauded when she blasted school board members at a meeting in December, saying the teachers took away her ability to parent.
Superintendent Eric Tarallo said the legal claim would be addressed in the judicial system and personnel policies prevented him from revealing if the teachers were back at school. He said the district was reviewing and updating policies on student clubs.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10428993/Mother-teachers-manipulated-child-change-gender-identity.html
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Unvaccinated Students Corralled into Separate Pen at LA High School
There have long been some very serious concerns about the way in which vaccinated people would treat unvaccinated folks here in the United States, and it’s a sad reality that some of even the more bizarre predictions have come true.
We’ve seen the unvaccinated among us ostracized, belittled, discriminated against, and segregated against, often with the backing of the government itself.
Now, at a charter school in Los Angeles, an incredibly poignant and stomach-turning facet of this prejudice has been put on display.
Parents and students at a Los Angeles charter school have filed a lawsuit to stop a vaccine mandate that allegedly prevented unvaccinated children from attending class.
The children said they felt “segregated” and “discriminated against.”
“Female students were segregated, harassed, and threatened with suspension just for trying to participate in their classes, and we will prove in court that this is unjust and unlawful,” Sharon McKeeman, founder of Let Them Breathe, a nonprofit organization that is representing the students and parents in a lawsuit against the school, told Fox News Digital on Sunday.
The situation was a dramatic one:
Let Them Breathe shared videos of the students protesting after New West Charter School allegedly refused to let them in when school reopened on Jan. 18, 2022. The organization claimed that the students were segregated “behind barriers.”
“We’re being refused of the right to attend school,” one student claims in a video. “We feel segregated and discriminated against,” adds another.
https://flagandcross.com/unvaccinated-students-corralled-into-separate-pen-at-la-high-school/
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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24 January, 2022
Denver School Teaches Elementary Schoolers to Support BLM, Be Queer Affirming and to Disrupt Nuclear Family
Centennial Elementary School in Denver, Colorado will teach its kindergarten and first-grade students how they can support Black Lives Matter, affirm queer and transgender individuals and disrupt the nuclear family as part of its "Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action."
The school outlines the "Black Lives Matter Guiding Principles" that will guide its instruction. The guide, obtained by nonprofit group Parents Defending Education, includes definitions of a number of terms, including "restorative justice," "diversity," "transgender affirming" and "queer affirming."
Also among the principles defined were "globalism," described in the guide as "our ability to see how we are impacted or privileged within the global black family," and "Loving Engagement," which the guide says is "the commitment to practice justice, liberation and peace."
Additionally, the instruction guide defined "Black Women" as "the building of women-centered spaces free from sexism, misogyny, and male-centeredness," and "Black Families," which creates "a space that is family friendly and free from patriarchal practices."
Centennial Elementary School also vows to teach students its definition of "Black Villages," the disruption of "western nuclear family dynamics and a return to the 'collective village' that takes care of each other."
Its FAQ page on BLM, citing an advisory opinion from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, said that "supporting BLM is not political." The page also insists that its teachings are age-appropriate and that BLM is not being taught or promoted to its students, but rather, "BLM Principles" are used to "drive kid-friendly conversations about the importance of valuing and respecting diversity." Included at the bottom of the FAQ page is a link directing to a website focusing on teachings from author Ibram X. Kendi's book, "How to Be an Antiracist."
On its equity page, the school refers to itself as an "inclusive school" and says that its staff "believes that each child can positively contribute to our community because of their unique culture, background and perspectives. We believe that true diversity and inclusion in service of equity starts with us."
This comes after Centennial Elementary School came under scrutiny last month for hosting a monthly "families of color playground night" after a picture of the school promoting the event on its sign was shared on social media.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/landonmion/2022/01/21/denver-school-teaches-elementary-school-students-to-support-blm-be-queer-affirming-and-to-disrupt-the-nuclear-family-n2602203
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NYC schools Chancellor David Banks clears way for new DOE team
Schools Chancellor David Banks has begun clearing out the executives under his predecessors and replacing them with his own team — vowing more “dramatic changes” at the city Department of Education in the coming months.
At least seven top officials under ex-chancellors Richard Carranza and Meisha Porter have already left the DOE, and six will remain for the time being – but in lower-level positions with less pay.
“I’m committed to drastic change,” Banks told The Post, saying he plans more personnel moves to cut and streamline the massive DOE bureaucracy.
“The intention here is to save millions of dollars for the system that gets pushed closer to schools,” he said. “I’m not here to placate and make people feel good. I came here at the behest of the mayor to bring real change, and it is coming.”
Mayor Adams’ schools boss, who completed three weeks on the job Friday, has assembled a seven-member cabinet, down from 15 in the former DOE administration.
In some cases, their salaries are higher than previously paid to top DOE execs. For instance, newcomers Daniel Weisberg, first deputy chancellor, and Desmond Blackburn, deputy chancellor for school leadership – a newly created post – will each make $265,000 a year. Blackburn was CEO of a national non-profit, the New Teacher Center.
“I’m really starting to reduce the number of people who report to the chancellor, reducing the size of the cabinet, giving larger portfolios,” said Banks, who will get the same pay as Carranza and Porter, $363,346.
Among the changes:
–Marisol Rosales, promoted by Porter last August to senior deputy chancellor with a $241,000 salary, was demoted to “special advisor” in the school support division with a pay cut. She agreed to leave “at a date certain” — by the end of next year, sources said.
–Lashawn Robinson, former Deputy Chancellor for School Climate and Wellness, who made $236,000 last year, was demoted to ”senior director for strategic Initiatives,” under Blackburn with a reduced salary.
In a similar title, Banks appointed Jawana Johnson Chief of School Culture, Climate and Well-Being. Johnson previously served as Chief Achievement Officer at the Eagle Academy Foundation, which supported six public schools founded by Banks. Her salary: $222,972.
Banks named Carolyne Quintana as Deputy Chancellor of Teaching and Learning, with a $241,000 salary. Quintana, a former DOE teacher and principal in the Bronx, will oversee all academics as well as support for early childhood education, students with disabilities, and multi-language learners.
The DOE did not provide the salary reductions for Rosales, Robinson and others who received a cut in pay.
In another major appointment, Banks named Karine Apollon the Chief Diversity Officer, with a $222,972 salary.
She will oversee a first-ever Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Such offices have sprung up in many other school districts, colleges and corporations, but often with broader, controversial progressive mandates.
The DOE’s office will be “narrowly focused,” Banks said, on contracting more businesses owned by women and minorities, and hiring more staffers of color.
Black-owned businesses get less than one percent of DOE contracts, he said. “The numbers are just horrible. We can do better than that in a city as diverse as New York.”
The DEI office will not get involved in academics, he said.
“This is not about creating a curriculum that’s controversial,” Banks said in a nod to the furor over Critical Race Theory, the concept that racism is embedded in legal and other systems.
A spokeswoman for IntegrateNYC, a group opposed to de facto segregation in city schools, is disappointed the office will not tackle matters such as admission “screens” for high schools, Gifted & Talented classes or other selective programs.
“It’s concerning – the omission or absence of the pillars we’ve been working on for so long,” said communications director Seba Uchida, a 2019 Bronx HS of Science grad.
A School Diversity Advisory Group appointed by former Mayor de Blasio called on him in February 2019 to name a Chief Integration Officer. DeBlasio never did, and Banks has no plans to do so, DOE spokespersons said.
But Banks has created another new title – Chief of Student Pathways, naming Jade Grieve to the post to oversee all college and career readiness, and work-based learning. Grieve last worked at Bloomberg Philanthropies in career and technical education, and previously served as senior advisor to the Prime Minister of Education in Australia.
https://nypost.com/2022/01/22/nyc-schools-chancellor-david-banks-clears-out-of-deo-team/
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Dramatic rise in Australian children registered for home schooling
The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the trend to withdraw children from formal education with a record 9000 students now registered for home schooling in NSW, a jump of nearly 30 per cent.
Figures reported at NSW budget estimates reveal 8981 children were registered for home schooling as of October 31 last year, a 28 per cent increase on the 7032 registered at the end of 2020.
Home schooling has been rising in popularity for several years but spiked dramatically after the pandemic started – with 19 per cent growth in 2019, compared with an average 13 per cent for the three years before that.
Home Education Association president Karen Chegwidden said there were many reasons the pandemic was driving the trend. Having children at home during lockdown made some families realise they like the lifestyle of having their kids at home, while others were alarmed by their child’s lack of progress in mainstream schooling.
Vaccines were another big issue, Ms Chegwidden said. Those who were vaccine-hesitant were worried their child would be vaccinated against their will, while others would not send their child to school until they were fully vaccinated.
“Then there are just the people who are sick of the disruption – the idea that one day kids go back to school and the next day it’s closed because of COVID and the school is being cleaned is making life impossible to manage,” she said. “Kids are stressed out and parents are stressed out and that’s really reflective of a lot of families.“
Budget estimates reveal of those parents who provided a reason for home schooling, one in four identified their child’s special learning needs. Only 1 per cent said it was because of bullying.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the pandemic had shifted the dynamics of education for students learning with a disability and remote learning during lockdown had been a challenge for some of these children and their families.
“I understand why some families have shifted to a permanent home schooling approach,” Ms Mitchell said. “I hope this year is the first in two years that we could call a normal school year. I also hope that we can begin to bring some of the students back to the classroom who have opted for home schooling over the past 24 months.”
Physical Disability Council of NSW chief executive Serena Ovens said the figures would include many children with a high risk of complications from COVID-19.
“If someone is known to be at high risk of severe illness or death with COVID then some parents will absolutely make that choice, and you can’t blame them,” Ms Ovens said.
Of the children registered for home schooling, 2874 were in western Sydney and 1099 were from the Hunter region, which includes Newcastle. This could reflect the fact that they are populous regions with a high number of students enrolled overall.
Labor education spokeswoman Prue Car said it could also reflect an under-investment in education in the rapidly growing outer western suburbs, and the government needed to determine if this was driving a push to home schooling.
“There are suburbs with overcrowded schools, suburbs with no schools five to 10 years after people have moved in, and a shortage of teachers,” Ms Car said. “It’s pretty alarming if parents feel they don’t have a choice because every child deserves a quality public school in their area.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sick-of-the-disruption-dramatic-rise-in-children-registered-for-home-schooling-20220119-p59pfc.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)
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23 January, 2022
School Board Clams up When Father Asks About Daughter’s Sexual Assault
Virginia schools continue to face issues with sexual assault cover-ups and denials. In Prince William County, one father brought up the issue after his daughter was assaulted, but the school board was silent.
Jeff Darr stood up at a school board meeting on Wednesday and informed the members that his 13-year-old daughter had been assaulted.
“I was wondering if you all could explain to me how the policies and procedures are for the administrators to handle that situation,” Darr said in the school board meeting.
He was met with silence from the board members. “Does anybody have any answers?” Darr asked again.
Babur Lateef, chairman at-large of the school board, finally answered by telling him that “we typically don’t go and have a back-and-forth here” and that he should address the board via email or make an appointment.
Darr said he didn’t understand. “So where do you find the rules and regulations at?” he said, again asking where administrators could find the correct procedures for handling sexual assaults in school.
In response, he was told to step aside and someone would address his questions. Meanwhile, a security officer approached him and appeared to put his arm on Darr’s back.
But the father said he wanted to make this public so that everyone could be informed and that was why he showed up for the school board meeting.
“So, we won’t be answering you, but you can certainly keep asking,” Lateef said.
Darr asked again for the definition of sexual assault. “I want to know the school’s definition of sexual assault, because my daughter was told … that if it’s above the clothes, it’s not sexual assault,” Darr said, as he got choked up.
“And that’s the way the county does the kids here? It’s messed up,” he said.
“That’s my daughter, and no one wants to do nothing about it. Suspend a boy for one day for improper touching, and I don’t think that’s right,” Darr said. “So somebody needs to do something. Somebody needs to look into the matter and do something.”
He added, “I’m pretty sure if it’s happened to her, it’s happened to plenty of children here. It’s ridiculous.”
WTTG -TV followed up by reaching out to the Prince William County Police Department, which said it was aware of a sexual assault that happened in November during a Hylton High School field trip.
The department said that a “thorough police investigation was conducted into the accusation.”
Diana Gulotta, the director of communications for Prince William County Schools, released a statement Friday, according to WTTG.
“PWCS takes any act of sexual assault or violence seriously and such acts will not be tolerated,” she said. “PWCS has specific procedures and highly trained personnel to assist students and parents in resolving claims that involve certain forms of unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature as required by Title IX, a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.
“School administration learned of this incident on the day it is alleged to have occurred and notified law enforcement. The PWCS Title IX office has taken action to investigate the allegations and to offer supportive measures consistent with legal requirements.
“That process is still ongoing. For student privacy reasons, we cannot share information about the alleged incident, the investigation, or any findings, discipline or other actions that may result. PWCS administrators are working with the family of the complainant to respond to their concerns.”
Throughout the past several months, other sexual assaults in Virginia schools have come to light. Loudoun County schools were widely criticized over the gross mishandling of assaults perpetrated by a 15-year-old student.
Darr’s public questioning of the school board was very reasonable, but he was brushed aside. This should be causing serious concern for all parents with children in Prince William County schools.
https://flagandcross.com/school-board-has-blood-boiling-response-when-father-breaks-down-asking-about-daughters-sexual-assault/
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Virginia Woman Charged After Threatening to Show Up to Child's School with Guns in Protest of Mask Mandate
A Virginia woman was charged by police after she threatened to bring loaded firearms to her child's school over the district's mask mandate.
Amelia Ruffner King was charged Friday night with a violation of a Virginia statute stating that oral threats of bodily harm on school property are not allowed, a Class 1 misdemeanor.
She was released on a $5,000 unsecured bond, and police will have an increased presence at the school on Monday, according to the Luray Police Department.
During a Page County School Board meeting held Thursday to discuss Gov. Glenn Youngkin's (R) executive order allowing parents to opt-out of mask requirements, King blasted the board over the mask mandate that was still in place, video footage shows.
"My child — my children will not come to school on Monday with a mask on. All right, that's not happening. And I will bring every single gun loaded and ready to — I will call every—," King explained before she was interrupted by school officials.
She then left the podium and said, "I'll see y'all on Monday."
King later apologized to the board members in an email read aloud during the meeting by one of the board members.
"I in no way meant to imply 'all guns loaded' as in actual firearms, but rather all resources I can muster to make sure that my children get [sic] to attend school without masks. My sincere apologies for my poor choice in words," King's email read.
She also said in her email that she contacted the sheriff's office to "explain herself."
Page County School Superintendent Antonia Fox and Page County School Board Chair Megan Gordon wrote in a joint statement Friday that King's remarks "were perceived by many to be threatening in nature" and that the district "does not take these kinds of statements lightly."
"Not only do comments such as these go against everything we wish to model for our students, they go against the very nature of how we as a community should interact with each other," the statement reads. "Violence and threats are never acceptable or appropriate. This kind of behavior is not tolerated from our students, faculty staff, nor will it be tolerated by parents or guests of our school division."
The school board voted in a 4-2 decision to make masks optional after the Thursday meeting in which King made her comments. This comes just ahead of Youngkin's executive order taking effect on Monday.
Luray Police Chief Bow Cook said that King apologized for her comments and is cooperating with law enforcement.
"The statement that was made absolutely caused public alarm, the parent that made the statement realized that, and immediately contacted law enforcement to apologize because the statement was not intended the way it was perceived," Cook said in a Friday afternoon statement posted to Facebook. "The safety of the students and school staff are our number one priority, we are working diligently with the Page County School Board to ensure proper measures have been put in place for their safety."
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/landonmion/2022/01/22/virginia-woman-charged-after-threatening-to-show-up-to-childs-school-with-guns-in-protest-of-mask-mandate-n2602220
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ACLU Comes Out in Support of Keeping Parents in the Dark on What Their Children Are Learning
<i>The ACLU has evolved from a champion of liberties into a champion of authoritarianism</I>
When it comes to transparency and the fundamental rights of parents to know what's in their children's curriculum, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is taking a disappointing stance.
On Friday, the ACLU tweeted out an article by Tyler Kingkade with NBC News, "They fought critical race theory. Now they’re focusing on ‘curriculum transparency.’"
The tweet also claims that "Curriculum transparency bills are just thinly veiled attempts at chilling teachers and students from learning and talking about race and gender in schools."
People were quick to point out that by taking such a position, the ACLU is supporting government secrecy when it comes to what public schools are teaching and how they are potentially indoctrinating students.
Ultimately, though, the article provides a one-sided view, especially when it comes to what kind of materials parents seek to get rid of:
“People are going to disagree on a lot of these issues,” said Matt Beienburg, the Goldwater Institute’s director of education policy. “Transparency is something I think that at least allows for that conversation to know what is being taught. Everybody should be able to rally around the fact that we shouldn’t be teaching something in secret.”
But teachers, their unions and free speech advocates say the proposals would excessively scrutinize daily classwork and would lead teachers to pre-emptively pull potentially contentious materials to avoid drawing criticism. Parents and legislators have already started campaigns to remove books dealing with race and gender, citing passages they find obscene, after they found out that the books were available in school libraries and classrooms.
Kingkade fails to mention that books parents "find obscene" and that, at least in Fairfax, Virginia, have gone through a back-and-forth battle of whether to remove, deal with pedophilia and graphic depictions of sexual acts in graphic novels.
While Manhattan Institute fellow and CRT opponent Christopher Rufo's tweets are referenced, much of the commentary mentioned in the article is from Democrats who oppose such transparency and rant and rave using typical talking points like blaming Fox News:
But Democratic legislators pushed back. Pennsylvania Rep. Dan Frankel argued in legislative hearings in October that the proposal was an invitation to “the book burners and the anti-maskers to harass our schools and harass our teachers.”
“This bill isn’t about transparency for parents,” Frankel said at the time. “It’s about bringing the fights that get started on Fox News to the kindergarten classroom near you.”
When it comes to what the ACLU thinks about teaching CRT? It's included in the First Amendment, they claim.
This is hardly the only recent move from the ACLU that would seem antithetical to their very purpose.
For instance, in September, David Cole and Daniel Mach, their national legal director and director of Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, respectively, penned an opinion piece advocating for vaccine mandates. ACLU tweeted it out from their official account.
Later that month, they also edited the words of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on women and abortion, who founded the ACLU Women's Rights Project in 1972, to make the language more gender-neutral.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/rebeccadowns/2022/01/22/aclu-comes-out-in-support-of-keeping-parents-in-the-dark-on-what-their-children-are-learning-n2602222
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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22 January, 2022
‘Progressive education’ faces a steep learning curve
CLAIRE LEHMANN
As the summer holidays wind up and children return to the classroom in coming weeks, debates about education are likely to heat up – and for good reason.
Schools in Australia have been intermittently closed over the past two years, with pupils in Melbourne and Sydney spending the bulk of last year at home in front of a computer screen. The impact of school closures on educational outcomes is not yet known, but it is likely that a concerning trend will have been accelerated.
Every three years, an organisation called PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment) tests a randomly selected sample of pupils from OECD countries to assess levels of education around the world. The most recent set of results, released in 2019, confirmed that standards in Australian education were in decline, with 41 per cent of our 15-year-olds failing to meet what are considered minimum standards for reading, and 20 per cent being functionally illiterate.
Why? Education researcher and primary school teacher Greg Ashman believes Australia’s educational decline is in large part due to a suite of teaching methods loosely described as “progressive education”. Progressive education is not synonymous with progressive politics; rather, it is an approach to teaching that prioritises skills-based learning over memorisation.
In The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge writes: “Up through the 19th and early 20th centuries, a classical education often included rote memorisation of long poems in foreign languages, which strengthened auditory memory (hence thinking in language) and an almost fanatical attention to handwriting, which probably helped strengthen motor capacities and thus not only helped handwriting but added speed and fluency to reading and speaking. Often a great deal of attention was paid to exact elocution and to perfecting the pronunciation of words. Then in the 1960s educators dropped such traditional exercises from the curriculum because they were too rigid, boring, and ‘not relevant’. But the loss of these drills has been costly; they may have been the only opportunity these students had to systematically exercise the brain function that gives us fluency and grace with symbols.”
The most widely valued skills in progressive education are not fluency and grace with language or mathematics, but the higher order skills of critical thinking and problem solving. An article published by the ABC on Monday, “Could our education system be more engaging and fun for our kids? These schools think so and are giving it a crack”, reflects this approach well:
“Students and educators spend parts of their days outside school grounds, exploring local parks and beaches and interacting with the community. They have reading and maths lessons on the beach … Ms Nuss (Principal of the Village School at Coolangatta) started to question why school couldn’t be more like kindergarten … Why can’t children wear tutus to school? Take their shoes off in the classroom? … Our unofficial motto is ‘Failing Forward’. We fail almost everyday at something; as long as we can learn from it, it was a good fail or lesson.”
This may all sound harmless in and of itself, but there is no evidence wearing tutus or taking shoes off helps children learn to read and write and memorise their times tables.
Another teacher profiled in the article reports that “There are fabulous teachers trying to make their classrooms more relevant and engaging, and schools adopting programs to enhance skills and more real-life experiences, but there are still many, many classrooms that have a teacher at the front of the room, kids sitting in rows being asked to regurgitate information without thinking, analysing, critically or creatively problem solving to come up with solutions”.
The problem with such an assertion is that there is no evidence critical thinking and problem solving are skills that can actually be taught. Psychologists suspect we can only think critically about a subject after we have accrued some deep knowledge in it. This makes intuitive sense. To think critically about 19th century English literature you would need to have read Dickens, the Brontes, Hardy and more. To think critically about trigonometry, you would need to have developed some deep mathematical knowledge. Critical thinking does not occur in a vacuum.
The notion that critical thinking is a skill that cuts across domains is a fallacious one. Expertise in one area often corresponds with blindness and ignorance in another. Such epistemic overconfidence leads epidemiologists to pontificate on racism and medical doctors to sound off about climate change.
It is often argued today that memorising facts is redundant because knowledge is just a couple of clicks away. This may be true, but as our digital information ecosystems continue to be polluted with propaganda and disinformation, it is not an ideal scenario to have children searching the web for reliable sources. Ideally, children would accrue a foundation in the basic disciplines before venturing into the Wild West of the internet.
The educational mania for soft skills comes from a place of good intent. We all want our children to be able to communicate well, think creatively, critically and solve problems. We all want our children to be able to adapt to novel environments and find solutions that are not immediately obvious. Nobody wants their child to sit inside a dusty classroom rote-learning arbitrary facts they will have no use for later in life.
However, children only get one shot at school. The schooling years are some of the most important years of their lives, and time squandered during this period can never be regained.
If teachers want their pupils to think critically, the first step is helping them to build a deep foundation of knowledge that enables them to do so.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/progressive-education-faces-a-steep-learning-curve/news-story/2336e13ddd6e27367fd7c72a6a48e0bc
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Facemasks no longer required in English classrooms
The move, announced by the Prime Minister on Wednesday, comes alongside the immediate lifting of guidance advising people to work from home if possible.
And Boris Johnson said the legal requirement for people with Covid-19 to self-isolate is set to be axed by March 24 - and earlier if possible.
He said that in future, the virus would be treated like flu.
It comes after Covid-19 infection levels fell in three of the four UK nations for the first time since early December, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Mr Johnson said this data showed that while there were some places where cases were likely to continue rising, including in primary schools, “our scientists believe it is likely that the omicron wave has now peaked nationally”.
Face coverings will not be required for teachers or pupils in classrooms from Thursday, and no longer needed in communal areas from next Thursday, when the Plan B rules expire.
Union leaders reacted with anger on Wednesday, accusing the Prime Minister of flouting his “duty of care” to teachers.
The UK’s largest teacher union warned last night against lifting restrictions “too quickly” saying that this could lead to “more disruption” for schools.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Rather than announcements aimed at saving Boris Johnson’s job, [the] Government should be exercising a duty of care to the nation’s pupils and the staff who educate them.”
She acknowledged that Covid-19 cases in secondary schools had fallen but said it was “uncertain” that this trend would continue since children had only been back in the classroom a few weeks following the Christmas break.
However, recent polling by parent voice charity Parentkind found that almost two thirds of parents of secondary school children are not in favour of face masks in the classroom.
Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, said: “Face-to-face education for all students has consistently been my priority, and that is why I am removing face coverings from classrooms – as promised – on the earliest possible date, making sure there is as little disruption to students’ learning as possible.”
Business leaders expressed relief about the end of guidance advising people to work from home, with hopes that the change - which takes immediate effect - could spur economic recovery.
The Prime Minister said the moves over the next week, which will also see the end to mandatory Covid-19 passes, will return the country to Plan A.
Plans to bring Britain closer to normality by spring
But he signalled an intention to go further, and bring Britain closer to normality by spring.
He told the Commons: “There will soon come a time when we can remove the legal requirement to self-isolate altogether, just as we don’t place legal obligations on people to isolate if they have flu.
“The self-isolation regulations expire on March 24, at which point I very much expect not to renew them. Indeed, were the data to allow, I’d like to seek a vote in this House to bring that date forward.”
The Prime Minister promised a “long-term strategy for living with Covid-19” which would “protect our liberty and avoid restrictions in future by relying instead on medical advances”.
On the use of face coverings, Mr Johnson said: “In the country at large, we will continue to suggest the use of face coverings in enclosed or crowded spaces, particularly when you come into contact with people you don’t normally meet, but we will trust the judgment of the British people and no longer criminalise anyone who chooses not to wear one.”
On Wednesday night, Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said Britain had reached a moment “we can all be proud of”, adding: “I’d always said that we’d open up the country as soon as the data supports it.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/19/facemasks-no-longer-required-classrooms-despite-union-protests/
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Could the art of handwriting be lost forever due to technology?
Handwriting could “go the way of Latin and Greek” and be “lost within a generation”, a leading author has warned after news that a major exams board was set to trial digital exams at dozens of schools.
Colm Toibin, famous for penning novels such as Brooklyn and The Testament of Mary, said that “it would be a huge loss if [handwriting] were to go”, and called learning to write an “an identity-forming business”.
AQA, Britain’s largest exams board and the provider of three-fifths of all GCSE and A-levels in England, announced on Monday that it was trialling online exams for GCSE maths and English at 60 to 100 schools this summer.
If successful, the programme would be rolled out across most subjects, although Colin Hughes, the chief executive of AQA, told The Times that the board would keep some written exams to protect handwriting from dying out.
“I would be very reluctant to move to a situation where students could get through the whole system without ever actually having to show that they can write something down using a pen and paper,” he said.
He also claimed that online exams would be much greener than shipping millions of exam papers around the country before collecting them all again in Milton Keynes to digitise them.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Tobin suggested that opting for convenience could kill off handwriting and its esoteric charms.
“If you began to say everything would be much more efficient on a laptop, [handwriting] would go eventually, it would within a generation, almost disappear,” he said, adding: “It goes the way of Latin and Greek.”
He also lamented the loss of handwriting as a marker of identity, adding: “You would know when a letter came from someone, oh that’s from Auntie so-and-so, that’s her handwriting.”
Asked about his own writing habits, Tobin said he wrote all his own novels in longhand form. “It sort of matters to me that I’m actually making the letters, that I can touch the paper, that I’m somehow more deeply involved,” he said.
In contrast, recent research has found that much of the general public has almost no need for the scratch of pen against notepad, let alone extended longhand writing.
A survey of 2,000 people last September found that one in 10 people had not put pen to paper in over a year, while a quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds had never written a letter or kept a diary.
The ability to write clearly is not directly linked to literacy, despite popular perceptions, although a 2014 study found improved recall from people who handwrote notes during lectures.
The study’s author’s hypothesised that the slower nature of handwriting forces individuals to paraphrase and therefore mentally process spoken
For all the author’s gloom, there are some signs that the public shares his affection for the personal nature of handwriting. In 2019, when the British Museum put on an exhibition on writing, it asked visitors how they expected to send a birthday card in 2069.
The top answer: a handwritten card.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/05/handwriting-could-become-history-like-latin-thanks-digital-gcse/
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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21 January, 2022
Dems Refuse to Clap When Youngkin Says Parents Have a Right to Be Involved in Child’s Education
One gets used to watching things like the annual State of the Union address where the president says something his party’s lawmakers like and they applaud and maybe stand while the opposition sits and sulks.
It’s political theater — theater that is sometimes funny, sometimes a trigger for eye-rolling and sometimes inspiring.
And sometimes the theater sends a message that is alarming.
That was the case when Virginia’s new Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, delivered his State of the Commonwealth address to a joint session of the state’s General Assembly on Monday in Richmond.
In his speech, Youngkin called for raises for teachers. As expected, Republicans and Democrats alike rose and applauded.
He then said parents are responsible for their children’s education and care and the state will protect that.
“We must also recognize that the people most responsible for a child’s education are parents,” the new governor said.
“My message to parents is this: You have a fundamental right enshrined in law by this General Assembly to make decisions with regard to your child’s upbringing, education and care, and we will protect and reassert that right,” he said.
On the Republican side of the assembly: a standing ovation. On the Democrat side: crickets.
Obviously, Democratic lawmakers are opposed — as are their comrades in the Justice Department who suggested parents who are deeply concerned with their children’s education might be domestic terrorists.
Yet, in their silence, look what these Democrats are protesting: the right of parents to decide their child’s “upbringing, education and care.”
That covers just about everything, including how parents make judgments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To be fair, Democrats might have been sitting on their hands because their guy, Terry McAuliffe, before being defeated at the polls by Youngkin in November, had literally said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
https://flagandcross.com/shameful-dems-refuse-to-clap-when-youngkin-says-parents-have-a-right-to-be-involved-in-childs-education/
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British parents fight back after schools vowed to force pupils to wear masks
Parents have launched a campaign to prevent ‘overzealous’ schools from imposing masks in schools after teaching unions threatened to derail Boris Johnson’s easing of Covid curbs.
Head teachers in England are set to ignore the Prime Minister’s bonfire of Plan B restrictions by compelling pupils to keep covering their faces in classrooms.
Britain’s big teaching unions have accused the embattled Tory leader of making the decision to save his own political career as he handles the fallout from ‘Partygate’, rather than basing it on ‘sound public health and scientific advice’.
The National Education Union warned against lifting Omicron measures ‘too quickly’, claiming it could lead to ‘more disruption’ for schools.
Its general secretary Dr Mary Bousted called the removal of masks ‘premature’, adding: ‘Rather than announcements aimed at saving Boris Johnson’s job, (the) Government should be exercising a duty of care to the nation’s pupils and the staff who educate them.’
Geoff Barton, the ASCL’s boss, said: ‘There is a danger that we are heading once again for a situation in which the Government gives the impression that the crisis is over when in actual fact there is huge disruption continuing to take place in education’.
Parent group UsForThem, which campaigned to get classrooms reopened during the pandemic, has now urged its supporters to bombard MPs and ministers with letters to ‘stop overzealous local public health authorities from unilaterally implementing face masks in schools’.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/other/parents-fight-back-after-schools-vowed-to-force-pupils-to-wear-masks/ar-AASXSKP
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Leading Australian universities want to return to physical learning
University of Melbourne Provost Professor Nicola Phillips said the majority of coursework subjects would be available on campus and a number of events and activities were planned to help re-engage students in university life.
“Our approach will look forward to the future rather than back to pre-pandemic arrangements, offering on-campus and face-to-face learning enhanced by the best use of technology,” she said.
A Monash University spokesman said students would return to physical learning and campus events in semester one.
“Provision will be made for online delivery of units for those students offshore and unable to re-enter Australia before the start of the semester, and for those who choose to travel and commence on-campus education at a later date,” he said.
Australian National University vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt said teaching would return to campus at the start of semester but online learning would be available to those who needed it, including staff and students in isolation.
“We’re finalising the details for our return to campus next month and our focus is firmly on bringing classroom teaching back to campus,” he said.
“I view this as an essential part of the ANU experience – and I know our students feel the same.”
The University of Queensland aims to return as much as possible to physical classes but a spokeswoman said some online learning would remain. “As the Covid-19 situation evolves, the university expects to continue a mix of face-to-face and online learning when semester begins on 21 February, with the goal of returning to as much face-to-face learning as soon as possible,” she said.
In Western Australia, which endured the pandemic relatively unscathed until recently, about three-quarters of University of Western Australia students were able to attend face-to-face classes in 2021. A spokeswoman said UWA planned a “flexible approach” to learning in 2022 to ensure the health and safety of staff and students as well as complying with state government health advice.
“To manage this, we have established a Covid management team to co-ordinate flexible responses to teaching/learning, campus management, student support, working arrangements and ongoing public health measures, as required,” she said.
In NSW, where Covid case numbers are highest, both the University of Sydney and University of Technology Sydney have yet to confirm back-to-physical learning plans.
A University of Sydney spokeswoman said plans for the delivery of semester one would be released in early February but the strong preference was for teaching to return to campus.
“Of course, we also have a responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students and so we are monitoring the evolving situation closely to determine whether that will be possible,” she said.
A UTS spokeswoman said detailed planning was under way for on-campus sporting, social and cultural activities but said lectures were always intended to be online.
“At UTS we have always planned for lectures (where they are largely a one-way delivery of information) to be online and will shortly be announcing our plans for the ways in which our other learning experiences will be organised in a reactivated campus in combination with quality online learning,” she said.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/universities-want-students-back-on-campus/news-story/ee0f2102ed49540745d8526f03a7bd58
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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20 January, 2022
Youngkin Says Liberals are “Obfuscating” on CRT and that Its Tenets are Still Being Taught
According to the Old Dominion’s newly-installed Governor, Glenn Youngkin, a politician that won largely because of the left’s pushing of CRT and transgenderism on Virginia’s schools, the leftists that claim CRT isn’t being taught are just “obfuscating” and, though they might be taught under different names, its tenets are still being taught.
Those comments came when Governor Youngkin appeared on Fox News Sunday and discussed Critical Race Theory and its presence in schools with host John Roberts (not the SCOTUS judge).
During the show, Roberts asked “Critics of your position, including former President Obama, say, look, Critical Race Theory is not being taught in schools and that this was merely a trumped-up, phony culture war. What do you say to that? And what does your executive order actually do in terms of Critical Race Theory?”
Youngkin quickly responded, demolishing that lie and speaking the truth about what’s really going on with CRT, saying: “Anyone who thinks that the concepts that underpin Critical Race Theory are not in our schools hasn’t been in our schools.
The curriculum has moved in a very opaque way that has hidden a lot of this from parents. And so we, in fact, are going to increase transparency so that parents can actually see what’s being taught in schools.
We’re not going to teach our children to view everything through a lens of race. Yes, we will teach all history. The good and the bad. Because we can’t know where we’re going unless we know where we have come from.
But to actually teach our children that one group is advantaged and another is disadvantaged simply because of the color of their skin cuts across everything we know to be true.”
Roberts then asked, “Is it your contention that Critical Race Theory is being taught in Virginia public schools?”
Youngkin, responding in a thoughtful way that exposed both that he has studied the issue and how the left is trying to sneak CRT concepts into the schools, said:
“There’s not a course called critical race theory. All the principles of Critical Race Theory, the fundamental building blocks of actually accusing one group of being oppressors and another of being oppressed, of actually burdening children today for the sins of the past, for teaching our children to judge one another based on the color of their skin. Yes, that does exist in Virginia schools today. And that’s why I have signed the executive orders yesterday to make sure that we get it out of our schools.
https://trendingpolitics.com/youngkin-says-liberals-are-obfuscating-on-crt-and-that-its-tenets-are-still-being-taught/
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Parents Sued California After It Required Aztec Prayer in Public Schools: State Now Agrees to Settlement
California education authorities have agreed to drop a policy encouraging public school students to pray to Aztec gods in response to a lawsuit filed months ago by angry parents.
Among Aztec religious practices were the cutting out of human hearts and the flaying of victims and the wearing of their skin.
Paul Jonna, partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP and special counsel for the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm, said the “Aztec prayers at issue—which seek blessings from and the intercession of these demonic forces—were not being taught as poetry or history.”
Rather, the California State Board of Education’s nearly 900-page Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) “instructed students to chant the prayers for emotional nourishment after a ‘lesson that may be emotionally taxing or even when student engagement may appear to be low.’ The idea was to use them as prayers,” said Jonna, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs.
The launch of the ESMC made California “the first state in the nation to offer a statewide ethnic studies model for educators,” the board boasted on March 18, 2021, when the curriculum was adopted.
“California’s students have been telling us for years that they need to see themselves and their stories represented in the classroom,” state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said at the time. “Today’s historic action gives schools the opportunity to uplift the histories and voices of marginalized communities in ways that help our state and nation achieve racial justice and create lasting change.”
The ESMC contained a section on “Affirmation, Chants, and Energizers.” Among these was the In Lak Ech Affirmation, which calls upon five Aztec deities—Tezkatlipoka (God of the Night Sky), Quetzalcoatl (God of the Morning and Evening Star), Huitzilopochtli (God of Sun and War), Xipe Totek (God of Spring), and Hunab Ku (God of the Universe). The pagan prayers address the deities both by name and traditional titles, recognize them as sources of power and knowledge, invoke their assistance, and offer thanks.
According to the plaintiffs’ lawyers, even after the settlement, the ESMC “is still deeply rooted in Critical Race Theory (CRT) and critical pedagogy, with a race-based lens and an oppressor-victim dichotomy.” The Aztec chant component demonstrated “the politicized championing of critical consciousness, social justice, transformative resistance, liberation and anti-colonial movements in the state-sanctioned teachings of ethnic studies.”
But Frank Xu, president of Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CERF), a nonprofit organization that is one of the plaintiffs, said the settlement gives him hope.
“We are encouraged by this important, hard-fought victory,” Xu said in a statement.
“Our state has simply gone too far in attempts to promote fringe ideologies and racial grievance policies, even those that disregard established constitutional principles. Endorsing religious chants in the state curriculum is one glaring example,” he said.
“To improve California public education, we need more people to stand up against preferential treatment programs and racial spoils. At both the state and local levels, we must work together to re-focus on true education!”
The lawsuit was filed Sept. 3 in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, by the Thomas More Society, as previously reported. The plaintiffs argued that the ESMC constituted an impermissible governmental endorsement of the Aztec religion.
According to the legal complaint, the State Board of Education appointed R. Tolteka Cuauhtin, a co-author of the 2019 book “Rethinking Ethnic Studies,” to chair a panel to develop the ESMC. In his book, Cuauhtin “demonstrates an animus towards Christianity and Catholicism—claiming that Christians committed ‘theocide’ (i.e., killing gods) against indigenous tribes.”
Sociocultural anthropologist Alan Sandstrom, an expert in the culture, religion, and rituals of Mesoamerican peoples, told the court the In Lak Ech Affirmation “is a modern creation that borrows elements of the Aztec religion. It would be of no real value in learning about the Aztec people or culture of the past or today.”
In the settlement agreement, the California authorities didn’t admit wrongdoing but agreed to remove the In Lak Ech Affirmation and the Ashe Affirmation from the Yoruba religion from the ESMC.
Yoruba is “an ancient philosophical concept that is the root of many pagan religions, including Santeria and Haitian vodou or voodoo,” according to the Thomas More Society. It reportedly has 100 million believers worldwide in West Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guyana, and in Caribbean nations.
The settlement provides that the California Department of Education and the board will pay the plaintiffs’ lawyers $100,000, “representing a payment toward Plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees incurred in connection with the Action.”
The two state entities will also issue a public notice to all California school districts, charter schools, and county offices of education about the changed policy, and they agreed not to encourage the use of the two challenged chants in California public schools.
Jonna told The Epoch Times via email that this is “a major victory in the fight to restore sanity in California’s public schools.”
“There is still much work to do—and our team will continue to monitor developments and be prepared to file new lawsuits when necessary.”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/california-settles-parents-lawsuit-drops-aztec-prayers-from-public-school-curriculum_4216128.html
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U Kentucky hands out KN95 masks
With omicron cases on the rise, the University of Kentucky is offering two free KN95 masks to members of the campus community.
As the spring semester begins, UK continues to require masking in all indoor spaces across the campus, regardless of vaccination status. In a campus-wide email on Jan. 3, university president Eli Capilouto announced that UK had purchased two KN95 masks "for everyone who comes to campus," following the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) information about masking protocols.
Although the CDC's webpage outlining mask options has not been altered since September 2021, the government is considering changing recommendations to suggest people wear respirators, such as N95s or KN95s, instead of single-layer cloth masks. According to the CDC, respirators like these undergo testing to meet international standards, making them a higher quality mask.
For UK students who live on campus, KN95 masks were distributed during dorm move-in after winter break. Non-residential students are able to pick theirs up at several on-campus locations using their linkblue ID.
http://www.kykernel.com/news/uk-hands-out-kn95-masks-across-campus/article_70e1edba-7560-11ec-839e-f722c938c4ad.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)
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19 January, 2022
It’s up to parents to ensure their children have the normal and free childhood they deserve
It’s 2022 but you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s still 2020—especially if you have children enrolled in K-12 district schooling. Some parents are grappling this week with a return to, or threat of, remote learning first introduced nearly two years ago.
Fear of the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus is leading school officials across the country to once again shutter schools. In Cleveland, for example, this first week of school for the new year is entirely remote for public school students. Several districts throughout Ohio are following suit, while others are re-imposing 2020 virus-related restrictions or extending the holiday break into this week.
Newark, New Jersey public schools announced they will be fully remote for the next two weeks, as did other districts throughout the state. Public schools in Atlanta will also be closed this week, reverting back to remote learning.
While New York City public schools have vowed to remain open, with enhanced virus testing, other districts in the state announced a return to remote learning, including the Mount Vernon Public Schools north of New York City which will be closed until “at least” January 18.
Washington, D.C. public schools plan to open for in-person learning this week after a two-day delay to allow all students and staff to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test, and the district warned that families should prepare for a shift to remote learning “throughout the semester, especially in the coming weeks,” according to NBC.
Just as in 2020, teachers unions are instrumental in pushing for the school closures. In Chicago, the teachers union expressed concern over public schools reopening this week and is preparing for a possible strike.
In Massachusetts, the state’s largest teachers union called for a delay in returning to in-person learning this week, and requested greater “flexibility” from the state to switch to remote learning. Several public school districts in the state announced they would be extending the holiday break, with plans to open later this week. Indeed, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that more than 2,000 schools across the country will be closed for at least part of this week.
Parents Have Had Enough
While some parents, anxious about Omicron, likely applaud the effort to return to remote schooling and praise districts for their heightened coronavirus testing regimes and ongoing mitigation measures, other parents have had enough.
In a viral article last month, New York Post writer Karol Markowicz announced that she and her family are leaving their beloved New York City and its public schools for Florida, where schools have remained open and mask-free and children are able to experience a normal childhood. “The response to COVID-19 in New York, in particular where children are concerned, has driven our family out,” she wrote. “Children have been an afterthought, at best, and have had their childhoods casually destroyed by our heavy-handed, and ultimately ineffective, response. I can no longer subject my own kids to it.”
Markowicz is hardly alone. New data released by the US Census Bureau on December 21 reveal that Texas and Florida, two of the states that resisted burdensome coronavirus restrictions, saw the largest increase in population in 2021, while New York and California, among the states with the most oppressive virus-related policies, lost population. This migration pattern was apparent in other states as well in 2021, with areas imposing the strictest coronavirus policies losing population while freer states gained residents.
A recent Economist article points out that these southward mobility trends existed prior to 2020, as states such as Florida and Texas offer lower taxes, warmer weather, and greater housing affordability. But the COVID-19 response has accelerated these trends.
Parents such as Markowicz want to live in a place where their children can grow up freely, while entrepreneurs and shopkeepers want to make sure the state can’t suddenly shut down their businesses or force them to impose virus-related restrictions on their customers and employees. FEE’s new Fresh Start States project helps those migrating to freer states to embrace the principles that keep those states free, including the limited role of government in personal and economic affairs.
It’s not just southern states that are offering more freedom for families. In the Cato Institute’s 2021 Freedom in the 50 States report, New Hampshire took the top spot for personal and economic freedom, while New York scored at the bottom.
Public Schools Are Feeling the Exodus
Public schools in many big cities are feeling the exodus of families. According to a recent NPR analysis, Chicago Public Schools lost 14,000 students during the 2020/2021 academic year, and another 10,000 students this school year. Public schools in Los Angeles lost 17,000 students last year and another 9,000 this year, and New York City’s public schools lost 38,000 students last year and an additional 13,000 this year.
While some parents are fleeing cities and states with coronavirus mandates for their schoolchildren, others are fleeing schools altogether. Homeschooling continues to be a popular option for families, even as schools reopened for in-person learning this fall. After doubling in 2020 to more than 11 percent of the overall school-age population, the homeschooling rate remains historically high this year.
A recent report in Kansas, for example, shows homeschooling registrations tripled last year to more than 5,500 students and grew by an additional 2,250 this year, compared to 1,400 in a typical pre-pandemic year. Vermont shows a similar trend, with this year’s new homeschooling registrations nearly 40 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels, on top of last year’s record increase.
As public schools across the country entertain a return to remote schooling this year, and double-down on testing, social distancing, and masking requirements for kids, more parents undoubtedly will exit their local schools for other education options. Whether it’s moving to a freer city or state, or pulling children out of school for homeschooling or microschooling, it’s up to parents to ensure their children have the normal and free childhood they deserve.
https://catalyst.independent.org/2022/01/13/schools-covid-playbook/
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Beyond K-12: Experts Explain How Woke Culture is Also Destroying Academia, Corporations, and the Military
Based on his 50 years of experience, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Jon Zubieta at Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences believes “the most decisive defeat for common sense in our universities has been the introduction of offices for diversity, inclusiveness, and equity.”
“As an educator, I spend much of my day in contact with students,” Zubieta told The Epoch Times. “In my experience, the student population has undergone a sea change in attitude and general knowledge. Until fairly recently, these young scholars were inquisitive, ambitious and somewhat rebellious, and iconoclastic, as young people should be. These characteristics have been replaced by conformity to the woke orthodoxy, and heaven help you if you deviate. This docility is reinforced with what seems total ignorance of economics, civics, and the Western cultural heritage that provides the foundation for our society. In fact, it goes well beyond ignorance as it is manifested in antagonism toward the glories of western culture and civilization. We are a society that has become unmoored from its past; a society that has lost cultural confidence; in fact, a society that is now busily destroying its own cultural heritage.
“It was only ten years ago or so that I began to notice the encroachments of critical race theory-driven demands into the sciences,” he said, adding that the most obvious intrusion of the new wokeism was the mandatory diversity statement in proposals for NSF funding. “Back when I started my career, such a waste of proposal space would not have been tolerated. Now, an unsatisfactory diversity statement can get your proposal triaged without further review.”
Zubieta knows first-hand how “an unsatisfactory” statement can affect a career. In August 2020, Zubieta was placed on administrative leave following student complaints about his use of the terms “Wuhan Flu” and “Chinese Communist Party Virus” in his syllabus. He has since been reinstated.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/beyond-k-12-experts-explain-how-woke-culture-is-also-destroying-academia-corporations-and-the-military_4206339.html
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COVID and schools: Australia is about to feel the full brunt of its teacher shortage
The Omicron wave is likely to exacerbate Australia's existing teacher shortages and demanding workloads.
As school starts at the end of January and beginning of February across the country, many teachers will be at risk of contracting COVID. They will need to stay away from work, while others may choose to leave the profession altogether.
To address parental concerns about teacher absences, the Prime Minister recently announced teachers will no longer be required to isolate at home for seven days if they are close contacts, and if they don't have symptoms and return a negative rapid antigen test. But unions have slammed this relaxation of rules saying it will only add to safety concerns for teachers and children.
States and territories are putting together a plan to open schools safely, which is set to be released on Thursday. But for schools to operate effectively, and avoid remote learning, Australia must also have a long-term plan for recruiting and retaining teachers. This means lifting their professional status, improving work conditions and increasing pay.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-19/covid-schools-australia-feel-brunt-teacher-shortage-omicron/100764472
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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18 January, 2022
The importance of academic breaks
<i>Jack Weaver is one of many who find university study a slog. If I was his advisor, I would telll him to switch to a trade</i>
As I watched the country roads turn into interstates through my windshield and eventually saw the Lexington skyline, I realized how bittersweet it was to have a shorter winter break.
Last year’s winter break was much longer than this one, and students had far more time to recover from the stressors of yet another semester tainted by COVID-19.
However, the promise of spring break to come and memories of fall break in the past semester makes the shorter winter break worth it.
Much like the fall 2020 semester, the past semester was difficult. Though many things, like normal athletic events and in-person classes returned, the looming possibility of everything going online again created worry that was too heavy to ignore.
I did miss having fall break in 2020, and it was extremely difficult to endure the whole semester without time to catch my breath, even though the longer winter break was slightly redemptive.
While I loved being at home for longer last year, I did begin to miss my friends and my classes, and I felt more than ready to come back by the end of winter break.
This year, I felt like I still had goals I had set before winter break that I did not have the chance to complete, but I am reassured by the promise of having spring break to complete those tasks.
Fall break was enough time for a short trip to refresh my mind, and this winter break, though it was only three weeks, was long enough for me to visit with family that I don’t normally see and take some time to think about things other than classes.
It is extremely difficult for me, and many other students, to go through a whole 17 weeks without a break.
Between classes and extracurriculars, it is hard for students to find time during the semester to take care of their mental health.
Burnout is a very common issue among college students, and going an entire semester without a break only increases burnout symptoms.
Honestly, I don’t think I will remember much about my classes themselves once I graduate. I do, however, think I will remember the breaks when I stopped and was able to take time to think about my experience.
I often find myself obsessing over classwork and responsibilities related to school, so having a few extra days without assignments due is a great way for me to recharge.
To me, college is much more enjoyable when I am taking time to consider how lucky I am to be here.
Breaks throughout the semester, even if they are short ones, help students to collect their thoughts, rest and spend time with loved ones.
So, while I did long for more time with my family as I was making the hour drive from my home back to Lexington, I understand that my break was cut short because I will be given chances to rest and make memories that last this academic year.
I look forward to the time that we do have off this semester and the good times that will come with it.
http://www.kykernel.com/opinion/the-importance-of-academic-breaks/article_f1afd250-747e-11ec-bb20-2fb38d3e7564.html
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Academic Journal retracts Indigenous article for plagiarism
This fake Australian Aborigine was fake about a lot of things. She was probably relying on the uncritical acceptance that tall tales about Abogiginal ancestry and customs receive</i>
An Indigenous language scholar from Stradbroke Island has had her latest paper recalled after plagiarism complaints.
Quandamooka woman Sandra Delaney had her article “Reconceptualising a Quandamooka Storyweave of language reclamation”, published by Sage Journals in July, passed by a “double-blind” peer review process.
Shortly after it was published in the International Journal of Cultural Studies, the journal was contacted by two First Nations language researchers from the US who said their work had been plagiarised.
In a review, Sage editors found five more cases of plagiarism and this month issued a retraction of the article.
Many of the plagiarised papers were unpublished PhD theses from American and Canadian universities dealing with the effects of colonisation on Native American languages and reclamation of those languages.
The rest were published in education and nursing journals and publications specifically relating to colonisation issues.
The paper dealt with colonial theft of land and how it led to the partial loss of local Jandai language and how it had been rediscovered through visual storytelling. “This article outlines a complex, vibrant, interweaving of language as a decolonising practice through creative outcomes,” the original abstract said.
“I will summarise how the Quandamooka tradition of weaving served as a theoretical framework for the reclamation of Jandai language. Shaped by a paradigm of language reclamation, it describes a Quandamooka worldview which is based on the connection Quandamooka people share with our Ancestors and our Country.”
It details the creation of the “Quandamooka Storyweave” as a forum for elders to more comfortably share their stories.
Ms Delaney is a prominent figure among Nunagal, Goenbal and Ngugi people, whose traditional homeland, Quandamooka, was the mainland, islands and water around Moreton Bay, off Brisbane.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/journal-retracts-indigenous-article-for-plagiarism/news-story/01e781efc018b158db6e1e005e8f992a
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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17 January, 2022
Frosty reception for British school that banned pupils from wearing ‘status symbol’ winter coats
Parents say Bishop Heber High School’s policy, under which pupils have had their jackets confiscated, is ‘nonsensical’ and ‘ludicrous’
A school has banned children from wearing their own coats outside in case they “push boundaries” with expensive “status” coats.
Pupils at Bishop Heber High School, in Malpas, Cheshire, are only allowed to wear a branded school jacket on school grounds.
The school says that if pupils were allowed to wear their own coats, it would “erode the great relationships we have with the students” because they “might push boundaries” and wear coats and hoodies than undermine standards.
The school’s "behaviour and discipline policy" states that: “Students may wear any coat to and from school. However, these must be removed once the school day starts (9am). Only ‘Heber’ school coats may be worn throughout the school day (until 3.30pm).”
It adds that students who repeatedly wear non-uniform coats will have them confiscated.
But some parents criticised the ‘nonsensical’ and ‘ludicrous’ policy and one mother told Cheshire Live: “They confiscated his [my son’s] coat yesterday - outside - which I thought was absolutely ludicrous. He has asthma, which he is on constant medication for, so getting cold does him no good whatsoever.”
She added that her son was put into isolation as punishment and the uniform policy was “nonsensical” and “common-sense” should prevail.
Other parents said their children had been left “absolutely frozen” and that school policies are “absolutely archaic”.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/13/school-bans-pupils-wearing-expensive-status-symbol-winter-coats/
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Woke School District Pays Tens of Thousands for a Kindergarten to “Disrupt Whiteness”
Want your 6-year-old to learn basic reading, writing, and math skills in kindergarten rather than the insane ramblings of delusional critical race theorists? Well, if you send your kids to a kindergarten Hayward Unified School District, a school district in the Bay Area, you’re out of luck; they’ll be learning ridiculous CRT concepts whether you like it or not.
News on that comes from an excellent article in The Federalist, which reports that HUSD “dedicated $123,000 for a variety of critical race theory training programs for staff and students that expressed extreme sentiments. This expenditure included an organization called “Woke Kindergarten” that received $57,000 to teach public school teachers and staff how to “disrupt whiteness.”‘ How nice.
The Federalist then provides a link to a contract in which the Board of Education hired a company called “Race-Work” to provide training and sessions for “Student Leadership Anti-racism Movement (SLAM) Program and staff professional development sessions for equity and AB/AR.”
The contract, worth $50k, provided that students and teachers were to “learn how to use Woke Kindergarten’s resources and pedagogical approaches in practice as a way to disrupt whiteness” and “white dominant/settler colonial narratives.” SLAM is a program meant to “empower and mobilize them as catalysts for change through an anti-racist leadership youth movement.”
Remember, this is for an elementary school. While it would be bad enough if college students were being taught this trash, it’s young elementary school students that are having this toxic nonsense being pushed on them relentlessly by the CRT-possessed wokies.
But that’s just the beginning. The Federalist also reports that “A separate contract with Woke Kindergarten revealed that the district paid an additional $7,000 for them to implement learning practices through an ‘abolitionist lens.”’
They did so through pushing videos on the kindergarten pupils that fawned over Stacey Abrams, presented pictures of the Jan. 6th trespassers alongside the few images of BLM “protests” that didn’t turn into riots, and pushed the “defund the police” slogan. Sounds difference from my kindergarten.
And what is “Woke Kindergarten?” Well, as the name implies, it’s a far-left organization full of insane people that want to push leftie propaganda on young children. As the Federalist reports:
The organization’s Instagram account boasts the same extremism, with one post encouraging children to support the “eradication” of America’s borders, which are allegedly “invisible man-made ideas that colonizers created.” In another post, the organization’s founder complains that critical media coverage amounts to far-right violence.
As the name implies, the organization was made to indoctrinate young children into left-wing politics. One post explains that Woke Kindergarten began when its founder led a protest in what appears to be a kindergarten classroom where children made protest signs and chanted “no Donald Trump.”
Yikes. I remember learning about reading and writing in kindergarten, along with messing around on the playground. Not participating in anti-GOP protests.
Still, that’s not all. The insanely woke school district also hired an organization called Quetzal Education Services which, The Federalist reports, “specializes in injecting CRT into math courses with its anti-racist math workshop series.” Now even math must be woke.
What all that shows is that schools, especially in blue states, are pushing ever crazier propaganda on their students. Without men like DeSantis to watch over them and crack down on the nonsense, the leftie teachers will get crazier and crazier. They must be stopped before the youth are indoctrinated beyond the point of no return.
https://trendingpolitics.com/woke-school-district-pays-tens-of-thousands-for-a-kindergarten-to-disrupt-whiteness
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Australian Attorney general defends religious schools’ right to sack teachers for views on sexuality
Michaelia Cash’s department has defended religious schools’ right to sack teachers for their views on sexuality and appeared to confirm safeguards for gay students will be delayed until after the religious discrimination bill.
The attorney general’s department’s submission to two inquiries states that changes to the Sex Discrimination Act will wait for a further review 12 months after the bill passes, despite a purported deal with four Liberal MPs to prevent expulsion of gay students at the same time, in exchange for their support of the religious discrimination bill.
Cash also personally walked back her reported commitment in December after a backlash from religious groups including the Australian Christian Lobby and Christian Schools Australia which threatened to scupper their support for the bill over the deal.
Liberal MPs Katie Allen, Dave Sharma, Angie Bell and Fiona Martin claimed they had won Cash’s agreement to remove section 38(3) from the Sex Discrimination Act, which allows schools to discriminate on sexuality and gender grounds.
The department’s submission reiterates that “the religious discrimination bill does not affect the operation of the Sex Discrimination Act”.
“In particular, the existing exemptions for religious educational institutions provided in section 38 of that Act are not affected.”
The department said religious exemptions will be considered by the Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry, to report back 12 months after the bill passes.
The department noted although the bill does not affect schools ability to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation it “would allow a religious school to consider a person’s religious beliefs about issues such as sexuality” where it is part of the beliefs of the school.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/13/attorney-general-defends-religious-schools-right-to-sack-teachers-for-views-on-sexuality
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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16 January, 2022
Illinois School Districts Supports “After School Satan Club” Meeting In Elementary Schools
Leaders of the Satanic Temple gathered in a crimson-walled living room of a Victorian manse in Salem-Mass renowned for its witch trials making discussing plans for an after-school program in the nation’s public elementary schools.
The group argues that Christian evangelical groups have already infiltrated the lives of America’s children through after-school religious programming in public schools, and they are determined to give children a choice: Jesus or Satan.
“It’s critical that children understand that there are multiple perspectives on all issues and that they have a choice in how they think,” said Doug Mesner, the Satanic Temple’s co-founder.
The group is scheduled to introduce its After School Satan Club to public elementary schools Monday, including one in Prince George’s County.
One Illinois school district confirmed that it has made the decision to allow the “After School Satan Club” to take place at Jane Addams Elementary School.
A copy of a flyer promoting the club, which is aimed at first through fifth graders, has been made available to students in the lobby of elementary schools, though the district claims it does not distribute them.
According to the flyer, the club will meet on Jan. 13, Feb. 10, March 10, April 14, and May 12 at Jane Addams Elementary.
Chapter heads from New York, Boston, Utah, and Arizona along with others from Minneapolis, Detroit, San Jose, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, and Florida participating online, were in Salem Monday to discuss plans for promoting the club.
The Satanic Temple is bringing its fight over the constitutional separation of church and state to the nation’s schools.
According to Mesner, who goes by the professional name of Lucien Greaves, “Satan” is just a “metaphorical construct” intended to represent the rejection of all forms of tyranny over the human mind.
The curriculum for the proposed after-school clubs allegedly focuses on the development of reasoning and social skills. The group says meetings will include a healthful snack, literature lesson, creative learning activities, a science lesson, puzzle-solving, and an art project. Every child will receive a membership card and is required to have a signed parental permission slip to attend.
“We think it’s important for kids to be able to see multiple points of view, to reason things through, to have empathy and feelings of benevolence for their fellow human beings,” said the Satanic Temple’s Utah chapter head, who goes by the name Chalice Blythe.)
https://zerohourpatriots.com/illinois-school-districts-supports-after-school-satan-club-meeting-in-elementary-schools/
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University of Kentucky Student Publications resumes in-person classes as omicron cases rise
The new year brings new challenges for UK, and the omicron COVID-19 variant has become one of the most relevant. The university has implemented further actions to prevent the spread across campus.
UK has purchased two KN95 masks for each individual coming to the main campus and is in the process of purchasing more, according to a campus-wide email from president Eli Capilouto on Jan. 7.
These masks are being handed out at wellness huts, in dorms during move-ins and in other various locations on campus.
During Jewell Hall move-in, KN95 masks were found piled up on elevator floors and miscellaneous hallways just two days into the new semester, residential advisor Aza Appelman said.
Jewell Hall residential advisors have to ask many of their residents to put on a mask when going through the lobby and hallways where many often pull them out of their pocket after being told to do so, Appelman said.
“A good majority follow the mask policy with little complaining, but many blatantly refuse to wear their masks, or they put them on when authoritative figures are around only to rip them off when they get into an elevator or onto a different floor,” Appelman said.
Alongside enforcing the mask mandate, the university is recommending students be vaccinated, receive the booster shot as well as the flu shot and to be “constantly” tested if not vaccinated, according to UK spokesperson Jay Blanton.
“Now, we're really going to push for boosters because we know those are particularly effective against this current strain omicron, which appears to be much more highly transmissible but also appears to be less severe,” Blanton said.
UK will implement a booster incentive program around Feb. 1 similar to the earlier one for COVID-19 vaccinations but with cash prizes, Blanton said.
“I think booster incentives are great,” UK sophomore Ella Zombolo said. “As a person who wasn’t going to get the booster, it does lean me into the ways of getting it for all of the great prizes that are available.”
Also wary about receiving their booster, Appelman is planning on getting theirs later into the semester due to the incentive program and overall concern for others’ health and safety.
UK sophomore Thomas Francisco received his booster upon his arrival for the spring semester due to the many people he knows who have tested positive, but he also had other ideas to minimize the spread.
“I feel like a week or two of semi-isolation and online classes could be a slightly better response on the university’s part, but I’m really pretty indifferent about it because isolation means my mental health will likely take a hit,” Francisco said.
Appelman also expresses similar opinions with the ideas of an initial delay and isolation.
“I think delaying in-person classes by two weeks would be extremely beneficial,” Appelman said. “Going ahead and starting back in-person when we don’t absolutely have to seem unjustified.”
Nonetheless, relying heavily on vaccination rates, Capilouto is pushing forward with in-person education and as much normalcy as possible.
Most recent numbers show that the UK community is 90.8% vaccinated — students at 87.8% and faculty at 96.7% — according to the email.
Capilouto’s email also said “we [university staff and faculty] are here to educate students” and acknowledged that students perform better academically and socially when on campus and in-person.
“I am definitely a little scared [and] concerned to go back to in-person classes right now with what’s going on, but I’m also a little relieved,” Francisco said. “I don’t think I can mentally handle the isolation that would come from moving all classes online.”
Blanton said mental health issues such as those from students who are feeling isolated and disconnected are trying to be prevented and helped
“I would definitely rather be at school and in-person for mental health reasons, but only if it’s safe,” Appelman said. “For me personally, even being allowed to stay on campus but have online classes sounds nicer than just being sent home.”
Zombolo also said she’s ready to be back and attend her new classes where she can see her fellow friends across campus in midst of the pandemic.
“I think UK is taking the right procedures in order to have the university be in-person,” Zombolo said. “They care about their students and their education, and it shows that they do by having us come back to campus.”
http://www.kykernel.com/news/uk-resumes-in-person-classes-as-omicron-cases-rise/article_51e4304c-747c-11ec-8c03-5bee213e182b.html
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Covid-19: Australian kids are not all right
As schooling systems struggle to manage head-spinning changes to Covid-19 rules, many parents are despairing over possible delays to classrooms reopening. Already Queensland has postponed the start of term one for a fortnight, and South Australia is staggering the return to school for various year levels.
Open-air classrooms on verandas or under trees, air filters, rapid testing and hybrid models of classrooms and remote learning are the most likely scenarios as education departments rush to rewrite the school rules to deal with the wildfire Omicron outbreak.
Despite the eagerness to resume children’s education, many families are reluctant to send kids to school at the peak of a pandemic they have been conditioned to fear.
The Parenthood, an advocacy group for Australian parents, says the changing rules are confusing and distressing for families.
“Parents are unsure of what to do and children are asking lots of questions,’’ The Parenthood executive director Georgie Dent tells Inquirer.
“Many parents are really concerned about children being back in the classroom at the peak of the outbreak, while others are concerned about the mental health impact and do want their kids go back to school.
“Before Christmas hundreds of cases in a single day were of really serious concern and now we’ve ballooned to 100,000 cases a day and (politicians) are saying that’s OK – that’s a really big leap.’’
Teachers, burnt out by two years of on-off remote teaching, are threatening classroom boycotts unless governments do more to protect them in their workplace.
Scott Morrison invoked the wrath of teacher unions when he revealed on Thursday that national cabinet had exempted teachers and childcare workers from close contact isolation requirements.
Promising a more detailed back-to-school plan next week, he hinted that teachers would be given access to free rapid antigen (RAT) tests for regular surveillance testing of Covid-19.
Morrison warned that school closures would worsen the 10 per cent workforce absenteeism rate to 15 per cent, as parents would be forced to stay home to look after children.
“Schools open means shops open,’’ Morrison declared after the national cabinet meeting. “Schools open means hospitals are open. It means aged-care facilities are open. It means essential services and groceries are on the shelves.
“Childcare and schools are essential and should be the first to open and last to close where possible.’’
With 500 childcare centres closed this week due to Omicron outbreaks, the prognosis looks bleak for a seamless return to school at the end of the month. Only 6 per cent of primary school students have had their first dose of Covid-19 vaccines, although 75 per cent of high school students are double-jabbed.
Australian Education Union (AEU) president Correna Haythorpe is furious that teachers are being treated like “babysitters’’ so other parents can go to work.
“The vast majority of children will not be vaccinated for the return to school and that is of deep concern to our members because Omicron is highly transmissible,’’ she tells Inquirer.
“A two-week delay may not be long enough, and some states may have to shift to remote learning.’’
The union is urging teachers to stay home if they don’t feel safe working in classrooms.
“We will be saying to members that if you feel unsafe or uncertain or worried you are potentially putting other people at risk, you should not be going into a school environment,’’ she says.
“You should still be paid. If you are a close contact but not ill, you can work remotely. It’s not industrial action – members have sick leave and so on they can access.’’
The union’s advice flies in the face of national cabinet’s decision to lump teachers in with other essential workers who can continue working even if a household member is sick with Covid-19, provided they have no symptoms and a negative test.
Haythorpe says teachers should have access to free rapid tests, which are now even harder to find than masks were at the start of the pandemic.
“Teachers have worked so hard to provide education, whether remote or face-to-face, to put the students first,’’ she says.
“To be told the reason schools need to be open is for workforce considerations, rather than prioritising the education of our young people safely, is deeply offensive.
“You can’t on the one hand say teachers are essential and must go to work, and on the other hand not provide them with the essential tools that are needed to ensure their safety and the safety of students in their care.’’
National cabinet is working on the fine details of a back-to-school operational plan to cover potential school closures, infection control, mask wearing and surveillance testing for Covid-19.
Under the plan, schools and childcare centres are deemed to be essential “and should be the first to open and the last to close wherever possible in outbreak situations, with face-to-face learning prioritised’’.
State leaders have agreed that “no vulnerable child or child of an essential worker is turned away’’ from classrooms, implying that even if schools shut down, a skeleton teaching staff will be required to supervise children onsite.
As always, the states are going their own way: Victoria and NSW are adamant that schools will open on schedule but Queensland has postponed term one by two weeks, with Year 11 and 12 students starting remote learning a week before other kids head back to class.
South Australia is staggering return dates for different year levels, and is “looking closely’’ at the use of air purifiers in schools as it works to improve natural ventilation in classrooms.
A NSW Education spokesperson says that schools will be “made Covid-19 safe through a combination of physical distancing, mask wearing, strict hygiene practices and frequent cleaning of schools’.’ Rapid antigen test kits will also be used.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/covid19-the-kids-are-not-all-right/news-story/5965db7cb49683e52766f8bbad244ab1
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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14 January, 2022
Classes Underway in Florida, Land of the Free
Many K-12 schools and universities have gone to remote instruction in response to the surge in COVID cases, but Florida remains the land of the free, with no COVID-related mandates. No mask mandates. No vaccine mandates. No mandated business closures or reductions in service. Mandates have been prohibited by the state legislature, at the urging of Governor DeSantis. In Florida, instruction is in-person and mandate-free.
The administration at Florida State University, where I teach, does not appear to have the same laissez-faire attitude as the legislature and the governor. The Spring semester is underway, and students and faculty have received emails from the university president and other administrators saying they expect people to wear masks, get vaccinated, and take other precautions. Numerous signs around campus remind us, “Face Coverings Are Expected.”
The passive voice in the signs makes it unclear who is expecting face coverings, but whoever they are, they must be disappointed. Many people do wear masks, but they are a minority. Most people, around campus and in class, are maskless. I have been teaching my classes without a mask, which seems justified because most of my students are not wearing them.
The widespread disregard of the mask expectation reminds me of the nationwide 55 mph speed limit from 1974 to 1995, which was widely disregarded. The authority of those in charge is eroded when they mandate things that are unpopular and are not followed. It appears that at Florida State University, people are more inclined to follow the governor’s idea that masks are not required rather than the administration’s view that they are expected.
I realize that people and policies vary quite a bit in different places around the nation, so wherever you are, I’m just letting you know how things are where I am. Policies toward the pandemic are controversial, regardless of what they are, and I’m confident that some readers will applaud the Florida “land of the free” policies while others will be appalled by them.
We shall see how this turns out, perhaps a few weeks or a month from now. Will a COVID surge disrupt campus activities, or will the “return to normal” policy succeed? As I noted in the opening paragraph, many places are taking a more cautious approach. A month from now, we will be able to look back and judge which approach did the least harm.
https://blog.independent.org/2022/01/09/classes-underway-in-florida-land-of-the-free/?omhide=true
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Britain's highest paying degrees, according to UK graduate salaries
Business, computing and law courses dominate Britain’s list of top-paying degrees, government data shows.
Students from a select few business and management, computer science and law bachelor’s degrees earn on average more than double the typical UK salary within just five years of graduating, according to Department for Education figures.
The University of Oxford’s course in business and management tops the overall list as the most lucrative in the country, with its small number of elite graduates earning an average of £70,800 after five years of finishing the course.
That compares to median annual earnings of approximately £30,420 for the typical UK full-time employee in 2019, according to ONS figures.
Close behind are Cambridge’s computing and law degrees, which both saw median earnings of £69,400 in the tax year ending in 2019.
Imperial’s computing degree comes in fourth place at £66,100, while law at the London School of Economics comes in fifth, with recent graduates earning £65,600.
However, on average degrees in medicine and dentistry tend to yield the highest salaries after graduation out of any subject group, with median earnings coming in at £49,300, according to the data, which tracks those who finished university in 2013.
Those in the performing and creative arts face the lowest salaries after graduating, with averages of £21,200 and £22,000 - below the UK average.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/highest-paid-degree-2021-uk-graduate-salaries-best-jobs-careers/
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International students in Australia allowed to work more hours to help ease COVID worker shortage
Foreign students will be allowed to pick up more hours to help alleviate worker shortages as more people are forced into isolation due to Australia's Omicron COVID-19 outbreak.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the federal government will remove the 40-hour-a-fortnight cap on student visa-holder workers, meaning they will no longer have restrictions on the amount of hours they can work.
Forty-hour work limits on international student visa-holders were lifted for people in the tourism and hospitality industry in May last year.
Mr Morrison encouraged international students to return to Australia, and backpackers are also allowed into the country under working holidays visas, on the condition they are fully vaccinated.
There have been worker shortages in the food distribution and manufacturing industries recently because a large number of workers have had to isolate due to a surge of coronavirus cases.
Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association (ACAPMA) CEO Mark McKenzie told the ABC the decision was welcome news for petrol-station owners.
"The extension of visa hours would provide a major relief in a pressure point we currently have in our workforce," Mr McKenzie said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-13/international-students-allowed-to-work-more-hours/100753802
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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13 January, 2022
High School Lesson Plans Tell California Students They’re Inherently Privileged If Male, Cisgender, White, Christian
<i>The last sentence below summarizes the misguided belief that underlies the current anti-white craziness. Despite the vast efforts to privilege blacks via "affirmative action", some people still think that the economic and social backwardness commonly experienced by blacks is the result of what whites do. We must not consider that blacks are inherently less capable at dealing with the challeges of the modern world -- as is plainly seen in their usually dismal educational performance
Minorities of European, East Asian (Chinese) and South ASian (Indian) origin all trend to outdo native-born American whites economically so how come they are not held back by the supposed barriers and privileges that American whites suppposedly erect?
Criical Race theory is Criical Race mythology -- A desperate attempt to escape racial reality. The real privileges accrue to blacks. You must not blame them for anything, not even thir own incompetence or extreme criminality</i>
Following requests for comment from The Daily Signal, Desert Sands Unified School District public information officer Mary Perry said “the lesson was not in alignment with the district-adopted curriculum” and “actions are being taken to rectify the situation.”
“The teacher was operating outside the scope of [the] adopted curriculum and had potentially presented a biased position,” Perry said. “Corrective action is underway.”
The Daily Signal so far has not been able to determine which teacher or teachers used or wrote the lecture materials.
Graphics included in the lecture materials for Nov. 15 to 19 warn students that if they “don’t have to think about it, it’s a privilege.”
“If you can use public bathrooms without stares, fear, or anxiety, you have cisgender privilege,” reads one graphic.
Another graphic says: “If, while growing up, college was an expectation of you, not a lofty dream, you have class privilege.”
Desert Sands Unified School District parent Celeste Fiehler posted the lesson plans in the Facebook group Informed Parents of California after another parent made her aware of the ideological content.
Fiehler said in her Facebook post that the materials were used in a ninth grade English class, noting that students were told “no cellphones allowed.”
“Wonder why,” she added in her post.
Fiehler told The Daily Signal on Tuesday that the lesson plans were from an Advanced Placement English class at La Quinta High School, but is unsure which teacher or teachers gave the lectures.
La Quinta High School did not immediately respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.
‘Check Your Privilege’
The lesson plans appeared to be lifted from a 2014 campaign by the University of San Francisco’s Intercultural Center led by associate professor of psychology J. Garrett-Walker and professor of marketing Sonja Martin Poole.
The “Check Your Privilege” campaign defines privilege as “unearned access to social power based on membership in a dominant social group.”
The campaign’s stated goal is to teach students, faculty, and staff at the university about privilege and to “encourage the use of privilege to advocate for others.”
Kenny Snell, a teacher in the school district and spokesman for Desert Sands Unified School District Recall, told The Daily Signal in an email that his school board recall organization considers any lesson based on “critical race theory pedagogies to be objectionable.”
“Politically biased indoctrination, that divides our students into victims and oppressors, educates them from the annals of Fake News stories from the legacy media, and instructs them in the ways of violent BLM [Black Lives Matter] and Antifa ‘civic activism’ does not belong in public education,” said Snell, who said he currently is not teaching because he is “out on disability” due to a mask mandate.
“If you can expect time off from work to celebrate your religious holidays, you have Christian privilege,” one poster from the University of San Francisco’s Check Your Privilege campaign says.
“If you’re confident that police exist to protect you, you have white male privilege,” says another poster.
“If you cannot be legally fired from work because of your perceived sexuality, you have heterosexual privilege,” reads a third.
Garrett-Walker and Poole did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Daily Signal, nor did the University of San Francisco.
Desert Sands Unified School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Signal regarding which teacher or teachers used the lesson plans in question.
Are You a Member of the ‘Oppressed?’
The Desert Sands lecture materials also included a discussion of a TED Talk titled “I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype.”
“Stereotypes are part of a dominant narrative that is perpetuated by the media (film, TV, etc), people in power and oftentimes our elders,” the lesson plans say. “Notice that all of those groups have some kind of power and privilege (economic, political, age) over others.”
The lecture plans then dive into “systems, power, and privilege” discussions. Systems of power, according to the materials, are “the beliefs, practices, and cultural norms on which individual lives and institutions are built.”
These systems of power are “rooted in social constructions of race and gender” and “are embedded in history (colonization, slavery, migration, immigration, genocide) as well as present-day policies and practice,” the lesson plans say. “These systems of power reinforce the structural barriers that are the root causes of inequality experienced by people of color.”
https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/01/11/california-high-school-students-ordered-check-your-privilege
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More School Choice Needed as Teachers Unions Force More COVID-19 School Closings
For the third straight day last week, the Chicago Teachers Union canceled classes, choosing to return to virtual learning and citing dangers from the omicron variant as its excuse.
To many, this is seen as nothing more than a teachers’ strike and power grab executed by a union that historically supports Democrat politicians. Democrats send federal aid to the union, and the union then uses it to turn out more votes for Democrats. Anyone else see a double problem in this mutual back-scratching system?
When Boston police officers went on strike in 1919, then-Massachusetts Gov. Calvin Coolidge called the strikers “deserters” and “traitors,” adding, in a telegram to Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.”
While the situation in Chicago is different from the Boston police strike, the refusal by teachers to return to classrooms is causing a different kind of harm to children and parents. There is the mental and emotional damage caused to children, in addition to challenges associated with learning from home and the financial and child care pressure on parents.
The federal government has supplied $5 billion to Illinois for the purpose of keeping schools open and in-classroom teaching. As in many other states, Illinois has been using the money for other purposes. While this is technically allowed, politicians should demand the money back if states and cities don’t use the money for the purpose for which it was intended.
Could the fact that most private and religious schools remained open during the pandemic be because they didn’t have union bosses dictating to them?
There may never be a better time to break the power of the teachers unions, and what is likely the last monopoly in America, the public school system.
School choice is the answer. Competition works in every other field. It can also work in education. Currently, there are 27 voucher programs in 16 states and the District of Columbia, according to Education Commission of the States. More are needed, and now is the opportune moment for voters to pressure politicians into creating them in other states that don’t offer them.
“Illinois offers K-12 students and their parents several types of school choice, including two private programs, charter schools, magnet schools, home schooling and intra-district public school choice via an open enrollment policy,” according to edchoice.org. More parents should investigate and take advantage of them.
The intellectual, moral, and patriotic education of our children are keys to maintaining the country we have enjoyed for more than two centuries. Other countries, especially China, are way ahead of us when it comes to math and science. They send many of their top students here to be educated at our best universities, and many then return to China to apply what they’ve learned in ways that further the interests of their country, interests that are often counter to our own.
One of the definitions of “monopoly” is “an exclusive privilege to carry on a business, traffic, or service, granted by a government.”
The education monopoly has long exceeded its sell-by date and needs to be broken up. This will allow parents, not government, to decide which system best suits their children. Education choice puts children first, ahead of government and unions.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/01/11/more-school-choice-is-needed-as-teachers-unions-force-more-covid-19-school-closings/
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One good effect of Covid on education
In some respect, COVID-19 has produced a few silver linings. Our children were forced into remote learning at home. Stripped of the essential need for in-person learning, children suffered miserably.
Nevertheless, from the ashes of the destructive consequences of COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures comes a welcome revelation. Parents have been forced to become a more integral part of the child’s education.
What happened was these now “engaged and enraged parents” see through the injustice that is being perpetrated on their children. The woke culture has taken over the classroom. American children are being indoctrinated by the woke left.
It is a corrupt ambition to change the way our society thinks. Children were being forced to study lesson plans that promote division in our country. Children are being divided into social classes and by race. Our kids were being used as pawns in a deceitful game.
The intention was to transform our great democracy into a communist nation. If not for being “unmasked by COVID-19”, the radical progressive left would have probably continued to brainwash our children. Not any longer.
The curtain’s been ripped back. Parents across the U.S. are outraged, none more so than one aggravated father. During one school board meeting, a dad tore into his local school board. He began his rant by telling the board how disgusted he was with their performance.
"Let me tell you right now you sad little betas, you are seen as weak minuscule men. And I tell my [unintelligible] men like you, those aren’t men. You will be weak, minuscule men the rest of your lives, and I’m not going to let you influence the boys in this community to be little cucks. You understand? This is a city of men, not betas, not gender-identified people. There are men and there are women and there are betas and there are alphas and this omicron crap is a joke."
"Take the mask off, take a deep breath, go do some yoga … this is psychological damage. And I know you’re looking at me bro cause you know what I’m saying is truth. You know it, and you’re going to go home and sleep on this and it’s going to bother you. And I’ll be back in two weeks, bro. I’ll be back every two weeks cause I own my own business, I homeschool my kids, and I can do that because no one else signs my checks. We sign their checks and you best bet that I’m going to run a boatload of people against you guys. There ain’t gonna be no easy peasy election next time. … you guys are toast. I don’t care what you did in your community because this is enough. You can go do all the good you want but when you poison my kids’ mind, it’s done. You’ve crossed the line. So I’m letting you know, we’re pissed and it’s enough."
Certainly, he is not alone. After seeing how teachers’ unions and school administrators have been manipulating classroom curriculum, parents like this dad are showing up at board meetings like never before. They are voicing their anger. They’ve had enough.
Children’s minds are being poisoned with socialist propaganda. The objective is to create a generation of people who are constantly afraid. Children are being brainwashed to live in fear as they grow into adults. It’s about the power of mind control.
Communities of parents across America are standing up for their children. They are exposing the internal corruption within the school boards. School board members are being recalled and chastised with the power of the vote for their deceitful culpability in this charade.
While the powerful left-controlled teachers’ unions are hugely responsible, school boards across the country have been complicit. However, because of the COVID-19 lockdowns, parents now are well aware of what’s going on. They are furious.
Because of a virus, there are going to be a ton of bad things the world must recover from. However, there are going to be some silver linings from this dark cloud. The world can act and honor the memory of those who unnecessarily died.
Our own nation is becoming more aware of how terrible health decisions gave the virus a stronger hold. Furthermore, we’ve watched corrupt bureaucrats take advantage of a devastating crisis. There have used a deadly virus to force compliance and exercise control.
However, COVID-19 has also exposed things. It’s revealed the corruption in our school systems. It’s ignited a battle between awakened parents and corrupt, complicit school boards. With more parents like this angry dad taking action, American parents will win.
https://steadfastclash.com/the-latest/savage-dad-annihilates-beta-school-board-echoing-the-voices-of-millions-of-parents-video/
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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12 January, 2022
A Farewell Assessment: Higher Education after Six Decades
By RICHARD K. VEDDER
My first published analysis of some dimension of higher education occurred during the administration of John F. Kennedy. 11 men have been U.S. president since. The pace of my commentary on higher education rose to new heights in 2018 when I began to write five or more blogs monthly for Forbes. As with nearly everything, though, diminishing returns are setting in—it is increasingly difficult for me to formulate thoughtful new insights on America’s colleges every few days. So Forbes and I have amiably agreed to stop this regular writing arrangement.
Let me make some observations on how higher education has changed since my initial involvement in it as a student well over six decades ago.
First, higher education has gone from being a wildly popular and rapidly growing sector of the economy to being one perceived as stagnant or declining, with sharply diminished public support. Around 1960, politicians won votes by promising to expand state universities and increase their funding; that is rarely the case today. In the 1960s, the proportion of Americans in college doubled; in the last decade, it declined.
Second, the non-teaching dimensions of higher education have become relatively more important. Look at research. Teaching loads fell sharply and publication expectations grew sharply after 1960. In recent years, this trend peaked, and there is growing realization that diminishing returns are quite present in research endeavors. Teaching loads are creeping up again at some schools.
Third, we expect less of our college kids, but try to reward them more. Research suggests college kids on average spend one-third less time on studies than in 1960, but earn much higher grades. It is a case of learning less, albeit at a much higher cost than in the 1960s.
Fourth, as Johns Hopkins’ Ben Ginsberg chronicled beautifully a decade or so ago, faculty power and control at universities has waned dramatically. The notion that diversity and inclusion bureaucrats would influence considerably the composition of faculty search committees, common today, was completely unheard of a few decades ago. Administrators run universities today and, generally speaking, faculty are treated as hired hands, not the very heart of the university enterprise. To be sure, there are many variations on this, and the faculty at, say, Harvard no doubt still have a lot of clout relative to, say, the faculty at Slippery Rock State U. Contributing to the demise in faculty control: a sharp decline in the proportion of teaching done by tenured faculty.
Fifth, two non-instructional dimensions of higher education have grown exceptionally: medical schools and the hospital/research operations associated with them are as much as one-half the budget at dozens of important American universities. Also, intercollegiate athletics has grown in financial importance, often becoming an increasing burden on university budgets.
Sixth, there is a growing sense of institutional inequality in higher education. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. That has manifested itself in a massive flight to quality, with prestigious selective private elite universities growing in wealth and enrollment while mid to lower quality schools are struggling to attract students and pay their bills.
Seventh, there have been some technological advances in higher education, notably electronic aided learning manifested in on-line instruction. Yet college remains still not dramatically different in terms of delivery than it was when I was in college.
Eighth, college has become vastly more costly. Despite rising living standards, the financing of a college education has become a huge problem, witness a huge student loan indebtedness problem. A big dimension of this: the large increase in the federal role and attempts to control higher education, reducing its decentralized character.
Yet there are things that have not happened, contrary to some predictions. For example, collective bargaining grew a good deal in the 1960s and 1970s, but the move towards unionization has slowed dramatically.
I wish to thank some super people at Forbes, most notably Susan Adams, Caroline Howard and Michael Noer. I want to thank dozens of students who not only helped directly but who have inspired me to go to the office every day even at the age of 81. I love teaching, I love research, I love universities, despite their many significant and worrisome flaws.
https://www.independent.org/news/article.asp?id=13937&omhide=true
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340,000 Students Left in Limbo After Chicago Teachers Union Votes to Not Show Up for Classes
The Chicago teachers union on Tuesday voted that it would not enter school for in-person classes, leading the city’s public schools to cancel all classes on Wednesday.
The union said that amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, existing mitigation measures were not sufficient to protect the health and safety of the teachers, a contention that the school district has rejected, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The district’s 340,658 students had returned Monday from their Christmas vacation.
The district had said that if teachers approved what it called an “illegal work stoppage,” it would cancel classes instead of the district returning to remote learning, according to WLS-TV. All other school activities, including sports, were canceled.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said teachers who do not show up will be shunted into no-pay status, the Tribune reported.
“I have to tell you, it feels like ‘Groundhog Day,’ that we are here again,” Lightfoot said, according to the Tribune, referring to a 2019 strike by city teachers and multiple rounds of sparring over an eventual return to in-person classes.
Union leaders are “politicizing the pandemic,” she said.
“There is no basis in the data, the science or common sense for us to shut an entire system down when we can surgically do this at a school level,” Lightfoot said, according to the Tribune.
“If we pause, what do we say to those parents who can’t afford to hire somebody to come in and watch their kids, who can’t ship their kids off to some other place. What do we say to those students who are already struggling?” Lightfoot said.
According to WLS, the Chicago Teachers Union said 73 percent of the members who voted approved staying home and said they would return when the district makes an acceptable offer.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said the district will “have a plan specifically for parents that will come out [Wednesday] in a very timely fashion about what the path forward is. I am still committed, though, to coming up with an agreement with the CTU,” according to the Tribune.
Schools on Wednesday were offering no instruction but allowed students in school buildings to address concerns of parents that they had no other place for the children, given the short notice of the teachers’ vote.
“We will still continue to provide essential services, and we will have a plan in place whether it’s for nutrition; we still have COVID testing that’s scheduled in the schools,” Martinez said.
In a statement, the union said it understood the “frustration” its decision might cause.
“We believe that our city’s classrooms are where our students should be. Regrettably, the Mayor and her CPS leadership have put the safety and vibrancy of our students and their educators in jeopardy,” the statement said.
“Unfortunately, our union is again being backed into a corner of being the leader in the city that the mayor refuses to be,” CTU Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said, according to WLS.
The union wanted KF94, KN95, or N95 masks given to all staff and students as well as procedures to be put in place to move to remote learning if 20 percent or more of staff is either in isolation or quarantine, or if a school safety committee says the transition to remote learning is necessary, the Tribune reported.
School officials have said there is no health threat to students, and said the school system has been working with the union to address the teachers’ demands.
https://flagandcross.com/340000-students-left-in-limbo-after-teachers-union-votes-to-not-show-up-for-classes/
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Schools Should Be Open and School Choice Should Be Universal
As we enter year three of the pandemic, it is absolutely absurd that scores of schools are closing again for in-person learning because of the vastly overhyped Omicron variant.
First and foremost, data show the Omicron variant is more transmissible but far less lethal than the original strain of COVID-19 and the Delta variant. In South Africa, where the Omicron variant originated, no deaths have been reported as of this writing due to infection from Omicron.
According to Gyaneshwar Chaubey, a professor of genetics at Banaras Hindu University, “It can be concluded that the mortality rate of Omicron is much lower than other variants of the virus. Recent studies have suggested that it infects fast but multiply 12 times less than the Delta variant, it is perhaps due to this reason, it is not causing any severity.”
Second, in general, COVID-19 poses little health risk to children.
To date, 558 Americans aged five to 18-years-old have died from COVID-19. Although every single one of those deaths is tragic, it should be put in perspective that far more children have died from car accidents and several other causes over the same time span.
Third, we know that remote learning is far inferior to in-person learning.
Per a recent study from McKinsey & Company:
“Our analysis shows that the impact of the pandemic on K–12 student learning was significant, leaving students on average five months behind in mathematics and four months behind in reading by the end of the school year. The pandemic widened preexisting opportunity and achievement gaps, hitting historically disadvantaged students hardest. In math, students in majority Black schools ended the year with six months of unfinished learning, students in low-income schools with seven. High schoolers have become more likely to drop out of school, and high school seniors, especially those from low-income families, are less likely to go on to postsecondary education. And the crisis had an impact on not just academics but also the broader health and well-being of students, with more than 35 percent of parents very or extremely concerned about their children’s mental health.”
However, this has not stopped teacher union officials throughout America from ringing the alarm bells and calling for a return to remote learning.
Just this week, in my hometown, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) voted to cancel in-person learning for the foreseeable future, putting more than 300,000 students in jeopardy of falling further behind the academic eight-ball.
Per CTU, “Tonight, as educators, parents, neighbors and community members we had to make the tough decision to support a resolution to return to remote learning in our city’s public schools. This decision was made with a heavy heart and a singular focus on student and community safety.”
In response, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot delivered a pointed message to CTU, saying, “If you care about our students, if you care about our families, as we do, we will not relent. Enough is enough. We are standing firm and we are going to fight to get our kids back to in-person learning. Period. Full stop.”
Lightfoot added, “We owe that to our children who suffered learning loss.”
Although I rarely agree with Lightfoot’s policy positions, I am in full agreement with her when it comes to stressing the importance of in-person learning and her hardline stance with CTU.
I hope more mayors, governors, and elected officials follow the lead of Lightfoot in holding the teacher unions’ feet to the fire.
For years, teacher unions have put their members’ interests above all else, including the students under their stead. The reprehensible behavior of most teacher unions during the pandemic, in which they have used every excuse in the book to not show up for work, has made it clear as day that school choice is the ultimate antidote to the monopolistic power wielded by teacher unions.
https://redstate.com/heartlandinstitute/2022/01/06/schools-should-be-open-and-school-choice-should-be-universal-n502709
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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11 January, 2022
Australia: Analysis of national test results shows no difference in effectiveness between public, private schools
<i>This analysis is not serious. Below is the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357550792_The_public-private_debate_school_sector_differences_in_academic_achievement_from_Year_3_to_Year_9">journal abstract</a>:
<blockquote> A higher proportion of students are privately educated in Australia, compared with many other nations. In this paper, we tested the assumption that private schools offer better quality education than public schools. We examined differences in student achievement on the National Assessment Programme: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) between public, independent, and catholic schools. Cross-sectional regressions using large samples of students (n = 1583–1810 ) at Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 showed few sector differences in NAPLAN scores in any domain. No differences were evident
*after controlling for socioeconomic status and prior NAPLAN achievement*.
Using longitudinal modelling, we also found no sector differences in the rate of growth for reading and numeracy between Year 3 and Year 9. Results indicate that already higher achieving students are more likely to attend private schools, but private school attendance does not alter academic trajectories, thus undermining conceptions of private schools adding value to student outcomes.</blockquote>
Removing the influence of prior NAPLAN scores should not have been done. The results are what they are and removing prior NAPLAN scores is irrelevant and distorting. Prior NAPLAN scores are NOT an influence on current score. They are just a correlate of it. Removing prior scores is a powerful way to remove differences so it is no wonder that no differences were found
Soioeonomic status, on the other hand IS a cause of achievement and removing its influence is therefore informative.
It looks like the equalitarian ideology of the researchers has triumphed over reality </i>
A major study of NAPLAN results over time found only slight differences in scores between the three school sectors, and these differences disappeared once a student’s family background was considered.
An analysis of students’ improvement between years 3 and 9 also found no variation between the private and public sector, “thus undermining conceptions of private schools adding value to student outcomes”, the researchers found.
The research team, led by Sally Larsen from the University of New England, looked at the NAPLAN results of more than 1500 students who were involved in the national testing program in years 3, 5, 7 and 9.
They found no difference in average achievement between the three school sectors in primary school, except that year 5 students in public schools performed slightly better in numeracy than those in Catholic schools.
Year 7 and 9 students at independent schools were slightly ahead, but their “apparent advantage … disappeared after including SES [socio-educational status],” said the report, published in the journal The Australian Educational Researcher on Tuesday.
“Results such as these highlight that school sector is not a strong predictor of basic skills achievement, and suggest that it is the social background and academic ability of children who attend private schools which support the appearance of better quality schooling.”
Dr Larsen said the researchers wanted to explore whether private schools improved student outcomes, given NAPLAN is billed as a way to evaluate the extent to which schools contribute to students’ literacy and numeracy skills.
A student’s background - particularly their parents’ education levels - is a strong predictor of their academic achievement. However, many parents do not take this into account when they look at the strong academic results from high-fee private schools.
The study’s findings can reassure parents that “it’s OK if you can’t afford private schooling”, Dr Larsen said.
“The largest predictor of academic achievement in NAPLAN is previous achievement in NAPLAN. If we accept NAPLAN does assess something about the basic achievement of students, then the school sector is not going to make a large amount of difference.”
The study’s results echo those from earlier research.
A 2018 analysis from the Grattan Institute, a think tank, found attending a public or private school had little impact on how fast a student progressed in NAPLAN.
The results of the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a test sat by students across the OECD, found there was no difference in the reading or science achievement between the school sectors once results were adjusted for socioeconomic background.
In maths, government schools slightly outperformed Catholic schools for the first time.
Peter Goss, who did the Grattan analysis, said Dr Larsen’s study used a different approach but came to the same basic conclusion.
“After taking account of socio-economic factors, Australia’s three school sectors show no meaningful difference in the rate of student learning progress in NAPLAN reading and numeracy,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean that all schools are equal. Far from it - after accounting for SES, the best schools in each sector help their students make much faster progress in reading and numeracy than average.
“If we want to improve education outcomes at scale, we have to get much better at identifying what those schools are doing. Harnessing this variation is the key.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/naplan-analysis-shows-no-difference-between-public-private-schools-20211224-p59k16.html
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Chicago Teacher Battling Cancer Refuses to Go Remote, Says Paranoid Colleagues Are Being ‘Political’
Teachers in Chicago have decided to go remote, with the Chicago Teachers Union overwhelmingly voting for a return to virtual learning because of the omicron variant of COVID-19 — despite little evidence schools remain dangerous vectors for transmission for either students or teachers.
One teacher is bucking the trend, however — even when he has every reason to go virtual.
Joseph Ocol, a teacher and chess coach with cancer, was one of the few to come back to the classroom when the vote took effect on Wednesday, telling Fox News he wanted to be “relevant.”
Ocol’s bravery isn’t shared by teachers unions in Chicago or elsewhere in America, where our children’s learning has been profoundly affected by the whims of organized labor. (We’ve been fighting teachers unions’ unreasonable demands since the beginning of the pandemic here at The Western Journal, and we’ll continue to do so. You can help us by subscribing.)
According to Fox News, even the White House is trying to get the Chicago Teachers Union back into the classroom after the late Tuesday vote, in which 73 percent of union members voted to halt in-classroom instruction, effective immediately. Over 340,000 students are affected by the change.
“The president is working, and we are all working, to keep schools opened,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday. On Tuesday, President Joe Biden said schools “can be opened safely” even with omicron.
Alas, lie down with teachers unions as the White House and Democrats have done and you’re going to get a lot of fleas.
No words coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., however, could speak as loudly as those coming from Ocol, who told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson on Wednesday that he “did not join [Chicago Public Schools] to be a union member.”
“I joined the Chicago Public Schools as a teacher first and foremost,” he said. “And I believe my role should be inside the classroom with my students. It should not be in the picket line.”
And while the genesis of the vote wasn’t so much a spike in cases as it was a disagreement between the union and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration over safety precautions, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, Ocol said this shouldn’t be a fight where the kids are the ones suffering.
“I believe there are ways to fight City Hall,” Ocol told Carlson.
“You don’t dangle the plight of the kids in the middle of the fight just to secure demands,” he said. “There are other ways. I believe there are other ways.
“I have nothing against the union. But I have something against people using the union as a tool for political gain.”
So, why is virtual learning a problem?
“I have done the remote learning for more than a year with the students. I have seen the limitations and the challenges that a teacher faces with remote learning. It’s not really effective,” Ocol said.
“I feel that it’s not also fair to the parents,” he said. “The parents need to be with the students when they should be earning a living. So, I think that the union should look at it not in a sweeping way. They did a sweeping manner on their demands — but there are schools without COVID.”
Of the 82 students he has, Ocol said, none of them had contracted COVID — nor was he aware of any teachers who had it.
But Ocol, of all teachers, has a reason to go remote — and he won’t.
“Despite my battling cancer, I still have a role to play right now,” he said. “I just want to make my life relevant somehow. The thought that I can still be of service to my students and I can touch their lives and make a difference in their lives.”
And that’s why he’d be in the classroom on Wednesday. It was enough to choke Carlson up: “You’re going to make me cry,” he said.
Sadly, profiles in courage like this aren’t just rare, they’re discouraged. Ocol makes a lie of the teachers union’s panicked rhetoric about Chicago’s classrooms being omicron petri dishes when the data simply don’t back that up.
Still, there are some willing to follow Ocol’s lead. According to the Sun-Times, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez “said about 10% of teachers showed up to buildings Wednesday despite the union’s vote earlier this week to refuse in-person work, and at those particular schools there remained a possibility some ‘academic activities’ could take place later this week if a principal chooses to hold them.”
Perhaps Ocol’s case in particular, however, will call attention to the fact Chicago’s return to remote learning is nothing more than a political stunt that hurts kids and families.
It’s been the same for virtual learning since the beginning of the pandemic, as well; we’ve long since passed the point where we know children only very rarely get severe COVID and that schools aren’t vectors of transmission.
End this madness.
https://flagandcross.com/chicago-teacher-battling-cancer-refuses-to-go-remote-says-paranoid-colleagues-are-being-political/
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Home Fighting CRT: Florida Bill Would Allow Video and Audio Recordings in Classrooms
It’s hard to kick CRT out of the classroom if you have no definitive proof of what the teachers are saying; without video or audio evidence, it’s the teacher’s word against the student.
To rectify that and help fight back against the cancer-like spread of CRT into every aspect of life, Florida Rep. Bob Rommel just proposed a bill in the Florida legislature that would allow video and audio recordings in classrooms.
Reporting on the provisions of the bill, WFLA said:
It would allow school districts to install video cameras in classrooms for the purposes of recording an “incident” — which it defines as abuse or neglect of a student by an employee or another student.
Parents of a child involved in an incident must be allowed to review the video within a week, with a stipulation that the identity of other students who aren’t involved must be blurred.
[…]Parents, students and employees would have to be notified before cameras are installed.
And that’s not all. In addition to allowing for audio and video recordings, the bill, HB 1055, would force teachers to wear microphones so that they can be heard and would allow parents to watch “incidents” of concern to ensure that their sons and daughters aren’t being indoctrinated by woke teachers.
The video and audio footage would be the responsibility of the principal, who would need to keep it for three months or until the conclusion of any investigation to which the footage/recordings are relevant.
The idea is not a new one. It has been proposed by Mark Levin and other conservatives, all of whom are deeply concerned about what is being taught in the classroom.
But, while the idea isn’t novel, the attempt to actually implement it is a significant first step toward getting CRT out of the classroom.
It remains to be seen if the Florida legislature will pass the bill. However, given DeSantis’ focus on taking down CRT, it’s certainly possible that Florida will take a dramatic step to kick CRT out of its classrooms.
https://trendingpolitics.com/fighting-crt-florida-bill-would-allow-video-and-audio-recordings-in-classrooms
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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10 January, 2022
Covid in Scotland: Ex-teachers can help keep schools open during winter crisis
Retired teachers who have been fully vaccinated should consider returning to the classroom to help keep schools open this winter, according to a senior government education adviser.
Linda Bauld, who chairs the Scottish government’s coronavirus advisory sub-group on education, said they could make “a huge contribution”.
Parents and pupils face weeks of uncertainty with teachers told isolate for ten days if a member of their household tests positive, potentially cutting the workforce to critical levels.
Bauld said retired teachers must balance their personal risk and the conditions they would be expected to work under with the needs of society.
On BBC Breakfast, she said they should consider returning carefully if they were shielding or “have got any underlying health conditions”.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/covid-in-scotland-ex-teachers-can-help-keep-schools-open-during-winter-crisis-dlkmr03f7
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RAs at Western Carolina University slam school for ‘being hijacked by wokeness’
Resident assistants at Western Carolina University are fed up with the mandatory courses that include warning students not to use certain “offensive” phrases, including the famed “melting pot” description long seen as a positive metaphor for America’s diversity.
Slide presentations leaked to Fox News tell students they are “denying” the “racial experience” of another person if they say “when I look at you I don’t see color,” and that references to a “melting pot” can be interpreted as saying people “should assimilate to the dominant culture.”
In one course called “Rainbow 101,” students are shown a picture of a “gender unicorn” outlining various “gender identities” and “gender expressions” along with a video titled “Human sexuality is complicated.”
“It really pisses me off how what should be the one of the premier leadership positions on campus, being an RA, has been hijacked by wokeness,” one Western Carolina student told Fox News. “I took the job because I wanted to help people in their college experience, not be told that men and women don’t exist and that everyone has their own gender unicorn.”
The trainings occur each semester and are mandatory for both new and existing RAs at the school, Fox News reported.
https://nypost.com/2022/01/08/western-carolina-university-slammed-for-being-hijacked-by-wokeness/
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Transgender Activists Strategize to Overcome GOP Wins With ‘Race-Class-Gender Narrative’
It’s common knowledge that the radical left dominates academia. The left routinely purges those who go against its orthodoxy on college campuses, and in so doing solidifies its grip on education.
The following are eight victims of the left’s crusade to silence anyone who diverges from the approved points of view.
1) Mike Adams
Mike Adams was a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. An outspoken conservative, Adams was the subject of a campaign to get him fired.
In June 2020, two petitions on Change.org pressured the school to fire him. An open letter signed by hundreds of criminology professors and graduate students from around the country criticized Adams for what they perceived as “hate speech.”
In one post, Adams wrote, “Don’t shut down the universities. Shut down the non-essential majors. Like Women’s Studies.” In another, he wrote, “Let’s make it illegal to mutilate the genitals of the mentally ill.”
In the open letter, the aggrieved academics and students wrote: “Professor Adams hides behind the veil of ‘free speech,’ but through his rhetoric on Twitter and his column, he has harassed, threatened, and spread hateful speech against students and faculty.”
To get rid of him, the school reached a settlement with Adams to have him retire early, in August 2020, in exchange for $504,702.76 paid out over the course of five years to cover lost salary and retirement benefits.
Adams would never collect the full settlement, however.
In July 2020, Adams was found dead at his home by police. He died of a gunshot wound that coroners would later confirm was self-inflicted.
One of Adams’ colleagues at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, L.J. Randolph Jr., appeared to minimize Adams’ death, tweeting: “Please do mourn Mike Adams’s death, but don’t sugarcoat his rhetoric as merely “controversial” or “racially charged.” He was blatantly racist, homophobic, and sexist, and his own words left no room for interpretation on any of that.”
Please do mourn Mike Adams’s death, but don’t sugarcoat his rhetoric as merely “controversial” or “racially charged.” He was blatantly racist, homophobic, and sexist, and his own words left no room for interpretation on any of that.
— Dr LJ Randolph Jr (@ProfeRandolph) July 23, 2020
2) Peter Boghossian
A former Portland State University professor, Peter Boghossian made news when it was revealed that together with fellow academics James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose, he had been submitting ludicrous academic papers to social science journals to see whether they would be published. Boghossian and company submitted the papers to prove that modern social sciences had a problem with academic rigor, along with weakening standards for what was considered good research.
The students at Portland State University also disliked how Boghossian prioritized diversity of thought in his classroom. Boghossian was the target of harassment, including graffiti in the shape of a swastika featuring his name and a Title IX probe that alleged Boghossian beat his wife and children.
While the probe went nowhere, Boghossian was required to attend school-mandated coaching and was banned from teaching things in a way that might reveal his views on “protected classes.”
In the face of all these campaigns to discredit or fire him, Boghossian resigned.
In an open letter announcing his resignation, he wrote:
Portland State University has failed in fulfilling [its duty to free thought]. In doing so, it has failed not only its students, but the public that supports it. While I am grateful for the opportunity to have taught at Portland State for over a decade, it has become clear to me that this institution is no place for people who intend to think freely and explore ideas.
3) Gregory Manco
Gregory Manco had been a non-tenured assistant math professor and volunteer assistant baseball coach at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, starting in 2005. Last February, Manco made a series of tweets on an anonymous account critical of reparations for slavery and racial-sensitivity training. A St. Joseph’s student somehow recognized the account was Manco’s and reported it to administrators, leading the school to launch an external investigation and put him on paid leave indefinitely.
Manco claimed in an interview with Philadelphia Weekly that he “received an anonymous email from a student, sympathetic to me, alerting me that screenshots of tweets of mine were being circulated along with encouragement to contact the school to get me fired.”
Manco continued, “Within four hours, I was placed on paid leave.”
In May, the results of the investigation found that Manco had not violated school policy. Nevertheless, the school decided not to rehire him in July, claiming his services were no longer required.
The move angered St. Joseph’s University’s donor base. After Manco’s firing, a group of alumni came to campus protesting Manco’s treatment by the administration and claiming they would stop donating unless “the creeping illness that seems to be taking over the college” was cured.
The school’s website still lists Manco as faculty, but when The Daily Signal contacted St. Joseph’s University to verify that, the school was unable or unwilling to provide a response as to Manco’s employment status.
4) John Staddon
John Staddon, a distinguished professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University, was removed from the American Psychological Association’s email discussion group after he made a comment suggesting that there were only two sexes.
During a discussion on whether or not there were more than two sexes, Staddon wrote, “Hmm … Binary view of sex false? What is the evidence? Is there a Z chromosome?” The email group’s three presidents then informed Staddon that due to his rhetoric, he was no longer welcome in the discussion thread.
In response to his removal, Staddon said,
It is sad that an audience of supposed scientists is unable to take any dissenting view, such as the suggestion that there really are only two sexes. Incredible! I don’t mind having one less distraction, but I think you should really be concerned at Div 6’s [the people responsible for maintaining the discussion group] unwillingness to tolerate divergent views.
5) Bruce Gilley
Back at Portland State University, political science professor Bruce Gilley has faced a number of cancellations. In 2017, Gilley released a controversial article, “The Case for Colonialism,” in a scholarly journal, attempting to argue that colonialism was beneficial to the countries being colonized.
The editor of the journal soon began receiving “serious and credible threats of personal violence,” leading Gilley to withdraw the piece in an attempt to protect the staff.
GIlley came under fire again in 2020 when his book, “The Last Imperialist: Sir Alan Burns’s Epic Defense of the British Empire,” was canceled after an avowed Maoist professor in Canada, Joshua Moufawad-Paul, started a petition arguing that Gilley’s book promoted “pro-colonial” and “white nationalist” views.
In September, the book was published by Regnery Gateway, a publishing house known for printing conservative books.
6) Charles Negy
A former psychology professor at the University of Central Florida, Charles Negy was fired after 22 years of service for criticizing the idea of systemic racism and white privilege.
During the racial riots in June 2020, Negy tweeted, “Black privilege is real: Besides affirm. action, special scholarships, and other set-asides, being shielded from legitimate criticism is a privilege.” That tweet has since been deleted.
In response, a petition went up on Change.org, calling on the school to fire Negy.
“We are calling on the University of Central Florida to dismiss psychology professor Charles Negy due to abhorrent racist comments he has made and continues to make on his personal Twitter account,” read the petition.
The school then launched an investigation into Negy, and the resulting report was used as justification to revoke Negy’s tenure and fire him.
According to The College Fix, Negy is in the process of fighting back against the school for what he views as an attack on academic freedom and free speech.
7) Leslie Neal-Boylan
Neal-Boylan was the dean of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell’s Solomont School of Nursing before she was fired for using the phrase “everyone’s life matters” in an email.
In June 2020, Neal-Boylan sent an email to students about the racial unrest that defined that summer.
“I am writing to express my concern and condemnation of the recent (and past) acts of violence against people of color,“ wrote Neal-Boylan before continuing: “BLACK LIVES MATTER, but also, EVERYONE’S LIFE MATTERS.”
Upset with the email, one student posted the email in its entirety on Twitter. “An upsetting statement made by the Dean of Nursing at UMass Lowell, including the statement ‘all lives matter’ was uncalled for, and shows the narrow-minded people in lead positions,” she wrote. “A sad day to be a nursing student at UML. Dean Leslie Neal-Boylan, your words will not be forgotten.”
Within a day, the university responded by stating that black lives mattered and releasing a statement. Two weeks later, Neal-Boylan was out of a job.
8) Nathaniel Hiers
Hiers was a math professor at the University of North Texas who was fired after he made a joke about campus fliers on microaggressions, calling them “garbage.”
In November 2019, Hiers was in the university’s staff lounge when he noticed a pile of fliers discussing microaggressions. After reading them, Hiers wrote a joking message on a nearby chalkboard, reading “Don’t leave garbage lying around.”
University of North Texas math department Chairman Ralf Schmidt was not amused. He reprimanded Hiers, and said that his joke was “stupid” and “cowardly.” The week after the incident, Hiers was fired.
Hiers sued the school with the assistance of Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit legal-aid group. Currently, the group is waiting on the judge in charge of the case to resolve a motion to dismiss.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/01/03/8-college-professors-canceled-by-left/
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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9 January, 2022
Rasmussen Polls: What Do Parents Want from the School System
What do parents think of the current school system? It can be hard to tell.
On one hand, many on and offline cheer teachers, calling them “heroes” and praising them for educating the youth.
On the other hand, as awareness of the CRT issue has spread like wildfire, many now view teachers and the school system with apprehension, worrying about what dangerous ideas leftist teachers might foist onto the labile minds of the youth.
Fortunately, Rasmussen did an excellent series of polls to determine what exactly parents want from the school system. What it found should be common sense, but will likely come as a surprise to leftists.
Most importantly, perhaps, is the fact that “81% [of those polled] believe public schools should teach that America was founded on the ideals of freedom, equality, and self-governance.” While leftist teachers might want to claim America is evil and founded on slavery, Americans are far from on board with that agenda.
In fact, when asked if schools should teach that “ America was founded on racism, slavery, and white supremacy,” only 42% of those polled said yes, with 44% saying no.
While that result is still far too close, as America obviously wasn’t founded on “white supremacy” and thus the idea that it was shouldn’t be taught, at least the majority of parents are still against teaching such nonsense.
More positively is the result that 64% of those polled believe that schools should teach “that the United States is a force for good in the world.” Only 15% disagreed.
Overall, those results show what should be common sense; the majority of Americans want their children to learn that America is, despite its flaws, a great nation founded on noble ideals, not some evil nation founded by detestable men.
On a similar note, another Rasmussen poll found what should be another common-sense result; parents want to be involved in forming the curriculum their children are learning.
Specifically, it found that 71% “of voters believe parents should play a significant role in the curriculum development process” and 85% believe that “parents should be allowed to see all curriculum, books, and other materials in classes their children are taking.”
None of those results should be shocking, but they do cut against the modern grain; as much as Democrats might claim that parents shouldn’t have a role in determining what their kids are taught, it’s obvious that parents want to play a role and have a definite idea of what their kids should learn.
As the Virginia election showed, parents want to play a role and want their kids to learn the positive truth about America, not negative lies spewed by radical leftists. It’s time for schools and teachers to wake up to that fact.
https://trendingpolitics.com/rasmussen-polls-what-do-parents-want-from-the-school-system
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‘On the edge of blowing up’: French schools overwhelmed as Omicron takes hold
Boulogne-Billancourt: It’s just a week since French schools reopened after Christmas, but already one in four teachers and nearly 50 pupils are sick with COVID-19 at the Jean Renoir high school in Boulogne-Billancourt.
With new testing and contact tracing rules introduced at the start of this term, the headteacher, Aristide Adeilkalam, now faces a huge challenge.
“It’s very, very, very complicated,” Aidelkalam said, his glasses fogging up because of his face mask.
“Forty-seven pupils have COVID. I need to identify the contacts for each. Up until now, we could handle cases one at a time, as they arrived. Now we’re overwhelmed.”
The school of 620 students and 40 teachers in the suburbs of Paris is not alone – schools all over France are struggling to manage COVID cases.
France has put emphasis on keeping schools open, no longer rushing to shut down classes with positive coronavirus cases. It chose not to extend the Christmas holidays to help control the Omicron and Delta waves, unlike some of its EU neighbours.
However, schools say it has become very hard to cope with the increase in COVID-19 cases and the new testing rules.
When a child tests positive for COVID-19, the rest of the class must each perform three tests over five days – the first at a testing centre or pharmacy, followed by two self-administered tests.
While the protocol outlines a five-day testing plan, those five days are frequently stretching to a week or more, depending on test availability.
Testing is free for all fully vaccinated French residents and the system has been both consistent and reliable throughout the pandemic – certainly relative to most other countries.
However, the new three-test protocol for students and a record numbers of COVID cases in the community have finally started to exacerbate queues at pharmacies and testing labs.
Pharmacies across the country have spent the week chasing supplies of self-test kits to meet demand from parents.
In the week to January 2, a record 8.3 million coronavirus tests were carried out in France – and that was before the holiday period ended.
Teachers’ unions are angry. One union – the SNUipp-FSU – has called for strike action, saying “schools are on the edge of blowing up.”
Accusing the government of taking “a risky gamble” with the health of teachers and pupils, the union wants a return to shutting down each class where there are COVID-19 cases.
Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer rejected the criticism on Friday. “Of course it’s tough, of course it’s complicated,” he said of the new testing protocol, adding that it’s the price the country must pay to keep schools open.
“It would be easy to say that ‘kids are not going to school any more’ – that’s not what I want.”
Despite a slow start, 90 per cent of those aged 12 and over in France have received at least two doses of a coronavirus vaccine. Vaccination to children from age five began at the end of December.
France reported 261,481 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, less than the record of more than 332,000 set on Wednesday. The seven-day average of new cases is now more than 200,000 for the first time.
And it’s not just teachers who are fed up. At the Jean Renoir school, 11-year-old Drissa Keita Cisse is also feeling pandemic fatigue.
“COVID just isn’t letting go,” he said with a sigh.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/on-the-edge-of-blowing-up-french-schools-overwhelmed-as-omicron-takes-hold-20220108-p59mqi.html
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Australia: Newish Brisbane Business School has been recognised with two awards at the global QS-Wharton Reimagine Education Awards
Bronze Awards were received by the Griffith MBA program in the Management Education category and by the Business School for its revamped Bachelor of Business degree, in the Oceania category of the Regional awards.
Griffith MBA Director Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer
MBA Director Associate Professor Stephanie Schleimer described the QS Wharton awards as the Oscars of Education awards, so to receive Bronze for their submission Tri Hita Karana: An MBA that Leads through Values was humbling.
“Trinita Karana is a Belen, Asian philosophy denoting three pathways to wellbeing through a harmony of people with people, the environment and a spiritual, Associate Professor Schleimer said.
“The Griffith MBA is the one of the world’s leading value based MBA program that builds on these principles through three core values embedded in the 17, UN SDGs and reshaped the hearts and minds of 1000s of business leaders around the world.
“We attract students from all demographic profiles including gender, age, nationality, and socio- economic status who really want to drive change.
“We’ve increased the number of women studying an MBA with us to 59%.”
“With nearly 700 active students and more than 1600 graduates, we are reaching almost 100 different industry sectors. In less than seven years, we have almost tripled our student intake.”
The new Bachelor of Business degree was recognised following a five-year project to redesign the first year, 22 majors and final capstone course.
Students are now given greater flexibility to complete a foundation year before exploring or committing to a wide variety of majors.
“This is a wonderful achievement and demonstrates that the work we have done is of value to current and new students,” Professor David Grant, Pro Vice Chancellor of GBS, said.
“The curriculum redesign for first year subjects produced an engaging, interdisciplinary suite of subjects with incredible online content such as animated videos, industry expert videos, interactive tools and more.
“This was underpinned by peer supported learning events, live workshops, online consultations and a weekly Business Social Hour where people could meet to discuss real life issues, study tips, and matters that the whole of the cohort would be interested in.”
https://news.griffith.edu.au/2021/12/23/business-school-nabs-bronze-in-education-awards/
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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7 January, 2022
Statistics Show America’s Education System Is Failing: CRT and Lower Expectation Equals Fewer Literate Graduates, Expert Says
According to government statistics, America’s education system is failing. According to one expert, lower expectations and the shift in focus from academic excellence in mathematics, science, reading, and history toward the implementation of social constructs like critical race theory equals fewer literate graduates.
“Public records and other evidence show that state-level and some local education officials are no longer focused on maintaining high academic standards and providing the best public education possible to students,” Liv Finne wrote in her September 2021 report (pdf) regarding the lowering of academic standards by school officials in Washington state as they implement CRT. “Instead, a concern for learning has been replaced by an aggressive political agenda designed to instill doubt, mental pain and low expectations in students. This race-centered agenda also seeks to divide children from teachers, their own communities and from each other. This harmful trend can only be resolved through policies that return high-quality academic standards to public education and well-funded and supportive education-choice programs that allow families to access alternatives services to meet the learning needs of all children.”
Finne, a former adjunct scholar now serving as Director of the Center for Education at Washington Policy Center, has been analyzing education policy for the past 13 years. Her research suggests the unmistakable decline in the literacy of America’s students from fourth to twelfth grade is a direct result of the shift from academic excellence toward social constructs such as CRT.
“Internationally, we do pretty well at the fourth grade,” Finne told The Epoch Times, “but we decline from there.” Recent statistics support her claim.
Government data for 2019 shows the average fourth grader has a 41 percent proficiency level in mathematics. By the eighth grade, the proficiency level drops to 34 percent. By the twelfth grade, America’s students have an average math proficiency level of only 24 percent. In reading, fourth graders have an average proficiency rate of 35 percent. By eighth grade, the proficiency level drops to 34 percent, and by the twelfth grade, America’s average student shows only a slight proficiency improvement to 37 percent. In writing, the proficiency levels are 28 percent in fourth grade with eighth and twelfth graders sharing a score of 27 percent.
America’s students fare worse in science, with fourth-graders having only a 36 percent proficiency rate and eighth-graders dropping to 35 percent. Twelfth-graders have only a 22 rate of proficiency in science. The worst scores come in history, with fourth-graders starting out with only 20 percent proficiency and dropping to 15 percent by the eighth grade. By grade 12, America’s students have a paltry 12 percent proficiency level in history.
Recent numbers from USA Facts show similar results.
According to Finne, there are a number of reasons for the steady decline in literacy among America’s students the longer they remain in school. Number one is “the low expectations we have of our teachers.”
The Shortage of Qualified Teachers
“We don’t expect our teachers to be particularly well educated and they are not trained to teach the science of reading,” Finne said. “So basically, we have a public school system that is negligently instructing children how to read, and it’s been going on for decades.”
Conversely, teachers blame other factors for the academic decline among America’s students.
According to a March 2021 report (pdf) by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the decline in academic achievement begins with the shortage of teachers. This shortage has triggered a domino effect, forcing principals to hire less qualified teachers or unqualified substitute teachers, which leaves students receiving instructions from teachers who lack sufficient skills and knowledge, which inevitably leads to poor levels of proficiency in basic subject matter. A May 2019 EPI study (pdf) showed nearly 30 percent of the teachers blamed low academic achievement on students “coming to school unprepared to learn.” Nearly 22 percent of teachers blamed parents who “are struggling to be involved” in their children’s education.
“More than one in five teachers (21.8 percent) report that they have been threatened and one in eight (12.4 percent) say they have been physically attacked by a student at their current school,” the 2019 report stated further. “Compounding the stress, teachers report a level of conflict with—and lack of support from—administrators and fellow teachers, and little say in their work. More than two-thirds of teachers report that they have less than a great deal of influence over what they teach in the classroom (71.3 percent) and what instructional materials they use (74.5 percent), which suggests low respect for their knowledge and judgment.”
Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University School of Education blames inequity of funding and resource allocation for the low scholastic skills of America’s students, insisting that the analyses of recent data reveal that “on every tangible measure—from qualified teachers to curriculum offerings—schools serving greater numbers of students of color had significantly fewer resources than schools serving mostly white students.” Darling-Hammond further suggests that “policies associated with school funding, resource allocations, and tracking leave minority students with fewer and lower-quality books, curriculum materials, laboratories, and computers; significantly larger class sizes; less qualified and experienced teachers; and less access to high-quality curriculum.”
Finne suggested another reason why the system doesn’t correct itself is that the education system is a monopoly run by the government and there’s no way to hold the system accountable for results. “We have tried for 40 years, since the report during the Reagan years—A Nation at Risk—revealed we were in real trouble in our education system,” Finne said.
Since then, Finne said other top-down efforts like Common Core, pushed by the Obama administration, also failed. Rather than improving education, the testing standards set by Common Core actually furthered illiteracy because those standards were “based on good intentions” and policies “to make everyone feel good, but they failed because it’s based on a government monopoly system that ultimately degrades the quality of education.”
Lowering the Academic Achievement Bar
Rather than develop curriculum that provides students with the qualifications needed to graduate high school, Finne says the education system has opted to lower the bar of academic standards.
“They’re lowering the bar in a couple of ways,” Finne explained. “Like the Ethnic Studies framework passed by the State of Washington in 2019, critical race theory concepts are now woven into the learning standards of all of the different subjects.”
As Finne explains, traditional educational standards have been reorganized into systems of oppression and the whole CRT construct—a “false philosophy from radical professors in higher education” is now being “imposed as the truth” in the standards of learning in K-12 schools.
“When you take attention away from the basics, and focus on teaching this ideology, you’re going to get a lowered level of knowledge and skill acquisition of the basics in reading, math, history, and science; not to mention learning falsehoods in history like the 1619 Project,” Finne insisted. “It’s astonishing.”
Finne also cited the movement to get rid of testing.
“I see the state board of education is now working on eliminating the need for tests,” Finne noted, and while she is not a big proponent of testing and believes students are currently being “over-tested,” she believes the elimination of all testing would be a disaster because we would not know which kids are falling behind and we would lose the proof that the current standards are failing.
Finne explained that one of the things the top-down reforms did was to require state tests to measure student knowledge in math, reading, and science. Those tests revealed a huge academic achievement gap of 20 to 30 points between white and Asian students and those of black, Hispanic, and Native American children.
“So, the CRT concepts come along by virtue of the radicals,” Finne said. “Educators no longer learn how to teach reading writing and science. They learn how to teach social justice to the children. So, their priorities have been turned completely upside down. We’re not focused on teaching children who aren’t doing well in schools to a higher level. We’re lowering the bar.”
According to Finne’s September 2021 (pdf) report for Washing Policy Center, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in Washington State is now in the process of lowering learning standards in the areas of English language arts, history, social studies, math, and science, and replacing them with standards that “incorporate best practices in Ethnic Studies.” They are also developing Ethnic Studies materials for K-12 grades. The decision follows Washington State Governor Jay Inslee’s signing of SB 5044 J (pdf) in April, which requires CRT training for all school staff, board directors, teachers, and administrators in public schools across the state. Earlier, in 2019, the legislature voted to weaken the official definition of “Basic Education” by shifting learning resources away from core academic standards to “producing global citizens in a global society with an appreciation for diverse cultures.”
According to Finne, the new push by the school system to abandon efforts of academic achievement and shift toward social constructs like CRT is an effort to hide the fact that they have failed in their jobs to educate our children
https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/statistics-show-americas-education-system-is-failing-crt-and-lower-expectation-equals-fewer-literate-graduates-expert-says_4179014.html
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UK: Keep schools open by merging classes, Nadhim Zahawi tells head teachers
Head teachers should send groups of children home and merge classes if necessary to keep schools open, Nadhim Zahawi has said.
All secondary school pupils in England will be expected to wear facemasks in classrooms as well as communal areas once schools reopen from Tuesday.
Critics including Robert Halfon, chairman of the education select committee, said that masks could be damaging to children and questioned whether their reintroduction was necessary but scientists argued there was no evidence of their use harming pupils.
Teaching unions and some primary school heads said that more was needed to make schools safe amid the Omicron wave.
Schools start reopening from tomorrow and all secondary pupils are expected to take lateral flow tests on site before rejoining lessons
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/merge-classes-and-send-pupils-home-to-keep-schools-open-says-nadhim-zahawi-cphpzgfqw
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Woke Arizona State University students accuse college of 'persecuting' THEM after they were reprimanded for making two white students leave campus multicultural space
A pair of Arizona State University students have unleashed a nine minute diatribe after they were disciplined for taunting two white male students who entered the college's multicultural space.
On Monday, Mastaani Qureshi, an undergraduate and Sarra Tekola a graduate student posted a video on social media alleging ASU had carried out an investigation into their actions and called for them to write a three-page paper over the September 2021 incident.
In the video posted in response to the University's punishment Qureshi and Tekola claim the investigation into their actions was 'racially biased' adding they were 'forced to confront these men', because, in their view, the ASU faculty allegedly refused to answer their cries for help.
'Dear White People, A.K.A. ASU — You openly discriminated against us on November 16 when you handed down your decision from your racially biased investigation,' Qureshi said.
'We're being persecuted for defending our multicultural center from racism and sexism … ASU is a violent place.'
In September 2021, the women filmed themselves rounding on the two white men who they claim were taunting them by wearing an anti-Biden shirt, toting a Chick-Fil-A cup, and using a laptop with a pro-police sticker.
Qureshi and Tekola have now lashed out after they were punished for taking it upon themselves to ask the white students to leave for what they claim was 'racist' and 'offensive' stickers and a t-shirt.
In their latest video, they condemned being ordered to write up how 'next time, when they talk with white people about race and society they will be civil' and to reflect on how they might deal with a similar situation in the future and 'facilitate a civil dialogue' about the purposes of a multicultural space.
In its ruling the university wrote that to the pair that it 'expects that such dialogues will be both respectful toward other parties and mindful of the setting in which they occur.
'In this instance, the confrontation captured on video was not respectful dialogue, and its heated nature in an enclosed space where numerous other students were studying caused disruption to their activities as well as to the previously quiet study activities of the students who you confronted.'
Despite their penalty it was clear from their response on Instagram the pair did not agree with the university's findings and are unlikely to write a paper on how they might respond in the future.
'ASU does not recognize the difference between equity and equality and refuses to center the most marginalized,' Tekola ranted. Equality means offering everyone the same opportunity, while equity - which has been co-opted by woke campaigners in recent years - means ensuring everyone achieves the same outcome.
Tekola then spoke up arguing asking 'students of color' to be more civil in the face of alleged 'white supremacy and neo-Nazism' is 'actually violent.'
The pair also claim to have been on the receiving end of 'rape, death and lynching threats' on social media and are now suffering from 'emotional and psychological violence' since their first video went viral.
Qureshi and Tekola concluded their video by asserting ASU to be number one at 'ignoring marginalized students.'
'ASU refuses to protect students of color, and the world needs to know how they treat us here on this campus when we push to make it a better place for all,' Tekola said in a statement.
Tekola and Qureshi are ASU students and organizers of the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition, a student-run organization not affiliated with the University that had been advocating for the development of a multicultural space since 2015.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10366483/Arizona-State-University-students-persecuted-guilty-harassing-two-white-students.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)
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6 January, 2022
Tennessee College Offers $3k Incentive to Professors Teaching DEI
The University of Memphis told its professors that they could receive $3,000 stipends for “infusing” diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice into their curricula as part of the university’s “Eradicating Systemic Racism and Promoting Social Justice Initiative.”
That comes from an email sent to the faculty and obtained by the Washington Fee Beacon, which reported that:
The University of Memphis told faculty they could collect a $3,000 stipend for redesigning their curricula to align with the university’s commitment to “diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice,” according to an email sent to all faculty obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. The offer is part of the university’s “Eradicating Systemic Racism and Promoting Social Justice Initiative.”
Interested faculty are asked to submit a copy of syllabi to be reworked as well as a 500-word “narrative” on their “diversity, equity, and inclusion philosophy” and how the new lessons will “address disparities” in their subject area.
The email itself states:
The Eradicating Systemic Racism and Promoting Social Justice Initiative at the University of Memphis is offering an opportunity for interested faculty to critically consider methods and approaches to redesign existing courses housed within their departments to better advance the tenets and charge of the University’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice. This announcement offers a competitive grant opportunity designed to support faculty who are interested in redesigning and aligning existing course syllabi with the goals established by the workgroup entitled, Infusing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice into Existing Courses/Curriculum.
Further, the email describes the objectives of the DEI program as:
Integrate culture and climate as supports to curriculum content, methods, and teaching and learning
Accumulate and disseminate models for curriculum self-assessment, program planning and continuous learning
So, by infusing their classrooms with leftist talking points, teachers will get a total of $3,000, with $1,500 being paid when they redesign their lesson plan and another $1,500 when they teach the politics-infused, woke classes.
https://trendingpolitics.com/tennessee-college-offers-3k-incentive-to-professors-teaching-dei/
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Yale Bans Students From Eating OUTDOORS At Local Restaurants
When the wealthy and connected consider what universities they would be open to sending their children to, Yale is probably part of the conversations.
With an average annual cost of $79,370, the qualities the students bring to them include reasoning and critical thinking. Yet with all of this being said, Yale is treating their students as part of the collective instead of individuals this semester.
Students at Yale University will be banned from patronizing local businesses and restaurants over COVID-19 concerns, despite the school mandating booster shots to attend.
The Ivy League university – which has 58 percent of students living in on-campus housing – made the announcement in an email Tuesday afternoon.
Yale Daily News reported the university’s new policy in a tweet. It is part of the school’s campus-wide quarantine, in effect until Feb. 7, and requires students to stay in their residences “until they receive results of an arrival test.”
The university announced the quarantine last month and will hold remote classes for two weeks until the quarantine is lifted.
https://trendingpolitics.com/yale-bans-students-from-eating-outdoors-at-local-restaurants-for-spring-semester-ethom
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What Bullying Teacher Wrote On A Student’s Homework Had Everyone Seeing Red!
It’s critical for teachers to educate students to avoid bullying or be involved in anything related to bullying is absolutely wrong.
But what happened in Valley View school is something bothering me as a parent.
Chris Piland, a father of a student from the said school has initiated a petition to fire his son’s teacher for harsh and un-motivational comment that will surely affect his son’s self-esteem.
The teacher has been reportedly giving her second-grade students the task of solving many subtraction problems that is equivalent to year 3 within a three-minute time frame.
Kamdyn, the student who was harshly criticized by the teacher received his test with a comment written, “Absolutely pathetic he answered 13 in 3 min! Sad” accompanied by a drawing of a sad face.
Because of Piland’s infuriation, he was able to gather 15,000 signatures seeking to terminate the teacher’s action.
He posted a picture of his son’s homework and captioned it with, “My son Kamdyn’s teacher has been so rude to him and myself all year. He comes home with this and I am beyond frustrated that someone would write this on a child’s work. Such great motivation.”
“Thanks to all the efforts and support of the dedicated people who signed and shared this petition, I’m happy to announce that the teacher in question is currently being investigated by the Valley View school board,” He added.
It was already bad to witness students bully another student but it is a new level when the teacher initiates the bullying in her class.
https://theinformedamerican.net/what-one-teacher-wrote-on-a-students-homework-had-everyone-seeing-red/
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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5 January, 2022
Fauci Says Its 'Safe Enough' for Schools to Reopen While Teachers Unions Push for School Closures
White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci on Sunday expressed support for children returning to classrooms following the holiday break, putting him at odds with some teachers unions who wish to keep schools closed because of what they see as safety concerns over the rise in coronavirus cases.
Fauci said during an appearance on ABC's "This Week" with host George Stephanopoulos that, while there is a recent surge in cases due to the highly infectious omicron variant of the coronavirus, he supports reopening schools for in-person learning because students have suffered the negative impacts of attending school online instead of in-person, there are high vaccinations rates among teachers and children five and up are eligible for the vaccine.
"When we've done the balance so many times over the last year about the deleterious effects of keeping children out of in physical presence in the school, and it's very clear that there are some really serious effects about that," Fauci said. "If you look at the safety of children with regard to infection, we have most of the teachers, [an] overwhelming majority of them are vaccinated. We now can vaccinate children from 5 years of age and older."
"I plead with parents to please seriously consider vaccinating your children, wearing masks in the school setting, doing test-to-stay approaches when children get infected," he continued. "I think all those things put together, it's safe enough to get those kids back to school, balanced against the deleterious effects of keeping them out."
Fauci's comments come as some teachers unions are ramping up the pressure on schools to delay a return to in-person learning amid surging COVID infections caused by omicron.
American Federation of Teachers in Massachusetts president Beth Kontos said in a statement released Friday that "Massachusetts public school students and their families have struggled with the uncertainty and anxiety of the COVID pandemic for two years" and that they "have the right to know that after the holiday break they are returning to safe schools."
Kontos said, "Given the ever-increasing infection rate and the virulent behavior of the current COVID strain, we know they will not" be returning to safe schools.
The teachers union president also said the "tests provided by the state allow for testing of all teachers and staff, and that should proceed," and added that such tests "should then be followed by a period of remote learning until the current wave of infections abates."
"This is not the time for finger pointing," Kontos continued. "It is time for Governor Baker and Commission Reilly to accept the fact that we are in the midst of a runaway public health crisis that is beyond our control. They must acknowledge that returning students to school on Monday will inevitably make the crisis much worse."
And Chicago Teachers Union members indicated last week that the organization may strike if their demands for negative COVID tests for all students as a prerequisite to return to school after the holiday break or a two-week remote learning period are not met.
More than 90 percent of the union's members voted for a "remote-work action" for the first week after winter break if Chicago Public Schools "doesn't call for a period of remote instruction after winter break," a Wednesday news release from CTU President Jesse Sharkey revealed.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/landonmion/2022/01/02/fauci-says-its-safe-enough-for-schools-to-reopen-while-teachers-union-push-for-school-closures-n2601313
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Wokeism Ended His Father’s Teaching Career. Now, This Teacher Has a Warning for Other Educators
It was 9 o’clock on a Wednesday night. Albert Paulsson, who teaches high school civics in New Jersey, had finished another long day in class. He sounded tired when he answered my call.
“Is this still a good time to talk?” I asked. Paulsson assured me it was.
He wanted to share some concerns over what he sees happening in public education–concerns about students being fed one-sided, woke perspectives and narrow definitions of words such as “equity” and “diversity.”
But most of all, Paulsson, 49, wanted to tell me about his father, Martin Paulsson, who was his inspiration for becoming a teacher. The elder Paulsson, however, wound up a victim of the politically correct culture that now dominates education.
Martin Paulsson, born in 1942, put himself through school at Trenton State College in New Jersey, graduating in 1967. He decided to teach history and went on to earn his master’s degree and doctorate in history from Rutgers University.
He taught at a local public school in New Jersey and was a professor at a couple of colleges in the state over the course of a nearly 50-year teaching career.
Albert Paulsson says that for his father, teaching was far more than a job.
“What mattered most to my dad was helping other kids, especially those who were from disadvantaged backgrounds,” he told me.
His father taught high school students for about 40 years and gravitated toward the children “who really needed to be uplifted,” he said.
Growing up, Paulsson remembers, his father supported his students and often took time to talk with them or simply be a listening ear.
When he died in 2020, many former students sent letters to Paulsson, expressing how much his father had meant to them.
“You were like a second father to many,” one wrote.
Another student from the class of 1977 said Martin Paulsson was “one of the best teachers I ever had,” and detailed his influence:
I distinctly remember his Bill Buckley perspectives [that] he brought to challenge us to think, to opine, and to argue our points with as much clarity and forcefulness as we could. He tied current events in with history, got everybody involved and helped us all see that all opinions matter, just so long as you could back it up. He was always energetic and positive and there is at least this one guy who has had a better life because of his presence.
After Martin Paulsson retired from teaching high school in 1998, he continued teaching history at a local New Jersey college. That’s where the veteran teacher first experienced the effects of woke cancel culture.
Here is how his son recounted the story:
In 2017, the elder Paulsson had a student in his world history class who was a particularly excellent writer. Her work stood out among other students, and he read one of her papers aloud to his class to highlight the quality of her writing.
The pair developed a wonderful relationship as teacher and pupil, Paulsson said, and they would joke with one another often in good fun.
The student “would tease him once in a while and call him ‘a crazy old white guy’ and he would tease her back,” the son recalled.
“It was this endearing sort of teasing, of just having a good time, because it [was] a relationship of trust and they really thought the world of each other,” he said.
At the end of the semester, the student again wrote an excellent paper. The professor congratulated her and teased: “Not bad for a girl.”
The two laughed because “that was their relationship,” Paulsson said. But sitting a couple seats over was a student majoring in gender studies who did not find the comment funny. This student reported Paulsson’s father to school administrators.
The college didn’t take any disciplinary action, but the incident was noted in his father’s file, he said.
The following semester, the elder Paulsson again was teaching a history course; an African American student in his class aspired to become a history teacher himself. The student visited the professor on occasion during office hours to talk about teaching. The two developed a good relationship.
One day, Paulsson’s father was teaching the class about groups that form or emerge in society to push back on certain norms. He gave the example of the organization Black Lives Matter and asked the African American student if he would share a little bit about his own experience as a young black man in America.
The student shared some thoughts and seemed pleased to have the opportunity to do so, Paulsson said.
But another student in class didn’t find it appropriate for a white teacher to ask a black student to share his experiences. The professor again was reported.
The college gave Paulsson’s father a choice between resigning or taking a semester off and completing “cultural sensitivity” training, at the end of which he would appear before a panel to be questioned.
“My father, at that point, he was just exhausted,” Paulsson said, as well as “demoralized by it.”
The professor chose to end his 50-year teaching career in 2018.
Martin Paulsson died in April 2020, a little over a year after he stopped teaching.
His father’s final year of life was hard, Paulsson said, because he no longer had “that stimulation and that sense of connection, that love and passion he had for teaching, that was taken away from him.”
“Because students are now being conditioned to basically look at the world based on their feelings, if something is disagreeable to their emotional well-being, well, then it’s unacceptable and therefore it has to be eliminated or in some way silenced,” he said.
The younger Paulsson has taught for 23 years and currently teaches Advanced Placement government, economics, and a course on the Constitution at a public high school in New Jersey. He says he is concerned that woke culture, long present on college campuses, is now trickling down to high schools.
“Teachers and students across the country don’t feel comfortable sharing certain things, certain opinions, certain perspectives,” Paulsson said, adding that he thinks this is a sign that “our education system is deteriorating.”
Paulsson says he is careful not to share his political views with students because he feels it would be unfair to them. But students have told him that he is the exception because most teachers are overt about their political views.
Students have thanked him for allowing a variety of views to be expressed in his classroom, Paulsson told me.
Last summer, Paulsson attended a workshop for teachers in his school district. One of the slides presented contained a quote from the late Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, a known Marxist, in essence claiming that there is no such thing as an apolitical classroom.
Paulsson says his concern is that teachers now are encouraged to be activists instead of educators. Words such as “diversity, inclusion, and equity” are manipulated in schools to push an agenda, he said.
“What concerns me is how … so much of the material that’s given to teachers is really just focused on this sort of postmodern state of society,” Paulsson said, adding:
We must be honest about the past. But then we need to build from that to work together to establish bonds of affection and trust for each other, to recognize our common humanity and the dignity of each individual. And to continue to move toward a more perfect union. Yet, so much that is being pushed is going to erode all of that. Theories that are being presented as truth serve to divide, polarize, and condition contempt for concepts like merit and historical figures like Abraham Lincoln.
To prevent other teachers from suffering the same fate as Martin Paulsson, there must be a shift in the education system.
The focus of education, his son says, should be ensuring that “each and every student has access and opportunity to fully develop their potential.”
It’s time to return to that focus, he said.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/12/22/wokeism-ended-his-fathers-teaching-career-now-this-teacher-has-a-warning-for-other-educators
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12-year-old girl who earned her high school diploma at age NINE graduates from COLLEGE with a 4.0 GPA - becoming the youngest-ever person to get a degree from her Florida school
A 12-year-old girl who earned her high school diploma at age nine has become the youngest student to graduate from Broward College in the school's 61-year history.
Sawsan Ahmed of Weston, Florida, graduated from the college in Fort Lauderdale with an associate's degree with a concentration in biological science on December 15 after earning a 4.0 GPA.
The pre-teen will continue her education this spring at the University of Florida, where she plans to study computer programming, chemistry, and biology.
'Their courses with Python programming through biology really caught my interest,' Sawsan told ABC News. 'It's an amazing place for really studying those topics so it's really cool that I was accepted I get to go there next semester.'
The pre-teen's family realized she was gifted academically when she advanced to a curriculum that was several years ahead of her grade level while she was being homeschooled.
Sawsan’s mother, Jeena Santos Ahmed, told the news outlet that her daughter has been in charge of her education from day one, saying they did their best to encourage her interests.
'We talked to her about new developments that we read about, we let her listen to NPR and learn about new scientific discoveries,' she said.
Sawsan was just nine when she earned her high school diploma and passed the Postsecondary Education Readiness Test (PERT), a placement test that Florida uses to determine whether a student is ready for college-level course work.
By the time she was 10, she was attending in-person classes at Broward College. She started with one class per semester to give herself time to adjust to the more advanced curriculum, but she quickly excelled.
'At the very beginning, everyone was helping me, calling me "honey," "sweetie," things like that," she recalled of the students in her science lab. 'But by the end of the semester, all of the other students were asking me for help on questions.'
After the COVID-19 pandemic led to her extracurricular activities being moved online or canceled, she had more free time to take multiple college classes at once.
Sawsan and her family found out she was accepted into the University of Florida last summer. Her father, Wesam Ahmed, a physician at the Cleveland Clinic’s cancer center in Abu Dhabi, would like to see her enter the field of medicine one day.
During the pandemic, she was able to take multiple classes at once as she worked towards her associate's degree +8
During the pandemic, she was able to take multiple classes at once as she worked towards her associate's degree
'Physicians like my dad save lives one at a time, but if I invented technology that can work in medicine it could save many lives at once,' she said.
The college student explained that she is inspired by strong women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), saying Andrea Gellatly — a biomedical engineer and team leader on the competition series Battlebots — is one of her role models.
When she's not studying science, she enjoys art, music, watching Disney movies, and playing video games, just like any other kid her age.
Sawsan hasn't even started classes at the University of Florida yet, but she already has big plans for her future. After receiving her bachelor's degree, she would like to earn a medical degree or doctorate.
'Shoot for the stars and don't underestimate yourself,' she advised. 'That mentality is what brought me here.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-10369115/12-year-old-girl-graduates-college-4-0-GPA.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)
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4 January, 2022
Oklahoma Proposes Bill That Would Allow Parents to Remove Sexually Graphic Books From School Libraries
The bill, Senate Bill 1142, would give parents a right to ask for the removal of “books that are of a sexual nature that a reasonable parent or legal guardian would want to know of or approve of prior to their child being exposed to it,” according to the bill’s language.
“No public school district, public charter school, or public school library shall maintain in its inventory or promote books that make as their primary subject the study of sex, sexual preferences, sexual activity, sexual perversion, sex-based classifications, sexual identity, or gender identity,” the bill says.
If a student’s parent or legal guardian believes a public school library is maintaining books in violation of the bill, they would be able to submit a written request to the school district superintendent or charter school administrator to remove the books from the library, if the bill passes, and such books would need to be removed within 30 days of the request.
If the books are not removed within 30 days of the request, the responsible school employee would be “dismissed or not reemployed” and “be prohibited from being employed by a public school district or public charter school for a period of two (2) years,” if the bill passes.
Additionally, if the bill passes and a book meeting the above conditions is not removed, a parent or legal guardian could seek monetary damages, including a minimum of $10,000 each day the book requested for removal is not taken off of school library shelves. “This act shall become effective July 1, 2022,” the bill says.
The debate about whether or not books featuring sexual themes belong in school libraries has been ongoing in school districts across the country.
In Virginia, Stacy Langton, a Fairfax County Public Schools mother, complained to the school board about two books featuring child pornography and pedophilia available to young teenagers at school libraries. After reviewing the books, Fairfax County Public Schools decided to put the two books back on library shelves as part of what it said is an “ongoing commitment to provide diverse reading materials.”
https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/12/30/oklahoma-proposes-bill-that-would-allow-parents-to-remove-sexually-graphic-books-from-school-libraries
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Why are COVID restrictions tightening like a noose around what's left of millions of American childhoods
It felt – for a fleeting moment – that 2022 was dawning into a new reality. Maybe, just maybe, we could learn to live our normal lives amid the COVID pandemic. Adults would return to work, and children would return to school.
The CDC announced new guidelines recommending that people can return to public life following a positive COVID diagnosis, after just five days of isolation (instead of ten) if they were symptom free.
But it was not to be.
On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the CDC is considering updated--updated guidance requiring Americans to test COVID negative before exiting the newly shortened virus isolation.
And as usual -- the kids get it the worst.
Perfectly healthy children - those least at risk of serious illness and death - are watching their lives slide back towards March of 2020.
Schools around the country are either announcing closures, or a one or two day 'break' to do COVID testing on their entire student and teacher population before returning to in-person learning.
In the nation's capital, negative tests are required for all students to return to class after winter break.
Schools in New Brunswick, New Jersey; Madison, Wisconsin; and Charles county, Maryland have all decided to start the new term virtually – just to name a few.
The requirement from both public and private schools to test before returning to class has clogged testing sites across the country and sent emergency rooms into overload as people request testing there.
The sudden new testing requirements and surprise closures even sparked a surprisingly amount of left-wing outrage.
'Parents in NYC public schools are being asked to try to get our children tested b4 returning to school tomorrow. This is an abject failure. If the city wanted testing, they should have provided home tests before the holiday or rapid testing for every student at the door tomorrow,' tweeted author of the 1619 Project, Hannah Nikole-Jones on Sunday.
'What the [f***]? School was already set to be closed Monday and Tuesday, but now due to snow on Monday they are also closing on Wednesday???' tweeted liberal journalist Matthew Yglesias, who was triggered by a DC storm extending his neighborhood school's temporarily closure for testing.
And if you think that these closures will last for just a few days or weeks, I've got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn and it's called 'Two Weeks to Stop the Spread.'
We're able to live our lives: go to sporting events, the gym, restaurants and parties, but our children continue to be yanked in and out of school and subjected to onerous rules.
Many in public health (most notably Dr. Leana Wen, a CNN medical analyst, emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health) now say that cloth masks are useless.
So are schools are changing their masking regulations? Are they coming to the realization that they have been operating safely for a year with nothing more than 'facial decorations,' as Dr. Wen called cloth masks?
As restrictions on adults loosen, they tighten like a noose around what's left of millions of American childhoods.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10364973/COVID-restrictions-adults-loosen-tighten-American-childhoods-BETHANY-MANDEL.html
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UK: Backlash against face masks in secondary schools as Covid cases ease
Plans to force children to wear face masks in secondary schools were hit by a backlash on Sunday night as figures showed a fall in the number of new Covid cases.
Tory MPs, a government scientific adviser, charities and parents' groups warned of the long-term impact of masks on children's mental health and said restrictions must be balanced against the risks of the virus.
It came as data showed that new cases in England dropped by almost a quarter on Sunday after five days of successive rises. Daily Covid hospital admissions also fell by a quarter in two days, declining from 2,370 on Wednesday to 1,781 on Friday.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said the data showed imposing face masks in classrooms was "premature", while David Jones, a former minister, urged a rethink. Prof Russell Viner, a Sage adviser, called for the order to be kept under constant review because masks impact young people's ability to learn and socialise.
Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England, said it was "concerning" that pupils were being asked to wear masks to school when the same was not expected of adults going to work.
Jo Campion, the deputy director of advocacy at the National Deaf Children's Society, said the return of masks would "fill thousands of deaf students with dread" as it made lip reading impossible, and Molly Kingsley, the founder of the parent campaign group UsForThem, said children need "an unrestricted, normal school life".
On Sunday night, government sources confirmed that there was likely to be a statement to the Commons on the latest rules when MPs return on Wednesday.
Both Sir Iain and Mr Jones rebelled against the Government on Covid restrictions last month, when Boris Johnson faced the biggest Commons revolt of his premiership. The latest masks move risks further backbench anger, although there will not be an opportunity for a formal rebellion because it is guidance, not law – meaning it will not be put to a vote.
However, concerns are likely to be fuelled after unions warned that the measures would not be enough to prevent "inevitable" disruption to education, with staff sickness levels likely to mean classes, and in some cases entire schools, are sent home.
In a letter to schools, Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, urged retired teachers to return to the classroom to cover any shortages, while officials told schools to consider measures such as combining classrooms.
A government source said on Sunday: "Nobody in the Government wants to see children wear masks for a day longer than necessary, which is why we have built review points into this guidance."
The measure is set to be re-examined on Jan 26, along with other Plan B rules that are expected to be rolled over at the first review point this Wednesday. The insider said the "time-limited decision" had been made to help keep schools open and children in classrooms.
It came as the latest figures for England showed 123,547 cases reported on Sunday, falling from 162,572 the day before – a 24 per cent drop and the first after five days of rises.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/01/02/backlash-against-face-masks-schools-covid-cases-ease/
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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3 January, 2022
NY School Replaced Popular Christmas Song 'Jingle Bells' Over Racist Origins
A New York state public school did not sing the Christmas song, "Jingle Bells," due to its origins being linked to 19th-century minstrel shows in which white people wore blackface.
Council Rock Primary School replaced the Christmas classic with other songs that did not have "the potential to be controversial or offensive," principal Matt Tappon told the Rochester Beacon, which first broke the story on Dec. 23.
Tappon and other school staff confirmed to the local paper that the decision to nix the song was based, in part, on a 2017 article by professor Kyna Hamill, director of Boston University’s Core Curriculum, who detailed her research into the origins of "Jingle Bells," its composer, James L. Pierpont, and other mid-19th century songs about sleighs.
She obtained documents revealing that the song’s first public performance may have been in 1857 at a Boston minstrel show, a type of entertainment at the time that included white performers sporting blackface.
Hamill, however, does not believe her findings should have led to the school replacing the song.
When informed by the Beacon that her research was partly the reason why the school removed the song, she said that she was "quite shocked the school would remove the song from the repertoire" and that she did not recommend that it stop being sung by children.
"My article tried to tell the story of the first performance of the song, I do not connect this to the popular Christmas tradition of singing the song now," Hamill said.
"The very fact of (“Jingle Bells’”) popularity has to do (with) the very catchy melody of the song, and not to be only understood in terms of its origins in the minstrel tradition. … I would say it should very much be sung and enjoyed, and perhaps discussed," she continued.
Brighton Central School District Superintendent Kevin McGowan addressed the decision on Dec. 28, writing in a letter posted to the district’s website that "we couldn’t be more proud of our staff and the work they continue to do to reflect on what they teach and how they teach in an ongoing effort to be more culturally responsive, thoughtful, and inclusive."
"Choosing songs other than 'Jingle Bells' wasn’t a major policy initiative, a 'banning' of the song or some significant change to a concert repertoire done in response to a complaint," McGowan wrote. "This wasn’t 'liberalism gone amok' or 'cancel culture at its finest' as some have suggested. Nobody has said you shouldn’t sing 'Jingle Bells' or ever in any way suggested that to your children. I can assure you that this situation is not an attempt to push an agenda."
"We were not and are not even discussing the song and its origins, whatever they may be," he continued. "This was very simply a thoughtful shift made by thoughtful staff members who thought they could accomplish their instructional objective using different material. The change in material is also not something being forced on children or propaganda being spread. The teachers have never taught about the song in any way when it was being used then or in the midst of deciding not to use it."
McGowan also wrote that the first performance of 'Jingle Bells' occurred in minstrel shows where white actors wore blackface "does actually matter when it comes to questions of what we use as material in school."
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/landonmion/2022/01/02/ny-school-replaced-popular-christmas-song-jingle-bells-over-racist-origins-n2601307
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UK: Group of girls’ schools says they will not accept transgender pupils and 'jeopardise' their status as single-sex institutions
The Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), which represents 23 private schools as well as two academies, updated its gender identity policy guidance document last month to include a new section on admissions.
It is rare for a group of single-sex schools to take a public position on the issue of admissions, and it could pave the way to others to follow suit.
The guidance states that GDST schools do not accept applications from pupils who are legally male, even if they identify as female.
Having an admissions policy based on “gender identity rather than the legal sex recorded on a student’s birth certificate would jeopardise the status of GDST schools as single-sex schools” under the Equality Act, it says.
A female pupil who begins to transition while already at school should be supported to remain at the school for as long as they wish to do so, it adds.
Updated guidance
The guidance, first published in 2016, was updated and shared with member schools just before the Christmas break. The GDST said that they always keep their policies under review, adding that their latest guidance was drawn up “in collaboration with experts, teachers and students”.
It comes as headteachers urge the Government for national guidance on transgender issues to be published for schools, saying that education leaders are “struggling” to cope.
School leaders have said that in the absence of any official guidance from the Department for Education (DfE), they are left with advice from lobby groups as they decide how to react when a pupil identifies as the opposite gender.
Julie McCulloch of the Association of School of College Leaders (ASCL) said that as more and more children “come out” as transgender, heads are forced to wade into the fraught debate between biological sex and gender.
“It is a really big issue and the lack of formal guidance for schools is something that we are concerned about,” she told The Telegraph.
“This issue has grown quite rapidly over the past few years and it certainly feels like something that has become much more common. It is increasingly something that almost all schools are having to think about, but particularly single sex schools.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/01/group-girls-schools-says-will-not-accept-transgender-pupils/
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Dumbing Down Education Key to Dismantling America
Critical race theory together with gender ideology and the manmade global warming hypothesis that’s now being taught to young children, all have the goal of dismantling the United States as a free society, said Alex Newman, investigative journalist and Epoch Times contributor.
There is a global effort coming from the United Nations and from China to build a single world system, where individual liberty will be abolished, Newman told EpochTV’s “Crossroads” program.
This new system is described as a multipolar world order as opposed to the current unipolar world order where the United States is the undisputed sole superpower and the hegemonic force in world affairs today, Newman explained. To achieve this goal the United States must be undermined not just economically, but also intellectually and militarily.
“[This will] allow other nations to be built up, other governments, especially the Communist Chinese government, to grow in prestige and influence in economic prowess for the purpose of really drastically reshaping the world order into this, what they call the multipolar order, where Russia and China and the so-called BRICS [five countries] like Brazil and India will be kind of on an equal standing with the United States.”
“But America, at least the ideas and the essence of what America is, has stood as an obstacle to that agenda. So if you want to make this agenda possible, … you’re going to have to undermine the principles that the United States was founded on.”
According to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) “8 predictions for the world in 2030,” which are summarized in a video posted on Twitter, the United States will no longer be the leading superpower, but the world will be dominated by a handful of countries.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/dumbing-down-education-key-to-dismantling-america-paves-way-for-new-world-order-alex-newman_4183740.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)
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2 January, 2022
Two Moms, a CEO and a Physician, Step Up to Homeschool Kids: ‘You Will Never Ever Regret’
Over the last decade, there has been an exponential rise in homeschooling across the United States. What is driving parents to make this choice, and some to even leave their careers to do so?
I had a chance to speak to two faith-centered moms—one from the corporate sector and the other a physician—who embarked on the journey of homeschooling their children. The critical challenges they faced and the wise choices they made give us significant insights into what this promising path holds for our next generation.
For Bridget Crowley, a mother of two and CEO of a large commercial real estate management company, making the leap into homeschooling was a decision that was not easy to make.
Crowley’s two sons, Phelim and Shamus, had been raised in private schools, and she and her husband felt they were doing well. She says she was surprised when her oldest son at 12 years old said, “Mom, I think that you’re supposed to homeschool me.” Reflecting on her response, she says she simply believed that “it is not at all my wiring or my gifting.”
“So, for many years, I told my son all the reasons why I couldn’t and I truly believed I could not,” says Crowley, 46, from Greenville, South Carolina. That is, until years later, when she became concerned about her oldest child’s social and emotional well-being.
“He experienced some things in school that led us to realize, ‘Is there anything more important than your child’s heart, and your child’s mental well-being, physical well-being, and who they are in Christ?’”
Crowley says that children end up speaking into your child’s life. And her son was becoming “what the hallway smack talk was telling him he was.” “He was losing his faith and he was losing hope in life in general and not becoming who he was meant to be,” she reflected.
“As his mom, I felt hopeless. I felt that I couldn’t homeschool, like it wasn’t an option. I felt increasingly helpless in watching my son become the antithesis of who he was as a child, and who I knew he was in the Lord.”
Supportive friends came alongside Crowley and helped her to challenge her negative notions about homeschooling, boosting her confidence in her own ability to educate her son at home. They said, “Nobody feels like they can do it. The world tells you every day that you can’t do it, that it’s not normal, that you’re weird, that your kid can’t socialize, and that your kid can’t play sports.”
Crowley now refers to those statements about homeschooling that she’d believed for years as “lies.” She describes herself as feeling trepidation when finally listening to her friends and making the decision to bring her son home.
“I believed by faith and not by sight that if this was His [God’s] will, He would equip me, and He did,” she says.
Crowley decided to shift her schedule so that she could continue to work but also teach her children during the day. She found comradery in a growing community of parents who felt similarly, joining a co-op called Classical Conversations, which is one of many national co-op organizations. Her local branch of this co-op gave her children the balance of strong academics and healthy socialization.
Her children now enjoy Latin, history, and the arts, and have an opportunity to make friends and learn in a setting wherein they feel comfortable being themselves and knowing that their families are all engaged with one another.
For her oldest, homeschooling was so impactful on his overall emotional well-being that Crowley says she will never look back and regret her decision to homeschool. In fact, she says it was one of the best choices she ever made. Speaking of how they feel now compared to when they were in conventional school, she says, “Their anxieties went down. There is peace in our house. They are very secure in who they are. Their faith has grown. Our faith as a family has grown.”
Nothing Is Too Hard
Many parents who decide to homeschool often do so for social and emotional reasons, and others do so to help accommodate the learning needs that their children have. Dr. Lacey Kaiser, 55, of Memphis, Tennessee, an internist who spent years doing critical care in the ICU, left her career and began homeschooling her children in 2003. Herself a mom of four, Kaiser is now a parent tutor in the organization where Crowley’s children attend.
Referring to when she was working in the ICU, Kaiser said, “I knew I needed more time at home. I knew I needed a different schedule so I could also be a mom.”
Her children were in a private school and in the fifth and sixth grades at the time. “As I watched them at school, I just did not feel that their education was measuring up to what they were capable of. I could just see down the road that they were going to need more than what they were getting,” she added.
It didn’t take Kaiser long, once her girls were home, to learn that one of her daughters was having some difficulties that had gone unnoticed in her former large classroom. Kaiser made a decision to modify how she taught her; she found that adjusting the curriculum to meet her child’s needs led to her flourishing academically and feeling successful and confident in a way that she never had before.
Referencing helping her children with their individual needs, she says: “That process of us struggling together … I think it stays with them forever because they discover they can do anything if they break it down into the smallest steps, that there is nothing that is too hard.
“You can’t do that kind of a process with a whole classroom of kids because every child is in a little different place.”
Today, Kaiser supports other parents who are thinking of homeschooling as well as those who have already made the leap. She provides encouragement and guidance for them along the way.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/two-moms-a-ceo-and-a-physician-step-up-to-homeschool-kids-you-will-never-ever-regret_4165586.html
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Teacher wears propaganda shirt
There is a reason that parents are pulling their kids out of school left and right in favor of the option to homeschool them. The public school system has turned into nothing more than an indoctrination camp to push their liberal/socialist agenda onto unsuspecting kids for 7-8 hours a day.
Their little minds are like sponges and soak these ideas up and people wonder why their kids are showing such a lack of respect for authority or our country. It is simple, their teachers are taking advantage of the time spent with them in the classroom to indoctrinate them into hating anything that is American.
This is exactly was what this one fifth-grade teacher, Emma Howland-Bolton of Detroit Public Schools Community District, did when she wore a sweatshirt that boldly declared “Columbus was a murderer” in her classroom.
Howland-Bolton said she wore the shirt to “spark discussion,” and the school district did nothing about it.
Here is more from The Blaze:
Howland-Bolton, who teaches fifth grade at Clippert Multicultural Magnet Honors Academy, says her shirt isn’t controversial, because “it is a fact.”
“I wanted to wear this shirt to spark discussion,” she insisted.
She added that a school administrator initially advised her to change her shirt. “I was informed that my shirt was my opinion, and I countered with ‘It is a fact,'” she added.
A spokesperson for the district said that the shirt was noticeable because sweatshirts are not permitted for the school’s business casual dress code. The district later determined that the shirt was only problematic because it was not “submitted as any lesson plan to be pre-approved,” according to WXYZ-TV.
There is no reason that a teacher should be wearing a shirt like this in the classroom and what makes it even more disturbing is that there were no consequences for it at all. This is what is going on in our classrooms which is why people are pulling their little ones from schools to protect them.
We have seen over the last several weeks, parents getting fed up with it all and are now protesting the liberal agenda that is found in their schools.
The only way this stops is more parents getting involved and saying enough is enough.
These people work for us and not the other way around. It is the parent’s decision to teach them what history they want their child to know, but when in the public school system, these teachers just need to keep it to the facts and that’s all.
https://dailyheadlines.net/what-one-liberal-teacher-wore-to-class-proves-they-are-all-insane/
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LA Schools’ Vax Mandate Crumbles Under Mass Resistance
A loudly-touted plan by Los Angeles government schools to require children to be vaccinated was been quietly withdrawn after bureaucrats realized as many as 30,000 students would not comply.
“In September, the nation’s second-largest school district imposed strict vaccine requirements on children 12 and older, with almost no exemptions,” POLITICO reports. “Los Angeles Unified was supposed to show other school districts how to roll out an expansive Covid-19 vaccine mandate for students.”
Under the rule, all students 12 and older would be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Jan. 10 in order to attend in-person classes. Unvaccinated students would have to attend classes online.
“Los Angeles students who are old enough would have needed the first of a two-dose vaccine in late November and a second shot by late December to be fully vaccinated by the start of the second semester,” USA Today reports.
But they ran into a problem. Mass resistance to the vaccine mandate on children, especially in black and Latino families.
“Only 60 percent of Black Los Angeles County residents 12 and up have gotten at least one dose. The vaccination rate among the county’s Latino residents 12 and up is 68 percent. The mandate requirement would have disproportionately moved students of color off campus,” POLITICO reports.
Realizing they would have to move as many as 30,000 students to online-only learning, and they would be disproportionately black and Latino, Los Angeles Unified backed down, delaying the mandate until 2022.
As many as 40,000 LA students had already either dropped out of schools or disappeared during the pandemic, Elmer Roldan, executive director of Communities in Schools of Los Angeles, a nonprofit aimed at preventing students from dropping out of school, tells USA Today.
https://americanactionnews.com/politics/2021/12/30/la-schools-vax-mandate-crumbles-under-mass-resistance/?wmg=1
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My other blogs: Main ones below
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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Primarily covering events in Australia, the U.K. and the USA -- where the follies are sadly similar.
TERMINOLOGY: The English "A Level" exam is roughly equivalent to a U.S. High School diploma. Rather confusingly, you can get As, Bs or Cs in your "A Level" results. Entrance to the better universities normally requires several As in your "A Levels".
MORE TERMINOLOGY: Many of my posts mention the situation in Australia. Unlike the USA and Britain, there is virtually no local input into education in Australia. Education is mostly a State government responsibility, though the Feds have a lot of influence (via funding) at the university level. So it may be useful to know the usual abbreviations for the Australian States: QLD (Queensland), NSW (New South Wales), WA (Western Australia), VIC (Victoria), TAS (Tasmania), SA (South Australia).
There were two brothers from a famous family. One did very well at school while the other was a duffer. Which one went on the be acclaimed as the "Greatest Briton"? It was the duffer: Winston Churchill.
The current Left-inspired practice of going to great lengths to shield students from experience of failure and to tell students only good things about themselves is an appalling preparation for life. In adulthood, the vast majority of people are going to have to reconcile themselves to mundane jobs and no more than mediocrity in achievement. Illusions of themselves as "special" are going to be sorely disappointed
Perhaps it's some comfort that the idea of shielding kids from failure and having only "winners" is futile anyhow. When my son was about 3 years old he came bursting into the living room, threw himself down on the couch and burst into tears. When I asked what was wrong he said: "I can't always win!". The problem was that we had started him out on educational computer games where persistence only is needed to "win". But he had then started to play "real" computer games -- shootem-ups and the like. And you CAN lose in such games -- which he had just realized and become frustrated by. The upset lasted all of about 10 minutes, however and he has been happily playing computer games ever since. He also now has a degree in mathematics and is socially very pleasant. "Losing" certainly did not hurt him.
Even the famous Marxist theoretician Antonio Gramsci (and the world's most famous Sardine) was a deep opponent of "progressive" educational methods. He wrote: "The most paradoxical aspect is that this new type of school is advocated as being democratic, while in fact it is destined not merely to perpetuate social differences, but to crystallise them." He rightly saw that "progressive" methods were no help to the poor
I am an atheist of Protestant background who sent his son to Catholic schools. Why did I do that? Because I do not personally feel threatened by religion and I think Christianity is a generally good influence. I also felt that religion is a major part of life and that my son should therefore have a good introduction to it. He enjoyed his religion lessons but seems to have acquired minimal convictions from them.
Why have Leftist educators so relentlessly and so long opposed the teaching of phonics as the path to literacy when that opposition has been so enormously destructive of the education of so many? It is because of their addiction to simplistic explanations of everything (as in saying that Islamic hostility is caused by "poverty" -- even though Osama bin Laden is a billionaire!). And the relationship between letters and sounds in English is anything but simple compared to the beautifully simple but very unhelpful formula "look and learn".
For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.
The NEA and similar unions worldwide believe that children should be thoroughly indoctrinated with Green/Left, feminist/homosexual ideology but the "3 R's" are something that kids should just be allowed to "discover"
A a small quote from the past that helps explain the Leftist dominance of education: "When an opponent says: 'I will not come over to your side,' I calmly say, 'Your child belongs to us already. You will pass on. Your descendents, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time, they will know nothing else but this new community.'." Quote from Adolf Hitler. In a speech on 6th November 1933
I am rather pleased to report that I am a lifelong conservative. Out of intellectual curiosity, I did in my youth join organizations from right across the political spectrum so I am certainly not closed-minded and am very familiar with the full spectrum of political thinking. Nonetheless, I did not have to undergo the lurch from Left to Right that so many people undergo. At age 13 I used my pocket-money to subscribe to the "Reader's Digest" -- the main conservative organ available in small town Australia of the 1950s. I have learnt much since but am pleased and amused to note that history has since confirmed most of what I thought at that early age.
I imagine that the the RD is still sending mailouts to my 1950s address!
Discipline: With their love of simple generalizations, this will be Greek to Leftists but I see an important role for discipline in education DESPITE the fact that my father never laid a hand on me once in my entire life nor have I ever laid a hand on my son in his entire life. The plain fact is that people are DIFFERENT, not equal and some kids will not behave themselves in response to persuasion alone. In such cases, realism requires that they be MADE to behave by whatever means that works -- not necessarily for their own benefit but certainly for the benefit of others whose opportunities they disrupt and destroy.
Many newspaper articles are reproduced in full on this blog despite copyright claims attached to them. I believe that such reproductions here are protected by the "fair use" provisions of copyright law. Fair use is a legal doctrine that recognises that the monopoly rights protected by copyright laws are not absolute. The doctrine holds that, when someone uses a creative work in way that does not hurt the market for the original work and advances a public purpose - such as education or scholarship - it might be considered "fair" and not infringing.
Comments above by John Ray
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