The sad commentary is that a private citizen with zero media training communicates badly at a public meeting and the NY Times makes it a headline.
POTUS has a teleprompter, speech writers , briefing books , and 60 years in public office and says stupid stuff ( and unhinged stuff) daily and its ignored.
The elitism and vitriol that teachers use when choosing to intentionally misunderstand parents who cannot articulate clearly, either from passion or from lack of knowledge about precisely how the education system works, is astounding. As a Soldier turned teacher, I am often appalled by the arrogance and elitism I see amongst my teaching peers. They seem to believe their degrees make them more intelligent, read more important, than the parents of our students. It’s so disgusting.
Yup - at my daughters’ NYC private school, more than once I had to correct what a particular math teacher was teaching. I finally went to the head of school about her lack of math knowledge. Next year she didn’t show up for school. Watch & observe what they are teaching your children. Too many teachers are badly educated themselves.
Most schools of education do not encourage pre-service teachers to learn the content or to even focus on teaching content. Many of us were not taught the how for teaching reading either. I’ve spent the last five years since retooling as a teacher learning how to teach reading on my own.
You can get a good idea of the scope of the problem by reading Natalie Wexler’s Knowledge Gap and checking out Emily Hanford’s reporting on reading instruction. Both have helped me more than my school of education ever did.
As a former teacher, I agree. Every 3-4 years we were changing reading programs, paying a fortune for the “newest program” and having to relearn a process that wasn’t much better. A complete waste of time for teachers and likely for students too. I often did my own thing because these programs offered in a day what would take longer than the whole school day to teach. These education companies are a racket just like the teachers’ union. I worked for a charter school which often felt like a public school because it was for-profit. The biggest difference? Our salary!
Retired teacher here. I can confirm Linda's take on revolving programs. It was maddening to have district administrators always bringing in their shiny new toys every three years. Worse yet, every year we would have in-service seminars from outside experts telling us everything we were doing was wrong.
Thanks, Linda, for pointing out something that the general public really doesn't know. You are spot on.
Retired teacher as well. Also the general public doesn't realize (nor do new teachers) that the ed publishing companies repackage old ideas that didn't work the first time when they were originally pushed.
And spending taxpayer dollars all along the way for the 'consultants, experts, and training' of the Shiny New Way. My sister is a teacher and recently told me they are going back to teaching reading the way they did 10 yrs ago....major eye roll.
New York City schools have just gone back to using ‘Phonics’ to teach reading because kids were not becoming literate using the ‘whole learning method’. Only about 25% of NY city kids are up to grade level; that said, they say in Baltimore virtually no kids can pass.
I am an old codger who attended elementary school in the 1950's. My classes were a mixture of kids from various backgrounds and financial circumstances. We learned reading by phonics. I cannot recall any of my classmates who were not proficient in reading after the 3rd grade.
Yep. Years ago fought the “math wars” in our local schools. Thankfully we had an investigative journalist on the parent team. Was astonished at what she dug up on the curriculum peddlers and the ties back to retired regional school personnel. The “new thing” was one of those constructivist math programs that never built fundamental computational skills that are critical for higher levels of math. In one board meeting I brought in my g-grandfathers text used in a one room schoolhouse, literally on the prairie in the 1870s, and showed he was working problems scribbled in the margins in 4th/5th grade that my own kids at same age couldn’t begin to solve. And he wasn’t a genius and his education stopped at 8th grade.
So-called ‘education classes’ are primarily a racket, an employment program for people who were ‘Education’ majors but have never taught in the life. It’s a licensing grift.
I encountered this personally myself this summer. I took and passed the PRAXIS to add a reading endorsement to my license. In spite of successfully demonstrating my knowledge on the topic, I cannot add it unless I complete at least an approved two-year reading specialist certificate with a university.
When I entered college, I wanted to be a teacher. I sat in one education class about early childhood development, dropped out and changed my major. The information presented was boring, uninspired and required no thinking.
I taught my children before they entered school . By the time they were in school they could read and write in 2 languages were proficient in math . They both did well in school and were put in advanced classes from the start , funny thing is the taught the english classes in grade school as they knew the language better than the teachers , they went to french school the ënglish"teachers knew less than nothing
I agree 100%. As a former public school board member of a K-8 district in IL, I saw ISBE remove core content licensing requirements for new teachers in favor of vague “culturally responsive” teaching standards such as advocacy and justice. I was completely flummoxed they would remove proof of literacy, math, science knowledge although not surprised given the decline in assessment scores.
Fortunately, there is a push now to require teacher preparatory colleges to teach early literacy according to the “science of reading.” The problem is that most schools don’t have the professors trained with the knowledge to do so since it has been so out of vogue for years. Hopefully, state boards of education push to require competency in core knowledge.
Dyslexia can now join the new woke autism group. It fits the goal of "inclusion" by being labeled neurodiversity. By doing this, progressives make autism "normal" up through the day the autistic person becomes homeless because he/she can read.
That is encouraging. One of my former school board co-members ran for our board because her two sons were both dyslexic and she recognized that our district could not meet their education needs (they were not even able to correctly assess the problem). She has been instrumental in advocating for new early literacy standards in the state. These “Moms of Liberty” should complement their parental advocacy work with a renewed focus on what kinds of curriculum, pedagogy and professional development actually translate to learning gains.
Forgive me for asking, but what does "culturally responsive" mean? Teaching kids to understand the z-rated, mysoginistic, racist lyrics of the latest "popular," noise-making ensemble?
No wonder there are school systems in our country where few, and occasionally no one can perform at grade level....
For a really subversive take on education reform, I recommend John Taylor Gatto's book "Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling", a scathing, humorous, and slightly loony critique of public schools in the U.S.
Can you provide the stats for your claim that "most schools of education do not encourage pre-service teachers to learn the content or to even focus on teaching content"? That's a huge generalization, so I'm guessing you have evidence to back up such a grandiose claim.
Anecdotal evidence here: I edited Ed.D. Dissertations for a state university system for 12 years. Not one dissertation in all that time explored classroom content instruction. Every single one was focused on some aspect of social justice advocacy.
It's worth noting that waaaaaay back in 1983, when I started taking courses to become an elementary school teacher (a career I ended up not pursuing), the students were being warned that if they intended to become licensed in California, they would have to pass an examination that tested their own ability to read, write, do math, and understand science. Evidently this exam had been instituted because too many new teachers managed to get through the college education curriculum without developing those skills.
The university I attended, despite being a top university, had special dumbed-down courses for those pursuing elementary education degrees: "Math for Teachers," "Science for Teachers," etc.
Recall that this was 40 YEARS AGO. I can only guess what has happened since.
My "Physics for Non-Physics Majors" course in college...admittedly to increase my grade point average...was a farce. The school was a large, major football power north of the Mason-Dixon Line; it contained contained a large Education department, and the course was geared to their students.. The year was 1963.
The final exam, 3-hours long, had 100 questions in multiple-choice (intellectual-bingo) format. I completed the test in about 30 minutes, handed in my paper and enjoyed the other 2-1/2 hours at the local coffee emporium with some of my friends. I received a grade of 98%. There were a few others that finished quickly and left early as did I.
When the exam result were posted, I wasn't astonished to see that I was amongst only a handful who got a good grade. I was astonished that I was only amongst 20% that achieved a passing grade of 60%.
I should clarify that this is mostly geared towards elementary education degrees. Secondary is often different by nature if the fact that they teach a content area.
Not learning or focusing on content in most schools of education is definitely the case with teaching reading. See Emily Hanford’s reporting. Also, re teaching content, see Natalie Wexler’s The Knowledge Gap and other reporting. This may be shifting in light their reporting, but also because of many states implementing legislation aimed at specific changes to reading instruction and accountability.
We have reduced Science & Social Studies content time to 30-45 minutes a day, if that, and usually alternating between the two. Also, usually at the end of the day. This also assumes SS and Science don’t get overrun by other things. Couple this with skills focused reading comprehension instruction and we are not teaching content by design. Not necessarily a deliberate design, but per above mentioned reporting and my own observations, many schools are set. The simple stat of how many schools use Journeys or some other basal reader based program can be an indicator of how much content is not the focus in most elementary schools.
Thank you for correcting that. My daughter is a high school science teacher. I can promise you her undergraduate and her Master’s education classes were geared toward teaching high school science.
If teachers were to be tested for anything, it would be in the subject they are teaching. You could find out how well they know the material. I had a social studies teacher in high school who just showed films - that was it - one was on ‘how to pack a grocery bag’. We referred to has class as ‘Ferrioli’s Film Festival’. We laughed at it back then, but given what I know now I would have actively fought for him to be fired.
I think a big reason for that is because so many are education majors. I come from a long line of teachers and as my dad said, you don't need all those education courses. Learn the content and then take a "raise the blinds course 101". In a graduate level course at Old Dominion University in the late 70s, we spent an entire session on how to load a projector. I thought, just go in the classroom and ask "Who here knows how to thread the film?" I dropped out of that class.
For example: The Bank Street School of Education in NYC is one of the most ideological outfits. Many so-called teachers pass through for leftist indoctrination. You are correct - teachers need to learn the subject matter more than anything else. The certification racket to be a teacher requires that the ideological classes be taken which is expensive and essentially useless. If teachers can’t teach the subject matter they ought to find another profession.
Also classroom management is an important skill which is often neglected in a teacher's education. Without the ability to focus and settle the students to the lesson, learning is not going to happen.
When I learned how rarely teachers were taught these skills, I suddenly understood why so many teachers have trouble teaching. To me this would be the #1 skill for teaching students who don't really want to be there (Most kids in school).
Is her real thesis available online from a semi-reliable source? I would like to read it for myself, and I'm guessing there are a ton of satirical ones floating about.
After taking her degree in Education at a local "teacher's college," my niece asked me to help her study for the WV State Teacher's Examination, which she had flunked spectacularly. They actually returned her old test, which we used as a template.
I couldn't believe her math skills - which is to say, nearly none. After we'd gone through about half of the questions, I asked her, "Holly, how are you going to teach math when you don't know any?" Her response? "Uncle Jim, I had never seen a "word problem" in my life until I took this test." So a 22 year-old with grade school, high school, and college behind her had never seen a math problem expressed in words. This is what our teachers' unions are getting for us.
When asked who was the most dangerous person in America, without pausing to take a breath Mike Pompeo said, "Randi Weingarten." Amen, Brother. I just joined Moms for Liberty. It's OK, though - today I identify as a woman. A very angry and determined old woman.
This is why I loved the Saxon Math curriculum when I was homeschooling: lots of word problems (which were almost always funny and engaging). Also, specific instruction about how to DECODE word problems.
The reality is that most of the math people do in real life requires them to turn the information they have into an equation. Without the skill of constructing equations from information (the whole purpose of word problems), people can't solve real-life issues with math.
God that brought back memories! Mr. Barrett, our grade school principal, had been a math teacher before, and occasionally he would come by a classroom and take over for a class or two. I still remember: "When a problem says something is a fraction OF something, that OF means "times." (For example, Susie has 1/3 of Sammy's twelve apples. How many does she have? 1/3 TIMES 12 is the answer.) Another one: "Per" means "divided by." (The train goes 75 miles in a three hour period. How many miles PER hour is it going? It is going 75miles/3 hours = 25 miles PER hour.
Last night I saw a video where a woman posted a picture board of all the world's continents, divided into their nations, at a college. None of the picture was labeled. A young lady who identified herself as a recent COLLEGE GRADUATE could not identify the continents, let alone the countries, including the United States.
In my original undergrad university, a world geography class was a required gen ed course.
To go further back, when I was in 4th grade, we had to memorize and be able to identify all 50 states and all the counties in our state on an unlabeled map. I've probably forgotten about half of the counties, since I haven't lived in that state since 1988, but I could still make a good stab at it.
Clearly they aren't teaching any of this anymore. Or at least they are not holding the kids accountable for the information. No failing grades given anymore.
My former partner got a PHD in Math Education back in the aughts and barely endured the blatant political indoctrination. It wasn't much about educating students in math. It was about indoctrinating students.
Political indoctrination has somehow taken over teaching in our universities and even K-12. I think parents may have missed something going on behind the scenes in schools during Covid when no one was looking. It reminds me of the Trojan Horse. This going to take years to get rid of.
I can count on two hands thru highschool college and medical school great teachers who actually taught me anything and ive been studying on my own ever since and i do and teach
That is wonderful. So more than 5 great teachers and 10 or less. Still more than zero., and still possibly a higher number for you compared to other people. Sometimes it only takes one. And hopefully you as a teacher mean something to someone.
I live in one of 3 towns near an operating nuclear power plant. A group of 5 of us (Chemical, Nuclear, Electrical Engineers and Operations Manager and Mechanic - about 140 years experience total) approached one of the local schools, offering to volunteer to help teach in the local Junior and High School.
We described that we have huge amounts of experience and desire to help the kids learn fundamental subjects and that we could even enlist help from others we know.
We (humbly) considered it a gold mine - all that knowledge the plant is just brimming with and there for the taking. We were quite curtly dismissed and told that was simply unneeded and impossible.
And this is a small town, OK schools but certainly not even close to the rich suburbs’ performance.
Such stupidity is breathtaking - but it's really just laziness. It would take effort to figure out how to integrate your efforts....the teachers would start screaming that they're not paid enough to think hard (lol).
My husband and I were chatting over dinner the other night about how we learned languages in school. It seemed like every school has a 'language lab' with headphones where you were supposed to go and practice. But in all my years I think we used the room only twice. He thinks back then that schools got a federal grant that allowed these labs to be built not knowing how effective they would or would not be. Which got me thinking, why don't language teachers solicit people in the local community who are fluent in languages being taught at any particular school - and invite them to regularly meet & chat with smalll groups of students in the language they are learning? Like you said, our communities are filled with talent which is not accessed and so many people are looking to form 'community' in a day and age when it's getting harder and harder to do. But kudos to you for making such an offer. Maybe you would want to form study groups where kids could attend either after school or on weekends?
Same thing happened to me. Schools are very secretive -- they want no transparency. I was a writing instructor for graduate students and offered to volunteer. No go. The education system seems paranoid.
I had to “co-teach” AP US to two of my kids, knew what was on the test from the prior two and material simply was not being covered in class in favor of indoctrinating lectures and readings. Thankfully have a BA(Honors) and completed most of the MA coursework on the topic + a large library to assign readings from. But was astonished at the utter ignorance of the instructors.
It is astonishing at how badly educated people are, in general. One can’t even discuss history’ with most people because they have no clue. That said, I tend to find those who lean conservative more educated in American history because they are interested and care about the country’s origin. As for world events and geography most Americans have no clue.
That reminds me of a math teacher I had in 9th grade in the Los Angeles Unified School district who explained that a right triangle has two right angles. She was obvoisly hired for some reason other than her understanding of math.
Teachers IMO are the most poorly educated students in university, and that ain’t saying much. If you can’t handle Science, you go into Arts. If you can’t handle Arts, you go into Education. If you can’t handle Education, you’re out the door.
Back in the 90's I got a minor in psychology. I majored in engineering. I was not raised to be an engineer and I needed some classes that I could get an easy A in to keep my credits up to maintain full time student status as the engineering course work was intense. Plus there were some terms I was not always able to get all of my engineering courses each as they were limited in being offered at the time. I filled in the gaps with psych classes. I loved my classes, found them very interesting. I was also horrified that a number of my fellow classmates who were psych majors were getting C's because they thought the courses were hard. I was pulling in A's and studied psych as break from my engineering courses.
That is a ridiculous comment and insults all the teachers who went into college knowing they wanted to teach and graduated with their education degrees.
I think you make a fair comment here. I was being a bit provocative for sure. I will correct myself. There are many, many teachers who enter the profession because that is their dream - to become a teacher. There are also many others who fall into teaching because it’s the one faculty they can succeed in. I saw it for myself in university - people dropping out of one faculty to enter an easier faculty.
Appreciate you recalibrating here. Just like all cops aren’t bad, all teachers are not the same. A truly good teacher is invaluable and leaves impressions on students for a lifetime. The bummer is that they are rare. Truly great teachers answer a calling. They continually work to expand their knowledge base and ways to reach their students. They are a gift. Get rid of the teachers unions, and let the cream rise to the top and pay them accordingly!
Teachers unions have become a destructive force in the US. Taxpayers fund education, educators pay teachers, teachers pay unions, unions use that money to finance politicians who support teachers. School choice would help solve many educational problems.
And yet, when I was a teacher educator at an R1 university, the student and early career teachers thought they knew more than I. Never mind that I had two decades in the classroom and a PhD in Teaching and Learning!
Moms for Liberty is called a hate group. Disagree with the left you are a, enter pejorative here --->.............!
Nancy Pelosi, that paragon of virtue call the peaceful Tea Party rally attendees NAZIs. But not ounce as she or any leftist criticized BLM or ANITFA for burning down our cities.
Civil debate strengthens our democracy. Democrats want to stifle any debate that questions them or their far left (Marxist) methods.
We’ll said, Lonesome! It’s easy to spot the WOKE elites who comment here at TFP. They can never politely take issue & disagree. They become condescending, superior (the deplorable are the ignorant) and rude.
Yeah like disagreeing with the right turns into a civilized debate. ANTIFA, NANCY PELOSI, BLM. Do you guys have anything besides the left wing boogymen that you fixate on? I guess you'd have a coronary if you realized how many of your heros are pretty damn woke, including the orange one.
The Murdochs, ever Republican in Palm Beach, ever Republican on Long Island. I can list them all, but why would I bother. If you don't know by now? You never will.
So, the Murdochs are woke? Looks like pot stirring from a person who doesn't know what he is talking about.
If you are here to debate, welcome but if you are here just to show your ass, go somewhere else. Go to a hard core left web site they love misinformation and name calling.
As a teacher myself I have looked upon this arrogance in new staff with anxiety. Herodotus would refer to it as hubris. I think it comes from the lack of a challenging environment when it comes to hiring for teachers. Supply does not match demand. When they fail educate students it is the students fault, the parents fault, police, society, capitalism, etc. People in truly competitive industries often possess both humility and true confidence.
One more thing for posters. Teachers might not be held accountable for student results but we are held accountable for keeping in line with the politics of our educational leaders. That is a reason you may see such uniformity when it comes to DEI initiatives and the support they receive from staff.
I find that arrogance to be interesting and even astounding. The public university I graduated from was founded as a teachers school and still had a large teaching department. However, it was widely known and accepted (even by the education majors) that education majors, in general, were far from the sharpest tools in the shed. I remember, as a freshman, tutoring my dorm resident assistant's girlfriend, a senior, in basic math concepts. The anecdotes were endless. And of course, there's that old saw, "If you can't do, teach."
Don't get me wrong. I don't want to make the same categorical error of arrogance and assume that all, or even most, school teachers are of middling intellect. My point is that, right or wrong, degrees such as a medical, biochemical engineering or even a law degree, etc., grant the bearer some measure of respect because it is assumed that they have a certain level of knowledge and/or intelligence, given the difficulty of achieving their level of education. A degree in elementary education does not grant the same presumptions.
And Stephanie, I am appalled that you make such a general statement as "the elitism and vitriol that teachers use...", which implies ALL teachers everywhere, including yourself, as you're a teacher. You shouldn't be in education with such a mindset; what a danger to our children. Also, "soldier" takes a lower-case "s", not a capital "S".....
What a Rude and Condescending response. But it Perfectly Encapsulates the appalling Arrogance of the Screechy elite that Want to Silence this Awesome movement. Congratulations, your impersonation of an insufferable douche Bag was Spot on.
Sorry about the confusion with My Upper Case usage. I'm just Not as Smart as Smart Folk like you. Them's grammar rules Are just two Damn confusing.
Soldier will always be capitalized for me. It’s part of the Army writing style that I’ve retained. We capitalize it because they’re our most important asset, our purpose as leaders. I wonder if we should do the same with students to have a constant reminder of our purpose as teachers.
Since I love all people, I am not taking sides here. But as a retired newspaper editor, I will note that:
Back in the day, the Associated Press Stylebook's biggest quandary involved capitalizing the word "Marine" when referring to, well, Marines, but lowercasing the word "soldier." Since the word marine can also refer to life in the seven seas, it seemed like a good idea to ensure that readers would immediately know where a sentence was taking them. The word “soldier” causes no such confusion.
Members of the Army have long rejected that rationale. They contended that decades ago the AP Stylebook was edited by a former Marine, and THAT was the real reason the word "soldier” was ordered to be kept lowered at half-staff.
That didn’t mean the Army gave up the fight. Years ago, the Army just went its own way in press releases and began writing “Soldier” on all references. Press releases then started capitalizing “Family” for soldiers’ relatives and — to ensure that no one is left behind — also started capitalizing “Civilians” for non-military people working on post.
I will also note that I have never chastised someone publicly for a spelling error as I always felt I was living in a glass house myself. Also, we had a sign in our newsroom that read: "Danger! Journalists doing math."
Thank you for the history lesson as a retired newspaper editor. It’s interesting to know it’s been a long debated subject.
The Army started capitalizing Family and Civilians along with Soldier in an effort to remind leaders that the Families and DA Civilians are as essential to the Army’s mission as the Soldiers. I saw this first-hand having been in mostly Civilian Army units during government shutdowns and furloughs. We are dead in the water without them. I’m sure there was an aspect of comparing ourselves to Marines too.
So, now that Everybody is equally important at all times, does this mean that We need to capitalize every human categorical identifier? Just trying to keep this straight for future reference.
I refer to the capitalization of soldier, sailor and airman as "Stars & Stripes style," as opposed to AP style, because that's the first place I ever saw it, sometime around 2004. I've served in and worked for the military in some capacity for most of the last 30 years and never rejected the rationale that soldiers is not capitalized. In fact, I thought it was silly when publications such as "Stars & Stripes" started to capitalize those words. We used to joke that some Army 4-star got it in his craw that not capitalizing 'soldiers' was an insult, but that's probably close to the truth as to how that change came about in such publications. As far as I know, no publication outside of the military capitalizes soldier, sailor and airman. The military publication that I sometimes contribute to does not use Stars & Stripes style.
Capitalization is meant to raise the bar for the noun. When I taught essay writing, I asked the students to capitalize as little as possible. It makes reading the essay much easier than if you have to continuall translate what the capital letter means.
Time/resources/economic pressure, the ever expanding single parent home, the disappearance of literacy and rise of electronic schizophrenia are all surely factor's in the disconnect and damage we're witnessing. Likewise, we should not forget the manufactured gang/drug distortion of the American psyche by the carceral surveillance profiteer's who built the prison/industrial complex. And money obviously means nothing because Johnny and Jill (if we believe the press)still can't read, have no sense of history and can't do simple math. Looking at the unmoored from reality weaponized power struggle in this report you have to wonder if it has anything to do with the welfare of the child at all. In my view it is just the extension of the "everything means everything so nothing means anything" intentional capture of the American dialogue by self-interested political and ideological careerist's lining their pocket's with tax dollar's, grant's and donation's. Behind it all, the class war wielding bubble dweller's that comprise the royal court of criminal financier's and looter's funding the chaos and ensuring no healthy national dialogue and no human solution's are forthcoming. The blame is our's. We let it happen.
Why the child? Because the child is the future. Confused? What do we think it is like for the child tying to find emotional and psychic purchase in the enforced sterility of this inhuman reality? You see the child every day staring into the distorted reality of the little electronic screen trying desperately to see the future. A future already stolen and denied.
As envisioned by our founder's, a full blown human adult with agency and intellect, fully aware of and connected to the history and culture from which he emerged, prepared and capable, of living a subjective and meaningful life of responsible stewardship, is the last thing anyone in D.C. wants. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation. This is a war zone. Six decades of class war and assault on human freedom and dignity by corporate fascism and an international cartel of criminal financier's created this landscape. The DNC/CCP/EU/WEF Davos boy's and girl's are responsible for this madness in both America and the world. If we can remove the "mote" from our own eye's, perhaps the child's.
Marxist "woke" is the lipstick on a pig named totalitarian finance.
Wow Mike this is the best post here today. Just wondering how we going to turn 6 decades of this bullshit around - it’s a tall order and I hope we not to late.
I’m critical of flaws in our thinking as a group because it robs and blinds us of our purpose. We reject legitimate criticism and tend to focus on what feels good rather than what actually does good for our students.
SERIOUSLY, David, I am appalled that you are “appalled” thinking Stephanie is including ALL teachers!
And correcting Mr. Soldier’s use of upper / lower case letter!
This, sir, is a FREE SPEECH commenter’s opportunity, Bari & TFP provide, for people to post THEIR views WITHOUT ridicule! Disagreement, discussion and agreement to disagree are welcome. Being a rude “elites” is very telling on your part.
Oh great. I left the toxicity of twitter so I can see this kind of meaningless nonsense? Personally I signed up knowing that Bari would never be "appalled" by a discussion about capitalization even, as i often do, disagree with her. Where is the discussion? Soldier is a word with many meanings. It doesnt always have to be capitalized. I cant believe i signed up for this stupidity. More thin skinned nonsense. If you're a Mom, soldier or cop you get automatic sainthood? No sorry, you dont. No ridicule. Id just like to ask, why do you think teachers, restaurant workers, retail, mid level administrators and a whole host of other jobs have had their unions crushed while others are stronger than ever? Is it because men, especially white men hold those jobs? Oh noooooo. That cant be the reason??? It is.
Hahahaha!!! Bless your heart too honey. Yes I'm so offended. I've been eating the far right AND the far left for years. I've lived in the toxic swamp my entire life. I actually know both sides. I'm sorry if that bothers you.
The majority of liberals are condescending snobs, like the author of the above article. And unlike some snobs, the liberals mostly don't have justification for thinking they are better than anyone else.
For a number of years, I had a side gig editing theses and dissertations for students of a college acquaintance who is now a professor of Communications. Foreign students generally only needed help with the complexities of English. The other students...in many cases, I had to essentially rewrite the whole thing, including rearranging whole sections.
If I were sitting on their committee, I would not have granted those students their advanced degrees, since I think that anyone with an advanced degree should have the ability to articulate their knowledge of the subject matter. But that wasn't my call.
When did you think any education Ph.D. theses were interesting? I read Dr. Jill's thesis. Not any worse than others I've read. Colleges promote bloviating. Most writing coming out of class assignments could be cut by 1/3 to 1/2. Bloviating was my biggest challenge teaching essay writing in a university graduate school.
It wasn’t even inappropriate or poor communications. Quoting a known authoritarian despot on how to gain power over kids and pointing out that is what the education system is doing. It was 100% perfectly clear what the quote meant in context. The NYT, a mouth piece of the machine, intentionally pushed the quote out of context.
It's an unfortunately necessary lesson about communicating SO CLEARLY that the Left can't easily twist your words. Of course they will try, regardless. But we need to be smarter than they are.
Very true. The quote speaks for itself. And as I see all too often with the left they accuse you of what they are doing. For example the side of the spectrum that is okay with censorship and government control (Covid, vaccine mandates, masks etc.) are the fascists.
Actually I think they are less the "woke" Dems and more of the corporate super-rich War party Dems. The latter control the narratives of the former for purposes of distraction, power and control.
True but my point is citizens participating in public meetings speaking to “the podium” and making unclear comments is far less chilling than the person who is “behind the podium” and represents the Govt and speaks for all of us.
All parents today should read this paper thoroughly. The entirety of gender affirming care is scientifically beyond flawed. It is, arguably, fraud. Cherry picked data, misrepresentation, highly questionable measures, complete lack of controls, and inability to confirm results in follow-up studies. And yet, this obvious medical malpractice "care" is being enshrined in law and education as the only acceptable way for children to be treated---with parental consent specifically excluded. Thiscampaign is implemented by duped teachers who have NOT read the basis of what they are told. (Plus some shadowy investors seeking to cash in, who tend their nest eggs.)
"Just last week, an Indiana Moms for Liberty chapter put a Hitler quote in its newsletter and the story went national. The quote—“He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future”—was intended to warn parents what happens when a regime targets its children for indoctrination. But when critics are calling you ultra-right wing Christofascists, it’s probably unwise to invoke Hitler in any context. "
The thing is, if the shoe fits - wear it. The cultural Marxists have been calling everyone they don't like (especiaily politicians) in the US Hitler forever. But, here is a case where there is actually a strong parallel with ideological indoctrination and medicalization of healthy children and teens (all minors) and young people..
"Echoes of Eugenics: What the Doctors Trial at Nuremberg Means for Us in the US
On the 75th anniversary of the trial of Nazi doctors at Nuremberg we examine Nazi medicine and gender-affirming care AUG 30, 2022"
"Many of us parents in the trenches with a trans-identified child compare gender-affirming (GA) doctors—who mutilate children with drugs and surgeries—to Nazi doctors like Josef Mengele. (And not only GA doctors but the GA takeover of all institutions like schools, judges, health care and biopharma corporations, media, and politicians.)"
And
"The medical profession has wrestled with the significance of the Doctors Trial. For instance, to observe its 50th anniversary, the British Medical Journal printed a special issue (free downloads here). The lead article “War crimes and medical science” warned that the Nazi problems were “not unique to one place or time, and could happen here” and the trial “left us with a legacy we still shrink from confronting.” It pointed to contemporary problems in American medicine and warned “there will always be imperatives that threaten the professional values we profess to hold so dear” and “the profession of medicine carries within it the seeds of its own destruction.”
And, the thing is that all this training the children on cultural Marxist stuff - and insisting that teachers and government know best for your kid - working against parents/parenting - does bring to mind the Chinese Red Guard.
I also think of the Hitler Youth Corps. The Nazis taught them to secretly report their families regarding their degree of conformity to Nazi dogma. The children became "our children" as Biden said, not any longer the children of their parents. Some of the parents were arrested based on their children's reports to authorities, and some children willingly distanced their parents so as to cleave more tightly to the Nazi officials.
Yeah, I know, right?!...they are definitely not "aBouT thE ChiLdRen!" They're the Proud Boys Lady Auxillary Club whose sole goal is to remove all discussions of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc. from all classrooms K-12.
Oh yeah...I know they don't say that's their goal. It's just "CrITiCal RaCE ThEoRY"....which is why they push textbooks that don't mention Rosa Parks race and say the Tulsa Race Massacre had nothing to do with race, ban Ruby Bridges autobiography, MLK, Jr. books for kids, protest Mother's Day reading lessons for kids with gay parents, etc....
They won't stop until the only thing shown in class is the movie "The Blind Side."
I wouldn't go that far. I don't think they're explicitly racist, but they're just blindly attacking any target that seems "too leftist." They're flailing because they have no focus. M4L should have assigned targets that they go after and then don't deviate from that playbook. That is how you win.
The problem IMO is that Rebublicans are just kind of stupid. Richard Hanania also has a Substack publication but he talks about this extensively. He's a right winger but he's more interested in reflecting on the GOP's issues and why they can't win without Trump. Hanania's conclusion is that Republicans are frankly very stupid. This makes it very easy for them to lose track of the plot, hurt themselves in their flailing, and make obvious mistakes. You can see it in this very comment section, if you ctrl + F for "Hitler" then you'll see lots of very dumb Republicans whining about how mean news journalists are for noticing that M4L decided to quote Hitler in a newsletter.
It is 80 years post WW2, it is an inexcusable mistake to quote Hitler. Serious political actors do not make errors like that. But M4L and their Republican simps don't want to understand that. And I suspect that Richard Hanania is right and that the reason they act like this is because they are simply too dumb to see why this is a bad idea. And that is why Democrats are able to outwit them again and again even though Democrats are absolute shit at running the state. There really are major problems in education: students can't read, students can't write, students can't add or subtract much less do long division. Democrats SHOULD be out on their asses for this alone.
And yet instead of attacking them for being so fucking stupid, what is M4L doing? Crying about MLK, crying about Rosa Parks and calling them "CRT" even though we have taught about the Civil Rights Movement since the 1980s without issue before now. Instead of attacking Democrats for their abysmal failures M4L quote Hitler and then cry when everyone gets mad at them, and their simps are all over this very comment section whining about it was actually a really great idea and there wasn't a problem and twitter is full of meanies and yadda yadda yadda.
With regards to the substance of your comment, I actually disagree, I don't think M4L are bigoted. But that's because they are simply too stupid to be bigoted.
Well, every prediction I've made so far has come to pass, so I'll stick with it, but we'll see which "Niggra books" they go after next, but I take your general thesis.
Why can't they win without Trump?
Started with Barry Goldwater, accelerated with GOP in the 80s using "dog whistles" and coded racial appeals to white grievance, but they never went all the way, because they thought their base would be put off and it would be a political liability to put "country club" talk in the public sphere.
Trump coded nothing. Embraced it and said it openly without reservation. And the base loved it! Finally!! Someone who calls Mexicans rapists and murderes. Someone who tells black and brown people to "Go back to where you came frome"
"He TaLKs LiKe I TaLK." Well, when an political base finally gets a chance to be their worse possible selves, in public, no more behind closed doors, it's intoxicating. It's "anti-establishment."
The GOP would love to move on from Trump, but the base won't let them. The "Establishment" feed their base enough seasoned red meat, with winks and nods, to keep them in the sewer until election time. Trump threw open the grate, now they're out....and they, and their 1850s policies, ain't going back. So, get used to the new Republican Party.
Not sure which state you're refering to, but always like to remind that 73% of U.S. GDP is generated by blue states/counties, while Red States are perennial welfare cases.
DeSantis "Woke Goes to Die" Desantis is a perfect example. People can't get insured, leading country in inflation, etc. Things aren't exactly humming along there, are they?
And those GDP generating blue states are crime ridden shitholes where there are treacle layers of poop on the roads, people shoot up heroin and meth in tents, and there are month old corpses rotting in garbage bags while the homeless build little cities with those bodies as foundations. Crime is now so bad that Democrats are having to get rid of their "police abolition" platform because blue state politicians are getting mugged and held at gunpoint. Things aren't exactly humming along there, are they?
It's not particularly surprising that "white grievance" politics are Trump's biggest strength. I mean what did anyone expect? When you slice people up into their racial demographics and insist on separating them via their grievance history then its no wonder white people want a bite at that apple. It's not particularly racist, it's just the natural consequences of our political machine. If this wasn't the intended outcome then the bigwigs in charge of victimhood politics should have thought of that before they set all this into motion and started blaming white people for everything. Talk about chickens coming home to roost. Goddamn America!
The real issue with moving past Trump is that there is no successor. The GOP just wants more Jeb! and more McCain and more Bushes. DeSantis is sinking because he's banning books and whining about gay people instead of putting forth a picture of how he wants to fix the economy: AKA he's doing George W Bush 2004 era political campaigning except with more twitter. Even if you want to move on from Trump, who do you move on to? There's quite literally no one.
That is a big problem for the GOP. They're too dumb to think of a way out that doesn't involve copy pasting Hitler quotes.
I don't know what's going on with the Dems, the only Dem friend that I have is a woman in her early 30s who loves Biden and thinks he's making political decisions and that he doesn't wear adult diapers. I hope that isn't what all Democrats think but otoh it doesn't matter because it works for them and they will
keep getting elected because right wingers are such shit.
Why is it that no one in the comments is discussing what Moms for Liberty is actually about. Ruby Bridges & MLK are too dark for elementary age students?? The US educational system has had problems for years, but that's not their agenda.
Well, 98-99% of this board is right-wing MAGA, completely embrace the ethos/ideology of Stephen Miller and, they too, want any part of history that makes white people "look bad" or makes little Tanner or Brooklyn "feel uncomfortable" completely removed. Which is odd, no one gave a single damn about my "feelings" when I was in school.
This is a K-12 project for Moms For Liberty. They will continue to disrupt meetings, harrass (online and in-person), bully and threaten every school board member in America until they resign, etc.- and will not stop until every school board is filled with people like Oklahoma School Superintendent Ryan Walters.
This never had anything to "Critical Race Theory." Just like the transgender issue, soon metastized into outright attacking Gay Pride displays in stores, calling gay people "groomers," pushing laws to prevent services for transgender adults, etc.
"tHe ChILDren!!"....yeah, whatever...total bullshit.
The Left doesn’t care about the illiteracy rate, especially in inner city schools which serve primarily black & Latino students. If they did you’d think they’d do something about it. You never read about the leftist ‘Teach for America’ alums who the article says are now in government banning together to promote better school practices do you? The Dems and libs seemingly are happy to keep minorities ignorant and passive.
It's synthesized into their method of ensuring a voting bloc: keep people uneducated but indoctrinate them on Leftist social agenda starting with the young, and buy their votes by giving them money be it student loan forgiveness or reparations. Last resort give them drugs to render them addicted snd dependent on you.
And when minorities can’t do well on standardized tests because the school system failed them, the CA Teachers Union recommends dropping the SAT and ACT as requirements for entrance to College. Yes that happened in CA.
What a great philosophy don't remedy the poor scores by holding teachers and the education system accountable. Get rid of the measuring device ACT and SAT tests.
Hell let's get rid of standards all together. Get rid of the BAR exams and the medical exams that are given to prospective doctors and how about driving tests. It goes on and on and on and on.
Make it so any idiot with a sharp implement can become a surgeon.
Stupid people are easy to manipulate with entertainment. Keep the kids drugged up, hyper sexualized, and incapable of critical thought, and they will be happy to go riot in the streets over whatever when the network is activated.
That's exactly what I am calling hyper sexualization. The actual act is less the point than the exposure, understanding, and surrounding culture. They're not just exposed to sex at early ages, but extreme and fringe concepts of sex that to them appear normalized.
And it should be obvious why, in a world where boys have access to infinite pornography at the age of 8, less real sex is happening.
Yuval Noah Harari, advisor and sidekick extraordinaire to WEF's Klaus Schwab, has actually come out and said that a large portion of the population should be placated with drugs and video games. Keep the useless eaters dumb and out of the way of the billionaire elite.
CC, the Left’s goal is to keep the people of color on the Democrat Plantation! Those who are educated and leave the Democrats to become outspoken Conservative GOP members (ie Colin Powell, Thomas Sowell, Tim Scott, Clarence Thomas, Candace Owen, any MANY, MANY other prominent Blacks) are referred to as, “House Negros” - a direct quote by House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, (D-NY).
I refer you to the Jeffries editorial published in Feb. 1992 titled “The Black Conservative Phenomenon” and first reported on by CNN. He states (because of his outrage against the appointment of Clarence Thomas to theSupreme Court), “There has been a recent trend in the Black political arena which I believe threatens to sustain the oppression of the Black masses”
Read his differences between a “Field Negro” and a “House Negro”
Today, Mr. Jeffries is the chosen/appointed leader of the House Democrats, and is the “darling” of Nancy Pelosi!
Ironically, ANY person of color who goes against the WOKE Left narrative is referred to as a “White Supremacist of color”!
Many (not all) TFA teachers I worked with (former teacher, administrator) were using their year or 2 to build resumes for other careers. It checked a box. All teachers know that it really isn’t until you have experience that you refine your skills and become effective. By year 3 TFA kids have moved on to law or medical school or their government job.
(1), the grift I was referring to is the education establishment which requires teachers to take s0-called 'teaching courses', even before they know their subject material. (2) Whether teachers get paid adequately depends on where they live - NYC teachers can easily take down 6 figures, with lots of vacation throughout the year and 2 months off in the summer; the reason why so many women go into teaching is they like that free time to raise their own children - it's a tradeoff. (3) Teachers are not slaves (except to Randi Weingarten!) - they have personal agency - and if they don't like their salary they can leave for a higher paying job elsewhere. No one is forcing them to teach. There are lots of other jobs out there.
So, there is no world where it makes sense to compare Finland's education system to the U.S. system for many reasons. I remember reading a story several years ago about a U.S. delegation visiting Finland's schools to see how they used technology in their classrooms because their test scores were so high, only to find there was little to no technology being used in their classrooms. https://www.politico.eu/article/finns-beat-u-s-with-low-tech-take-on-school/
I have had 5 different family members that were teachers. All of them made/make solid money, especially when you factor in time off. Mind you, none of them had student loads nor were they single parents. But the idea that all American teachers are in poverty is not true.
Yes, I agree that many are underpaid for what they do. But plenty are also likely over paid for the same reason.
According to OECD data, teachers today average $41000/yr. So today's public school teachers should be paid 1.6 times that just to get their gross salary to 1970's take home pay. To get to 1970's equivalent full pay would be 1.8 times---nearly double. But that US pay scale are lower, but quite close to Finnish schools today. Their success is due to other factors.
This line jumped off the page for me. What’s obvious? Kids clearly aren’t learning the way they used to - and schools are definitely “teaching” gender ideology. My suburban school district is involved in a lawsuit over a first grade teacher who gave gender identity lessons through story time books.
I cringed at that one. My daughter was a public school teacher with severely disabled children. She swears she will never work in a public school again because of the indoctrination that they force on the children and the complete lack of care for the children themselves. She was horrified when she pressed for her children, who need hands on help, to be brought back to school during COVID. The board (I think it was the board of Education anyway) said that if she could get 2 other teachers or administrators out of a large school to come in as well she could do it. She couldn't find 2 other people to come in. They knew the children need hands on help but basically didn't care.
Of course they choose between teaching reading and gender ideology. The hours in a school day are limited ; time spent teaching (or preaching) about social issues (best left to parents) takes up part of those hours.
Exactly. Trans ideology is now formally taught and sanctioned in the context of K-12 education. Progressive teachers are taking it upon themselves to spread it informally as well. Kids as young as kindergarteners are introduced to the “Genderbread Person” and “Gender Unicorn.” Teachers read from I Am Jazz, and the little ones are taught that they might have a “girl brain in a boy body” or vice versa.
And the scientific basis of the ideology is arguably fraud. Quite a review here. Cherry picked data (oops, kid died, don't mention it), questionable measures, complete lack of controls, inability to confirm results in follow-up studies. I think teachers have been duped and have not read the basis of what they are told. (Plus, some shadowy investors seeking to cash in, who tend their nest eggs.)
"It’s OK that our babies may not have learned all their times tables... They know the difference between a riot and a protest. They know the words insurrection and coup." -Cecily Myart-Cruz, United Teachers Los Angeles president
They are choosing ideology over actual education and are openly saying so.
The decrease in reading levels is alarming. An education is very much like that saying about how it is better to teach a person to fish then give a person a fish. If a student can read than they can become informed and decide their ideology as they go through life. The job of the school is not to give the ideology but teach how to gather ideas and form an ideology.
Decreased reading levels is a national crisis that is taking the USA down to 3rd world status. . But that's cultural. Cell ("smart") phones take all the time now. Opportunity cost.
One of my theories is that teaching real things was hard so the teachers unions told everyone that it doesn't really matter much! It is "more important" to teach all the "social/emotional"/"social justice" stuff - like how you could be born in the right or wrong body and you might be a good or bad person based on how you look.
And, if the kids have mental health problems because they have nothing real to strive for (like learning or grades or skills), hey lets just show them more mental health videos and talk to them about suicide prevention (putting the idea in their heads). Maybe a new identity will help, too! Identity is all important!
Obviously---every minute spent teaching gender ideology is a minute not spent on teaching reading. I can't believe how blind/illogical the author's statement was.
Nonconforming, “Math is racists” and, of course, “ Reading, science, ets. are designed to “fail kids of color” until DEI is achieved” Affirmative Action was a necessary tool in achieving DEI.
The playing field isn’t level, and dumbing down is the only solution! White Supremacy reins supreme, and anyone who takes issue & speaks out is a HATER & a TERRORIST to be silenced!
Yes, I am being sarcastic, though sadly this is the WOKE ideology.
Saying 'Obviously' is liking putting an arrogance badge on your chest in writing.
Nonconforming your statement could not be more true. Kids cannot read. A lot of kids cannot read. A lot of kids cannot count or use basic math functions. It has gotten 'progressively' worse over the last thirty years with ultra Progresssive dominance of education. It's time for those people to own their mess and get out of the way.
Every minute spent teaching gender ideology and the reasons for your oppression is a minute not spent teaching reading and writing.
Pretty soon, those who’ve mastered the basics will be the ones with the high paying jobs, leading those who have been taught to live in their feelings. We’re seeing a lot of that now; be prepared to see a lot more of it in the future.
The downside is the loss of our competitive advantage on the world stage, pretty much where the left wants us, and yet still more grist for the grievance industrial mill.
I was going to pull this quote out too. Does the author think that we magically make more time in a day to teach new "subjects"? No- they take the place of at least some of the real instruction... the tone of this article was incredibly infuriating at multiple places
If you are taking flak from MSM, SPLC, and CZI, you are over the target. Please stop using the term conspiracy theorist, especially for people like James Lindsay who are well researched. All data shows that the American education system is failing our children and grooming them into Maoist commissars: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-fire-a-commissar-part-2
Lindsay was one of the first to point out—correctly—that Jews would be demonized by Critical Race Theory and they’d be crazy to support it. Naturally, he was attacked on social media as an antisemite.
so true! just like when they say citing Hitler regarding weaponizing children against their parents makes someone a nazi - precisely the opposite is true but they don't care; an opportunity to call someone a nazi or fascist is too good to pass up, even if it's false
The author is obviously biased, and the article is superficial and dismissive. James Lindsay is one of the most insightful of the anti-woke scholars in exposing how woke activists carry out their program of indoctrination in education, business and government. I am skeptical regarding his arguments that the movement is intentionally organized around Maoist politics, but they certainly have derived much of their ideology and thought reform practices from that corner. I think that relatively few DEI officers and grassroots activists are fully conscious of the origins of their ideas and methodology, whether we are talking about Maoist thought control or postmodern French philosophy. On the other hand, some activists openly declare themselves to be "Marxists" (e.g., the BLM founders), and even Maoists. Considering that most of our big tech companies are in bed with the Chinese now, there is an obvious need to take the philosophical similarities seriously.
I too was disturbed by the way Lindsay is described. I am also just a bit skeptical about him in the way you are, but he is a very serious and important critic of the aggressive culture warriors of the left. Their ideas do derive from theory on the left that began with Marx. I would say they are not Marxist in any sense Marx himself would accept - since in a key way they divert from class to other things Marx (and traditional socialists) would have seen as efforts to divide the working class, over race in particular and now sex also. However, since Gramsci, the Frankfort school and post-modernism, those carrying on this Marxist past have switched from class to a general battle to control culture itself.
What I think makes this hard for many to see is that it all is very deceitfully modified in terminology as it moves into institutions such as schools, academia, corporations, government bureaucracies, etc. The bigger mystery to me is what are the needs this terminology fulfills for people that allow them to accept what is in fact so ungrounded in fact and destructive?
Thank you for the thoughtful response to my post. Your question about what motivates the participants is important. An FBI agent once told me that, when he was trying to turn a terrorist to work for our government instead, knowing what motivated the terrorist was key to the agent’s success. The agent said that terrorists have in common a need to feel more special and important, which they meet by identifying themselves as members of a large movement with a holy mission. I suspect that this applies to members of the woke cult as well.
In the U.S., unfortunately, the grassroots college-based movement has been seen as a source of potential financial benefit and free positive advertising by big business. That wasn’t true of the Sixties and Seventies radical movements. The involvement of the capitalists has added enormous financial investment and power to the critical theory cult. On the other hand, it opens to us the use of financial strategies against that power, like the Bud Lite boycott. I would love to see more organized and well-targeted actions that create big costs rather than free PR for woke companies.
Yes! I was coming here to say the same. I’m sick of JL being smeared as a lunatic. Everything he posits strikes terror through my heart AND it’s history-bound and makes so much sense. If he could deliver his message in the plain language of his pal Peter boghossian he’d be even more of a force--for good.
James Lindsay is THE current authoritative source for understanding the history, tactics, and scope of everything Woke that's being force-fed into our society (and internationally) at all levels. He is especially concerned about the indoctrination of our children through the education system, and he has the receipts as they say.
Has the author taken the time to read Lindsay/listen to any of his in-depth podcasts on this subject? Doubtful. Instead the author casually asserts that if Lindsay sees parallels between Mao's revolutionary tactics and goals and what we see happening in education today, it's self-evidently absurd and we should all agree that makes Lindsay a nutter.
agreed. and Lindsay brought to light Derrida and Foucault's pedophilia which is shocking and horrific in its own right but also lays a lot of context about the acceptance around childhood sexuality that we are seeing today.
My 16 year old child is gender questioning and first encountered the concept of changing gender at school in 6th grade. I didn't consent to the lesson being taught. It harmed my child and left us dealing with unfathomable choices encouraged by activist doctors and therapists. Teaching Gender ideology violates the establishment clause of the constitution. It's a system of beliefs. You can't compel beliefs or speech. Moms for Liberty is on to this and don't want their children harmed like mine has been. Teachers are not parents and need to stay in their lanes. Wouldn't it be easier for the teachers to just teach reading, writing, and arithmetic?
Don't you wonder why these teachers think they can teach things like gender ideology? Are they trained in that? Where and how?
How do they get that concept into lesson plans and curricula? How arrogant of them to even bring up a topic of such complexity and controversy. School choice is the best solution...give parents the education dollars and let them send their children to the school of their choice.
Yes, school choice is the answer. But there is no need for training in "gender ideology". This is a cult, pure and simple. No training necessary except to remind kids that there are 2 sexes, equating to 2 human genders, that no-one is "born in the wrong body", and to beware of cults that lead to irreversible treatments.
Well, trans people have always existed, let's not forget that. BUT in much much much much much smaller numbers than what one might think based on how inundated the media is with the issue. Most of them are NOT fluid, most of them identify very strongly with the opposite sex since a very very young age. However, this obviously does not mean that trans issues should be standard curriculum in first grade 🙄. I find it tragic that a serious, mostly medical problem concerning such a tiny fraction of the population has been hijacked like this. It hurts trans people more than it helps them imo.
I am so sorry, MM. Who gave teachers permission to pry open our kid's heads and insert a bunch of literally insane dogma around gender theory? It's like mind-rape, and I don't say that lightly.
And SUCH an invasion of privacy, to interrogate children about their innermost sensitive thoughts, feeling, bodily functions. "Hey, kids, today (and tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that) let's talk about how touching your private parts feels good, and then let's talk about whether you want boys or girls to touch YOUR private parts--that's how you'll know your sexuality. And then let's talk about whether or not you like your private parts, or whether maybe your body is one big, horrible mistake. And of course, if your body is one big horrible mistake, that makes you extra special and we're going to plaster you with admiration and parades!"
Feel free to get in touch. My email is in here. Even if someone genuinely feels that way, there is no justification for the fantasy interventions of hormones, and above all surgery. I wrote a paper on this years ago.
Read this. Cherry picked data (oops, kid died, don't mention it), questionable measures, complete lack of controls, inability to confirm results in follow-up studies. I think teachers have been duped and have not read the basis of what they are told. (Plus, some shadowy investors seeking to cash in on the surgical clinics, who tend their nest eggs.)
Who died and made the Southern Poverty Law Center king? Who made them the high priests to decide which group is "hate"?
The Left has lost all credibility when they started calling JK Rowling a "hateful bigot". At this point, only liberals who are still reading legacy left leaning media are fooled by them. They play these language games to brand anyone who disagree with them as "hate", and couch all their sinister agenda from gender ideology to BLM to climate industrial complex to Covid vaccine mind control to war in various "social justice" buzzwords. That's how they keep their own people in check. It's a form of authoritarian tactic to inflict fear. It strikes fear into liberals' hearts and they tip over themselves to fall in line and comply lest they be branded "hateful", or if they don't support some form or another of "social justice". It's all about control. By their standard, they are the real fascists.
The way to immunize yourself from them controlling you with their language reign of terror is to stop being a "liberal". Whatever your politics, shirk that label. Leave their damn cult. Once you get out, they have no more power over your being. They can call you "hate" all they want till they're blue in their faces and they still can't make you afraid again. Let it be known publicly to your friends, family, and everyone else you're not a "liberal". Their fear tactic will stop working. And you will set yourself free.
The Southern Poverty Law center has been raking in millions of activist dollars for years. They have made themselves ‘king’. So a good thing to do is consider their stances ‘Opposite Day’ - whatever they oppose consider supporting and whatever they support give it a skunk eye. Truly. The SPLC is not a trustworthy organization. Its name is a misnomer, akin to the ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ which ironically caused billions of dollars to be spent on unnecessary projects and in turn created inflation.
To call the reptiles at the SPLC "not trustworthy" is way too mild. They are a hate group pure and simple. They advance anti-White, racist hate speech and label anyone standing for our Constitution as a bigot. Long past time to expose them, their lies and their donors for what they are.
They have a dehumanizing word for nearly anyone who disagrees with them on anything, and they teach those words to children as indisputable moral truth.
I just read an announcement this morning from my corporate client that DEI is moral truth and the Supreme Court is wrong. Dare I say, corporations have no business lecturing us on morals or taking non-business political positions to their employees.
Having been both a teacher and a parent, I hope this group turns its attention to the curricula of education schools -- that's where our teachers are indoctrinated with Paulo Freire and critical race theory.
"I hope this group turns its attention to the curricula of education schools"
I certainly hope so too. However, as the article states, “their biggest risk is some rogue woman wearing a Moms for Liberty shirt at a school board meeting acting like a cuckoo.”
And that “rogue woman” will likely be an FBI agent.
But we shouldn’t shirk this comment off as conspiracy theory. Why would anyone be surprised if this happens? The entrenched always defend their trenches. And fed agencies, are oh so entrenched.
My only argument with this comment is there are so many agencies, so many “fed soldiers” it won’t necessarily even be FBI. Take your pick. Plenty of willing posers, to save democracy, don’t you know?
Exactly right. And glad you mentioned Freire. "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" was required reading for everyone's master's thesis project at University of Pennsylvania's School of Education when I attended 15 years ago. It's all playing out today.
Same with at Harvard Graduate School of Education in the early 90s. In addition to consuming Freire, we were also told to ditch phonics in favour of the nebulous “whole language” (check out APM’s “Sold a Story”) and promote education in a child’s native language instead of English as it was racist to impose English on immigrant and refugee children. This dogma reminded me of my youth in Montreal where newcomers were banned from attending English public schools but all the French Canadian politicians sent their own children to elite English or bilingual schools so they could be job ready and travel. Not so for the immigrants! This is still the case in Quebec today.
I used to encourage my daughter to become a teacher; given the continuing Marxist ideology coming out of Ed Schools, I have retracted my position.
My 17 year old is gifted with children (she is often more patient with her younger siblings than I am and she loves to explain things and help them learn) and I am trying to get her to consider teaching in a Christian classical school. Definitely not public school, however, which she herself isn’t even considering.
But there's a good chance that to get hired she will need formal training and certification. The education schools, licensed training grounds for teachers, are COMPLETELY captured. The indoctrination begins there and filter down to innocent (ignorant) children.
Agree completely, and I make the point to other Christian parents that demanding accreditation and certification from teachers at private schools as a guarantee of quality or training or skills might not be the best approach.
Is she a conservative protestant? It will probably require a statement of faith and an agreement to accept things like the literal seven-day creation- I’m not sure these schools necessarily will provide the exposure to liberalism students need in a pluralistic republic if they only allow such a limited number of viewpoints
My four oldest kids, including her, have been in public school since the oldest started kinder in 2005, and my two youngest attend a classical Christian school. We are very familiar with both models both from direct experience and because I read extensively about classical education for years before we made the jump. Our private school — conservative statement of faith and all — blows public school out of the water when it comes to “liberalism.” Our school teaches critical thinking as a skill - disciplined reason and logic according to classical tradition - while public schools are a scattershot of dim bulb groupthinkers parroting whatever the rest of the henhouse says or the latest consultant’s workshop laid out. Our private school says “this is what we believe and why, and here is what others believe, and here are tools to recognize and pursue truth, goodness and beauty in your future intellectual social spiritual and professional life.” It’s the opposite of a closed off, close minded box; in fact I’d say it treats education as a doorway. The world is endlessly more interesting and satisfying the more attention you pay and the whole history of human scholarship, literature and art is an attempt to make sense of what it is to be a thinking, created mind on a horizontal axis (in relation to other people) and on a vertical axis (in relation to God). The exact opposite of the anti-intellectual, incurious, dogmatic, unquestioning, trend-enslaved mentality that our public schools have slouched their way into.
Ironically, it was in graduate school -- in the Education program, TESOL in my case -- that I learned that grammar is no longer taught in K-12. I was already in my 50s when I was in the program, and the majority of my fellow classmates were much younger, many in their 20s. I was surprised at how poorly written their papers were, particularly the grammar (a lot of subject and direct object pronouns misused, which is now common practice it seems). I come from a time when English grammar was part of the core curriculum all the way through to 12th grade. A young classmate told me that she did not have English grammar classes growing up. The reason, of course, is that it may highlight differences in the social standing of students. And we wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings or make them feel uncomfortable...
I also read Pedagogy of the Oppressed in my last graduate program. I did background research on Freire, as a recall a Marxist, and disagreed with his premise. I did not like the book at all. I wrote a paper and stated as much. I am glad I had read Frederich Hayek before I took this class.
All I got from that book was a lot of agitation. I resented having to read it, particularly as it had no bearing on my final project. I am surprised that more is not written about Freire as a major early contributor to the prevalence of oppressor vs oppressed ideology (he wrote the book in the early '70s, as I recall).
As I continued to consider my above comment, I recall reading The Republic by Plato and The Nature of Scientific Revelations by Thomas Kuhn. Both were far better reads than Freire and would recommend them. I found several of my graduate classes nearly worthless except I had a front row seat for the woke ideologies that became public two decades later.
I also read much of Plato in my undergraduate philosophy classes -- so much wisdom and critical thinking (the authentic kind, not Freire's "critical pedagogy") in those books. But they are probably banned from graduate schools (I'm sure Univ. of PA) because -- horrors -- they were written by white men from those awful patriarchal societies.
Sounds like a wonderful group that is fighting for their children. They are against the sexualization of children and against pornography and pedophilia. They want to have children taught truth not lies. Of course the left is against them and smears them. The left is evil and promotes evil
BTW I believe Lenin made the same point about children that Hitler did. Totalitarian fascists/communists run together, like the left.
What struck me was their use of a Hitler quote to label them as Nazis and White Supremacists. This is the same sort of idiotic and lazy thinking we've come to expect from our "elites" and their media toadies. When pointing out that a Nazi or Soviet said or did something labels you as their supporter, we are way out on intellectual thin ice.
It doesn't matter if its stupid or lazy. What does matter is that it works. Stop giving the press ways to tear you down. Quoting Hitler and then going "oh but guys the context" is really really stupid and gave them an in that they will use.
The idea that youth is the future in time inmemorial....and practiced by people like Marx, Lenin, Paolo Freire, the education establishment and on and on. She made the mistake of using the notorious third reich head and should have used, ironically, some mega left-wind idol.
Right, and the comparison of GI ideology taught in schools, and the trans takeover of medicine, and it's usefulness in Democrat politics - to Hitler/1930s Germany is actually apt: "Echoes of Eugenics: What the Doctors Trial at Nuremberg Means for Us in the US
On the 75th anniversary of the trial of Nazi doctors at Nuremberg we examine Nazi medicine and gender-affirming care"
"So I decided to find out. I went to The Trevor Project and said I was a 15yo FTM (female-to-male) who likes boys and doesn't know whether to detransition or proceed to hormones. The child I was posing at was clearly confused."
The tone of this whole article is sophomoric and disappointing. I've never even visited their website but I'm heading to a Moms for Liberty site right now to make a donation just because this was so one-sided and weak.
Seriously, you thought this was a one-sided, anti Moms for Liberty column? If leaders of the group liked the Washington Post story (which was actually fair and balanced), don't you think they'll appreciate this mostly positive exposure?
Baltimore has 23 schools that have a grade level reading proficiency rate of zero, not one student. Over 30% of the city population is illiterate. City has ben run by Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi's father, for 80 years. Tell me again how Democrats care about the success of youth, especially minority youth.
30% of the city population is illiterate! Those numbers are so bad it makes you wonder if it's not part of the plan. After all, illiterate people are usually a lot easier to fool and therefore to control.
this is true. the democrats started the KKK. they also brought us prohibition! two facts the left likes to regularly ignore. learn your history, kids, or you will be doomed to repeat it!
I can’t seem to get through a Free Press article without at least one off-handed but completely infuriating remark making me question my subscription. What’s been a decent article up to a point suddenly goes to an unsupported assertion that is used to dismiss an opinion you don’t really want to engage with. In this one, it’s the line: “Obviously, schools do not choose between teaching reading and gender ideology...”. Having taught for 30 years in a very ‘progressive’ school district- among the first in the nation to pilot the “Welcoming Schools” curriculum of the HRC, I can attest that, indeed, there are huge opportunity costs to embracing the teaching of ANYTHING above and beyond core curriculum. My district spent unknown thousands- probably millions- of dollars and hours of training on this insidious rot. What started as “anti-bullying” Ed morphed into a very time- and energy- consuming monster. Staff spent far more time in professional development around this curriculum than most everything. The biggest loser was science education. I was the coordinator of science Ed for my school and after we started with the gender and CRT we never again spent efforts helping teachers get good at teaching engaging, hands-on science. We were laser-focused on social justice and I can say that one person who has made sense of the zealous push for these ideologies in schools to the OBVIOUS detriment of effective teaching and learning is James Lindsay, who you also toss off as a kook. His ‘Groomer Schools’ series of podcasts is spot on in tracing the trajectory of queer theory in schools. Also, he is correct in his appraisal of the huge influence of Paolo Freire in the Marxification of education. I started my career all-in with the left’s ideas about education and, having seen the actual results of it, I’m just done and quite ready to join Moms for Liberty in their effort to rid schools of this destructive, undemocratic insanity. Please do better, Free Press.
Yup, what Lindsay is pointing out is not something subtle - the marxist indoctrination is in your face and out in the open - they aren't shy about it although they will dissemble around definitions and labels like CRT. And I dispute the author's statement that "Education is a state issue, not a federal one" - procedurally and legally he's largely correct but the rot really stems from the U.S. Department of Education.
Yes, and also, in a huge way, from schools of education. That’s where the indoctrination begins. Again, I bought it and took courses from some of the big names in critical pedagogy. I wish I’d known then what I know now.
Exactly right and same here. Most adults still seem to view schools through a child's eyes where the teacher is all powerful, but in fact teachers have very little autonomy, especially since NCLB. This indoctrination is coming from state departments of education, schools of ed and, very importantly, the teachers unions, ALL of which are captured by neo Marxism. It's not even subtle. Now conformity is being demanded with the threat of "hate speech" or "TERF" accusations that can destroy your life. It's so much worse than people realize. We need Teachers for Liberty but they'd have to have good lawyers, armed guards and funding.
Biden's DOE is making education a federal issue more and more each day. One of *many* examples I can name is the feds WITHHOLDING money from free lunch programs for students when school districts don't embrace policies that permit boys in girls locker rooms and on girls' sports teams. (Isn't it funny how it's usually the boys who want access to girls' locker rooms and sports teams... who could have predicted?!) I'd personally LOVE to see the feds leave my kids' education up to our local governments and school boards. I'm one of the lucky parents in a school district that appears to be resisting this absurdity.
Don't give up on FP. They need your perspective! I'm also bothered by the tone of Mr. Bondiscio's article that seems (more than anything else) to be trying to highlight the criticism directed at Moms for Liberty rather than simply presenting the facts about this relatively new political movement. It seems to me that his goal is to undermine the credibility of Moms for Liberty. This is perplexing given that Mr. Bondiscio has studied and written about Success Academy which seems to stress parent involvement and, as far as I can tell, uses a curriculum focused on core academic standards rather than an agenda-based ideology. Anyway, your comments are great and needed here!
Given your experience, I wonder if you've considered how do we get teachers to push back on their union reps who are so busy being political operatives that they've allowed public schools to be co-opted by Marxists and the Far Left? Can't tell if you are still teaching but maybe stop paying union dues?
Do you think that the FP staff is influenced by what the commenters say? I doubt that they read us. I think it is FP's responsibility to recruit authors who are capable of accurately and fairly representing the people they are writing about. The FP is a leftist rag. Based on how Bari Weiss originally portrayed her mission I thought she would include viewpoints of anti-woke cult activists, but apart from the individuals she interviews I haven't seen many high quality anti-cult articles published by the FP. Perhaps the majority of journalists are too much a part of the woke movement to form an objective perspective on it. The ones on this site don't even have an accurate picture of what the movement is doing, so how could they write a decent article about it?
Nellie reads at least some of the comments on her pieces, because she's liked comments in the past (including a couple of mine). I do have to wonder about the rest of the team, though. That piece on drag queen "nuns" at a Dodgers game has been sitting for about a month with serious factual errors uncorrected, despite several comments (again, including mine) pointing them out.
You need to read this paper. The entirety of gender affirming care is scientifically beyond flawed. It is, arguably, fraud. Cherry picked data, misrepresentation, highly questionable measures, complete lack of controls, and complete inability to confirm results in follow-up studies. And yet, this medical malpractice is being enshrined in law and education as the only acceptable way for children to be treated---with parental consent specifically excluded. This campaign is implemented by duped teachers who have NOT read the basis of what they are told. (Plus some shadowy investors seeking to cash in, who tend their nest eggs.)
Completely agree... there seems to be an editorial requirement of all TFP writers that even when writing an article that has a point of view that could be perceived to be considered favorable towards a "right wing point of view" there has to be a comment that provides balance.. the use of the word obviously, while written in the same font as the rest of the piece, jumped off my screen in 72 font bold and underlined italics.... with reading scores at all-time lows nationally there is nothing "obvious" about it in most schools. While part of me is looking forward to the upcoming TFP piece on Joe Biden's corruption, I'm prepared for the whataboutism the article will have on Trump's alleged criminal activities.
"I can’t seem to get through a Free Press article without at least one off-handed but completely infuriating remark making me question my subscription."
This is EXACTLY how I feel about the Free Press. I cancelled my subscription not very long ago after reading an especially condescending, insulting article written from an obviously very left wing author. I got sucked back in by the titles of the articles, which are often in my area of core interest. But today again I am thinking about cancelling my subscription. With the possible exception of Bari Weiss, I think that most of the authors who write for the Free Press must be leftists who are trying to write in a more "balanced" way about woke issues. Unfortunately, they fail to make up for their leftist bias or their lack of education about other perspectives on these topic areas. In addition, that leftist snobbery always manages to ooze its way into their characterization of anyone who prefers to stay on the outside of the Circle of the Elect.
I feel exactly the same way about the F P. The article about Yeon-Mi Park at the UN got me to pony up for a subscription, but many recent articles are disappointing if not infuriating
"The candidates have all come to pay obeisance to the animating idea that has galvanized these women: that parents—not the government—should be in charge of how their children are raised and educated." - It's a little odd reading this sentence like it is a novel idea or some new child-rearing technique recently discovered by Dr. Benjamin Spock. it is strange how many centuries old truths are now portrayed as quaint notions that should be weighed for their validity against new, untested ideas by liberal machinators.
Thank you for saying this. I had the same reaction to this sentence.
What the heck is the author's point in choosing that wording: "pay obeisance"? The connotation is negative, even vaguely slimy, the implication being that the candidates are bowing and kowtowing to a religious claim rather than just signaling sympathy and respect for a widely held, common sense, and uncontroversial-until-five-minutes-ago cultural expectation that parents have the right and responsibility for making determinations about their children.
That weird framing, and the author's odd characterization of James Lindsay as some kind of right wing extremist with fringe views, left me questioning the author's intentions and/or understanding of reality.
That, and using the Hitler quote instance as an example of the group's lunatic fringe, which critics use to accuse them of intolerance and racism. The author failed to give an example of "lunatic fringe" activity.
Yes, and the mother actually made a pretty spot on comparison given the Gender Ideology takeover of the education and medical establishments - which has become useful for politicians on the far left (currently running the D party). Rhythms with 1930s Germany?
"Echoes of Eugenics: What the Doctors Trial at Nuremberg Means for Us in the US
On the 75th anniversary of the trial of Nazi doctors at Nuremberg we examine Nazi medicine and gender-affirming care"
I thought this was an interesting observation by Pedro Gonzalez:
"There have been many terrible medical experiments in America, but none of them have had the deadly and destructive combination of ideology, politics, and profits propelling them into the culture. Lobotomies had profits, but no ideology or political movement supporting the procedure. Eugenics had an ideology and a political movement, but no profits that could be reinvested in lobbying for protective legislation. Transgenderism has the winning trifecta, and it makes the movement much more difficult to defeat, despite its obvious harm to people and the lack of any legitimate science or data to back up its central tenets."
Agree. I personally am fine with teachers and school boards deciding what ACADEMIC (math and language) curricula to teach. I'm even fine with schools teaching and reinforcing character traits like integrity, courage, respect, etc. But once you cross over into lessons or discussions involving sexuality, blatantly false information about biology, and sexually explicit content, then you are WAY out of line as an educator. Teach human reproduction at an age-appropriate level (puberty around 5th grade/reproduction 8th grade or so) with a transparent health curriculum parents can access in advance, and NOTHING ELSE. What or whom my kids are attracted to is none of your business. If you're a teacher, talk to your own offspring about sex, and let me talk to mine. If you're a teacher without children, then I'm sorry but the topic is off limits with people under the age of 18. If you're an adult who yearns to talk to kids about sex, seek psychiatric help and stay away from my family.
Ultimately the success of any student is directly proportional to the involvement of the parents in their education. The best example is the high academic achievement of Asian students pushed to succeed by their parents. Any movement that creates more parent engagement is welcomed. An investigation into low performing schools reveals a lack of parental participation. It makes no difference how much money is thrown into these low performing schools if parents do not actively engage in their children’s education.
That's not true. A lot of Asian students of immigrant parents had no parental involvement until recently. Their parents were immigrants and couldn't speak English enough to be involved. It's the cultural mindset of valuing education, career success, meritocracy, and getting ahead, all of which are diametrically in opposition to what the Left is pushing today.
By involvement I mean making sure their child does homework and emphasizes learning and good grades. The parent does not have to go to school board meetings or volunteer at the school.
But it's still not true. Asian immigrant parents until the recent wave of millionaires were labor workers who worked long hours and weren't home enough to oversee their children, or monitor them to do homework or anything. They actually depended on their minor children to learn English as fast as possible to help them get around. It's the culture of the community from every side that teach Asian kids to value academic success. It's embedded into their attitudes from their peers, their teachers, all the adults around them, their TV and movies. And yes, their parents. But parental involvement was often not there. That's true even in Asian countries, with most parents too busy working.
I'm not undermining the very significant importance of parental involvement. I think parental involvement in Western societies, especially the US is vital precisely because we lack the culture of valuing academic success the way Asian societies do. Especially in the US (as I can't speak first hand to other Western countries) parents are all that's there because without it, we can't rely on any other positive influence to be there.
“It's the culture of the community from every side that teach Asian kids to value academic success.” This right here. It starts with the parents even those working many hours. Again the involvement can be nothing more than insisting on good grades and consequences for not making them. That culture needs to be imported into every community. Curriculum on the other hand requires parent involvement at the school level. But without the pressure being applied upon the student from home curriculum will not matter.
The children learning nothing in school today will be the parents of the next generation of students who learn nothing. And we will still be saying it’s the parents’ fault. The only way to break the cycle is to figure out a way to teach kids despite the parents’ lack of involvement.
Anyone who can figure out how successfully educate kids without parental participation will be a very wealthy person. Billions have been spent to date with no meaningful results. Where parents are active participants the students are high achievers even with less resources.
or speak English!! The Asian immigrant students I had (a CUNY community college, late 90's, early aughts) would beg and argue w/ me to get an A rather than an A- because they knew they'd get flack from their parents!
Both of you, David and QX, are correct. Parental involvement that stands behind and guides their children’s education is key, especially at home, but also in the schools.
Quora.com for whatever reason has many Indian / South Asian students discussing things there. I am amazed and impressed by how many of them are determined to study hard so as to not to let their parents down. Yes, this can go too far, but it illustrates how important FAMILY is to success.
They are hated because the new left (and that's who is doing this, sorry) hates America and families and women and liberty and anything that would detract from achieving absolute totalitarian control of every aspect of life, and at a global level.
The fad du jour (or the many fads, one might say) are mostly distractions from this path. Whether it's COVID or the climate scaremongering or the everyone is "trans" or equity, these are all both distractions and attacks on liberty—each a kind of test to prove the those pushing the agenda can make us all do or react to pretty much anything they want.
So naturally a group that embodies so many of the anathemas to this movement: liberty, moms, family ... control will be labeled a hate group, especially since ad hominem is really the only argument they have.
There is a picture in the article of a counter-protest with a woman holding a sign that reads "Proud Mom of Gay Kids". So why is this proud mom hiding her face behind a mask and dark glasses?
I read it as Marcia questioning the validity of the message on the sign. Because, mathematically, the odds of one woman having more than one kid who turned out to be gay are not high. The mathematical odds are higher that the Masked Protestor has no kids at all, is a professional or semipro activist, and thinks the message on the sign grants her "standing," than they are that she is legitimately the mother of more than one gay kid.
When you live in a bastion of this cult, the odds aren't that slim. I know one woman with two lesbian granddaughters, a transman-granddaughter, and a plain straight young woman granddaughter - 3/4 alphabet people. I know another woman with a gay son and a they-daughter - two out of two. I think the sign in the photo could be correct.
That's interesting. But it would seem to indicate one (or both) of two things: Either homosexuality is more socialized than we've been told all these years (maybe not 'born this way'?), or if those people were all 'born that way,' maybe the 'gay gene' is hereditary. If that's the case, one would assume by the natural order that those family lines would not survive long.
Funny how that could go either way; evidence that points in either or direction. In this case, the grandmother's lesbians are genetically sisters, and her biological grandchildren, and the straight-plain and the transman-granddaughter are adopted twins. I think in this case, it is socialization - they were raised in an elite, liberal area. The woman with the they-daughter and the gay son also raised them in an affluent, liberal area. Especially with today's "lesbians" (the temporary ones) and the trans people, I think it is mostly social. And there may be genetic conditions and predispositions that in affluent liberal areas become trans (like autism) and some that become gay men (like sensitivity and artistic sense) and docility/conformity that become lesbians. A man from a place that was relatively liberal/secular muslim that grew more conservative as he aged told me that when he was young, the women with tough personalities were more likely to be very religious and wore hijab and the docile women would wear mini skirts, but when he got older, it was the docile women who wore hijab and the tough women refused to cover their hair. The same tendencies, which may be genetic, get expressed differently depending on the milieu.
oh come on...she's outside so she is wearing sunglasses. and we don't know when the picture was taken but my guess is it was during covid, as there are others wearing masks as well.
in certain blue cities, during covid, everyone was told to stay indoors and away from others unless there was important rioting, um, i mean, PEACEFUL PROTESTING, to further social justice causes. because, by this logic, covid was smart enough to not target those doing this important work for a bigger purpose. (sarcasm)
what i took away from the image in question, is she is proud of her gay kids. great, she's pro-gay & lesbian! i could care less. but the new doctrine is against being gay/lesbian. so, to me, she appeared to be at the wrong rally.
Right and left are obsolete terms. Supporters of the Regime and Heretics Against the Regime. That is the more correct term, I think. When the "left" embraces the war machine, the pharmaceutical industry, the FBI and racism, and denounces freedom of speech, eh, I don't know, it boggles the mind.
I don't care what her kids do in their private time. Are they literate? Did they study the classics of English language? Are their math skills at least decent? Do they understand the basics of the US Constitution, our history, and governmental system? Etc.
And there are moms out there who are angry for no reason, or for little reason, depending, and yet they're still pissed off.....but she's just pissed off and stupid, and she needs to be jumped ugly with, in conversation (not fists, I'm not one of the January 6 MAGA folks after all!), to be corrected.
The sad commentary is that a private citizen with zero media training communicates badly at a public meeting and the NY Times makes it a headline.
POTUS has a teleprompter, speech writers , briefing books , and 60 years in public office and says stupid stuff ( and unhinged stuff) daily and its ignored.
That is the problem in a nutshell.
The elitism and vitriol that teachers use when choosing to intentionally misunderstand parents who cannot articulate clearly, either from passion or from lack of knowledge about precisely how the education system works, is astounding. As a Soldier turned teacher, I am often appalled by the arrogance and elitism I see amongst my teaching peers. They seem to believe their degrees make them more intelligent, read more important, than the parents of our students. It’s so disgusting.
Yup - at my daughters’ NYC private school, more than once I had to correct what a particular math teacher was teaching. I finally went to the head of school about her lack of math knowledge. Next year she didn’t show up for school. Watch & observe what they are teaching your children. Too many teachers are badly educated themselves.
Most schools of education do not encourage pre-service teachers to learn the content or to even focus on teaching content. Many of us were not taught the how for teaching reading either. I’ve spent the last five years since retooling as a teacher learning how to teach reading on my own.
You can get a good idea of the scope of the problem by reading Natalie Wexler’s Knowledge Gap and checking out Emily Hanford’s reporting on reading instruction. Both have helped me more than my school of education ever did.
As a former teacher, I agree. Every 3-4 years we were changing reading programs, paying a fortune for the “newest program” and having to relearn a process that wasn’t much better. A complete waste of time for teachers and likely for students too. I often did my own thing because these programs offered in a day what would take longer than the whole school day to teach. These education companies are a racket just like the teachers’ union. I worked for a charter school which often felt like a public school because it was for-profit. The biggest difference? Our salary!
Retired teacher here. I can confirm Linda's take on revolving programs. It was maddening to have district administrators always bringing in their shiny new toys every three years. Worse yet, every year we would have in-service seminars from outside experts telling us everything we were doing was wrong.
Thanks, Linda, for pointing out something that the general public really doesn't know. You are spot on.
Retired teacher as well. Also the general public doesn't realize (nor do new teachers) that the ed publishing companies repackage old ideas that didn't work the first time when they were originally pushed.
Yes on the new toys and the outside experts at in-service seminars ! Made me laugh!
And spending taxpayer dollars all along the way for the 'consultants, experts, and training' of the Shiny New Way. My sister is a teacher and recently told me they are going back to teaching reading the way they did 10 yrs ago....major eye roll.
It's one of the greatest grifts going. Sell the schools on a "new" teaching method, rather than what worked for 100 years.
New York City schools have just gone back to using ‘Phonics’ to teach reading because kids were not becoming literate using the ‘whole learning method’. Only about 25% of NY city kids are up to grade level; that said, they say in Baltimore virtually no kids can pass.
And according to the latest reading and math scores data, whatever they're teaching ain't working.
Big question...Did the old way work the first time? After all if a program works, it's hard to sell new materials.
I am an old codger who attended elementary school in the 1950's. My classes were a mixture of kids from various backgrounds and financial circumstances. We learned reading by phonics. I cannot recall any of my classmates who were not proficient in reading after the 3rd grade.
Yep. Years ago fought the “math wars” in our local schools. Thankfully we had an investigative journalist on the parent team. Was astonished at what she dug up on the curriculum peddlers and the ties back to retired regional school personnel. The “new thing” was one of those constructivist math programs that never built fundamental computational skills that are critical for higher levels of math. In one board meeting I brought in my g-grandfathers text used in a one room schoolhouse, literally on the prairie in the 1870s, and showed he was working problems scribbled in the margins in 4th/5th grade that my own kids at same age couldn’t begin to solve. And he wasn’t a genius and his education stopped at 8th grade.
The other big difference was that your students learned something.
So-called ‘education classes’ are primarily a racket, an employment program for people who were ‘Education’ majors but have never taught in the life. It’s a licensing grift.
I encountered this personally myself this summer. I took and passed the PRAXIS to add a reading endorsement to my license. In spite of successfully demonstrating my knowledge on the topic, I cannot add it unless I complete at least an approved two-year reading specialist certificate with a university.
Yup - it's a licensing grift - an employment program - a barrier to entry - it's nonsense
It’s the $$$$ why else, if you cut the funding the best and brightest will emerge!
When I entered college, I wanted to be a teacher. I sat in one education class about early childhood development, dropped out and changed my major. The information presented was boring, uninspired and required no thinking.
I taught my children before they entered school . By the time they were in school they could read and write in 2 languages were proficient in math . They both did well in school and were put in advanced classes from the start , funny thing is the taught the english classes in grade school as they knew the language better than the teachers , they went to french school the ënglish"teachers knew less than nothing
I agree 100%. As a former public school board member of a K-8 district in IL, I saw ISBE remove core content licensing requirements for new teachers in favor of vague “culturally responsive” teaching standards such as advocacy and justice. I was completely flummoxed they would remove proof of literacy, math, science knowledge although not surprised given the decline in assessment scores.
Fortunately, there is a push now to require teacher preparatory colleges to teach early literacy according to the “science of reading.” The problem is that most schools don’t have the professors trained with the knowledge to do so since it has been so out of vogue for years. Hopefully, state boards of education push to require competency in core knowledge.
They could talk to the International Dyslexia Association...if it hasn't become woke.
Dyslexia can now join the new woke autism group. It fits the goal of "inclusion" by being labeled neurodiversity. By doing this, progressives make autism "normal" up through the day the autistic person becomes homeless because he/she can read.
Yes, I saw signs of a shift in my own school of education in response to preparing for the reading legislation in our state.
That is encouraging. One of my former school board co-members ran for our board because her two sons were both dyslexic and she recognized that our district could not meet their education needs (they were not even able to correctly assess the problem). She has been instrumental in advocating for new early literacy standards in the state. These “Moms of Liberty” should complement their parental advocacy work with a renewed focus on what kinds of curriculum, pedagogy and professional development actually translate to learning gains.
Forgive me for asking, but what does "culturally responsive" mean? Teaching kids to understand the z-rated, mysoginistic, racist lyrics of the latest "popular," noise-making ensemble?
No wonder there are school systems in our country where few, and occasionally no one can perform at grade level....
Schools of education at most major universities are primarily indoctrination mills.
First, they are remedial institutions.
For a really subversive take on education reform, I recommend John Taylor Gatto's book "Weapons of Mass Instruction: A Schoolteacher's Journey Through the Dark World of Compulsory Schooling", a scathing, humorous, and slightly loony critique of public schools in the U.S.
Can you provide the stats for your claim that "most schools of education do not encourage pre-service teachers to learn the content or to even focus on teaching content"? That's a huge generalization, so I'm guessing you have evidence to back up such a grandiose claim.
Anecdotal evidence here: I edited Ed.D. Dissertations for a state university system for 12 years. Not one dissertation in all that time explored classroom content instruction. Every single one was focused on some aspect of social justice advocacy.
Wow, that's scary.
Bullshit.
It's worth noting that waaaaaay back in 1983, when I started taking courses to become an elementary school teacher (a career I ended up not pursuing), the students were being warned that if they intended to become licensed in California, they would have to pass an examination that tested their own ability to read, write, do math, and understand science. Evidently this exam had been instituted because too many new teachers managed to get through the college education curriculum without developing those skills.
The university I attended, despite being a top university, had special dumbed-down courses for those pursuing elementary education degrees: "Math for Teachers," "Science for Teachers," etc.
Recall that this was 40 YEARS AGO. I can only guess what has happened since.
You don’t have to guess, you can now witness what has transpired, hence the rise in Mom for Liberty!
My "Physics for Non-Physics Majors" course in college...admittedly to increase my grade point average...was a farce. The school was a large, major football power north of the Mason-Dixon Line; it contained contained a large Education department, and the course was geared to their students.. The year was 1963.
The final exam, 3-hours long, had 100 questions in multiple-choice (intellectual-bingo) format. I completed the test in about 30 minutes, handed in my paper and enjoyed the other 2-1/2 hours at the local coffee emporium with some of my friends. I received a grade of 98%. There were a few others that finished quickly and left early as did I.
When the exam result were posted, I wasn't astonished to see that I was amongst only a handful who got a good grade. I was astonished that I was only amongst 20% that achieved a passing grade of 60%.
I should clarify that this is mostly geared towards elementary education degrees. Secondary is often different by nature if the fact that they teach a content area.
Not learning or focusing on content in most schools of education is definitely the case with teaching reading. See Emily Hanford’s reporting. Also, re teaching content, see Natalie Wexler’s The Knowledge Gap and other reporting. This may be shifting in light their reporting, but also because of many states implementing legislation aimed at specific changes to reading instruction and accountability.
We have reduced Science & Social Studies content time to 30-45 minutes a day, if that, and usually alternating between the two. Also, usually at the end of the day. This also assumes SS and Science don’t get overrun by other things. Couple this with skills focused reading comprehension instruction and we are not teaching content by design. Not necessarily a deliberate design, but per above mentioned reporting and my own observations, many schools are set. The simple stat of how many schools use Journeys or some other basal reader based program can be an indicator of how much content is not the focus in most elementary schools.
Thank you for correcting that. My daughter is a high school science teacher. I can promise you her undergraduate and her Master’s education classes were geared toward teaching high school science.
If you are interested, take a few minutes and read Jill Biden's dissertation for her doctorate.
Reading it will give you a much greater appreciation of the worthlessness of many, if not all, "education" degrees.
See: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20407226/bidens-dissertation.pdf
If teachers were to be tested for anything, it would be in the subject they are teaching. You could find out how well they know the material. I had a social studies teacher in high school who just showed films - that was it - one was on ‘how to pack a grocery bag’. We referred to has class as ‘Ferrioli’s Film Festival’. We laughed at it back then, but given what I know now I would have actively fought for him to be fired.
I think a big reason for that is because so many are education majors. I come from a long line of teachers and as my dad said, you don't need all those education courses. Learn the content and then take a "raise the blinds course 101". In a graduate level course at Old Dominion University in the late 70s, we spent an entire session on how to load a projector. I thought, just go in the classroom and ask "Who here knows how to thread the film?" I dropped out of that class.
For example: The Bank Street School of Education in NYC is one of the most ideological outfits. Many so-called teachers pass through for leftist indoctrination. You are correct - teachers need to learn the subject matter more than anything else. The certification racket to be a teacher requires that the ideological classes be taken which is expensive and essentially useless. If teachers can’t teach the subject matter they ought to find another profession.
Also classroom management is an important skill which is often neglected in a teacher's education. Without the ability to focus and settle the students to the lesson, learning is not going to happen.
I'd argue that's likely the most important skill to have, and the toughest to learn.
When I learned how rarely teachers were taught these skills, I suddenly understood why so many teachers have trouble teaching. To me this would be the #1 skill for teaching students who don't really want to be there (Most kids in school).
That was my biggest challenge as a new teacher. It's very hard to learn that in a class or as a student teacher.
Surely you can't be referring to "Doctor" Jill.
A comical poseur whose E Ed thesis was riddled with poor grammar and misspellings.
Is her real thesis available online from a semi-reliable source? I would like to read it for myself, and I'm guessing there are a ton of satirical ones floating about.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20407101-jill-jacobsbiden_dissertation
Thanks!
Yip Dr Jill is one of many.
After taking her degree in Education at a local "teacher's college," my niece asked me to help her study for the WV State Teacher's Examination, which she had flunked spectacularly. They actually returned her old test, which we used as a template.
I couldn't believe her math skills - which is to say, nearly none. After we'd gone through about half of the questions, I asked her, "Holly, how are you going to teach math when you don't know any?" Her response? "Uncle Jim, I had never seen a "word problem" in my life until I took this test." So a 22 year-old with grade school, high school, and college behind her had never seen a math problem expressed in words. This is what our teachers' unions are getting for us.
When asked who was the most dangerous person in America, without pausing to take a breath Mike Pompeo said, "Randi Weingarten." Amen, Brother. I just joined Moms for Liberty. It's OK, though - today I identify as a woman. A very angry and determined old woman.
This is why I loved the Saxon Math curriculum when I was homeschooling: lots of word problems (which were almost always funny and engaging). Also, specific instruction about how to DECODE word problems.
The reality is that most of the math people do in real life requires them to turn the information they have into an equation. Without the skill of constructing equations from information (the whole purpose of word problems), people can't solve real-life issues with math.
God that brought back memories! Mr. Barrett, our grade school principal, had been a math teacher before, and occasionally he would come by a classroom and take over for a class or two. I still remember: "When a problem says something is a fraction OF something, that OF means "times." (For example, Susie has 1/3 of Sammy's twelve apples. How many does she have? 1/3 TIMES 12 is the answer.) Another one: "Per" means "divided by." (The train goes 75 miles in a three hour period. How many miles PER hour is it going? It is going 75miles/3 hours = 25 miles PER hour.
Last night I saw a video where a woman posted a picture board of all the world's continents, divided into their nations, at a college. None of the picture was labeled. A young lady who identified herself as a recent COLLEGE GRADUATE could not identify the continents, let alone the countries, including the United States.
In my original undergrad university, a world geography class was a required gen ed course.
To go further back, when I was in 4th grade, we had to memorize and be able to identify all 50 states and all the counties in our state on an unlabeled map. I've probably forgotten about half of the counties, since I haven't lived in that state since 1988, but I could still make a good stab at it.
Clearly they aren't teaching any of this anymore. Or at least they are not holding the kids accountable for the information. No failing grades given anymore.
I’m with you Jim male or female!! I too have joined.
My former partner got a PHD in Math Education back in the aughts and barely endured the blatant political indoctrination. It wasn't much about educating students in math. It was about indoctrinating students.
Political indoctrination has somehow taken over teaching in our universities and even K-12. I think parents may have missed something going on behind the scenes in schools during Covid when no one was looking. It reminds me of the Trojan Horse. This going to take years to get rid of.
Those who can do, those that cant teach and those that cant teach teach teachers
And those who “do” are there because of the teachers who taught them along the way. Somehow you seem to have missed that.
I can count on two hands thru highschool college and medical school great teachers who actually taught me anything and ive been studying on my own ever since and i do and teach
That is wonderful. So more than 5 great teachers and 10 or less. Still more than zero., and still possibly a higher number for you compared to other people. Sometimes it only takes one. And hopefully you as a teacher mean something to someone.
I live in one of 3 towns near an operating nuclear power plant. A group of 5 of us (Chemical, Nuclear, Electrical Engineers and Operations Manager and Mechanic - about 140 years experience total) approached one of the local schools, offering to volunteer to help teach in the local Junior and High School.
We described that we have huge amounts of experience and desire to help the kids learn fundamental subjects and that we could even enlist help from others we know.
We (humbly) considered it a gold mine - all that knowledge the plant is just brimming with and there for the taking. We were quite curtly dismissed and told that was simply unneeded and impossible.
And this is a small town, OK schools but certainly not even close to the rich suburbs’ performance.
Such stupidity is breathtaking - but it's really just laziness. It would take effort to figure out how to integrate your efforts....the teachers would start screaming that they're not paid enough to think hard (lol).
My husband and I were chatting over dinner the other night about how we learned languages in school. It seemed like every school has a 'language lab' with headphones where you were supposed to go and practice. But in all my years I think we used the room only twice. He thinks back then that schools got a federal grant that allowed these labs to be built not knowing how effective they would or would not be. Which got me thinking, why don't language teachers solicit people in the local community who are fluent in languages being taught at any particular school - and invite them to regularly meet & chat with smalll groups of students in the language they are learning? Like you said, our communities are filled with talent which is not accessed and so many people are looking to form 'community' in a day and age when it's getting harder and harder to do. But kudos to you for making such an offer. Maybe you would want to form study groups where kids could attend either after school or on weekends?
Same thing happened to me. Schools are very secretive -- they want no transparency. I was a writing instructor for graduate students and offered to volunteer. No go. The education system seems paranoid.
I had to “co-teach” AP US to two of my kids, knew what was on the test from the prior two and material simply was not being covered in class in favor of indoctrinating lectures and readings. Thankfully have a BA(Honors) and completed most of the MA coursework on the topic + a large library to assign readings from. But was astonished at the utter ignorance of the instructors.
It is astonishing at how badly educated people are, in general. One can’t even discuss history’ with most people because they have no clue. That said, I tend to find those who lean conservative more educated in American history because they are interested and care about the country’s origin. As for world events and geography most Americans have no clue.
That reminds me of a math teacher I had in 9th grade in the Los Angeles Unified School district who explained that a right triangle has two right angles. She was obvoisly hired for some reason other than her understanding of math.
CC, “affirmative action” at it’s finest!
We must not forget that the current crop of teachers were themselves educated--usually poorly--in the very system they now presume to run.
Teachers IMO are the most poorly educated students in university, and that ain’t saying much. If you can’t handle Science, you go into Arts. If you can’t handle Arts, you go into Education. If you can’t handle Education, you’re out the door.
Back in the 90's I got a minor in psychology. I majored in engineering. I was not raised to be an engineer and I needed some classes that I could get an easy A in to keep my credits up to maintain full time student status as the engineering course work was intense. Plus there were some terms I was not always able to get all of my engineering courses each as they were limited in being offered at the time. I filled in the gaps with psych classes. I loved my classes, found them very interesting. I was also horrified that a number of my fellow classmates who were psych majors were getting C's because they thought the courses were hard. I was pulling in A's and studied psych as break from my engineering courses.
That is a ridiculous comment and insults all the teachers who went into college knowing they wanted to teach and graduated with their education degrees.
I think you make a fair comment here. I was being a bit provocative for sure. I will correct myself. There are many, many teachers who enter the profession because that is their dream - to become a teacher. There are also many others who fall into teaching because it’s the one faculty they can succeed in. I saw it for myself in university - people dropping out of one faculty to enter an easier faculty.
Appreciate you recalibrating here. Just like all cops aren’t bad, all teachers are not the same. A truly good teacher is invaluable and leaves impressions on students for a lifetime. The bummer is that they are rare. Truly great teachers answer a calling. They continually work to expand their knowledge base and ways to reach their students. They are a gift. Get rid of the teachers unions, and let the cream rise to the top and pay them accordingly!
Teachers unions have become a destructive force in the US. Taxpayers fund education, educators pay teachers, teachers pay unions, unions use that money to finance politicians who support teachers. School choice would help solve many educational problems.
Stupid smart people is how we describe them 😃 A lot of them in Science were pushing the vaccines on us too.
Old smarts (vs. new smarts); it’s kinda like old money but with wisdom.
And yet, when I was a teacher educator at an R1 university, the student and early career teachers thought they knew more than I. Never mind that I had two decades in the classroom and a PhD in Teaching and Learning!
Moms for Liberty is called a hate group. Disagree with the left you are a, enter pejorative here --->.............!
Nancy Pelosi, that paragon of virtue call the peaceful Tea Party rally attendees NAZIs. But not ounce as she or any leftist criticized BLM or ANITFA for burning down our cities.
Civil debate strengthens our democracy. Democrats want to stifle any debate that questions them or their far left (Marxist) methods.
We’ll said, Lonesome! It’s easy to spot the WOKE elites who comment here at TFP. They can never politely take issue & disagree. They become condescending, superior (the deplorable are the ignorant) and rude.
Yeah like disagreeing with the right turns into a civilized debate. ANTIFA, NANCY PELOSI, BLM. Do you guys have anything besides the left wing boogymen that you fixate on? I guess you'd have a coronary if you realized how many of your heros are pretty damn woke, including the orange one.
Beside the orange man, name three.
The Murdochs, ever Republican in Palm Beach, ever Republican on Long Island. I can list them all, but why would I bother. If you don't know by now? You never will.
Do you know what you are talking about or are you here just to stir the pot?
This is from the left wing rag sheet NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/25/business/media/rupert-murdoch-josh-hawley-woke.html
So, the Murdochs are woke? Looks like pot stirring from a person who doesn't know what he is talking about.
If you are here to debate, welcome but if you are here just to show your ass, go somewhere else. Go to a hard core left web site they love misinformation and name calling.
Thanks for your kind words and of course the glittering generalities which say nothing.
As a teacher myself I have looked upon this arrogance in new staff with anxiety. Herodotus would refer to it as hubris. I think it comes from the lack of a challenging environment when it comes to hiring for teachers. Supply does not match demand. When they fail educate students it is the students fault, the parents fault, police, society, capitalism, etc. People in truly competitive industries often possess both humility and true confidence.
One more thing for posters. Teachers might not be held accountable for student results but we are held accountable for keeping in line with the politics of our educational leaders. That is a reason you may see such uniformity when it comes to DEI initiatives and the support they receive from staff.
I find that arrogance to be interesting and even astounding. The public university I graduated from was founded as a teachers school and still had a large teaching department. However, it was widely known and accepted (even by the education majors) that education majors, in general, were far from the sharpest tools in the shed. I remember, as a freshman, tutoring my dorm resident assistant's girlfriend, a senior, in basic math concepts. The anecdotes were endless. And of course, there's that old saw, "If you can't do, teach."
Don't get me wrong. I don't want to make the same categorical error of arrogance and assume that all, or even most, school teachers are of middling intellect. My point is that, right or wrong, degrees such as a medical, biochemical engineering or even a law degree, etc., grant the bearer some measure of respect because it is assumed that they have a certain level of knowledge and/or intelligence, given the difficulty of achieving their level of education. A degree in elementary education does not grant the same presumptions.
And Stephanie, I am appalled that you make such a general statement as "the elitism and vitriol that teachers use...", which implies ALL teachers everywhere, including yourself, as you're a teacher. You shouldn't be in education with such a mindset; what a danger to our children. Also, "soldier" takes a lower-case "s", not a capital "S".....
What a Rude and Condescending response. But it Perfectly Encapsulates the appalling Arrogance of the Screechy elite that Want to Silence this Awesome movement. Congratulations, your impersonation of an insufferable douche Bag was Spot on.
Sorry about the confusion with My Upper Case usage. I'm just Not as Smart as Smart Folk like you. Them's grammar rules Are just two Damn confusing.
This!👏🏻
Soldier will always be capitalized for me. It’s part of the Army writing style that I’ve retained. We capitalize it because they’re our most important asset, our purpose as leaders. I wonder if we should do the same with students to have a constant reminder of our purpose as teachers.
Since I love all people, I am not taking sides here. But as a retired newspaper editor, I will note that:
Back in the day, the Associated Press Stylebook's biggest quandary involved capitalizing the word "Marine" when referring to, well, Marines, but lowercasing the word "soldier." Since the word marine can also refer to life in the seven seas, it seemed like a good idea to ensure that readers would immediately know where a sentence was taking them. The word “soldier” causes no such confusion.
Members of the Army have long rejected that rationale. They contended that decades ago the AP Stylebook was edited by a former Marine, and THAT was the real reason the word "soldier” was ordered to be kept lowered at half-staff.
That didn’t mean the Army gave up the fight. Years ago, the Army just went its own way in press releases and began writing “Soldier” on all references. Press releases then started capitalizing “Family” for soldiers’ relatives and — to ensure that no one is left behind — also started capitalizing “Civilians” for non-military people working on post.
I will also note that I have never chastised someone publicly for a spelling error as I always felt I was living in a glass house myself. Also, we had a sign in our newsroom that read: "Danger! Journalists doing math."
Thank you for the history lesson as a retired newspaper editor. It’s interesting to know it’s been a long debated subject.
The Army started capitalizing Family and Civilians along with Soldier in an effort to remind leaders that the Families and DA Civilians are as essential to the Army’s mission as the Soldiers. I saw this first-hand having been in mostly Civilian Army units during government shutdowns and furloughs. We are dead in the water without them. I’m sure there was an aspect of comparing ourselves to Marines too.
So, now that Everybody is equally important at all times, does this mean that We need to capitalize every human categorical identifier? Just trying to keep this straight for future reference.
I refer to the capitalization of soldier, sailor and airman as "Stars & Stripes style," as opposed to AP style, because that's the first place I ever saw it, sometime around 2004. I've served in and worked for the military in some capacity for most of the last 30 years and never rejected the rationale that soldiers is not capitalized. In fact, I thought it was silly when publications such as "Stars & Stripes" started to capitalize those words. We used to joke that some Army 4-star got it in his craw that not capitalizing 'soldiers' was an insult, but that's probably close to the truth as to how that change came about in such publications. As far as I know, no publication outside of the military capitalizes soldier, sailor and airman. The military publication that I sometimes contribute to does not use Stars & Stripes style.
Capitalization is meant to raise the bar for the noun. When I taught essay writing, I asked the students to capitalize as little as possible. It makes reading the essay much easier than if you have to continuall translate what the capital letter means.
Time/resources/economic pressure, the ever expanding single parent home, the disappearance of literacy and rise of electronic schizophrenia are all surely factor's in the disconnect and damage we're witnessing. Likewise, we should not forget the manufactured gang/drug distortion of the American psyche by the carceral surveillance profiteer's who built the prison/industrial complex. And money obviously means nothing because Johnny and Jill (if we believe the press)still can't read, have no sense of history and can't do simple math. Looking at the unmoored from reality weaponized power struggle in this report you have to wonder if it has anything to do with the welfare of the child at all. In my view it is just the extension of the "everything means everything so nothing means anything" intentional capture of the American dialogue by self-interested political and ideological careerist's lining their pocket's with tax dollar's, grant's and donation's. Behind it all, the class war wielding bubble dweller's that comprise the royal court of criminal financier's and looter's funding the chaos and ensuring no healthy national dialogue and no human solution's are forthcoming. The blame is our's. We let it happen.
Why the child? Because the child is the future. Confused? What do we think it is like for the child tying to find emotional and psychic purchase in the enforced sterility of this inhuman reality? You see the child every day staring into the distorted reality of the little electronic screen trying desperately to see the future. A future already stolen and denied.
As envisioned by our founder's, a full blown human adult with agency and intellect, fully aware of and connected to the history and culture from which he emerged, prepared and capable, of living a subjective and meaningful life of responsible stewardship, is the last thing anyone in D.C. wants. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation. This is a war zone. Six decades of class war and assault on human freedom and dignity by corporate fascism and an international cartel of criminal financier's created this landscape. The DNC/CCP/EU/WEF Davos boy's and girl's are responsible for this madness in both America and the world. If we can remove the "mote" from our own eye's, perhaps the child's.
Marxist "woke" is the lipstick on a pig named totalitarian finance.
GOT CONSTITUTION?
Wow Mike this is the best post here today. Just wondering how we going to turn 6 decades of this bullshit around - it’s a tall order and I hope we not to late.
Soldiers are willing to die for their country. That deserves to be honored.
I’m critical of flaws in our thinking as a group because it robs and blinds us of our purpose. We reject legitimate criticism and tend to focus on what feels good rather than what actually does good for our students.
SERIOUSLY, David, I am appalled that you are “appalled” thinking Stephanie is including ALL teachers!
And correcting Mr. Soldier’s use of upper / lower case letter!
This, sir, is a FREE SPEECH commenter’s opportunity, Bari & TFP provide, for people to post THEIR views WITHOUT ridicule! Disagreement, discussion and agreement to disagree are welcome. Being a rude “elites” is very telling on your part.
Oh great. I left the toxicity of twitter so I can see this kind of meaningless nonsense? Personally I signed up knowing that Bari would never be "appalled" by a discussion about capitalization even, as i often do, disagree with her. Where is the discussion? Soldier is a word with many meanings. It doesnt always have to be capitalized. I cant believe i signed up for this stupidity. More thin skinned nonsense. If you're a Mom, soldier or cop you get automatic sainthood? No sorry, you dont. No ridicule. Id just like to ask, why do you think teachers, restaurant workers, retail, mid level administrators and a whole host of other jobs have had their unions crushed while others are stronger than ever? Is it because men, especially white men hold those jobs? Oh noooooo. That cant be the reason??? It is.
Thebrit, if you found my comment to be “stupid meaningless nonsense” you just made my point, exactly!
Bless your heart for being so easily offended. Perhaps the “reasonable discourse” most commenter’s here at TFP is just to “toxic” for you.
Oops “too” before I’m critiqued & labeled an “ignorant deplorable”
😉
Hahahaha!!! Bless your heart too honey. Yes I'm so offended. I've been eating the far right AND the far left for years. I've lived in the toxic swamp my entire life. I actually know both sides. I'm sorry if that bothers you.
There is an article on Civility just out in Quillette you both might find interesting. https://quillette.com/2023/07/14/civility-isnt-weakness-its-how-we-win/
The majority of liberals are condescending snobs, like the author of the above article. And unlike some snobs, the liberals mostly don't have justification for thinking they are better than anyone else.
The Shadow Scholar says one of the most common doctorates he did for people was in education. Well worth reading. I think there's a book later.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-shadow-scholar/
For a number of years, I had a side gig editing theses and dissertations for students of a college acquaintance who is now a professor of Communications. Foreign students generally only needed help with the complexities of English. The other students...in many cases, I had to essentially rewrite the whole thing, including rearranging whole sections.
If I were sitting on their committee, I would not have granted those students their advanced degrees, since I think that anyone with an advanced degree should have the ability to articulate their knowledge of the subject matter. But that wasn't my call.
He should have written Dr. Jill's Ph.D. thesis - it's terrible. It's on line and, if you read it, I dare you to disagree.
When did you think any education Ph.D. theses were interesting? I read Dr. Jill's thesis. Not any worse than others I've read. Colleges promote bloviating. Most writing coming out of class assignments could be cut by 1/3 to 1/2. Bloviating was my biggest challenge teaching essay writing in a university graduate school.
It wasn’t even inappropriate or poor communications. Quoting a known authoritarian despot on how to gain power over kids and pointing out that is what the education system is doing. It was 100% perfectly clear what the quote meant in context. The NYT, a mouth piece of the machine, intentionally pushed the quote out of context.
It's an unfortunately necessary lesson about communicating SO CLEARLY that the Left can't easily twist your words. Of course they will try, regardless. But we need to be smarter than they are.
Very true. The quote speaks for itself. And as I see all too often with the left they accuse you of what they are doing. For example the side of the spectrum that is okay with censorship and government control (Covid, vaccine mandates, masks etc.) are the fascists.
"We need unity but also all Republicans are white supremacists and J6 was worse than Pearl Harbor or 9/11!"
Joe and his speech writers are intentional hatemongers.
Anthony, clearly MSM serves as the propaganda arm of the WOKE Left Democrats!
Actually I think they are less the "woke" Dems and more of the corporate super-rich War party Dems. The latter control the narratives of the former for purposes of distraction, power and control.
Excellent analysis! I believe you are right.
Or how about the VP trying to explain what is "culture" and "AI"?
True but my point is citizens participating in public meetings speaking to “the podium” and making unclear comments is far less chilling than the person who is “behind the podium” and represents the Govt and speaks for all of us.
The presses priorities are totally bolloxed.
Well she does is wearing lavender...and heck, the kindergartners in the room deserve to know AI is two letters (insert her laugh here). Oi!
😂😂
All parents today should read this paper thoroughly. The entirety of gender affirming care is scientifically beyond flawed. It is, arguably, fraud. Cherry picked data, misrepresentation, highly questionable measures, complete lack of controls, and inability to confirm results in follow-up studies. And yet, this obvious medical malpractice "care" is being enshrined in law and education as the only acceptable way for children to be treated---with parental consent specifically excluded. Thiscampaign is implemented by duped teachers who have NOT read the basis of what they are told. (Plus some shadowy investors seeking to cash in, who tend their nest eggs.)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0092623X.2022.2121238
Teachers who have not read the basics and likely wouldn't understand it if they had.
"Just last week, an Indiana Moms for Liberty chapter put a Hitler quote in its newsletter and the story went national. The quote—“He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future”—was intended to warn parents what happens when a regime targets its children for indoctrination. But when critics are calling you ultra-right wing Christofascists, it’s probably unwise to invoke Hitler in any context. "
The thing is, if the shoe fits - wear it. The cultural Marxists have been calling everyone they don't like (especiaily politicians) in the US Hitler forever. But, here is a case where there is actually a strong parallel with ideological indoctrination and medicalization of healthy children and teens (all minors) and young people..
"Echoes of Eugenics: What the Doctors Trial at Nuremberg Means for Us in the US
On the 75th anniversary of the trial of Nazi doctors at Nuremberg we examine Nazi medicine and gender-affirming care AUG 30, 2022"
https://pitt.substack.com/p/echoes-of-eugenics-what-the-doctors
"Many of us parents in the trenches with a trans-identified child compare gender-affirming (GA) doctors—who mutilate children with drugs and surgeries—to Nazi doctors like Josef Mengele. (And not only GA doctors but the GA takeover of all institutions like schools, judges, health care and biopharma corporations, media, and politicians.)"
And
"The medical profession has wrestled with the significance of the Doctors Trial. For instance, to observe its 50th anniversary, the British Medical Journal printed a special issue (free downloads here). The lead article “War crimes and medical science” warned that the Nazi problems were “not unique to one place or time, and could happen here” and the trial “left us with a legacy we still shrink from confronting.” It pointed to contemporary problems in American medicine and warned “there will always be imperatives that threaten the professional values we profess to hold so dear” and “the profession of medicine carries within it the seeds of its own destruction.”
I wonder how they would describe, "As the Twig is Bent, So Grows the Tree" or "The hand that rocks the cradle."
Stalen? White Chistian Nationalists? Coming in different shades and religions?
And, the thing is that all this training the children on cultural Marxist stuff - and insisting that teachers and government know best for your kid - working against parents/parenting - does bring to mind the Chinese Red Guard.
Then, it's like the kids are part of NXIVM.
I also think of the Hitler Youth Corps. The Nazis taught them to secretly report their families regarding their degree of conformity to Nazi dogma. The children became "our children" as Biden said, not any longer the children of their parents. Some of the parents were arrested based on their children's reports to authorities, and some children willingly distanced their parents so as to cleave more tightly to the Nazi officials.
Yes. Uh, huh.
But. We know what the NYT is doing. And it will just make us more disciplined. And resolute.
You nailed it. The press is disgusting.
I get your point, Sunapee. But once in a while the NYT touches on your concerns:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/13/opinion/biden-hunter-joe-trump.html
Yeah, one of the first things you learn in media training is "Don't go around quoting Hitler."
If only everyone could receive training telling them that invoking Hitler is a really bad idea...
What I find interesting is that they're happy to lean into "terrorist" but not "Hitler quoter."
Yeah, I know, right?!...they are definitely not "aBouT thE ChiLdRen!" They're the Proud Boys Lady Auxillary Club whose sole goal is to remove all discussions of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc. from all classrooms K-12.
Oh yeah...I know they don't say that's their goal. It's just "CrITiCal RaCE ThEoRY"....which is why they push textbooks that don't mention Rosa Parks race and say the Tulsa Race Massacre had nothing to do with race, ban Ruby Bridges autobiography, MLK, Jr. books for kids, protest Mother's Day reading lessons for kids with gay parents, etc....
They won't stop until the only thing shown in class is the movie "The Blind Side."
I wouldn't go that far. I don't think they're explicitly racist, but they're just blindly attacking any target that seems "too leftist." They're flailing because they have no focus. M4L should have assigned targets that they go after and then don't deviate from that playbook. That is how you win.
The problem IMO is that Rebublicans are just kind of stupid. Richard Hanania also has a Substack publication but he talks about this extensively. He's a right winger but he's more interested in reflecting on the GOP's issues and why they can't win without Trump. Hanania's conclusion is that Republicans are frankly very stupid. This makes it very easy for them to lose track of the plot, hurt themselves in their flailing, and make obvious mistakes. You can see it in this very comment section, if you ctrl + F for "Hitler" then you'll see lots of very dumb Republicans whining about how mean news journalists are for noticing that M4L decided to quote Hitler in a newsletter.
It is 80 years post WW2, it is an inexcusable mistake to quote Hitler. Serious political actors do not make errors like that. But M4L and their Republican simps don't want to understand that. And I suspect that Richard Hanania is right and that the reason they act like this is because they are simply too dumb to see why this is a bad idea. And that is why Democrats are able to outwit them again and again even though Democrats are absolute shit at running the state. There really are major problems in education: students can't read, students can't write, students can't add or subtract much less do long division. Democrats SHOULD be out on their asses for this alone.
And yet instead of attacking them for being so fucking stupid, what is M4L doing? Crying about MLK, crying about Rosa Parks and calling them "CRT" even though we have taught about the Civil Rights Movement since the 1980s without issue before now. Instead of attacking Democrats for their abysmal failures M4L quote Hitler and then cry when everyone gets mad at them, and their simps are all over this very comment section whining about it was actually a really great idea and there wasn't a problem and twitter is full of meanies and yadda yadda yadda.
With regards to the substance of your comment, I actually disagree, I don't think M4L are bigoted. But that's because they are simply too stupid to be bigoted.
Well, every prediction I've made so far has come to pass, so I'll stick with it, but we'll see which "Niggra books" they go after next, but I take your general thesis.
Why can't they win without Trump?
Started with Barry Goldwater, accelerated with GOP in the 80s using "dog whistles" and coded racial appeals to white grievance, but they never went all the way, because they thought their base would be put off and it would be a political liability to put "country club" talk in the public sphere.
Trump coded nothing. Embraced it and said it openly without reservation. And the base loved it! Finally!! Someone who calls Mexicans rapists and murderes. Someone who tells black and brown people to "Go back to where you came frome"
"He TaLKs LiKe I TaLK." Well, when an political base finally gets a chance to be their worse possible selves, in public, no more behind closed doors, it's intoxicating. It's "anti-establishment."
The GOP would love to move on from Trump, but the base won't let them. The "Establishment" feed their base enough seasoned red meat, with winks and nods, to keep them in the sewer until election time. Trump threw open the grate, now they're out....and they, and their 1850s policies, ain't going back. So, get used to the new Republican Party.
Not sure which state you're refering to, but always like to remind that 73% of U.S. GDP is generated by blue states/counties, while Red States are perennial welfare cases.
DeSantis "Woke Goes to Die" Desantis is a perfect example. People can't get insured, leading country in inflation, etc. Things aren't exactly humming along there, are they?
And those GDP generating blue states are crime ridden shitholes where there are treacle layers of poop on the roads, people shoot up heroin and meth in tents, and there are month old corpses rotting in garbage bags while the homeless build little cities with those bodies as foundations. Crime is now so bad that Democrats are having to get rid of their "police abolition" platform because blue state politicians are getting mugged and held at gunpoint. Things aren't exactly humming along there, are they?
It's not particularly surprising that "white grievance" politics are Trump's biggest strength. I mean what did anyone expect? When you slice people up into their racial demographics and insist on separating them via their grievance history then its no wonder white people want a bite at that apple. It's not particularly racist, it's just the natural consequences of our political machine. If this wasn't the intended outcome then the bigwigs in charge of victimhood politics should have thought of that before they set all this into motion and started blaming white people for everything. Talk about chickens coming home to roost. Goddamn America!
The real issue with moving past Trump is that there is no successor. The GOP just wants more Jeb! and more McCain and more Bushes. DeSantis is sinking because he's banning books and whining about gay people instead of putting forth a picture of how he wants to fix the economy: AKA he's doing George W Bush 2004 era political campaigning except with more twitter. Even if you want to move on from Trump, who do you move on to? There's quite literally no one.
That is a big problem for the GOP. They're too dumb to think of a way out that doesn't involve copy pasting Hitler quotes.
I don't know what's going on with the Dems, the only Dem friend that I have is a woman in her early 30s who loves Biden and thinks he's making political decisions and that he doesn't wear adult diapers. I hope that isn't what all Democrats think but otoh it doesn't matter because it works for them and they will
keep getting elected because right wingers are such shit.
Why is it that no one in the comments is discussing what Moms for Liberty is actually about. Ruby Bridges & MLK are too dark for elementary age students?? The US educational system has had problems for years, but that's not their agenda.
Why?
Well, 98-99% of this board is right-wing MAGA, completely embrace the ethos/ideology of Stephen Miller and, they too, want any part of history that makes white people "look bad" or makes little Tanner or Brooklyn "feel uncomfortable" completely removed. Which is odd, no one gave a single damn about my "feelings" when I was in school.
This is a K-12 project for Moms For Liberty. They will continue to disrupt meetings, harrass (online and in-person), bully and threaten every school board member in America until they resign, etc.- and will not stop until every school board is filled with people like Oklahoma School Superintendent Ryan Walters.
This never had anything to "Critical Race Theory." Just like the transgender issue, soon metastized into outright attacking Gay Pride displays in stores, calling gay people "groomers," pushing laws to prevent services for transgender adults, etc.
"tHe ChILDren!!"....yeah, whatever...total bullshit.
“Obviously, schools do not choose between teaching reading and gender ideology...”
Pretty sure the collapse in national reading and math scores says otherwise.
The Left doesn’t care about the illiteracy rate, especially in inner city schools which serve primarily black & Latino students. If they did you’d think they’d do something about it. You never read about the leftist ‘Teach for America’ alums who the article says are now in government banning together to promote better school practices do you? The Dems and libs seemingly are happy to keep minorities ignorant and passive.
It's synthesized into their method of ensuring a voting bloc: keep people uneducated but indoctrinate them on Leftist social agenda starting with the young, and buy their votes by giving them money be it student loan forgiveness or reparations. Last resort give them drugs to render them addicted snd dependent on you.
And when minorities can’t do well on standardized tests because the school system failed them, the CA Teachers Union recommends dropping the SAT and ACT as requirements for entrance to College. Yes that happened in CA.
Yes, the late, lamented Sen. Moynihan called it "defining deviancy down."
What a great philosophy don't remedy the poor scores by holding teachers and the education system accountable. Get rid of the measuring device ACT and SAT tests.
Hell let's get rid of standards all together. Get rid of the BAR exams and the medical exams that are given to prospective doctors and how about driving tests. It goes on and on and on and on.
Make it so any idiot with a sharp implement can become a surgeon.
Stupid people are easy to manipulate with entertainment. Keep the kids drugged up, hyper sexualized, and incapable of critical thought, and they will be happy to go riot in the streets over whatever when the network is activated.
They're not hyper sexualized, actually. Well, they're hyper-into pornography and learn about sex in the first grade, but the actual rate of sex has dropped off a cliff: https://ifstudies.org/blog/fewer-american-high-schoolers-having-sex-than-ever-before
That's exactly what I am calling hyper sexualization. The actual act is less the point than the exposure, understanding, and surrounding culture. They're not just exposed to sex at early ages, but extreme and fringe concepts of sex that to them appear normalized.
And it should be obvious why, in a world where boys have access to infinite pornography at the age of 8, less real sex is happening.
Yuval Noah Harari, advisor and sidekick extraordinaire to WEF's Klaus Schwab, has actually come out and said that a large portion of the population should be placated with drugs and video games. Keep the useless eaters dumb and out of the way of the billionaire elite.
And they always have, they just cleverly casted it onto the conservatives. There is systemic racism but who’s doing it has been flipped.
CC, the Left’s goal is to keep the people of color on the Democrat Plantation! Those who are educated and leave the Democrats to become outspoken Conservative GOP members (ie Colin Powell, Thomas Sowell, Tim Scott, Clarence Thomas, Candace Owen, any MANY, MANY other prominent Blacks) are referred to as, “House Negros” - a direct quote by House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, (D-NY).
I refer you to the Jeffries editorial published in Feb. 1992 titled “The Black Conservative Phenomenon” and first reported on by CNN. He states (because of his outrage against the appointment of Clarence Thomas to theSupreme Court), “There has been a recent trend in the Black political arena which I believe threatens to sustain the oppression of the Black masses”
Read his differences between a “Field Negro” and a “House Negro”
Today, Mr. Jeffries is the chosen/appointed leader of the House Democrats, and is the “darling” of Nancy Pelosi!
Ironically, ANY person of color who goes against the WOKE Left narrative is referred to as a “White Supremacist of color”!
It’s seriously crazy stuff here in America!
Many (not all) TFA teachers I worked with (former teacher, administrator) were using their year or 2 to build resumes for other careers. It checked a box. All teachers know that it really isn’t until you have experience that you refine your skills and become effective. By year 3 TFA kids have moved on to law or medical school or their government job.
So you're saying it's a federal government 'parking spot' - another grift?
No. It's not a grift. You can't raise a family on a teacher's salary. It's just how it works out. Finland pays their teachers well. America used to.
(1), the grift I was referring to is the education establishment which requires teachers to take s0-called 'teaching courses', even before they know their subject material. (2) Whether teachers get paid adequately depends on where they live - NYC teachers can easily take down 6 figures, with lots of vacation throughout the year and 2 months off in the summer; the reason why so many women go into teaching is they like that free time to raise their own children - it's a tradeoff. (3) Teachers are not slaves (except to Randi Weingarten!) - they have personal agency - and if they don't like their salary they can leave for a higher paying job elsewhere. No one is forcing them to teach. There are lots of other jobs out there.
If they were paid properly, they wouldn't have to leave. It's our cultural choice in action.
So, there is no world where it makes sense to compare Finland's education system to the U.S. system for many reasons. I remember reading a story several years ago about a U.S. delegation visiting Finland's schools to see how they used technology in their classrooms because their test scores were so high, only to find there was little to no technology being used in their classrooms. https://www.politico.eu/article/finns-beat-u-s-with-low-tech-take-on-school/
I have had 5 different family members that were teachers. All of them made/make solid money, especially when you factor in time off. Mind you, none of them had student loads nor were they single parents. But the idea that all American teachers are in poverty is not true.
Yes, I agree that many are underpaid for what they do. But plenty are also likely over paid for the same reason.
According to OECD data, teachers today average $41000/yr. So today's public school teachers should be paid 1.6 times that just to get their gross salary to 1970's take home pay. To get to 1970's equivalent full pay would be 1.8 times---nearly double. But that US pay scale are lower, but quite close to Finnish schools today. Their success is due to other factors.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/
The plantation mentality suits them just fine.
This line jumped off the page for me. What’s obvious? Kids clearly aren’t learning the way they used to - and schools are definitely “teaching” gender ideology. My suburban school district is involved in a lawsuit over a first grade teacher who gave gender identity lessons through story time books.
Based upon what I read, the material content/subject matter is the key to how the teaching profession advances gender ideology.
yup
I cringed at that one. My daughter was a public school teacher with severely disabled children. She swears she will never work in a public school again because of the indoctrination that they force on the children and the complete lack of care for the children themselves. She was horrified when she pressed for her children, who need hands on help, to be brought back to school during COVID. The board (I think it was the board of Education anyway) said that if she could get 2 other teachers or administrators out of a large school to come in as well she could do it. She couldn't find 2 other people to come in. They knew the children need hands on help but basically didn't care.
There's always opportunity cost. Sure you can do both, but time spent doing X means you do less of Y or fully neglect Z. Time is limited.
Of course they choose between teaching reading and gender ideology. The hours in a school day are limited ; time spent teaching (or preaching) about social issues (best left to parents) takes up part of those hours.
Exactly. Trans ideology is now formally taught and sanctioned in the context of K-12 education. Progressive teachers are taking it upon themselves to spread it informally as well. Kids as young as kindergarteners are introduced to the “Genderbread Person” and “Gender Unicorn.” Teachers read from I Am Jazz, and the little ones are taught that they might have a “girl brain in a boy body” or vice versa.
https://euphoricrecall.substack.com/p/gender-ideology-is-toxic-nonsense
And the scientific basis of the ideology is arguably fraud. Quite a review here. Cherry picked data (oops, kid died, don't mention it), questionable measures, complete lack of controls, inability to confirm results in follow-up studies. I think teachers have been duped and have not read the basis of what they are told. (Plus, some shadowy investors seeking to cash in, who tend their nest eggs.)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0092623X.2022.2121238
"It’s OK that our babies may not have learned all their times tables... They know the difference between a riot and a protest. They know the words insurrection and coup." -Cecily Myart-Cruz, United Teachers Los Angeles president
They are choosing ideology over actual education and are openly saying so.
The decrease in reading levels is alarming. An education is very much like that saying about how it is better to teach a person to fish then give a person a fish. If a student can read than they can become informed and decide their ideology as they go through life. The job of the school is not to give the ideology but teach how to gather ideas and form an ideology.
Decreased reading levels is a national crisis that is taking the USA down to 3rd world status. . But that's cultural. Cell ("smart") phones take all the time now. Opportunity cost.
One of my theories is that teaching real things was hard so the teachers unions told everyone that it doesn't really matter much! It is "more important" to teach all the "social/emotional"/"social justice" stuff - like how you could be born in the right or wrong body and you might be a good or bad person based on how you look.
And, if the kids have mental health problems because they have nothing real to strive for (like learning or grades or skills), hey lets just show them more mental health videos and talk to them about suicide prevention (putting the idea in their heads). Maybe a new identity will help, too! Identity is all important!
Obviously---every minute spent teaching gender ideology is a minute not spent on teaching reading. I can't believe how blind/illogical the author's statement was.
Nonconforming, “Math is racists” and, of course, “ Reading, science, ets. are designed to “fail kids of color” until DEI is achieved” Affirmative Action was a necessary tool in achieving DEI.
The playing field isn’t level, and dumbing down is the only solution! White Supremacy reins supreme, and anyone who takes issue & speaks out is a HATER & a TERRORIST to be silenced!
Yes, I am being sarcastic, though sadly this is the WOKE ideology.
The two are not mutually exclusive. A reading textbook can easily be written to indoctrinate children while at the same time teach reading.
Saying 'Obviously' is liking putting an arrogance badge on your chest in writing.
Nonconforming your statement could not be more true. Kids cannot read. A lot of kids cannot read. A lot of kids cannot count or use basic math functions. It has gotten 'progressively' worse over the last thirty years with ultra Progresssive dominance of education. It's time for those people to own their mess and get out of the way.
Every minute spent teaching gender ideology and the reasons for your oppression is a minute not spent teaching reading and writing.
Pretty soon, those who’ve mastered the basics will be the ones with the high paying jobs, leading those who have been taught to live in their feelings. We’re seeing a lot of that now; be prepared to see a lot more of it in the future.
The downside is the loss of our competitive advantage on the world stage, pretty much where the left wants us, and yet still more grist for the grievance industrial mill.
Obviously, to make time to teach gender idealogy, other subjects are getting short changed.
I was going to pull this quote out too. Does the author think that we magically make more time in a day to teach new "subjects"? No- they take the place of at least some of the real instruction... the tone of this article was incredibly infuriating at multiple places
If you are taking flak from MSM, SPLC, and CZI, you are over the target. Please stop using the term conspiracy theorist, especially for people like James Lindsay who are well researched. All data shows that the American education system is failing our children and grooming them into Maoist commissars: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-fire-a-commissar-part-2
Lindsay was one of the first to point out—correctly—that Jews would be demonized by Critical Race Theory and they’d be crazy to support it. Naturally, he was attacked on social media as an antisemite.
I read Lindsay’s post “Critical Race Theory’s Jewish Problem” on Newdiscourses.com when it dropped and it perfectly articulated what I was finding. James is no antisemite and attempts to smear him as such are deceitful. https://newdiscourses.com/2020/10/critical-race-theorys-jewish-problem/
so true! just like when they say citing Hitler regarding weaponizing children against their parents makes someone a nazi - precisely the opposite is true but they don't care; an opportunity to call someone a nazi or fascist is too good to pass up, even if it's false
The author is obviously biased, and the article is superficial and dismissive. James Lindsay is one of the most insightful of the anti-woke scholars in exposing how woke activists carry out their program of indoctrination in education, business and government. I am skeptical regarding his arguments that the movement is intentionally organized around Maoist politics, but they certainly have derived much of their ideology and thought reform practices from that corner. I think that relatively few DEI officers and grassroots activists are fully conscious of the origins of their ideas and methodology, whether we are talking about Maoist thought control or postmodern French philosophy. On the other hand, some activists openly declare themselves to be "Marxists" (e.g., the BLM founders), and even Maoists. Considering that most of our big tech companies are in bed with the Chinese now, there is an obvious need to take the philosophical similarities seriously.
I too was disturbed by the way Lindsay is described. I am also just a bit skeptical about him in the way you are, but he is a very serious and important critic of the aggressive culture warriors of the left. Their ideas do derive from theory on the left that began with Marx. I would say they are not Marxist in any sense Marx himself would accept - since in a key way they divert from class to other things Marx (and traditional socialists) would have seen as efforts to divide the working class, over race in particular and now sex also. However, since Gramsci, the Frankfort school and post-modernism, those carrying on this Marxist past have switched from class to a general battle to control culture itself.
What I think makes this hard for many to see is that it all is very deceitfully modified in terminology as it moves into institutions such as schools, academia, corporations, government bureaucracies, etc. The bigger mystery to me is what are the needs this terminology fulfills for people that allow them to accept what is in fact so ungrounded in fact and destructive?
It fills the "god sized hole" in many hearts - it's a cult religion that is teaching them they are holy and chosen.
Thank you for the thoughtful response to my post. Your question about what motivates the participants is important. An FBI agent once told me that, when he was trying to turn a terrorist to work for our government instead, knowing what motivated the terrorist was key to the agent’s success. The agent said that terrorists have in common a need to feel more special and important, which they meet by identifying themselves as members of a large movement with a holy mission. I suspect that this applies to members of the woke cult as well.
In the U.S., unfortunately, the grassroots college-based movement has been seen as a source of potential financial benefit and free positive advertising by big business. That wasn’t true of the Sixties and Seventies radical movements. The involvement of the capitalists has added enormous financial investment and power to the critical theory cult. On the other hand, it opens to us the use of financial strategies against that power, like the Bud Lite boycott. I would love to see more organized and well-targeted actions that create big costs rather than free PR for woke companies.
Yes! I was coming here to say the same. I’m sick of JL being smeared as a lunatic. Everything he posits strikes terror through my heart AND it’s history-bound and makes so much sense. If he could deliver his message in the plain language of his pal Peter boghossian he’d be even more of a force--for good.
In New Jersey three public schools revised their policies to not hide gender transition from parents, and the AG filed suit against them:
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/22/murphy-new-jersey-school-districts-transgender-policy-00103127
And this is why MFL exists. The deck is stacked against good parents and people are tired of it.
Thank you, Alison.
Lest we forget, the Soviets used psychiatry to label anyone who opposed communism as "insane."
James Lindsay is THE current authoritative source for understanding the history, tactics, and scope of everything Woke that's being force-fed into our society (and internationally) at all levels. He is especially concerned about the indoctrination of our children through the education system, and he has the receipts as they say.
Has the author taken the time to read Lindsay/listen to any of his in-depth podcasts on this subject? Doubtful. Instead the author casually asserts that if Lindsay sees parallels between Mao's revolutionary tactics and goals and what we see happening in education today, it's self-evidently absurd and we should all agree that makes Lindsay a nutter.
agreed. and Lindsay brought to light Derrida and Foucault's pedophilia which is shocking and horrific in its own right but also lays a lot of context about the acceptance around childhood sexuality that we are seeing today.
My 16 year old child is gender questioning and first encountered the concept of changing gender at school in 6th grade. I didn't consent to the lesson being taught. It harmed my child and left us dealing with unfathomable choices encouraged by activist doctors and therapists. Teaching Gender ideology violates the establishment clause of the constitution. It's a system of beliefs. You can't compel beliefs or speech. Moms for Liberty is on to this and don't want their children harmed like mine has been. Teachers are not parents and need to stay in their lanes. Wouldn't it be easier for the teachers to just teach reading, writing, and arithmetic?
Don't you wonder why these teachers think they can teach things like gender ideology? Are they trained in that? Where and how?
How do they get that concept into lesson plans and curricula? How arrogant of them to even bring up a topic of such complexity and controversy. School choice is the best solution...give parents the education dollars and let them send their children to the school of their choice.
Yes, school choice is the answer. But there is no need for training in "gender ideology". This is a cult, pure and simple. No training necessary except to remind kids that there are 2 sexes, equating to 2 human genders, that no-one is "born in the wrong body", and to beware of cults that lead to irreversible treatments.
Well, trans people have always existed, let's not forget that. BUT in much much much much much smaller numbers than what one might think based on how inundated the media is with the issue. Most of them are NOT fluid, most of them identify very strongly with the opposite sex since a very very young age. However, this obviously does not mean that trans issues should be standard curriculum in first grade 🙄. I find it tragic that a serious, mostly medical problem concerning such a tiny fraction of the population has been hijacked like this. It hurts trans people more than it helps them imo.
Training would imply that there is some kind of science behind it. There is not.
I am so sorry, MM. Who gave teachers permission to pry open our kid's heads and insert a bunch of literally insane dogma around gender theory? It's like mind-rape, and I don't say that lightly.
And SUCH an invasion of privacy, to interrogate children about their innermost sensitive thoughts, feeling, bodily functions. "Hey, kids, today (and tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that) let's talk about how touching your private parts feels good, and then let's talk about whether you want boys or girls to touch YOUR private parts--that's how you'll know your sexuality. And then let's talk about whether or not you like your private parts, or whether maybe your body is one big, horrible mistake. And of course, if your body is one big horrible mistake, that makes you extra special and we're going to plaster you with admiration and parades!"
Feel free to get in touch. My email is in here. Even if someone genuinely feels that way, there is no justification for the fantasy interventions of hormones, and above all surgery. I wrote a paper on this years ago.
http://www.hy-ls.org/index.php/hyls/article/download/57/57-264-1-PB.pdf
This post is so sad. This is the exact example of what we are up agains.
Read this. Cherry picked data (oops, kid died, don't mention it), questionable measures, complete lack of controls, inability to confirm results in follow-up studies. I think teachers have been duped and have not read the basis of what they are told. (Plus, some shadowy investors seeking to cash in on the surgical clinics, who tend their nest eggs.)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0092623X.2022.2121238
Who died and made the Southern Poverty Law Center king? Who made them the high priests to decide which group is "hate"?
The Left has lost all credibility when they started calling JK Rowling a "hateful bigot". At this point, only liberals who are still reading legacy left leaning media are fooled by them. They play these language games to brand anyone who disagree with them as "hate", and couch all their sinister agenda from gender ideology to BLM to climate industrial complex to Covid vaccine mind control to war in various "social justice" buzzwords. That's how they keep their own people in check. It's a form of authoritarian tactic to inflict fear. It strikes fear into liberals' hearts and they tip over themselves to fall in line and comply lest they be branded "hateful", or if they don't support some form or another of "social justice". It's all about control. By their standard, they are the real fascists.
The way to immunize yourself from them controlling you with their language reign of terror is to stop being a "liberal". Whatever your politics, shirk that label. Leave their damn cult. Once you get out, they have no more power over your being. They can call you "hate" all they want till they're blue in their faces and they still can't make you afraid again. Let it be known publicly to your friends, family, and everyone else you're not a "liberal". Their fear tactic will stop working. And you will set yourself free.
Signed, former liberal.
The Southern Poverty Law center has been raking in millions of activist dollars for years. They have made themselves ‘king’. So a good thing to do is consider their stances ‘Opposite Day’ - whatever they oppose consider supporting and whatever they support give it a skunk eye. Truly. The SPLC is not a trustworthy organization. Its name is a misnomer, akin to the ‘Inflation Reduction Act’ which ironically caused billions of dollars to be spent on unnecessary projects and in turn created inflation.
To call the reptiles at the SPLC "not trustworthy" is way too mild. They are a hate group pure and simple. They advance anti-White, racist hate speech and label anyone standing for our Constitution as a bigot. Long past time to expose them, their lies and their donors for what they are.
"Reptiles" - so apt, AND it made me snicker.
The current platform of the Democratic Party is "anyone who disagrees with me is a white supremacist."
Or racist, homophobe, transphobe, climate denier.
They have a dehumanizing word for nearly anyone who disagrees with them on anything, and they teach those words to children as indisputable moral truth.
I just read an announcement this morning from my corporate client that DEI is moral truth and the Supreme Court is wrong. Dare I say, corporations have no business lecturing us on morals or taking non-business political positions to their employees.
(No, I dare not, I would be fired for it)
I do dare, and I tell them to kiss my ass.
Pretty sure that would be grounds for a wrongful termination lawsuit. I say go for it. ;)
That's me! And, I'm proud of it. Come get me Joe!
When asked, I say I am a classical JFK liberal. That usually garners a head-tilt confused look, especially with the younger generation.
the current moniker is "Progressive"! I
Does anyone know about the SPLC and offshore accounts? Possibly an effective money laundering operation?
Having been both a teacher and a parent, I hope this group turns its attention to the curricula of education schools -- that's where our teachers are indoctrinated with Paulo Freire and critical race theory.
"I hope this group turns its attention to the curricula of education schools"
I certainly hope so too. However, as the article states, “their biggest risk is some rogue woman wearing a Moms for Liberty shirt at a school board meeting acting like a cuckoo.”
And that “rogue woman” will likely be an FBI agent.
Oh my. This is where we are now, isn’t it?
But we shouldn’t shirk this comment off as conspiracy theory. Why would anyone be surprised if this happens? The entrenched always defend their trenches. And fed agencies, are oh so entrenched.
My only argument with this comment is there are so many agencies, so many “fed soldiers” it won’t necessarily even be FBI. Take your pick. Plenty of willing posers, to save democracy, don’t you know?
Yeah. The big problem is that a stupid person is indistinguishable from a bad actor.
Great point!
Exactly right. And glad you mentioned Freire. "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" was required reading for everyone's master's thesis project at University of Pennsylvania's School of Education when I attended 15 years ago. It's all playing out today.
Same with at Harvard Graduate School of Education in the early 90s. In addition to consuming Freire, we were also told to ditch phonics in favour of the nebulous “whole language” (check out APM’s “Sold a Story”) and promote education in a child’s native language instead of English as it was racist to impose English on immigrant and refugee children. This dogma reminded me of my youth in Montreal where newcomers were banned from attending English public schools but all the French Canadian politicians sent their own children to elite English or bilingual schools so they could be job ready and travel. Not so for the immigrants! This is still the case in Quebec today.
I used to encourage my daughter to become a teacher; given the continuing Marxist ideology coming out of Ed Schools, I have retracted my position.
My 17 year old is gifted with children (she is often more patient with her younger siblings than I am and she loves to explain things and help them learn) and I am trying to get her to consider teaching in a Christian classical school. Definitely not public school, however, which she herself isn’t even considering.
But there's a good chance that to get hired she will need formal training and certification. The education schools, licensed training grounds for teachers, are COMPLETELY captured. The indoctrination begins there and filter down to innocent (ignorant) children.
Agree completely, and I make the point to other Christian parents that demanding accreditation and certification from teachers at private schools as a guarantee of quality or training or skills might not be the best approach.
Is she a conservative protestant? It will probably require a statement of faith and an agreement to accept things like the literal seven-day creation- I’m not sure these schools necessarily will provide the exposure to liberalism students need in a pluralistic republic if they only allow such a limited number of viewpoints
My four oldest kids, including her, have been in public school since the oldest started kinder in 2005, and my two youngest attend a classical Christian school. We are very familiar with both models both from direct experience and because I read extensively about classical education for years before we made the jump. Our private school — conservative statement of faith and all — blows public school out of the water when it comes to “liberalism.” Our school teaches critical thinking as a skill - disciplined reason and logic according to classical tradition - while public schools are a scattershot of dim bulb groupthinkers parroting whatever the rest of the henhouse says or the latest consultant’s workshop laid out. Our private school says “this is what we believe and why, and here is what others believe, and here are tools to recognize and pursue truth, goodness and beauty in your future intellectual social spiritual and professional life.” It’s the opposite of a closed off, close minded box; in fact I’d say it treats education as a doorway. The world is endlessly more interesting and satisfying the more attention you pay and the whole history of human scholarship, literature and art is an attempt to make sense of what it is to be a thinking, created mind on a horizontal axis (in relation to other people) and on a vertical axis (in relation to God). The exact opposite of the anti-intellectual, incurious, dogmatic, unquestioning, trend-enslaved mentality that our public schools have slouched their way into.
That’s good to know - thx for the info!
Ironically, it was in graduate school -- in the Education program, TESOL in my case -- that I learned that grammar is no longer taught in K-12. I was already in my 50s when I was in the program, and the majority of my fellow classmates were much younger, many in their 20s. I was surprised at how poorly written their papers were, particularly the grammar (a lot of subject and direct object pronouns misused, which is now common practice it seems). I come from a time when English grammar was part of the core curriculum all the way through to 12th grade. A young classmate told me that she did not have English grammar classes growing up. The reason, of course, is that it may highlight differences in the social standing of students. And we wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings or make them feel uncomfortable...
I also read Pedagogy of the Oppressed in my last graduate program. I did background research on Freire, as a recall a Marxist, and disagreed with his premise. I did not like the book at all. I wrote a paper and stated as much. I am glad I had read Frederich Hayek before I took this class.
All I got from that book was a lot of agitation. I resented having to read it, particularly as it had no bearing on my final project. I am surprised that more is not written about Freire as a major early contributor to the prevalence of oppressor vs oppressed ideology (he wrote the book in the early '70s, as I recall).
As I continued to consider my above comment, I recall reading The Republic by Plato and The Nature of Scientific Revelations by Thomas Kuhn. Both were far better reads than Freire and would recommend them. I found several of my graduate classes nearly worthless except I had a front row seat for the woke ideologies that became public two decades later.
I also read much of Plato in my undergraduate philosophy classes -- so much wisdom and critical thinking (the authentic kind, not Freire's "critical pedagogy") in those books. But they are probably banned from graduate schools (I'm sure Univ. of PA) because -- horrors -- they were written by white men from those awful patriarchal societies.
Funny... went to that same school 10 years later and Pedagogy of the Oppressed is still required reading. Surprise surprise!
Sounds like a wonderful group that is fighting for their children. They are against the sexualization of children and against pornography and pedophilia. They want to have children taught truth not lies. Of course the left is against them and smears them. The left is evil and promotes evil
BTW I believe Lenin made the same point about children that Hitler did. Totalitarian fascists/communists run together, like the left.
What struck me was their use of a Hitler quote to label them as Nazis and White Supremacists. This is the same sort of idiotic and lazy thinking we've come to expect from our "elites" and their media toadies. When pointing out that a Nazi or Soviet said or did something labels you as their supporter, we are way out on intellectual thin ice.
I would describe the thinking as dishonest rather than lazy.
I believe you're correct as to the organizers but the rank and file "progressives" are simply lazy and dumb.
Great point!!
It doesn't matter if its stupid or lazy. What does matter is that it works. Stop giving the press ways to tear you down. Quoting Hitler and then going "oh but guys the context" is really really stupid and gave them an in that they will use.
The idea that youth is the future in time inmemorial....and practiced by people like Marx, Lenin, Paolo Freire, the education establishment and on and on. She made the mistake of using the notorious third reich head and should have used, ironically, some mega left-wind idol.
Right, and the comparison of GI ideology taught in schools, and the trans takeover of medicine, and it's usefulness in Democrat politics - to Hitler/1930s Germany is actually apt: "Echoes of Eugenics: What the Doctors Trial at Nuremberg Means for Us in the US
On the 75th anniversary of the trial of Nazi doctors at Nuremberg we examine Nazi medicine and gender-affirming care"
https://pitt.substack.com/p/echoes-of-eugenics-what-the-doctors
But, somehow it's only leftists in the US who get to call politicians "Hitler" and when it makes no logical sense?
The other one we are never supposed to say is "groomer" even when that is happening. See:
"The Trevor Project: Undercover Mom"
https://pitt.substack.com/p/the-trevor-project-undercover-mom
"So I decided to find out. I went to The Trevor Project and said I was a 15yo FTM (female-to-male) who likes boys and doesn't know whether to detransition or proceed to hormones. The child I was posing at was clearly confused."
The tone of this whole article is sophomoric and disappointing. I've never even visited their website but I'm heading to a Moms for Liberty site right now to make a donation just because this was so one-sided and weak.
Seriously, you thought this was a one-sided, anti Moms for Liberty column? If leaders of the group liked the Washington Post story (which was actually fair and balanced), don't you think they'll appreciate this mostly positive exposure?
I hear you, BUT Robert has come around quite a bit. His initial thoughts about M4L were far more critical. This is a win and I’ll take it.
I completely agree. The author is biased and the article is superficial and irritating.
You've failed at critical thinking.
Did you even read the article?
Baltimore has 23 schools that have a grade level reading proficiency rate of zero, not one student. Over 30% of the city population is illiterate. City has ben run by Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi's father, for 80 years. Tell me again how Democrats care about the success of youth, especially minority youth.
30% of the city population is illiterate! Those numbers are so bad it makes you wonder if it's not part of the plan. After all, illiterate people are usually a lot easier to fool and therefore to control.
Democrats are worse than the KKK.
Democrats ARE the KKK. Always have been.
this is true. the democrats started the KKK. they also brought us prohibition! two facts the left likes to regularly ignore. learn your history, kids, or you will be doomed to repeat it!
I can’t seem to get through a Free Press article without at least one off-handed but completely infuriating remark making me question my subscription. What’s been a decent article up to a point suddenly goes to an unsupported assertion that is used to dismiss an opinion you don’t really want to engage with. In this one, it’s the line: “Obviously, schools do not choose between teaching reading and gender ideology...”. Having taught for 30 years in a very ‘progressive’ school district- among the first in the nation to pilot the “Welcoming Schools” curriculum of the HRC, I can attest that, indeed, there are huge opportunity costs to embracing the teaching of ANYTHING above and beyond core curriculum. My district spent unknown thousands- probably millions- of dollars and hours of training on this insidious rot. What started as “anti-bullying” Ed morphed into a very time- and energy- consuming monster. Staff spent far more time in professional development around this curriculum than most everything. The biggest loser was science education. I was the coordinator of science Ed for my school and after we started with the gender and CRT we never again spent efforts helping teachers get good at teaching engaging, hands-on science. We were laser-focused on social justice and I can say that one person who has made sense of the zealous push for these ideologies in schools to the OBVIOUS detriment of effective teaching and learning is James Lindsay, who you also toss off as a kook. His ‘Groomer Schools’ series of podcasts is spot on in tracing the trajectory of queer theory in schools. Also, he is correct in his appraisal of the huge influence of Paolo Freire in the Marxification of education. I started my career all-in with the left’s ideas about education and, having seen the actual results of it, I’m just done and quite ready to join Moms for Liberty in their effort to rid schools of this destructive, undemocratic insanity. Please do better, Free Press.
Yup, what Lindsay is pointing out is not something subtle - the marxist indoctrination is in your face and out in the open - they aren't shy about it although they will dissemble around definitions and labels like CRT. And I dispute the author's statement that "Education is a state issue, not a federal one" - procedurally and legally he's largely correct but the rot really stems from the U.S. Department of Education.
Yes, and also, in a huge way, from schools of education. That’s where the indoctrination begins. Again, I bought it and took courses from some of the big names in critical pedagogy. I wish I’d known then what I know now.
Exactly right and same here. Most adults still seem to view schools through a child's eyes where the teacher is all powerful, but in fact teachers have very little autonomy, especially since NCLB. This indoctrination is coming from state departments of education, schools of ed and, very importantly, the teachers unions, ALL of which are captured by neo Marxism. It's not even subtle. Now conformity is being demanded with the threat of "hate speech" or "TERF" accusations that can destroy your life. It's so much worse than people realize. We need Teachers for Liberty but they'd have to have good lawyers, armed guards and funding.
Biden's DOE is making education a federal issue more and more each day. One of *many* examples I can name is the feds WITHHOLDING money from free lunch programs for students when school districts don't embrace policies that permit boys in girls locker rooms and on girls' sports teams. (Isn't it funny how it's usually the boys who want access to girls' locker rooms and sports teams... who could have predicted?!) I'd personally LOVE to see the feds leave my kids' education up to our local governments and school boards. I'm one of the lucky parents in a school district that appears to be resisting this absurdity.
Don't give up on FP. They need your perspective! I'm also bothered by the tone of Mr. Bondiscio's article that seems (more than anything else) to be trying to highlight the criticism directed at Moms for Liberty rather than simply presenting the facts about this relatively new political movement. It seems to me that his goal is to undermine the credibility of Moms for Liberty. This is perplexing given that Mr. Bondiscio has studied and written about Success Academy which seems to stress parent involvement and, as far as I can tell, uses a curriculum focused on core academic standards rather than an agenda-based ideology. Anyway, your comments are great and needed here!
Given your experience, I wonder if you've considered how do we get teachers to push back on their union reps who are so busy being political operatives that they've allowed public schools to be co-opted by Marxists and the Far Left? Can't tell if you are still teaching but maybe stop paying union dues?
Do you think that the FP staff is influenced by what the commenters say? I doubt that they read us. I think it is FP's responsibility to recruit authors who are capable of accurately and fairly representing the people they are writing about. The FP is a leftist rag. Based on how Bari Weiss originally portrayed her mission I thought she would include viewpoints of anti-woke cult activists, but apart from the individuals she interviews I haven't seen many high quality anti-cult articles published by the FP. Perhaps the majority of journalists are too much a part of the woke movement to form an objective perspective on it. The ones on this site don't even have an accurate picture of what the movement is doing, so how could they write a decent article about it?
Nellie reads at least some of the comments on her pieces, because she's liked comments in the past (including a couple of mine). I do have to wonder about the rest of the team, though. That piece on drag queen "nuns" at a Dodgers game has been sitting for about a month with serious factual errors uncorrected, despite several comments (again, including mine) pointing them out.
I did appreciate the recent article: "My Research on Gender Dysphoria Was Censored. But I Won’t Be."
And, the comments section is always worth it even if an article is not, IMO. That's something.
I'd love to read a Walter Kern article soon...
I have been aware of the censoring of Dr. Bailey's articles, so I too liked the article about it.
The comments are interesting on the current article we are reviewing!
You need to read this paper. The entirety of gender affirming care is scientifically beyond flawed. It is, arguably, fraud. Cherry picked data, misrepresentation, highly questionable measures, complete lack of controls, and complete inability to confirm results in follow-up studies. And yet, this medical malpractice is being enshrined in law and education as the only acceptable way for children to be treated---with parental consent specifically excluded. This campaign is implemented by duped teachers who have NOT read the basis of what they are told. (Plus some shadowy investors seeking to cash in, who tend their nest eggs.)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0092623X.2022.2121238
Completely agree... there seems to be an editorial requirement of all TFP writers that even when writing an article that has a point of view that could be perceived to be considered favorable towards a "right wing point of view" there has to be a comment that provides balance.. the use of the word obviously, while written in the same font as the rest of the piece, jumped off my screen in 72 font bold and underlined italics.... with reading scores at all-time lows nationally there is nothing "obvious" about it in most schools. While part of me is looking forward to the upcoming TFP piece on Joe Biden's corruption, I'm prepared for the whataboutism the article will have on Trump's alleged criminal activities.
Clare Seguin:
"I can’t seem to get through a Free Press article without at least one off-handed but completely infuriating remark making me question my subscription."
This is EXACTLY how I feel about the Free Press. I cancelled my subscription not very long ago after reading an especially condescending, insulting article written from an obviously very left wing author. I got sucked back in by the titles of the articles, which are often in my area of core interest. But today again I am thinking about cancelling my subscription. With the possible exception of Bari Weiss, I think that most of the authors who write for the Free Press must be leftists who are trying to write in a more "balanced" way about woke issues. Unfortunately, they fail to make up for their leftist bias or their lack of education about other perspectives on these topic areas. In addition, that leftist snobbery always manages to ooze its way into their characterization of anyone who prefers to stay on the outside of the Circle of the Elect.
I hope you stay. I feel like the comments section of TheFP is one of the few places we can hear anything real.
Thank you, Loving Mother. I am pleased to see you on this site!
I feel exactly the same way about the F P. The article about Yeon-Mi Park at the UN got me to pony up for a subscription, but many recent articles are disappointing if not infuriating
"The candidates have all come to pay obeisance to the animating idea that has galvanized these women: that parents—not the government—should be in charge of how their children are raised and educated." - It's a little odd reading this sentence like it is a novel idea or some new child-rearing technique recently discovered by Dr. Benjamin Spock. it is strange how many centuries old truths are now portrayed as quaint notions that should be weighed for their validity against new, untested ideas by liberal machinators.
Thank you for saying this. I had the same reaction to this sentence.
What the heck is the author's point in choosing that wording: "pay obeisance"? The connotation is negative, even vaguely slimy, the implication being that the candidates are bowing and kowtowing to a religious claim rather than just signaling sympathy and respect for a widely held, common sense, and uncontroversial-until-five-minutes-ago cultural expectation that parents have the right and responsibility for making determinations about their children.
That weird framing, and the author's odd characterization of James Lindsay as some kind of right wing extremist with fringe views, left me questioning the author's intentions and/or understanding of reality.
That, and using the Hitler quote instance as an example of the group's lunatic fringe, which critics use to accuse them of intolerance and racism. The author failed to give an example of "lunatic fringe" activity.
Yes, and the mother actually made a pretty spot on comparison given the Gender Ideology takeover of the education and medical establishments - which has become useful for politicians on the far left (currently running the D party). Rhythms with 1930s Germany?
"Echoes of Eugenics: What the Doctors Trial at Nuremberg Means for Us in the US
On the 75th anniversary of the trial of Nazi doctors at Nuremberg we examine Nazi medicine and gender-affirming care"
https://pitt.substack.com/p/echoes-of-eugenics-what-the-doctors
I thought this was an interesting observation by Pedro Gonzalez:
"There have been many terrible medical experiments in America, but none of them have had the deadly and destructive combination of ideology, politics, and profits propelling them into the culture. Lobotomies had profits, but no ideology or political movement supporting the procedure. Eugenics had an ideology and a political movement, but no profits that could be reinvested in lobbying for protective legislation. Transgenderism has the winning trifecta, and it makes the movement much more difficult to defeat, despite its obvious harm to people and the lack of any legitimate science or data to back up its central tenets."
https://pitt.substack.com/p/lets-read-the-transgender-leviathan
Agree. I personally am fine with teachers and school boards deciding what ACADEMIC (math and language) curricula to teach. I'm even fine with schools teaching and reinforcing character traits like integrity, courage, respect, etc. But once you cross over into lessons or discussions involving sexuality, blatantly false information about biology, and sexually explicit content, then you are WAY out of line as an educator. Teach human reproduction at an age-appropriate level (puberty around 5th grade/reproduction 8th grade or so) with a transparent health curriculum parents can access in advance, and NOTHING ELSE. What or whom my kids are attracted to is none of your business. If you're a teacher, talk to your own offspring about sex, and let me talk to mine. If you're a teacher without children, then I'm sorry but the topic is off limits with people under the age of 18. If you're an adult who yearns to talk to kids about sex, seek psychiatric help and stay away from my family.
Ultimately the success of any student is directly proportional to the involvement of the parents in their education. The best example is the high academic achievement of Asian students pushed to succeed by their parents. Any movement that creates more parent engagement is welcomed. An investigation into low performing schools reveals a lack of parental participation. It makes no difference how much money is thrown into these low performing schools if parents do not actively engage in their children’s education.
That's not true. A lot of Asian students of immigrant parents had no parental involvement until recently. Their parents were immigrants and couldn't speak English enough to be involved. It's the cultural mindset of valuing education, career success, meritocracy, and getting ahead, all of which are diametrically in opposition to what the Left is pushing today.
By involvement I mean making sure their child does homework and emphasizes learning and good grades. The parent does not have to go to school board meetings or volunteer at the school.
But it's still not true. Asian immigrant parents until the recent wave of millionaires were labor workers who worked long hours and weren't home enough to oversee their children, or monitor them to do homework or anything. They actually depended on their minor children to learn English as fast as possible to help them get around. It's the culture of the community from every side that teach Asian kids to value academic success. It's embedded into their attitudes from their peers, their teachers, all the adults around them, their TV and movies. And yes, their parents. But parental involvement was often not there. That's true even in Asian countries, with most parents too busy working.
I'm not undermining the very significant importance of parental involvement. I think parental involvement in Western societies, especially the US is vital precisely because we lack the culture of valuing academic success the way Asian societies do. Especially in the US (as I can't speak first hand to other Western countries) parents are all that's there because without it, we can't rely on any other positive influence to be there.
“It's the culture of the community from every side that teach Asian kids to value academic success.” This right here. It starts with the parents even those working many hours. Again the involvement can be nothing more than insisting on good grades and consequences for not making them. That culture needs to be imported into every community. Curriculum on the other hand requires parent involvement at the school level. But without the pressure being applied upon the student from home curriculum will not matter.
The children learning nothing in school today will be the parents of the next generation of students who learn nothing. And we will still be saying it’s the parents’ fault. The only way to break the cycle is to figure out a way to teach kids despite the parents’ lack of involvement.
Anyone who can figure out how successfully educate kids without parental participation will be a very wealthy person. Billions have been spent to date with no meaningful results. Where parents are active participants the students are high achievers even with less resources.
or speak English!! The Asian immigrant students I had (a CUNY community college, late 90's, early aughts) would beg and argue w/ me to get an A rather than an A- because they knew they'd get flack from their parents!
Both of you, David and QX, are correct. Parental involvement that stands behind and guides their children’s education is key, especially at home, but also in the schools.
Quora.com for whatever reason has many Indian / South Asian students discussing things there. I am amazed and impressed by how many of them are determined to study hard so as to not to let their parents down. Yes, this can go too far, but it illustrates how important FAMILY is to success.
Spot on!
They are hated because the new left (and that's who is doing this, sorry) hates America and families and women and liberty and anything that would detract from achieving absolute totalitarian control of every aspect of life, and at a global level.
The fad du jour (or the many fads, one might say) are mostly distractions from this path. Whether it's COVID or the climate scaremongering or the everyone is "trans" or equity, these are all both distractions and attacks on liberty—each a kind of test to prove the those pushing the agenda can make us all do or react to pretty much anything they want.
So naturally a group that embodies so many of the anathemas to this movement: liberty, moms, family ... control will be labeled a hate group, especially since ad hominem is really the only argument they have.
Succinct, accurate. Well said, sir.
A mom will die to protect her children, because we have nothing more important to lose. Brava, Moms!
There is a picture in the article of a counter-protest with a woman holding a sign that reads "Proud Mom of Gay Kids". So why is this proud mom hiding her face behind a mask and dark glasses?
And how many gay kids does she have?
And why is your child's sexual orientation something to be proud of?
And how is it even relevant to the controversy?
Yes. I’m asking the same. Gay has nothing to do with it (I hope). The trans issue has taken gay rights back to square one.
I read it as Marcia questioning the validity of the message on the sign. Because, mathematically, the odds of one woman having more than one kid who turned out to be gay are not high. The mathematical odds are higher that the Masked Protestor has no kids at all, is a professional or semipro activist, and thinks the message on the sign grants her "standing," than they are that she is legitimately the mother of more than one gay kid.
When you live in a bastion of this cult, the odds aren't that slim. I know one woman with two lesbian granddaughters, a transman-granddaughter, and a plain straight young woman granddaughter - 3/4 alphabet people. I know another woman with a gay son and a they-daughter - two out of two. I think the sign in the photo could be correct.
That's interesting. But it would seem to indicate one (or both) of two things: Either homosexuality is more socialized than we've been told all these years (maybe not 'born this way'?), or if those people were all 'born that way,' maybe the 'gay gene' is hereditary. If that's the case, one would assume by the natural order that those family lines would not survive long.
Funny how that could go either way; evidence that points in either or direction. In this case, the grandmother's lesbians are genetically sisters, and her biological grandchildren, and the straight-plain and the transman-granddaughter are adopted twins. I think in this case, it is socialization - they were raised in an elite, liberal area. The woman with the they-daughter and the gay son also raised them in an affluent, liberal area. Especially with today's "lesbians" (the temporary ones) and the trans people, I think it is mostly social. And there may be genetic conditions and predispositions that in affluent liberal areas become trans (like autism) and some that become gay men (like sensitivity and artistic sense) and docility/conformity that become lesbians. A man from a place that was relatively liberal/secular muslim that grew more conservative as he aged told me that when he was young, the women with tough personalities were more likely to be very religious and wore hijab and the docile women would wear mini skirts, but when he got older, it was the docile women who wore hijab and the tough women refused to cover their hair. The same tendencies, which may be genetic, get expressed differently depending on the milieu.
Is she a mother? Is she female? Probably, but given the climate, not a certainty.
oh come on...she's outside so she is wearing sunglasses. and we don't know when the picture was taken but my guess is it was during covid, as there are others wearing masks as well.
in certain blue cities, during covid, everyone was told to stay indoors and away from others unless there was important rioting, um, i mean, PEACEFUL PROTESTING, to further social justice causes. because, by this logic, covid was smart enough to not target those doing this important work for a bigger purpose. (sarcasm)
what i took away from the image in question, is she is proud of her gay kids. great, she's pro-gay & lesbian! i could care less. but the new doctrine is against being gay/lesbian. so, to me, she appeared to be at the wrong rally.
That's a point Fred Sargeant @fredsargeant founder of gay pride is yelling about. He calls trans ideology a war on gay kids.
FWIW I've seen people say it's a far right conspiracy against gays. (Not from Fred!)
Right and left are obsolete terms. Supporters of the Regime and Heretics Against the Regime. That is the more correct term, I think. When the "left" embraces the war machine, the pharmaceutical industry, the FBI and racism, and denounces freedom of speech, eh, I don't know, it boggles the mind.
I don't care what her kids do in their private time. Are they literate? Did they study the classics of English language? Are their math skills at least decent? Do they understand the basics of the US Constitution, our history, and governmental system? Etc.
I'd rather face a grizzly bear than a pissed off mom because people are f*cking with her kids.
Sounds like you’ve never faced a grizzly bear.
Papa bears who are inclined to attack baby bears often are dissuaded by the -- albeit smaller and lighter -- vicious Mama bears.
And there are moms out there who are angry for no reason, or for little reason, depending, and yet they're still pissed off.....but she's just pissed off and stupid, and she needs to be jumped ugly with, in conversation (not fists, I'm not one of the January 6 MAGA folks after all!), to be corrected.