Assault on education

[The Evil Genius]

The Republican Party of the 21st century does not support public education. 

 

IT DOES NOT SUPPORT PUBLIC EDUCATION.

 

It's not hard to think why colleges may sway left these days. 

 

Edited December 11, 2023 by The Evil Genius

[China]

Same data, gentler framing: State publishes previously suppressed wage analysis for teachers

 

An article in the latest issue of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s magazine outlines the data behind shrinking teacher wages in Alaska.

 

Dunleavy administration staff stopped the publication of the article last month, which was slated to be the cover article. It was published in this month’s issue, but not as a cover article and with a different headline, after reporting from multiple news outlets and op-ed pieces from current and former Labor Department leaders who expressed their discontent with what they said was censorship and suppression of state data.

 

The new framing of the article is gentler: The headline went from “Teachers’ shrinking wage advantage” to “How teachers’ wages compare,” but little in the article itself changed at all.

 

The numbers bear out what teachers and education advocates have said for years: Alaska’s teacher wages have dropped and it is the only state in the country without a defined pension for teachers.

 

Click on the link for the full article 

[China]

Why the Far Right Hates History Lessons

 

Many people find history boring and consider it a pursuit reserved for nerds who like gathering facts for future trivia games. But Republican operators fear a knowledge of history in the electorate.

 

History teaches us lessons like what happens when a dictator takes over a nation and proceeds to plunge an entire continent into headlong total war with the attendant extermination of millions he didn’t like. It shows us other lessons like the effects of groups like the Khmer Rouge on Cambodia, the extermination of tens of millions of Russians at the hands of Stalin—oddly enough a figure revered today by the current holder of the Czar’s chambers in the Kremlin—the genocides of Rwanda, Bosnia, Armenia, the American Native population, etc., etc.

The inhumanity of man against mankind is part of the bloody river of sorrow and death that litters the history of the world.

 

Conversely, history teaches us of individual efforts to codify and protect the rights of normal ever-day people. Dating back to the Magna Carta Libertatum, known as the Magna Carta, that reigned in the unbridled power of King John in 1215 on forward to the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution of the United States and the Bill of RIghts.

 

The principles of governance by the consent of the governed have taken hundreds of years to mature. And that progress is all at risk now in the United States and elsewhere. One of the key components of the assault on these ideals is the invalidation of history as an important subject of education.

 

Efforts to vilify history are actually multi-pronged. First there is the misclassification of it as something that might offend or make students “uncomfortable.” This is what lies at the heart of the far-right propaganda against teaching Critical Race Theory in schools. Oddly enough, CRT has never been taught in schools or to children. It is an advanced legal theory about pervasive racism in our society—something that is observably true.

 

The fear and loathing of history lessons in schools has far-right Nazis either running for local offices on school boards or backing those they see as malleable enough to influence on those boards or other local positions. This recently backfired in Boise, Idaho where voters elected an 18-year-old progressive to replace an incumbent tied to the far right.

 

Closely allied to the history haters are the book banners and the book burners. These are the people deciding that librarians are somehow enemies or part of a “deep state” conspiracy.

This country has a history that is both glorious and infamous at the same time. We are a study in stark contrasts: as a beacon of freedom and democracy while also serving as a dark example of oppression, slavery and genocide. But that history has to be known, confronted and understood to prevent a repeat of it.

 

And here we arrive at why the far right hates history lessons: These people, white supremacists, Nazis and the like, want a return of some of the darker parts of our history. These are the people who think separating families of desperate migrants is a good idea—especially if there is an internment camp, privately operated for profit, involved. These are the holocaust deniers. These are the people who want to redefine our history of slavery as “involuntary location.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Destino]

 

[China]

Some Oklahoma churches are teaching sex ed, since it's not required in public schools

 

In Oklahoma, some kids get sex education through their church because the state doesn't require the subject to be taught in public schools.

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Comprehensive sex education can be a matter of faith. Some churches are stepping in to teach sex ed in states where it is not a required subject in the public schools. Jillian Taylor with StateImpact Oklahoma takes us to Oklahoma City.

 

KALYN MCKENZIE-SCOGGINS: All right. Does anyone remember what we talked about last week?

 

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: Nope.

 

MCKENZIE-SCOGGINS: Oh, come on. I know someone does.

 

JILLIAN TAYLOR, BYLINE: Kalyn McKenzie-Scoggins is trying to coax a group of seventh through ninth graders to recall what they've learned in their sex ed class at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa. She says she's starting conversations that public schools here won't.

 

MCKENZIE-SCOGGINS: I had a terrible education, and then I had kids. And I went, I don't want to do that, but I don't know what to do. And then I started doing this.

 

TAYLOR: Oklahoma is one of 10 states that only mandates AIDS prevention instruction in schools. That leaves the rest up to school districts, where levels of sex education vary. At least five churches in Oklahoma have stepped up to fill the gap. All Souls uses Our Whole Lives, or OWL, which is a national curriculum that can be used in secular and church settings. It provides age-appropriate lessons on topics like relationships, gender identity, sexual orientation and health. All Souls parents attend a meeting before the course to find out what their kids will learn. Shannon Boston is a director of religious education at All Souls. She says the class centers around the church's values.

 

TAYLOR: One student who benefitted from the sex ed classes at All Souls is Margo Starr. She grew up in the church. She became a leader among her peers at her public school because she has had sex education.

 

MARGO STARR: No one else knew the reproductive organs or, like, the technical terms of any of these things. Like, my friends would ask me questions, and especially, like, when we got into high school.

 

TAYLOR: Only 25 states mandate sex ed in public schools. Fewer states require teaching information on contraceptive methods, and even fewer on consent and sexual orientation. That's according to the Guttmacher Institute, where Kimya Forouzan keeps track of state policies on sex education. She says it's a patchwork across the country that deprives many of the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about sex.

 

Click on the link for more

[Captain Wiggles]

[China]

Falling Apart

 

Students and Educators in Idaho Show Us What It’s Like When a State Fails to Fund School Repairs
 

No other state spends less on school infrastructure per student than Idaho. As a result, many students, especially those in rural districts, deal with leaking ceilings, freezing classrooms and discolored drinking water. Some students have to miss school when the power or heat goes out.

 

School districts often can’t build or repair buildings because Idaho is one of only two states that require two-thirds of voters to approve a bond. Some districts have held bond elections several times only to see them fail despite having support from a majority of voters. But the Legislature has been reluctant to make significant investments in facilities. Administrators say they don’t know how they’ll keep their schools running and worry that public officials don’t understand how bad the problems are.

 

Idaho hasn’t done an official assessment of school building conditions in 30 years. The Idaho Statesman and ProPublica tried to fill this gap with the help of people who know the system best. We surveyed all 115 public school district superintendents, and 91% responded. Every superintendent who responded said they have at least one facilities problem that poses a significant challenge, and 78% told us they have five or more. Then, we went to communities across the state. Thirty-nine schools took us on tours, often led by district maintenance directors. We also collected stories and photographs from 233 students, parents, educators and others, who described how the conditions affect their lives.

 

“Communities show what is valuable by what we build,” said David Reinhart, West Ada School District’s chief operations officer. “When our students are in old and run-down buildings, it signals to them that what they do in school is of little value.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[EmirOfShmo]

 

[Destino]

https://www.thefp.com/p/how-us-public-schools-teach-antisemitism
 

Quote

American youths aren’t just encountering the views on TikTok; they’re learning them from teachers and, in some cases, from the mandatory public school curriculum itself. Take California, where a 10th grade history course, approved by the Santa Ana Unified School District, includes readings that call Israel an “extremist illegal Jewish settler population” and accuses the country of “ethnic cleansing.” Or the Jefferson Union High School District near San Francisco, which teaches about the “Palestinian dispossession of lands/identity/culture through Zionist settler colonialism.”

 

Quote

On November 9, both teachers and parents helped organize more than 700 students from 100 public schools from across New York City to join in a mass walkout in Bryant Park. One teacher identified only as Brittany talked to CBS News as she marched alongside her pupils. “We teach our students about social justice,” Brittany said. “If we can’t act on what we are teaching our students, then what are we doing?”

 

[dfitzo53]

The article relies heavily on information from a Koch-affiliated astroturf movement, unsurprisingly. 

 

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Parents_Defending_Education

[Destino]

16 minutes ago, dfitzo53 said:

The article relies heavily on information from a Koch-affiliated astroturf movement, unsurprisingly. 

 

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Parents_Defending_Education

Does that mean this isn’t being taught in schools, or that only a right wing source is even looking into it?

[dfitzo53]

Just now, Destino said:

Does that mean this isn’t being taught in schools, or that only a right wing source is even looking into it?

It means I would need a lot more information before I care. The article says readings include,  and then a few short, disconnected quotes. 

 

Doesn't a good history course include quotes from some very unpleasant writings by Hitler or southern slave-owners, for example?

 

I'm not inclined to put much stock in a piece that draws heavily on out-of-context information from an organization that is acting purposefully to undermine public schooling. If you'd like to find the actual text the students are suppsed to read and see if it changes my mind, feel free. Otherwise I'll refrain from breathlessly chasing down every transparent attempt to cast doubt on the integrity of public schools. 

 

This article plays all the hits:

* Highlight one teacher who may or may not be representative, bonus points that she's of middle-eastern descent

* Invoke the California bogeyman

* Play the "What if liberals are the real racists?" card conservatives are so fond of

[Larry]

1 hour ago, dfitzo53 said:

 

This article plays all the hits:

* Highlight one teacher who may or may not be representative, bonus points that she's of middle-eastern descent

* Invoke the California bogeyman

* Play the "What if liberals are the real racists?" card conservatives are so fond of

 

Don't forget "pretending that having disagreements with the constant expansion of Israel is 'antisemantism'".

[EmirOfShmo]

Cops recover second sex video involving scandal-plagued Moms for Liberty leader: report

 

Police have reportedly recovered a second sex video involving Bridget Ziegler, a leader of the Moms for Liberty group that is dedicated to banning books that purportedly contain sexually explicit content from schools.

The Florida Trident reports that police recovered the video while investigating rape accusations against her husband, Christian Ziegler, who earlier this month was suspended from his role as Florida Republican Party chairman.

Sources tell the Florida Trident that the new video involves the Moms for Liberty leader "engaging in sexual relations with a woman," although it's not known at this point whether it's with the same woman who accused her husband of raping her.

 

https://www.rawstory.com/bridget-ziegler/

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by EmirOfShmo

[Califan007 The Constipated]

 

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

[China]

Really?  They were elective.  That means children of racists didn't have to take them if they didn't want to.  But that wasn't good enough, they want to make sure nobody knows black history and literature.  

[EmirOfShmo]

 

Bucks County mom behind conservative school movement charged with assault, giving teens alcohol

 

A former Pennsylvania lieutenant governor candidate and outspoken voice in the conservative “parental rights” school movement has been charged with punching a teenager while hosting an underage drinking party at her Bucks County home in September.

Clarice Schillinger, 36, is facing criminal charges of assault, harassment and furnishing minors with alcohol during her daughter’s birthday party, according to the case filed in late October. Her attorney has denied all charges and said she will fight them in court.

Schillinger made an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor as a Republican last year and has played an instrumental role in a political action committee that has poured more than $800,000 into Pennsylvania school district races since 2021. The PAC has focused on supporting school board candidates who opposed COVID-19 lockdowns and argue left-wing ideologies are invading the education system.

In the recent criminal case, Schillinger is accused of punching a partygoer several times in the face during a series of alleged outbursts by drunken adults at her home on Liz Circle in Doylestown, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The documents state that during the event — which started Sept. 29 and went past midnight — Schillinger’s then-boyfriend allegedly grabbed a 16-year-old by the neck for intervening in a fight between the couple and hit a 15-year-old in the face during an argument over football. According to the allegations in court papers, her intoxicated mother also punched the older teen in the eye and chased him around the kitchen island. Police said they had cellphone recordings of some of these reported events.

To escape the unruly adults, several minors started making their way out of the home, even as Schillinger ordered them to stay, court documents allege.

Cellphone footage showed that as the teens gathered in the foyer Schillinger lunged toward one partygoer before others began restraining her. That individual told police Schillinger struck him three times with a closed fist but that he wasn’t injured, according to the affidavit.

Schillinger had been throwing a 17th birthday party for her daughter that night, hosting about 20 teens in her basement, where there was a bar stocked with New Amsterdam vodka and Malibu Bay Breeze rum, police wrote in the affidavit. In addition to supplying the underage group with alcohol, she allegedly poured liquor for the teens, asked them to take a shot with her and played beer pong with them, witnesses later told authorities.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bucks-county-mom-behind-conservative-095810297.html

[Destino]

On 12/23/2023 at 2:28 PM, Cooked Crack said:

 

I’m not a big fan of modern social justice framework guiding literature instruction. I prefer literature being taught in its own context. These right wingers clearly are trying to drain away any anti-racism frameworks which is no surprise, but why get rid of black history and literature entirely? Theres no reason both can’t be taught without pushing current advocacy and anti-racist ideology to the forefront. 
 

this isn’t a minor point for republicans to figure out. They clearly want to make gains on education, even though moms for hypocrisy have lost ground, but they can’t do that banning lit and history courses. I’m not black, and I’d be interested in a black literature course just for fun, there’s nothing inherently divisive about black authors that can work magic with words.  There’s nothing exclusive either, or ant least their shouldn’t be. Ideally the works selected would be challenging, but that’s what literature is supposed to be. Plus, is there a good history course that exists that doesn’t horrify you? 
 

if republicans want to step into education as a winning issue beyond the shallow “OMG they’re turning the kids gay” stuff that has a limited shelf life they have to get comfortable with offering actual alternatives rather than just screaming about what they want to ban.

 

They won’t. lol
 

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

[Destino]

Wow I’m used to be wrong, but rarely about republicans and rarely that quickly. They’ll mess it up somehow though, they didn’t say what the changes in curriculum will be. Devils in the details. 

[Renegade7]

On 12/17/2023 at 8:06 PM, China said:

Falling Apart

 

Students and Educators in Idaho Show Us What It’s Like When a State Fails to Fund School Repairs
 

No other state spends less on school infrastructure per student than Idaho. As a result, many students, especially those in rural districts, deal with leaking ceilings, freezing classrooms and discolored drinking water. Some students have to miss school when the power or heat goes out.

 

School districts often can’t build or repair buildings because Idaho is one of only two states that require two-thirds of voters to approve a bond. Some districts have held bond elections several times only to see them fail despite having support from a majority of voters. But the Legislature has been reluctant to make significant investments in facilities. Administrators say they don’t know how they’ll keep their schools running and worry that public officials don’t understand how bad the problems are.

 

Idaho hasn’t done an official assessment of school building conditions in 30 years. The Idaho Statesman and ProPublica tried to fill this gap with the help of people who know the system best. We surveyed all 115 public school district superintendents, and 91% responded. Every superintendent who responded said they have at least one facilities problem that poses a significant challenge, and 78% told us they have five or more. Then, we went to communities across the state. Thirty-nine schools took us on tours, often led by district maintenance directors. We also collected stories and photographs from 233 students, parents, educators and others, who described how the conditions affect their lives.

 

“Communities show what is valuable by what we build,” said David Reinhart, West Ada School District’s chief operations officer. “When our students are in old and run-down buildings, it signals to them that what they do in school is of little value.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

This shouldn't be legal to allow happen.

[PleaseBlitz]

Parents in Bridget Ziegler's school board meeting bring the heat. 

 

 

[EmirOfShmo]

On 12/28/2023 at 2:06 PM, EmirOfShmo said:

 

Bucks County mom behind conservative school movement charged with assault, giving teens alcohol

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bucks-county-mom-behind-conservative-095810297.html

 

A follow up...🤣

 

 

[China]

All those conservative Christian family values on full display.