Assault on education

[EmirOfShmo]

[steve09ru]

5 hours ago, Cooked Crack said:

 

Way to go Virginia

Same approach I use - people complain, you open up resources for feedback and examples; things get quiet (usually because it's all anecdotal) and you move along.  They feel heard and nothing becomes more of it unless there is truly an issue.  It's a pretty common tactic.

[The Evil Genius]

 

[bearrock]

1 hour ago, steve09ru said:

Same approach I use - people complain, you open up resources for feedback and examples; things get quiet (usually because it's all anecdotal) and you move along.  They feel heard and nothing becomes more of it unless there is truly an issue.  It's a pretty common tactic.

 

Let's not pretend that this isn't a tactic to gin up the base on this whackadoodle notion that public school teachers are lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on young innocent minds and brainwash them into become mindless libertrons.  There are multiple channels of communication to complain about education and teachers.  Do you see Youngkin out there publicizing complaint lines for other issues?

[steve09ru]

22 minutes ago, bearrock said:

 

Let's not pretend that this isn't a tactic to gin up the base on this whackadoodle notion that public school teachers are lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on young innocent minds and brainwash them into become mindless libertrons.  There are multiple channels of communication to complain about education and teachers.  Do you see Youngkin out there publicizing complaint lines for other issues?

Any other issues getting this much publicity?

[bearrock]

9 minutes ago, steve09ru said:

Any other issues getting this much publicity?

 

If Youngkin running against a theory that isn't taught in school wasn't enough to convince you that this isn't a mere feigning a listen to topic du jour, I doubt anything will.  I guess time will tell whether he makes the same kind of overtures to issues like police misconduct.

[Cooked Crack]

2 hours ago, steve09ru said:

Same approach I use - people complain, you open up resources for feedback and examples; things get quiet (usually because it's all anecdotal) and you move along.  They feel heard and nothing becomes more of it unless there is truly an issue.  It's a pretty common tactic.

Don't see this being something he'll move on from if it's politically helpful. He's following the DeSantis playbook. Maybe next he'll let parents sue teachers for bounties cause they made their white kid feel discomfort.

[EmirOfShmo]

I know this is Slate, but goddamn if they didn't get this right about Trumpkin's mask decision. "Love your neighbor"...****ing tool.

 

Virginia Schools Are Melting Down

Virginia’s new governor, Glenn Youngkin, is just a week into his term, but already he has reminded the nation what the first weeks of the Trump administration looked like: chaos.

On his first day in office, Youngkin issued an executive order granting parents of the commonwealth’s 1.5 million schoolchildren the ability to exempt their kids from their school districts’ mask policies if they so choose. Immediately after the order was signed, several superintendents announced plans to keep their mask requirements. Virginia’s lieutenant governor announced that Youngkin could pull funding from any district refusing to comply, although nobody could say whether that was legal. Parents sued to reverse the order, and then seven school boards filed a lawsuit claiming the masks-optional policy violates both the Virginia Constitution, which provides that “the supervision of schools in each school division shall be vested in a school board,” and a 2021 state law that requires school systems to follow federal health guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly recommends all students, K–12, wear masks regardless of vaccination status.

...

After big-footing his way into a crisis, on Saturday, Youngkin tried to tweet his way out of it with vague platitudes that ultimately contradicted themselves and only added to the confusion: “While the legal process continues on the parental opt out of mask mandates for their children in schools, I urge everyone to love your neighbor, to listen to school principals, and to trust the legal process.” Except “listen to your principal” ends up sounding quite a bit like “listen to your principal for now,” particularly when it is paired with “trust the legal process.” Youngkin made that subtext text when he said, on a Richmond radio broadcast Monday morning, that parents should, “Listen to a principal today. And I know that there are some school systems that are doing things that are inconsistent with respecting the rights of parents. … Let’s respect it right now and let this legal process play out.” Having seeded the conflict himself, Youngkin now insisted that “This is not a moment for us to forget that we’re all in the same boat and love one another.”

...

The problem here is that Youngkin got the order wrong. He was support to start with love and respect for school principals, and then build up to rancor and division and threats of violence—it’s so much harder to go in the other direction, as he’s tried to do. Bottling up the outrage after the gun-waving phase proves difficult—ask Donald Trump. By the time parents are marching their kids into schools with copies of a hastily crafted executive order and the directive to refuse to listen to anyone in authority, “love your neighbor” is a fossilized relic of a forgotten time. Pundits are asking whether Youngkin is naïve or simply fanning the flames, but honestly, it doesn’t much matter. Just as Donald Trump opted to enter office in a flurry of half-baked, half-legal orders and tweets, Youngkin decided that leadership and “healing” demand empowering parents to become a law unto themselves, then walking all that back after the damage is done.

I’m hardly the first to worry that states racing to enact ever more insane incursions on educational freedom and a teacher’s right to speak and book bans are destined to end in reprisals and mass resignations and bounty schemes and threats of violence. At this point, I must assume that such vigilantism is the point. Parents are frayed and starved for leadership. Some leaders have realized that the inflaming of tensions around masks garners votes. The problem is it also destabilizes government authority. Youngkin didn’t just turn student against student, parent against parent, or pit principals against educators and states against federal rules with the stroke of a pen the day he was sworn in. He personally modeled contempt for authority—he encouraged it and rewarded it. He did so in the full knowledge that he was essentially deputizing furious parents to follow only the kinds of laws they liked and conscripting their kids into participating. Here is an excerpt, from reporters around the state, tracking how all that went:

• Loudoun County mother Heather Jermacams said her daughter was moved into a separate classroom after she didn’t wear a mask. Video shows Jermacams shouting into a phone, refusing to pick up her daughter. 
• “No, I am not picking my child up. She has an IEP, and I will call my lawyer next. She has an IEP and needs to be in her classroom. Do you understand me?” she said.
• Across Loudoun County Public Schools, about 60 students refused to wear masks on Monday, the district said. Most were at Woodgrove High School, where parents confronted the principal and demanded to know the plan for educating students who weren’t wearing masks. 
• “Please, we will make sure that to the extent that we possibly can, given the circumstances, they have everything they need,” the principal said. 
• Clint and Erin Thomas said their two daughters at Woodgrove High sat in an auditorium without a teacher for most of the morning.
• “They didn’t have a plan to actually have these kids start school on time,” Clint Thomas said. “These kids are asking, ‘I have a test today. What’s going on?’ The teachers didn’t have the test ready. It’s just kind of chaotic.”
• Parent Megan Rafalski was near tears when asked about her family’s plan for the next day. 
• “I have been asked that several times and it has been — it’s been a really hard day,” she said.

The author of this hard day? Not the courts, not the school districts, not the principals, and not these children or their parents. The author was the guy who signed a nonsensical order without thinking through the repercussions.

The best way to ensure public contempt for every level of government is by pitting various parts of it against one another, dumping it all on the courts to resolve, and then telling a million parents to do whatever they want in the interim (just do it with “love”). It hardly matters what a court says at this juncture—parents have been told to defy any authority but their own. Teaching just became significantly harder in Virginia. And so did learning, if that’s something they still care about.

 

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/01/virginia-masks-schools-glenn-youngkin-chaos.html

Edited January 26, 2022 by EmirOfShmo

[Larry]

2 hours ago, steve09ru said:

Any other issues getting this much publicity manufactured outrage over fictional offenses?

 

Fixed that for you.  

[The Evil Genius]

Well done Gen Z. 

 

 

[China]

Is book banning sweeping the nation? Seattle school drops ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ over racism concerns

 

A Seattle-area school board voted to remove “To Kill a Mockingbird” from student reading lists this week, just days before news surfaced that a Tennessee district had, earlier this month, banned the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the holocaust, “Maus,” from its curriculum.

 

The actions are part of a rising wave of efforts across the country to remove books from libraries and student reading lists in response to complaints and criticisms from parent groups and other organizations.

 

That includes the recent decision by Utah’s Canyons School District to remove at least nine book titles from libraries at four high schools in the district — all in response to an email from a parent who expressed concerns about the titles she said she learned about through social media videos.

 

According to the Seattle Times, the Mukilteo School Board voted unanimously Monday night to remove Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” from the required reading list for ninth graders while still allowing for teachers to choose to teach the classic novel to students.

 

The board acted after months of discussion among teachers, parents and students, and in reaction to concerns over racism in the classic novel, first published in 1960.

 

In the Times report, John Gahagan, a board member since 2011, stressed that members were not banning the book, just removing it from the list of required reading. He said a 20-member instructional committee of teachers, parents and community members had voted by a nearly two-thirds margin to no longer have the book be required reading.

 

Gahagan told the Times he reread the novel, about a white lawyer’s efforts to defend a Black man wrongly accused of rape, last week for the first time in 50 years.

 

“It’s a very difficult book and a lot of thorny subjects are raised, and we felt that some teachers may not feel comfortable guiding their students through it,” Gahagan said. “It deals not only with racism, but it reflects a time when racism was tolerated.

 

Click on the link for  the full article

 

Psst...racism is still tolerated.

[The Evil Genius]

⬆️

 

It's not banned. They removed it from the required reading list but teachers are still allowed to use it in their curriculum.

 

I don't agree with removing it from the required list, but there is a YUGE difference between this and other recent bannings. 

[Ball Security]

2 minutes ago, The Evil Genius said:

⬆️

 

It's not banned. They removed it from the required reading list but teachers are still allowed to use it in their curriculum.

 

I don't agree with removing it from the required list, but there is a YUGE difference between this and other recent bannings. 

I grew up in a one high school system.  My kids are still in elementary so I’m not sure how it’s done here.  But I find it odd that the school board decides which books are mandatory reading.  I would think that would be left up to the English departments of the school.  

[bearrock]

Wouldn't an intelligent literature curriculum look something like

 

1) read the book

2) write a book report

3) read two essays, one positive, one critical 

4) write an essay on how the positions in the original book report has evolved, why or why not.

 

We have students read books not because we want the book to indoctrinate them or because it somehow lays out all the story elements and the characters in a desired way (even if such thing was possible). We want kids to exercise their critical thinking skills and challenge views and have their views challenged.  We really need to stop dumbing down education in this country.

[Warhead36]

We're approaching dangerous territory here. I've talked for years about the dumbification of America but now the government is actively being involved in stupidifying its own citizens.

 

 

[Destino]

5 hours ago, The Evil Genius said:

⬆️

 

It's not banned. They removed it from the required reading list but teachers are still allowed to use it in their curriculum.

 

I don't agree with removing it from the required list, but there is a YUGE difference between this and other recent bannings. 

There’s not that big a difference because none of these bans do anything.   Though you could probably argue removing a book from a reading list does more, because most teens aren’t reading the classics on their own time.
 

Banning a book from a school library is about as effective as a screen door on a submarine.  We live in a nation where the public library and all its wonderful treasures reside on your phone.  Also, anyone can get a pirated ebook in less than five minutes.  None of these things actually prevent kids from accessing any book they want.  They just create a scandal.

 

And the scandal is the point.  We all see that right?  All the adults involved in this know your can’t ban a book in 2022.  This is all about political grandstanding.  This is about being seen striking a blow in the culture wars.  

[Captain Wiggles]

1 hour ago, Warhead36 said:

We're approaching dangerous territory here. I've talked for years about the dumbification of America but now the government is actively being involved in stupidifying its own citizens.

 

 

 

Republicans have been defunding education my whole life. Part of Reagans less is more government. As a result we're now surrounded by ignorami who gleefully wallow in there own ignorance. Fun times.

[Larry]

Recall reading an article about a school being asked to ban Tom Sawyer from their school. Because parents thought the character Slave Jim was insulting to AAs. His mannerisms. "Lawsy, Massa Tom". 
 

The author pointed out that when Twain wrote the story, a lot of people wanted the book banned back then, too. And they wanted it banned because of Slave Jim, too. 
 

Because he was the Good Guy.  He saved Tom Sawyer's life by killing somebody, in fact. It was an Indian. Twain couldn't have a black man kill a white man and get away with it. But it was still too dangerous, for some. 

[Destino]

9 hours ago, Warhead36 said:

We're approaching dangerous territory here. I've talked for years about the dumbification of America but now the government is actively being involved in stupidifying its own citizens.

 

 

It’s the algorithms in my opinion.  People are wildly underestimating how effectively people are being manipulated.  The government is just getting swept up the fallout.  
 

Think about this, how often can you predict what someone’s opinion is going to be these days?  If someone is online a lot, and they tell me what political candidates they supoort, I feel like 99 times out of a hundred I can predict exactly what positions they’re going to take on just about any hot button issue.  Right down to the buzz words they’ll use.  We used to point out when politicians and media were obviously using talking points, but now all political discussion is talking points.

 

Everyone is really mad about the exact same things, until they’re given the next thing to be mad about.  Recently republicans deployed CRT in schools and seemingly overnight everyone was up in arms about books brainwashing their kids.  These grandstanding nobodies on school boards are just seizing their moment in the spotlight.  Soon it will be something else.

[EmirOfShmo]

Run your campaign on improving education/schools.

Propose $150 million in funding over two years to create “laboratory innovation charter schools.” Push to use state money to expand privately-run, public school choices for parents.

And, next....

 

[TheGreatBuzz]

3 hours ago, clietas said:

 

Republicans have been defunding education my whole life. Part of Reagans less is more government. As a result we're now surrounded by ignorami who gleefully wallow in there own ignorance. Fun times.

How fitting.

[Captain Wiggles]

9 minutes ago, TheGreatBuzz said:

How fitting.

 

Zachly 😉

[PokerPacker]

3 hours ago, Larry said:

Recall reading an article about a school being asked to ban Tom Sawyer from their school. Because parents thought the character Slave Jim was insulting to AAs. His mannerisms. "Lawsy, Massa Tom". 
 

The author pointed out that when Twain wrote the story, a lot of people wanted the book banned back then, too. And they wanted it banned because of Slave Jim, too. 
 

Because he was the Good Guy.  He saved Tom Sawyer's life by killing somebody, in fact. It was an Indian. Twain couldn't have a black man kill a white man and get away with it. But it was still too dangerous, for some. 

Was it Tom Sawyer?  I seem to recall something  along those lines happening in Huckleberry Finn.

[PleaseBlitz]

5 hours ago, Destino said:

There’s not that big a difference because none of these bans do anything.   Though you could probably argue removing a book from a reading list does more, because most teens aren’t reading the classics on their own time.
 

Banning a book from a school library is about as effective as a screen door on a submarine.  We live in a nation where the public library and all its wonderful treasures reside on your phone.  Also, anyone can get a pirated ebook in less than five minutes.  None of these things actually prevent kids from accessing any book they want.  They just create a scandal.

 

And the scandal is the point.  We all see that right?  All the adults involved in this know your can’t ban a book in 2022.  This is all about political grandstanding.  This is about being seen striking a blow in the culture wars.  

And if you want to get a teenager to actually read a book….forbid them from doing so. 

[China]

4 hours ago, PleaseBlitz said:

And if you want to get a teenager to actually read a book….forbid them from doing so. 

 

Sales soar for ‘Maus’ after its banning in Tennessee

 

Just days after the banning of “Maus” by a Tennessee school district made national news, two editions of Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel about the Holocaust have reached the top 20 on Amazon.com and are in limited supply.

 

“Maus” was No. 12 on Amazon as of early Friday evening, and was not available for delivery until mid-February. “The Complete Maus,” which includes a second volume, was No. 9 and out of stock.

 

Neither book was in the top 1,000 at the beginning of the week.

 

Click on the link for the full article