Tenth grade students in Massachusetts take a statewide test with an essay prompt based on Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Underground Railroad, reported The Daily Caller News Foundation. The prompt asks students to write an essay from the perspective of a white woman who doesn’t know whether she should help a fugitive slave.
Seems legit and, actually, pretty educational. In order to channel the thought process of someone in the 1800s, students will need to familiarize themselves with the culture of that time period when there were quite a few people who said “hey, slavery’s the established tradition, but is it morally right?”
But that’s clearly not what the education establishment in Massachusetts was thinking. The Massachusetts Teachers Association wanted the whole test to be pulled and their president said “It was traumatic for [students], so this group of educators had to conduct counseling in their classrooms as a way of helping their students cope,” reported MetroWest Daily News.
The Massachusetts commissioner ultimately said “Students who have already answered the question will not have it scored, and students who take the makeup test this week will be instructed not to answer that question.”
But what about students who did well on that question? Like I said, this kind of prompt tests your knowledge of historical culture, but it’s also an exercise in empathy. You’re stepping into the shoes of someone who maybe has some nasty opinions and you’re trying to understand how they gotthere. You’re humanizing them. Of course, this kind of approach is antithetical to the modern left, which not only thinks you, dear viewer who’s likely right-of-center, are wrong, but tries as hard as possible to demonize you.
William Latson was principal at Spanish River Community High School in Palm Beach until a little earlier this week. The school reassigned Latson to another job in the district after the revelation of comments he made to a parent in an email exchange last year, reported The Washington Post.
Latson told the parent that he lets info about the Holocaust be presented but that “not everyone believes the Holocaust happened….I have the role to be politically neutral but support all groups in the school….I can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event because I am not in a position to do so as a school district employee.”
He’s not in the position to do so, he says. I’m sorry but is there any position more qualified to comment on a historical event than the leader of an educational institution? Like isn’t it your job to know these things?
The principal said “I regret that the verbiage that I used when responding to an email message from a parent, one year ago, did not accurately reflect my professional and personal commitment to educating all students about the atrocities of the Holocaust.”
But state legislators called for Latson to be terminated and the school subsequently removed the principal from his position and put him elsewhere in the district. It’s a particularly ironic story considering Palm Beach County Schools is one of the only districts in the country to employ a curriculum administrator who addresses only Holocaust education — he apparently also won an award for it.
San Francisco’s board of education decided to paint over this mural showing George Washington, along with a dead Native American and an enslaved African American, reported The Washington Post.
Ironically enough, the school where this artwork is showcased is named George Washington High School. Mark Sanchez, vice president of the board, said “We believe students shouldn’t be exposed to violent imagery — that it’s degrading” and California State American Indian Studies professor Joely Proudfit said “It is time to erase the dominant narrative of the dead and defeated Native American….It is important that our public schools are a place for all students to learn and be educated in a safe environment.”
OK so I guess it’s one thing to object to violent imagery. But it’s quite another to question the factual validity of that imagery. The school’s still going to be a safe environment, Joely — the mural can’t attack people — and you can’t just discount history you don’t like by calling it a “narrative.” That kind of thinking probably underminesyour students’ ability to learn.
And what’s really ironic about this cultural Marxist mindset is that, in this case, it’s targeted at a mural that definitely isn’t pro-Washington and was apparently painted by Victor Arnautoff, a communist party member.
San Francisco — or San Franpsycho — also just might have some LGBT protesters on its hands if it covers up the whole mural. One of the panels apparently features a rainbow. San Francisco State professor Robert Cherny mentioned that the vote happened during Pride Month so if they cover up that picture, too, the real angle on this story is “Homophobic, Anti-Liberal California City Paints Over A Communist’s Portrait AND A Rainbow.” Not so woke now, are we?
A drag queen recently stripped during an event for children at Renton Public Library in Washington state, reported The College Fix.
Now this was apparently at a “Teen Pride” event, but the library listed it as suitable for teens and tweens, which are around age 9 through 12 and one of the moms who attended it undercover to film said that she SAW kids as young as ten.
Now, this undercover operation by the moms didn’t go so well, as event organizers and COPS removed moms who didn’t bring children.
Emerald City Antifa posted to Twitter, saying “today we had two queerphobic adults filming kids going in and out of the bathrooms at Teen Pride event at Renton Public library….We’ll post link in thread, please help us identify these pervs.”
Now, obviously if the moms were actually filming that, in addition to the drag show, that’s pretty sketch. But other users on Twitter began talking about one of the mom’s address and date of birth and posted photos of one of their cars and license plates.
So you know, you’ve got to wonder. You have Antifa and the far left pushing drag queens, but then you also have big corporations advertising with them and, of course, promoting physical violence. If you’re on the side of big corporations, how much of a radical are you really?