Education Issues - Actions / Reactions
- Thread starter GURPS
- Start date
West Point Sued After Director of Admissions Brags About What Happens to White Applicants
When Ibram X. Kendi’s preposterous thesis that “the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination” becomes mainstream practice, you know things are upside down.
Kendi is the author of the poorly reasoned 2019 leftist propaganda book, “How to Be an Antiracist,” which became not only a bestseller, but a clarion call for progressives.
In a speech at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Kendi put his anti-reasoning skills on display, according to the New York Post. “When I see racial disparities, I see racism,” Kendi said. If that isn’t a blanket generalization, the logical fallacy of that name has no meaning.
And yet Kendi’s obtuse theories have burrowed deep into some of America’s most beloved institutions like a fever-carrying tick in a bloodhound’s ear.
The United States Military Academy in West Point, New York — which has graduated the likes of Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas MacArthur and Dwight D. Eisenhower — is one such institution. And it’s being called out for it.
On Tuesday, lawyers representing the Students for Fair Admissions sued West Point for alleged race and ethnicity discrimination in admissions decisions, according to Politico. SFFA is the anti-affirmative action group that tanked race-conscious admissions practices at Harvard in a Supreme Court decision.
But the decision that nixed racial admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill determined that because no military academy was party to the suit, the opinion did not include admissions issues at these schools “in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present,” according to Politico.
13 Baltimore schools have zero students pass math proficiency exam
These shocking results were brought to light by a group called Project Baltimore. Their leader has called on Dr. Sonja Santelises, the CEO of Baltimore City Schools, to resign. They point out that this is not an issue of insufficient funding. Baltimore’s public schools have a huge budget. They’re simply not getting the job done.
That failure to deliver is evident in this round of test scores. The standardized tests are scored on a ranking system of one to four, with four being the highest possible score. In the 13 schools in question, fully three-quarters of the students were given a score of one, the lowest possible. A spokesperson for the school system tried to blame some of the shortcomings on the pandemic and the issues caused by the schools being closed. But Project Baltimore isn’t buying it. They point to another set of standardized tests from 2017 where the same number of schools also produced zero students who were proficient in math. And that was well before the pandemic began.
So if it’s not a lack of funding and it wasn’t caused by the pandemic, what is to blame for these abysmal results? One analyst pointed to the poor attendance record of many students. Baltimore has one of the highest truancy rates in the country, with significant numbers of students attending school on ten percent or fewer of the school calendar days over the course of the year. That’s certainly part of the problem and it speaks to shortcomings in the community. If a student doesn’t have parents at home that force them out the door and make sure they’re going to school, they have little chance to succeed.
TX Rep Travis Clardy (R) voted against school choice, is funded by teacher's unions, sends his kids to private school
Representative Clardy of the Texas House of Representatives, is the living definition of a hypocrite. He voted against school choice in Texas and claimed there was no wokeness in his district. Turns out he sends his kids to private school, is funded by teacher’s unions, and his district’s schools are filled with wokeness.
We decided to do a deep dive into the schools in his district and we found very disturbing content so we reached out to Rep. Clardy for comment and his thoughts on forcing children to attend failing public schools where they are subjected to this material. His response was bizarre on many levels. We will detail it all below so get ready for a wild ride!
Let’s go through this absolutely insane response. Firstly, why did he respond to us from a different email address than the one we originally emailed?
We sent our email here:
We received an email response from Rep Clardy from the address below:
At the end of his reply he pleaded with us to only contact him using his campaign email. He stated, “Please use this account to contact me in the future as I use my state account for official state business and help with my constituents.” This is super sus. Rep. Clardy, we asked you about school choice and sexually explicit books, 2 things you voted on for the state of Texas. That sounds like “official state business” to us! So why did he move the conversation to his campaign account? Could it be to avoid open records requests? Red flags all around so far! Very shady. But don’t worry, we responded back to his official state email and included a screenshot of his reply. It’s now SEALED in the public record forever.
Rep. Clardy went on to state “I reject the idea that woke indoctrination is happening in my district.” He wrote this to us after we sent him hard evidence of pornographic books available to students in his district.
One of the books a school in his district offer to minors is “Flamer” which contains graphic depictions of sex and promotes viewing porn and masturbation.
Screenshot from “Flamer”
So now we have another question. Why is he denying there is woke indoctrination after being shown hard evidence that there is? Well a quick look at his campaign donations answers this.
In under 10 minutes of searching we found that some of his donors promote public education, do not want school choice, and have given him thousands of dollars to possibly keep it that way.
The Charles Butt Public Education PAC has donated a substantial amount of money to his campaign and their goal is to “pursue a public education policy and advocacy mission.”
Cornell renames English Department as part of 'decolonization efforts.' Check out the new name.
Cornell University spokeswoman Abby Butler directed Campus Reform toward a statement saying that the name change is part of “decolonization efforts” inspired by universities around the world.
According to the statement, Professor Caroline Levine — who supported the measure — said that the “British Empire invented English as an academic discipline as part of a dedicated effort to persuade Indian subjects to view England as a culture superior to their own and so to acquiesce to English rule.”
“The connection between literary studies and political power is nothing new, and as our society has grown more plural, so has our literature,” she wrote in the department’s newsletter. “Today, as our own historical moment is prompting us to reflect seriously on long histories of racism in culture and institutions, it seems important to recognize the many writers of color around the world who are producing literatures in English.”
Levine told Campus Reform that she was referencing Gauri Viswanathan’s Masks of Conquest, which “argues forcefully that the curricular study of English can no longer be understood innocently of or inattentively to the imperial contexts in which the discipline first articulated its mission,” according to Columbia University Press.
California State Guidelines Discourage Schools From Offering Advanced Middle School Math
California's State Board of Education published a draft of the Math Framework (CMF) in 2021. The curriculum guideline promoted a series of radical changes to how the state teaches math. A revised version of the CMF was formally accepted this summer.
Under the CMF, Conrad wrote, California schools are encouraged, but not required, to delay Algebra I until ninth grade—meaning that students would be unable to take Calculus as seniors without doubling up on math classes or taking extra classes during the summer. The document also encourages schools to offer additional math options, including courses like "data science," as an alternative to taking Algebra II. But Conrad argues that this course, as described in the 2021 CMF, doesn't actually teach students math and instead more closely resembles a data literacy course.
"Steering sophomores and juniors away from Algebra II forecloses the possibility of careers in certain fast-growing quantitative fields—which would seem to do the opposite of promoting equity," Conrad wrote, noting that the state "is notably skeptical of efforts to group students in math class according to ability, out of a fear that disadvantaged students will be placed in low-expectation tracks that they can never escape. But for some reason, shunting them away from advanced math is portrayed as progress."
In One School District, Free Speech Has Become a Fireable Offense
In Grants Pass, Ore., the powers that be are school administrators who retaliated against two dedicated educators for offering their views on how to best care for children and respect the rights of their parents and teachers.
A little common sense and compassion, it turns out, would cost them their jobs. Rachel Sager and Katie Medart have been in the education field for many years, including at North Middle School in Grants Pass. Sager, who served as assistant principal at the school, and Medart, who taught science, were placed on administrative leave in 2021 — and later fired — for courageously standing up to share some ideas with parents, the school community, and society at large.
Those ideas related to gender-identity education policy, including the kind of federal and state legislation that seems designed more to assuage the demands of social activists than to address the real problems of schoolchildren. As educators, Rachel and Katie saw daily children with gender-identity struggles, and they understood the questions and confusion many parents feel in trying to help their kids.
L.A. School District Indoctrinates 5-Year-Olds With Celebration Of LGBTQ Values
Starting next week, many children as young as 5 who attend Los Angeles Unified public schools will participate in a weeklong celebration of “National Coming Out Day,” which falls on October 11.
The district issued its “Week of Action Toolkit,” emblazoned with a Black Power Fist over neon rainbow stripes and is nominally optional, although peer pressure will likely prompt elementary school teachers to use its programming. Its version for elementary students contains an “Identity Map activity” that “Prepares students to think critically about identity and intersectionality” as well as suggestions to include “brief biographies of an important LGBTQ+ person or advocate to spotlight.”
UNLV law school apologizes for using word ‘picnic,’ changes it to ‘Lunch by the Lake’
At the time, Reuters did a fact check on the alleged offensiveness of “picnic”; its verdict: It “does not originate from racist lynchings” but instead comes from the 300-plus-year-old French word “pique-nique,” meaning a potluck-like social gathering.
The UNLV event memo even uses “potluck” (pictured).
Still, Reuters claimed 19th and 20th-century lynchings of black Americans “often occurred in gatherings that could be referred to as picnics.” But a PolitiFact article noted the term historians actually use is “spectacle lynchings” — where people “took photographs and looked for souvenirs.”
Ferris State University’s David Pilgrim, curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, said “it’s possible someone used the word ‘picnic’ to refer to lynchings, but ‘what we know for a fact is that’s not where the word ‘picnic’ came from.'”
In 2021, a student group at Brandeis University ended up deleting “picnic” from a list of “oppressive” words and phrases in response to massive mockery.
The College Fix asked UNLV Environmental Law Society President Julianna Ness precisely how “picnic” is offensive; she did not respond.
The Fix has long documented universities’ word policing; other terms considered offensive over the last few years include “chief,” “step,” “ladies and gentlemen,” “snowflake,” “brainstorm” and “American.”
At the time, Reuters did a fact check on the alleged offensiveness of “picnic”; its verdict: It “does not originate from racist lynchings” but instead comes from the 300-plus-year-old French word “pique-nique,” meaning a potluck-like social gathering.
The UNLV event memo even uses “potluck” (pictured).
Still, Reuters claimed 19th and 20th-century lynchings of black Americans “often occurred in gatherings that could be referred to as picnics.” But a PolitiFact article noted the term historians actually use is “spectacle lynchings” — where people “took photographs and looked for souvenirs.”
Ferris State University’s David Pilgrim, curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, said “it’s possible someone used the word ‘picnic’ to refer to lynchings, but ‘what we know for a fact is that’s not where the word ‘picnic’ came from.'”
In 2021, a student group at Brandeis University ended up deleting “picnic” from a list of “oppressive” words and phrases in response to massive mockery.
The College Fix asked UNLV Environmental Law Society President Julianna Ness precisely how “picnic” is offensive; she did not respond.
The Fix has long documented universities’ word policing; other terms considered offensive over the last few years include “chief,” “step,” “ladies and gentlemen,” “snowflake,” “brainstorm” and “American.”
Blue state suspends basic skills graduation requirement again, citing harm to students of color
High schoolers in Oregon won't need to demonstrate basic competency in reading, writing or math in order to graduate for at least five more years because, according to education officials, such requirements are unnecessary and disproportionately harm students of color.
"At some point … our diploma is going to end up looking a lot more like a participation prize than an actual certificate that shows that someone actually is prepared to go pursue their best future," former Oregon gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan told Fox News.
The essential skills requirement has been on pause since the coronavirus pandemic, and last week the Oregon State Board of Education voted unanimously to continue suspending the graduation requirement through the 2027-2028 school year.
Under the requirement, 11th graders had to demonstrate competence in essential subjects through a standardized test or work samples. Students who failed to meet expectations were required to take extra math and writing classes in their senior year — thus missing an elective class — in order to graduate.
Oklahoma lawmaker says DEI is destroying higher education
Sen. Rob Standridge, R-Norman, called for a study on DEI at the state's universities during a recent meeting of the Senate Education Committee.
“I think it’s really destroying our higher ed institutions and it’s really hurting both our faculty and our students and I’ve had many, many parents and faculty, both family and friends, who have complained to me about this for quite a few years,” Standridge said.
At Oklahoma State University, all new students must complete a diversity course, according to Matt Beienburg, director of education policy at the Goldwater Institute. Job applicants seeking to join the faculty at various institutions are required to submit a “diversity statement” along with their resume and cover letter, he said.
“The rubrics that are then used to judge these have explicitly penalized applicants who say things like, ‘well, I treat all students the same regardless of race.’ That is deemed to be a misunderstanding and an unsatisfactory understanding of DEI,” Beienburg said.
An angry parent took to Facebook with this post:
T'lisa̱lagi'lakw School is part of the Namgis First Nation. A spokesperson for the Nation told Libs of TikTok “the incident is under investigation” and therefore was not able to comment further. The principal could not be reached for comment.
Kindergarteners sent home with masturbation assignment
Yes. You read that right.
www.libsoftiktok.com
Hillary Clinton’s Week Goes From Bad to Worse After Columbia University Students Walk Out on Her Lecture
Columbia University students walked out of Hillary Clinton’s lecture on Wednesday evening in protest of the public shaming of the pro-Hamas students showcased on the ‘doxxing truck.’
Pro-Hamas students from Columbia, Harvard and other universities have been identified by non-profit org. “Accuracy In Media” and advertised on ‘doxxing trucks.’
Hillary Clinton was hired as a professor at Columbia University earlier this year. Clinton was hired to teach in their School of International and Public Affairs.
According to the New York Times, 30 of the 300 students attending Hillary Clinton’s lecture walked out.
“The demonstrators, who sat quietly in a common area in the International Affairs Building — many of them in face masks — were protesting what they perceived as the school’s role in publicly shaming students whose photographs appeared last week on the video screen panels on a truck seen near campus. The screens showed the faces of students beneath the words ‘Columbia’s Leading Antisemites.’ The students said the photographs were taken from a ‘private and secure’ online platform for students at the School of International and Public Affairs,” the New York Times wrote.
The former Secretary of State has had a rough week or so.
“Cornell really needs to get a handle on the poisonous ideology which has now inflicted campus”
“… where everything is viewed through a racial lens. And Jews on campus get put into the demonized white category. And that’s what you see in the anti-Israel movement on campus. They organize around race….”