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Partisan Takeover of Public Education

Increasingly, public educational schools are being used to push a partisan political agenda. That fact is offensive enough, but the stridently anti-American, antisemitic, and sexually explicit tenor of the curriculum is a deep cause of concern.

From coast to coast, outrageous examples abound. 

Real Clear Education notes that “Across the nation, parents have pushed back on teachers promoting a leftist political agenda in K-12 classrooms, from the purported teaching of forms of Critical Race Theory to documented evidence of politically charged rhetoric, such as one educator in Sparta, isconsin, calling conservatives “ignorant and poor.” According to our report released last month, leftist ideologies in K-12 classrooms have their roots in schools of education at universities. We utilized open-records requests to examine the course readings and goals for several education ourses at every public university in Wisconsin. We found that virtually every primary- or early-ducation major must take at least one course focused on how to implement “equity,” “diversity,” and “culturally relevant pedagogy”—buzzwords for radical identity politics—in their future K-12 classrooms. There is good reason to believe that Wisconsin’s universities are not the only ones suffering from this kind of indoctrination of future teachers. 

The New York Post reports that “A progressive activist group in California is paying students $1,400 each to become racial and social justice warriors — with the school district forking out hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the “propaganda” programs, according to a report. The Long Beach Unified School District funneled nearly $900,000 for a one-year contract to Californians for Justice (CFJ), a “youth-powered” non-profit that provides education and organizing on racial justice issues, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by the Free Press.

A Heritage study notes that “It isn’t just a matter of actively teaching that America and the West are evil. Suppression of “wrongthink” is equally as important to the brainwashing process. The young adults who today gleefully tear down statues of the Founding Fathers were incubated in our very own schools. Conservatives must demand an end to the indoctrination of our youth or face a new American public taught since childhood that the country shouldn’t exist. Your children are being indoctrinated. The education system designed to teach them how to think critically has been weaponized by the radical left to push an anti-American agenda. It isn’t just a matter of actively teaching that America and the West are evil. Suppression of “wrongthink” is equally as important to the brainwashing process. The young adults who today gleefully tear down statues of the Founding Fathers were incubated in our very own schools. Conservatives must demand an end to the indoctrination of our youth or face a new American public taught since childhood that the country shouldn’t exist.

A Texas educational website did a deep dive on the topic. “A new documentary about education in America exposes a not-so-hidden agenda in public schools: indoctrinating kids with leftist ideologies. “Whose Children Are They?” features teachers, parents, and education advocates describing how public schools are failing kids by focusing on left-wing social issues instead of academics. Similar to “The Mind Polluters,” this new film shows shocking examples of graphic sex education lessons pushed on kids as young as elementary school. It also documents the current fixation on race in schools that’s led to treating kids of color like victims, shaming white students and teachers, “dumbing down” curricula, eliminating advanced courses, and failing to discipline students. The filmmakers place the blame for politicizing public education squarely on teachers unions and other national organizations that push policies and curricula like racial equity and social-emotional learning onto state and local education officials.

A Federalist Review stated that “As Matt Beienburg writes in National Review, this situation has led to schools adopting questionable content that seems to promote an ideological agenda over serious learning. In particular, he mentions the nationwide adoption of the New York Times’ “1619 Project” for history class, along with Seattle’s math ethnic studies framework. Although these represent the more extreme curriculum offerings, most public schools in both red and blue states routinely use left-leaning or “woke” materials while quietly doing away with older materials that encourage American patriotism, Western civilization, and Judeo-Christian values. In English class, this means replacing “Hamlet” and “The Scarlet Letter” with “The Hate U Give,” a novel based on themes from the Black Lives Matter movement, and “Symptoms of Being Human,” a novel about a gender-fluid punk rocker who blogs about his insecurities. In social studies, this means incorporating Howard Zinn’s anti-American interpretations of history. In science, this means teaching Darwinism as an unquestionable fact and sexual differences as subjective opinion. In math, this means conscientiously applying social justice values in word problems and learning goals.To make matters worse, many public schools never bother to tell anyone about these changes.

There are various approaches to deal with the open bias and misuse of educational resources for partisan purposes. The Washington Post reports that “Home schooling has become — by a wide margin — America’s fastest-growing form of education, as families from Upper Manhattan to Eastern Kentucky embrace a largely unregulated practice…The analysis — based on data The Post collected for thousands of school districts across the country — reveals that a dramatic rise in home schooling at the onset of the pandemic has largely sustained itself through the 2022-23 academic year, defying predictions that most families would return to schools.” Another option is the concept of school choice. U.S. News describes the practice: “Most parents send their children to their neighborhood public school. But other education options exist, including public charter, magnet, private, parochial and online schools, as well as homeschooling. Advocates use the term “school choice” to refer to programs and policies that let families use public money to access schools beyond their local option, including private schools. “At its core, school choice is really about parents and guardians having the ability to choose, regardless of how those options are funded,” says Amy Smith, interim dean of the school of education at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Currently 32 states plus Washington, D.C., offer some type of school choice program, according to EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates for school choice. Robert Enlow, president and CEO of EdChoice, says the last two years saw more states than ever before enacting educational choice programs.”

A U.S. News  review discusses another alternative, known as School Choice. “Most parents send their children to their neighborhood public school. But other education options exist, including public charter, magnet, private, parochial and online schools, as well as homeschooling. Advocates use the term “school choice” to refer to programs and policies that let families use public money to access schools beyond their local option, including private schools. “At its core, school choice is really about parents and guardians having the ability to choose, regardless of how those options are funded,” says Amy Smith, interim dean of the school of education at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Currently 32 states plus Washington, D.C., offer some type of school choice program, according to EdChoice, a nonprofit that advocates for school choice. Robert Enlow, president and CEO of EdChoice, says the last two years saw more states than ever before enacting educational choice programs.”

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