Congress is about to Mandate an Education of “Equity”
The question to ask when confronting the 3rd fundamental “Transformation in Education” known as 21st Century Learning/Common Core/Workforce Development is- Do equal outcomes; seeing everything through results in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and class give our children the gift of opportunity in the United States?
Conversely- does teaching our children and grandchildren to read (phonetically, so they know the true meaning of words, so as not to fall for propaganda and lies), to write grammatically and in cursive, (developing their brain) so they can read our Nations founding documents, to teach foundational math so they can move into higher order math skills, with confidence and pride, and finally to teach our children America’s history, warts and all, to include the failures and the amazing success that derive from a nation of free people, free to achieve great things give our children the gift of an education of opportunity? Much like my uncle who invented the first shrimp peeling machine that revolutionized the shrimping industry, created countless jobs and created wealth that actually paid for my college, instead of me being burdened with a college loan or having to take a government handout to get a good quality university education.
Well, as they say times are changing- But is the root of the battle changing?
As I dove into Robin Eubanks book, Credentialed To Destroy; How and Why Education Became a Weapon, the more I realize this battle is nothing new. In fact this is the 3rd major education reform in the United States. But, it is clearly not just a revolution in education confined to the U.S., this is a major global shift as Linda Darling-Hammond, who served as education advisor to President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, and is currently developing assessments for our new national curriculum, the Common Core State Standards, has stated, “there all kinds of reforms being propounded by governments around the world, not only the United States.”
As Danette Clark in her article Name Names explained.
Linda Darling-Hammond is a long time advisory board member to the National Equity Project, formerly known as the Bay Area Coalition of Essential Schools and the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (or BayCES). The National Equity Project/BayCES opened in 1991 as a regional office for Theodore Sizer’s Coalition of Essential Schools (CES).
Through an organization she co-founded called the School Redesign Network, and through the National Equity Project/BayCES, Darling-Hammond has worked closely over the years with socialist, Deborah Meier, communist, Bill Ayers, and several ultra-liberal organizations, including the crooked and recently de-funded ACORN, to open new progressive schools and transform existing public schools into progressive indoctrination centers. This reform effort was once widely known as the ‘small schools initiative’ or ‘small schools movement’.
The most liberal school systems in our country today known for political and social indoctrination are districts that dove head first into CES/small school reform years ago and remain there today. Namely, Chicago Public Schools, New York City Public Schools, Oakland Unified School District, and Seattle Public Schools (among others).
Today, the National Equity Project’s main focus is addressing “race and class-based gaps in achievement… resulting from historical and institutional biases”. In short, ‘white privilege’.
Darling-Hammond has long been an advocate for repaying what she refers to as “an education debt” owed to African-Americans, a view fostered by many radical educators, including Obama friend, the late Derrick Bell, who was also an advocate for reparations for slavery.
The National Equity Project provides ‘equity coaching’ to educators in numerous school districts nationwide. This is the same equity coaching that brought us the ‘peanut butter and jelly sandwich is racist’ mentality that made news last year.
Darling-Hammond, who also had a hand in the creation of the controversial CSCOPE curriculum in Texas, recently endorsed the American Humanist Association’s Ten Guiding Principles for Teaching Values in America’s Public Schools. These principles include global awareness, a commitment to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, social justice, and service to an ‘interdependent world’.
As we see our children’s education “fundamentally transform” right before our eyes from an “Education of Opportunity” to an “Education of Equality,” are we really okay with the federal government mandating equity at the local level? Does this even work?
Let me give you the reality of what I am talking about, so as not to be seen as a Tinfoil Hat conspiracy mom, as I have been described by in the complicit media.
As discussed on the Women On The Wall conference call Wednesday night. In fact, it does much more harm for those children of the working poor and minority community.
By the way, I believe there is an argument to be made that in the Highland Park ISD High School, College Board owned AP (Advanced Placement) 3 English class, my good friend Meg Bakich is battling to expose, still must by law adhere to the Texas Education Code. Is Highland Park ISD breaking the law with the curriculum being taught without having an opposing viewpoint clearly written into their curriculum?
2. PUBLIC EDUCATION SUBTITLE A. GENERAL PROVISIONS CHAPTER 4. PUBLIC EDUCATION MISSION, OBJECTIVES, AND GOALS
Sec.A4.001.AA PUBLIC EDUCATION MISSION AND OBJECTIVES.
(a) The mission of the public education system of this state is to ensure that all Texas children have access to a quality education that enables them to achieve their potential and fully participate now and in the future in the social, economic, and educational opportunities of our state and nation. That mission is grounded on the conviction that a general diffusion of knowledge is essential for the welfare of this state and for the preservation of the liberties and rights of citizens. It is further grounded on the conviction that a successful public education system is directly related to a strong, dedicated, and supportive family and that parental involvement in the school is essential for the maximum educational achievement of a child. (b)AAThe objectives of public education are:
OBJECTIVE 1: Parents will be full partners with educators in the education of their children.OBJECTIVE 2: Students will be encouraged and challenged to meet their full educational potential.
OBJECTIVE 3: Through enhanced dropout prevention efforts, all students will remain in school until they obtain a high school diploma.
OBJECTIVE 4: A well-balanced and appropriate curriculum will be provided to all students.
OBJECTIVE 5: Educators will prepare students to be thoughtful, active citizens who have an appreciation for the basic values of our state and national heritage and who can understand and productively function in a free enterprise society.
Interesting to note the letter below that was read at the Highland Park ISD School board meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 20th. I was at the meeting and spoke on behalf of the Bakich’s who was out of town. Clearly, the ALA (American Library Association) is on the ground in Highland Park ISD helping to push controversial literature books into the schools. Please see below, an op-ed that was read to the Highland Park ISD School Board.
“Usually, donations flow from affluent areas to charitable organizations. Therefore, the recentunannounced donation of $5,000 from the American Library Association (ALA) to Highland Parkneighborhood group HP Kids Read was surprising. Controversies over books in schools have been around for decades, but a new round of protests by parents is breaking out around the country. With the introduction of a new genre of literature, this battle has taken some new twists as well, as the ALA has inserted its national agenda into local communities through actions like their donation to HP Kids Read* and their input into proposed changes in Highland Park ISD literature policies.**
Unbeknownst to most people, a new wave of literature called “authentic literature” hit our public school
libraries over the last few years. The ALA claims such books portray American life and culture in a more realistic fashion. But they don’t. These books feature druggies, sex addicts, pedophiles, gang members and others on the fringes of society. Increasingly, this literature is replacing the traditional literature classics, which, in general, promoted mainstream American values or at least didn’t undermine them.The authentic literature books are rife with profanity and are dominated by themes of death, crime, drug addiction, rapes, gang beatings, deviant sex, and so on. Shockingly, many of them violate state obscenity laws and even school district age appropriate regulations. I’ve collected excerpts from hundreds of such books that are often assigned by teachers as mandatory reading assignments.
Naturally, parent groups have formed to protest such books, and many have put up websites with excerpts, but much of it is too graphic for me to repeat here. The books that used to inspire — that celebrated American values and chronicled the exploits of trailblazers, astronauts, soldiers, and other heroes — are fast disappearing.The ALA’s influence on book selections in schools is biased against a conservative perspective, which is
having an enormous impact on our culture, our value system and our youth. Furthermore, the ALA has
staked out positions well to the left of the mainstream. They join forces with likeminded liberal groups such as American for Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and People for the American Way to advance their shared goals. ***In 2003, the ALA, with support from the ACLU and others, fought a case all the way to the Supreme Court to argue against filters on library computers that would prevent adult and child patrons from accessing materials considered obscene, child pornography, or “harmful to minors.” Judith Krug, the de facto leader of the ALA at the time, said, “Blocking material leads to censorship. That goes for pornography and bestiality, too. If you don’t like it, don’t look at it … Every time I hear someone say, I want to protect the children, I want to pull my hair out.” **** Thankfully, in a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court disagreed with the ALA.
Ironically, despite the shrill cry of censorship one constantly hears emanating from the ALA, the biggest
censor in America today is the ALA. Schools with limited budgets make decisions every day as to which
books to purchase or not to purchase. Such decisions are often based on recommendations from the ALA, which targets classroom teachers with press releases promoting certain books.The idea that our Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment to allow children to view obscene
literature is preposterous. Furthermore, it has become increasingly clear that the ALA is really not so much dedicated to defending the First Amendment as it is to challenging America’s underlying value system. It’s time to acknowledge that the American Library Association has changed.
The Working Poor- “take me in the bathroom or whatever, make me do weird things…That was the first and only time experienced anal sex. I think I was in second grade.”
The Five Faces of Oppression- “Across the world, sexuality is a common example of cultural imperialism. The dominant group in society is heterosexual,…”
Blessed is the Full Plate – “Enough about the pious sanctimony about gay marriage and abortion…”
Why should our children and grandchildren be exposed to this in order to pass the College Board’s AP national assessment?
Below are the units in the Highland Park ISD College Board AP English 3 course.
1st Six Weeks:
2nd Six Weeks:
3rd Six Weeks:
4th Six Weeks:
5th Six Weeks:
6th Six Weeks:
Take special note of the 3rd Six Weeks unit on Education Reform. Very concerning is the fact that a unit focuses towards persuading students that the Common Core is a valid education reform. This should be of real concern especially because they know Dr. Sandra Stotsky would not validate the ELA Common Core Standards because of the fact that it will put our children behind in ELA 2 to 3 years.
DID YOU KNOW! Via the InvisibleSurfsCollar.com Congress is about to mandate equity through education! Are you really okay with that?
Antonio Gramsci definitely claimed that the way to subdue the West was through changing its culture and manipulating its institutions. My recollection is that Nikita Khrushchev said something similar about subduing the US while making us love what we were ignorantly advocating for. Hard for me not to view the proposed Bipartisan rewrite of the No Child Left Behind federal K-12 authorization statute as anything but the great enabler with this as its new stated purpose (I bolded the especially troubling code words and phrases):
“to ensure that all children have a fair, equitable, and significant opportunity to receive ahigh-quality education that prepares them for postsecondary education or theworkforce, without the need for remediation, and to close the achievement gapbetween high-and low-performing children, especially the achievement gaps betweenminority and nonminority children, and between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers.”
Elsewhere, the ESEA Rewrite being called the “Every Child Ready for College or Career Act of 2015″ states explicitly that the advantages and disadvantages to be focused on are economic. In other words, factual differences in parenting like a family’s vocabulary, willingness to let a 2 year old play videogames in the grocery store cart, children’s travel opportunities, and other toddler experiences that affect whether a child is low-performing or high in traditional academics can no longer affect academic outcomes. It means that K-12 education in the US can no longer be about academics in the traditional sense or that purpose cannot be met. Not exactly a huge revelation to anyone who has read the details laid out in my book and the explanations why, but about to be enshrined in federal law.
Seeing everything through results in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, and class used to be acknowledged as using a Marxian analysis. Now it is to guide the results of what can occur in K-12 education. I want to go back though to another Term of Art used in that purpose: quality education. That term has a very special defined meaning in the world of the UN System that we just keep running into that ties to its vision of a sustainable global Human Development society. How did an analysis grounded Karl Marx’s vision of categories that would guide consciousness to see the need for transformational change end up in that ESEA Rewrite Statement of Purpose? I think I’ll abbreviate it NCGA–No Child Gets Ahead. No matter how talented they are or how much care and time their parents offered them.
