German's call to commit arson may have been metaphorical, but her call to get rid of the traditional school curriculum is not.
A lesson plan created by the New York City Culturally Responsive Education Working Group, "Transforming Our Public Schools: A Guide to Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Education," tells teachers that "the whole Western canon is rife with horrible stories and atrocities of who we are as people of color."
For their part, the National Committee on Social Studies has promised to "flood our children with counter messages…until there is no racial inequality in economic opportunity, no racial inequality in education, no racial inequality in incarceration rates, and no brutality from police and others."
If that sounds to you a lot more like political indoctrination than education, you would be right.
New York State now encourages teachers to "incorporate current events, even if they are controversial, into instruction" and to "utilize tools... that encourage students to engage with difficult topics (power, privilege, access, inequity) constructively."
We all might wish that as cultural and political polarization reaches into more and more areas of American life, schools could remain an apolitical oasis where children can learn to read, write, and develop skills of socialization.
But if that's what you want for your children, then just know that anti-racist educators think that you are part of the problem.
According to a writer for Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, "Anti-racist educators recognize that schools today are doing exactly what they were built to do in this country: Exclude. Silence. Erase. Promote white supremacy… an anti-racist approach to schooling could very well mean an ending to schools as we know them."
That is certainly true.
The National Council on the Teaching of English insists "there is no apolitical classroom."
The educational elite has a very clear lesson plan in mind for your children.
If you're okay with it, you can send Johnny and Jennifer off to school with a glad heart.
If you’re not okay with it, better talk to the principal.
Or get ready with a Plan B.