What Are Your Kids Learning in School?
Has the leftist indoctrination so prevalent in college reached down into our elementary and high schools, too? If so, what can concerned parents do about it? Jill Simonian, Director of Outreach for PragerU Resources for Educators and Parents, has answers.
Colleges have become _____________________________________.
havens for critical thinkersLeftist indoctrination centerscenters for free speechconservative-dominated think tanksHow does radical change happen?
through one huge overnight shiftthrough a short series of highly public eventsit creeps up on usit is immediately established through 100% consensusThe 1619 Project teaches as truth that America is a fundamentally racist country and that white Americans today bear responsibility for all current and historic racism.
TrueFalseMany of our schools are teaching children that ______________________________.
if they’re black, they’re victims, whether they experience it or notgender is something they choose for themselvesour past is terrible and that they have no futureall of the aboveWhat should American children be learning?
that they must take responsibility for their conduct.that hard work and rational thought are things we all value.that America was founded to guarantee liberties and opportunities to its citizens.all of the above
- Public schools are teaching very young children left-wing Critical Race Theory.
Public educators are increasingly teaching radical-left concepts to children, including very young children. Recently, Chicago public schools adopted an American history curriculum based on The 1619 Project published and promoted by the New York Times.
View sourceThe 1619 Project embraces left-wing Critical Race Theory (CRT) and asserts that America's founding was not marked by the Declaration of Independence in 1776, but the arrival of the first African slaves in Jamestown in 1619. Historians from across the political spectrum have denounced this claim as historically inaccurate. While the Times has walked back that foundational claim for its project, it has continued to promote several other historically flawed assertions.
View sourceAs defined by Britannica, left-wing Critical Race Theory (CRT) is “the view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of colour.” The view holds that America was founded in and is inherently defined by racism.
View sourceRelated video: “What’s Wrong With The 1619 Project?” – Wilfred Reilly
View source- In the name of “diversity, equity and inclusion,” public educators are teaching children to look for “unconscious” racial bias in their classmates.
"Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" is a euphemism for Critical Race Theory (CRT), which teaches that racism is woven into the very fabric of America. As an example of how this operates in the schools, middle and high school students in Wellesley, Massachusetts are taught to be on the lookout for both conscious and "unconscious" racial bias in their classmates.
View sourceIn announcing a new “advisory council for [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion], comprising students in grades 7-12,” an email from Dr. Charmie Curry, Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, invited students to join the schools’ efforts to prevent “bias-based incidents in our school communities.” The email read in part: “A bias incident is any conduct, speech or expression that has an impact, but may not involve criminal action, but demonstrates conscious or unconscious bias that targets individuals or groups that are part of a federally protected class (ie. race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, religion, or disability). We need your help! Your school leaders will be working with you this year on how to be proactive about preventing bias incidents, and how to report them should they occur.”
View sourceRelated video: “There Is No Apolitical Classroom” – Max Eden
View source- Public educators are teaching left-wing gender theory to elementary school children.
In Colorado, public educators are teaching radical gender theory to children as early as first grade. First graders in some schools are being taught that just because someone looks like a boy does not mean they are; only they can know who they truly are. Gender is fluid and something they choose for themselves based on how masculine or feminine they feel, first graders are told. or that they are not fully a boy or a girl, but something in between, first graders are told. “One dad went to school to find out what was going on,” The Federalist reported in April 2019. “He walked into his daughter’s regular first-grade classroom and saw kids whose parents had opted them out remaining in the classroom and watching the video ‘He, She, and They – What is Gender.’ After the video, the teacher had the kids partner up to talk about how they felt inside and what pronoun they each preferred.”
View sourceThe video “He, She, and They – What is Gender” is part of a series called “Queer Kid Stuff,” which the elementary school has used for multiple classes and grade levels.
View sourceThe lessons being promoted by the school to elementary students is part of a larger effort to promote LGBT theory described as “queering the curriculum.”
View sourceRelated video: “Why Good Students Want School Choice” – Rebecca Friedrichs
View source- Public schools are promoting left-wing political agendas, including the far-left Green New Deal.
Public education is increasingly promoting alarmist theories about climate change and left-wing theories about how to address the issue.
View sourceThe American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has fully endorsed the most radical aspects of The Green New Deal, declaring in a resolution of support that “the AFT will work with local school districts and other organizations, as appropriate, to educate students about climate change, economic inequality and potential solutions to these problems, such as a Green New Deal,” and supports radical tax initiatives in order to fund the Green New Deal. “[T]he AFT supports a Green New Deal, prioritizing projects, union career opportunities and investments in working-class communities, low-income communities, and communities of color, which, historically, have been disproportionately impacted by pollution, high unemployment, poverty and environmental injustice,” reads the resolution.
View sourceRelated video: “Why I Fight For School Choice” – Cecilia Iglesias
View source- Today's kids have more psychological problems than previous generations.
“Recent years have seen a rise in Americans 12 to 25 saying they are unhappy,” one report notes. “Since 2012, the proportion of 8th and 10th graders who tell the Monitoring the Future survey that they felt unhappy has crept up from 13 percent to 18 percent. In roughly the same time, the proportion of 18- to 25-year-olds who say they are unhappy has risen from 11 to 17 percent, according to the General Social Survey.”
View sourceA 2019 Pew Research Center study found that a vast majority (70%) of U.S. teens view anxiety and depression as a major problem among their peers — a significantly larger percent than those who view bullying or drug addiction as a major problem.”
View sourcePsychological problems among children in many Western countries are on the rise in recent decades. In England, rates of childhood mental health disorders have increased over the last 20 years. “One in four young women aged 17-19 have a mental disorder, according to the latest figures from the NHS, and one in five have anxiety or depression, or both,” one study found. “For all children and young people aged five to 19, the new data shows that one in eight have a mental disorder.”
View source“The proportion of five to 15-year-olds with a mental health disorder rose from 9.7% in 1999 to 11.2% in 2017, with emotional disorders (such as depression and anxiety) becoming more common in particular,” studies found. “Now, on average, three children in a class of 30 will have a mental health disorder.”
View sourceResearchers found that these mental health issues have also had an increasingly worse impact on young people afflicted with them, concluding that “children with mental health problems have worse relationships with their peers, worse grades at school and worse mental health in adolescence compared to children who had mental health problems 40 years ago.”
View sourceRelated reading: Interview with Dr. Sarah Coyne on the increase in teen suicide - The Institute for Family Studies
View source
What's happening in our schools?
Colleges have become leftist indoctrination centers. It's not a new problem. It's been going on for decades—first behind the scenes, and now out front. That's how radical change happens. It creeps up on us. And when we finally figure out what's going on, it's too late.
What's been happening on college campuses is now happening in elementary schools and high schools. I know. I'm a mom of two school-age kids. I've seen it with my own eyes. More and more parents are seeing it, too. Thanks to the lockdowns and Zoom, we're getting a window into our children's classes.
It's not a pretty picture. Kids—really young kids—are being taught stuff so radical, so devoid of what real education is, it should alarm us all.
Here are a few examples.
Recently, Chicago public schools adopted an American history curriculum based on The 1619 Project, published and promoted by the New York Times. The 1619 Project asserts that America's founding was not marked by the Declaration of Independence in 1776, but the arrival of the first African slaves in Jamestown in 1619.
Historians from across the political spectrum have denounced this as a giant lie. The New York Times has walked back many of the project's original claims. Still, this malicious slander of America is now being taught in schools as truth. And what is that "truth"? That America is, was, and always has been a fundamentally racist country and that white Americans today bear responsibility for all current and historic racism.
This bleeds perfectly into another educational debacle: "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion." Now, this might sound innocent, but don't be fooled—it's a dangerous euphemism for something called Critical Race Theory. Critical Race Theory says that racism is woven into the very fabric of American society. What does this look like in a school setting? Middle and high school students in Wellesley, Massachusetts are being taught to be on the lookout for "unconscious" racial bias in their classmates. "We need your help!" an email to students reads. "Your school leaders will be working with you this year on how to be proactive about preventing bias incidents, and how to report them should they occur."
This warped vision of America doesn't stop at race. In Colorado, first graders are being taught that just because someone looks like a boy doesn't mean they are. Only they can know who they truly are. Gender is something they choose for themselves based on how masculine or feminine they feel. Or, maybe they're not fully a boy or a girl, but something in between—whatever that may be. To repeat, that's what children are taught in first grade. Imagine what they're taught in second or third grade.
And, of course, the world faces imminent disaster from global warming. The American Federation of Teachers has fully endorsed the most radical aspects of the Green New Deal, which is already featured in California school curriculums.
In sum, many of our schools are teaching children that our past is terrible and that they have no future. That if they are white, they are racist, whether they know it or not. If they're black, they're victims, whether they experience it or not. That they should constantly question their sexual identity. With all this being drummed into their heads, no wonder today's kids have more psychological problems than any previous generation.
Maybe you think I'm cherry-picking examples to exaggerate my point. Or maybe you're one of the lucky ones who sends your kids to a school that has yet to be infected by this radical agenda. Maybe.
But if I were you, I wouldn't take it on faith. Find out for yourself. When I did, I was shocked to learn that all of this is happening in my school district right now.
So find out what is being taught in your kids' school. Take a good, hard look at curricula. Ask administrators if they endorse The 1619 Project. Are they pushing a "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion" agenda? If so, demand to see what materials the school is using.
At a minimum, get to know your kids' teachers and principals. Join the PTA, attend local school board meetings, look for allies among reasonable, like-minded parents. You don't have to agree with each other on everything. You just have to agree that the brainwashing of our children stops here. Stops now.
Americans know what our children should be learning: That they must take responsibility for their conduct. That race is the least important aspect of another person. That hard work and rational thought are things we all value. That there is nothing wrong with the bodies they were born into. And that America was founded not to promote racism, but to guarantee sacred liberties and opportunities to its citizens.
And it wouldn't hurt if they learned reading and writing and math, too.
I'm Jill Simonian, founder of TheFABMom.com, for Prager University.
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