The eyes of people who care about government run education are on Illinois these days. The scheme to mandate a radical progressive remake of education in the State--transforming government teachers into tax supported community organizers and students into activists--will undoubtedly serve as a model for the rest of Blue America, if it passes (cf. Ultra-Woke Indoctrination In Government Schools Is Closer Than Most Realize). The vote was supposed to happen yesterday, but was moved to today.
Fox has a powerful piece today on the situation, which focuses on Chicago's government schools. Those schools, which the radical progressive government teachers union has kept closed all year, are supposed to begin reopening in the lower grades, but Chicago government high schools will remain closed for the entire year. It was all done in the name of allowing government teachers to "feel safe" from Covid--an attitude that study after study has shown to be without any basis in scientific fact. Naturally, those who have been harmed the most by the lockdown of government schools--again, study after study shows it--are the children of the progressive Dem core constituencies, especially black Americans. Yes, those would be the same children who will supposedly benefit from mandated woke indoctrination, rather than learning the Three R's.
And make no mistake about it--those children are being harmed:
Chicago schools face nightmare as Illinois pushes progressive politics
Only 37% of Illinois' third-graders demonstrated grade-level proficiency in English-language arts in 2019
In case you're wondering, the percentage for math is 41%. There's no demographic breakdown for which students are doing worse and which students are doing better, but let's be real--all those studies, including a major one by the Bezos WaPo, leave no doubt of what's going on. White students are doing about the same as usual, but black students in particular are being left in the dust when it comes to acquiring basic educational skills.
The article includes a powerful 9 minute video that I'm unfortunately unable to embed here. Follow the link--you won't regret it. The video is titled: Illiterate Revolutionaries: Chicago schools struggle with basic education as teachers push liberal politics. It begins with one of the interviewees, Nathan Hoffman of Empower Illinois, baldly stating the truth:
Where we are headed today is a slippery slope. We are going to use the public school system as an extension of, basically, our broader politics.
He goes on to focus on the warning signs everyone will recognize from the proposed mandates: the use of the two words "progressive" and "activist". Those words give the whole game away. And there's much more. Including Zhou Baiden stating for all to hear that the regime for which he is the figurehead will launch an all out war on private schools, including the charter schools that concerned black parents have turned to in desperation to save their children from government hellholes:
If I'm president, Betsy DeVos' whole notion, from charter schools to this, are gone!
Just like every other Dem regime, for Zhou and his handlers it's not about the kids--it's about virtue signaling politics.
ADDENDUM: From A Bad Week for The Science™. No comment really necessary, but I'll just say it--it isn't about science, it isn't about education, and it sure as hell isn't about "the kids":
Monday, we learned that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) was consulting teachers’ unions about whether it was safe to reopen schools.
This might strike you as odd. You probably thought the CDC was following The Science™, and kindergarten teachers, to be sure, are not scientists.
Could it be that our esteemed government scientists are beholden to certain political interests, and not necessarily just to The Science™? Could it be that nobody working for the federal or state governments knows what the hell they’re doing? That doesn’t seem right. These are professional scientists, and The Science™ is sacred, we’ve been told.
And how about this? Is there any evil that these people won't support?
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Spearheading Left-Wing Effort to Declare Math ‘Racist’Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Spearheading Left-Wing Effort to Declare Math ‘Racist’
The bizarre far-left effort to label math curricula in schools as racist is being funded to the tune of hundreds of millions by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
The link is found on the website homepage of the Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction, the group behind the push to label an entire academic subject as racist. ...
The Gates Foundation is the only donor listed on the group’s website. ...
Pathway ... says that math is “used to uphold capitalist, imperialist, and racist views.” The propaganda even lists certain “goals” that are to be achieved every month, such as “authentic” inclusion of minority students in November, and “dismantling power structures in the classroom” in May.
... the Gates Foundation ... website says that its donations to education are aimed at “supporting schools in their work to improve student outcomes” for minority students.
They're also helping to fund that experimental "vaccine". Doesn't inspire one with confidence, does it?
You have to wonder about the Gates now. I would make it a rule that all these multi-billionaires descendants attend these inner city schools. You would see a change in attitude ASAP.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally in the name of equity Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon (non-warehouse jobs, Twitter must hire 50% of their employees from the inner city schools of Chicago, NYC, New Orleans, Baltimore and similar schools. Social Justice must be served.
Spartacus
Spartacus, don't wonder about Gates...just google and read the U.S. District Court opinion in the Netflix vs. Microsoft antitrust case. He was a hack code writer, the product was so bad IBM let him keep it, and then forced it on everyone. Copied GUI from Apple, copied tons of other "innovations" as well. Bought a lot of great programs to bury them, now they're plugging cloud stuff they fought bitterly for so long. Spends a lot of time and money to convince everyone he's some kind on genius and great guy, which he apparently believes cause he's rich and that, in his mind, is everything. His kids won't ever go to these schools because he thinks he and they are elite, and the others are only getting schools for mind control and droll training.
DeleteCall me pessimistic, but it doesn't really matter about "basic educational skills" any more.
ReplyDeleteOnce you have the numbers, enough to call up a mob, or to count votes, whether real or fictional, that's all that matters from that point on.
And the uneducated are easier to manipulate.
Demographics rule.
Frank
Unfortunately, it is not just the students who are academically unprepared but it is the teachers too. California does not need to have these standards written out as they have already embraced and implemented them for decades. The standards give teachers more cover to do what they do anyway--substitute academic content with advocacy. I wonder if these will be the new Common Core Standards soon.
ReplyDeleteYes, the whole question of standards ...
DeleteWhat does meeting grade level standards really mean? In the real world?
The standards are meant to ready students for the real world making sure they can read and write and do basic math, for starters. But I think those goals will soon be replaced by these new social justice standards.
DeleteHow can I disassociate my education related tax dollars from my property tax bill?
ReplyDeleteYeah. I sent my kids to private/Catholic schools all the way through, and had to pay for all the freeloaders, as well. I remember as a kid reading a letter to the editor of our local paper, some guy bitching about using tax dollars to pay for crossing guards for the Catholic kids. But we had to pay for his kids whole education--through the nose.
Delete@American Cardigan
Delete"How can I disassociate my education related tax dollars from my property tax bill?"
Alas, only by winning elections for state and local officials who determine property tax rates and education spending.
I don't mean to sound flip, but in response to those here who frequently remind us that we are in an existential fight for our survival as a nation, let me remind us all that its not only who wins the presidency or has a majority in Congress, but electoral success up and down the ballot to the very bottom.
We saw recently how impactful decisions of the state legislatures can be, but how many of us actively participate in state legislative electoral matters? How many of us are actually aware of the taxing and spending decision-making power of state and local officials?
One might say we've been on auto-pilot for far too long...
There should be a complete audit at the end of every elected officials term of office... senators, reps, all the way down to local dog-catcher. No more slush funds, walking around money, PAC's, etc. A thorough accounting of every dime and exactly where it went. All investments must be divested upon entering office, no ifs, ands, or buts...NO exceptions. Time to make politics a poor mans game....you don't go in to get rich. 15 year minimum time after serving to lobby congress. ANY political crime should have a minimum 10 year sentence, no time off for good behavior, etc. If sen. A-hole from the state of Bumf**k has an extra 10 years to spare, he then take his chances. This is only a start....
ReplyDeleteAs you may see I'm sick of the amount of money involved in politics. Time to cut it out with a dull blade.
Rant/off
0311
The Illinois standards have passed in the panel and it looks like the legislators were not even clear on what they were voting for (not surprising). The promoters hide behind vague notions of "civics lessons," but just like the wording of the standards themselves they can be molded to support anything (except that conservative viewpoints will be excluded). Like the original NR article noted, a wealthy leftist foundation is financing and publishing the civics curriculum and funding teacher seminars, so it won't even need the state legislature, but it will get that anyway and next will come the Civics Common Core for all states.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bnd.com/news/politics-government/article249316255.html