California's 'privilege'-based curricula are at odds with American ideals | The Hill
Category: News & Politics
Via: texan1211 • 4 years ago • 112 commentsBy: Jack Brown and Ethan Blevins (The Hill)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
by Jack Brown and Ethan Blevins, Opinion Contributors - 08/22/22 7:00 AM ET The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the view of The Hill
California's schools increasingly are embracing the notion that students should be judged based on the color of their skin, rather than the content of their character. And these schools are not alone. Equality before the law, a fundamental American value, is under siege today in schools across the country. From the singling out of a biracial high school student in Nevada as an "oppressor" to teaching white students that they are inherently evil in Manhattan, K-12 education is becoming fertile ground for an assault on the ideal of equality.
Whether it be under the banner of "critical race theory," "equity," or "intersectionality," many activists and intellectuals have embraced the idea that one's character is rooted in immutable and irrelevant characteristics such as race and sex, rather than one's words and deeds. These activists have pushed for K-12 curricula that force students to participate in exercises in which they are separated based on their race and forced to describe the "privilege" or "marginalized status" they experience because of their race. This seeks to indoctrinate students in an ideology that emphasizes racial stereotyping and undermines equality before the law while silencing critics.
A radical model curriculum created by the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium, an educational advisory group that promotes race-based curricula in K-12 education, is the latest example of woke teaching in California. The home page of the group's website emphasizes "lesson plans that center students in their self-identity" — based on race — and links to a YouTube video describing the sentence "I can expect my children to get a good education" as an example of white privilege.
The curriculum serves as a cautionary tale for the pitfalls of education based on racial identity. It requires students to reflect on their racial ancestors and distinguish between individuals based on the supposed "privilege" derived from their race. It also mandates ritualistic "land acknowledgments," which require students to proclaim that they occupy land owned by indigenous peoples. A similar curriculum created by this group is so radical that California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected it in 2020 because it was "insufficiently balanced and inclusive" after it was dogged by accusations of antisemitism. Yet many school districts have rushed to adopt the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum and others like it.
By treating students differently based on their race, the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Racially divisive speech and harassment by teachers create a hostile environment for students. This emphasis on racial identity flies in the face of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream that children "will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
Meanwhile, compelling students to express or adopt certain viewpoints violates the First Amendment to our Constitution. In 1943, the Supreme Court held that public schools could not force students to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance against their will. Curricula forcing students to espouse woke dogma and requiring them to acknowledge that they are inherently "privileged" or "oppressors" because of their race raise similar concerns. Schools cannot compel students to express views that violate their consciences.
Fortunately, some parents are standing up against this rising tide of illiberalism in our public schools. Public interest organizations s Pacific Legal Foundation are helping parents, students, and teachers fight for equality under the law and freedom of thought. People willing to fight for those traditional civil rights principles are needed now more than ever. As the Supreme Court noted in its landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, "In the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place." Too many progressive activists have not taken this lesson to heart.
Jack Brown (@jebrown300) is a constitutional law fellow and Ethan Blevins (@ethanwb) is an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, a nonprofit legal organization that defends Americans' individual liberty and constitutional rights.
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I've actually heard these idiot claim they DON'T want segregation then push moronic crap like this.
Same as Title IX supporters who are stupid enough to accept biological men participating in women’s sports.
Wack-a-doodle!
That's fine as long as employers know it's a POC diploma and not a regular American one. Wouldn't want to mistake those graduates with ones who have knowledge of STEM or anything other than African oppression studies.
Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum
1. cultivate empathy, community actualization, cultural perpetuity, self-worth, self-determination, and the holistic well-being of all participants, especially Native People/s and people of color;
2. celebrate and honor Native People/s of the land and communities of color by providing a space to share their stories of struggle and resistance, along with their intellectual and cultural wealth;
3. center and place high value on pre-colonial, ancestral, indigenous, diasporic, familial, and marginalized knowledge;
4. critique empire and its relationship to white supremacy, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society;
5. challenge imperialist/colonial hegemonic beliefs and practices on the ideological, institutional, interpersonal, and internalized levels;
6. connect ourselves to past and contemporary resistance movements that struggle for social justice on the global and local levels to ensure a truer democracy;
7. conceptualize, imagine, and build new possibilities for post-imperial life that promotes collective narratives of transformative resistance, critical hope, and radical healing.
Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium - LESMCC - Home
I can see why white right wing conservatives might be up in arms about this. How dare someone teach Native American children and children of color to celebrate their own heritage while critiquing and challenging the white Christian patriarchy and imperialist hegemonic beliefs and practices! /s
I can see why any logical person would have an issue with it. Every culture has done good things and bad things. Putting a magnifying glass on the bad of one and white washing the bad things of another is disingenuous and divisive. Beyond that high school is intended to prepare a child for adulthood. If you want to choose to be a social justice warrior for the rest of your life you can pay to do that in college all you want. Just dont turn around and ask for tax payer money to pay for that 100k degree that has no practical value to employers unless you want to be a liberal college professor or HR representative
Such a long drawn out way to say "CRT".
It's just another disingenuous code for the CRT or DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) that's taught in K-12. These agendas teach that "people of color" are oppressed and white people are the oppressors. MLK, Jr. would be furious.
Not just white people, but capitalism is also a system of oppression.
Hi, there, Tessylo. I've seen you make this identical comment numerous times, but when asked, you've never offered a shred of evidence that supports your claim. Once again, I am asking for your evidence.
Just a question ... who are you quoting 5.2.3 ?
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It's certainly your right to continue to try to nail Jell-o to a wall, even when there's a plethora of documented evidence to the contrary. I commend your enthusiam.
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“Just dont turn around and ask for tax payer money to pay for that 100k degree that has no practical value to employers unless you want to be a liberal college professor or HR representative.”
If someone offers up enough opinions, which are more than welcome, their motivations eventually become apparent…doesn’t take too long for some.
My only motivation is to make sure American youth leaves grade schools with a quality education that allows them to enter adulthood as productive, self sufficient, tax payers. The motivation of progressives seems to be to turn grade schools into government funded morality indoctrination centers. That is not their purpose. That is what churches have done for centuries. Grade school should be a utilitarian place of learning void of any political partisanship or emotionally charged social issues. That is what college is for and that's why people pay for that out of their own pocket. Or at least they did before college loans were federally backed. Everyone is free to learn whatever they want in college just don't be surprised if there is no monetary value to your degree outside of whatever college you went to.
Who in the world decides what is emotionally charged social issues? You? So you think they should be well rounded yet somehow do this without them learning social studies.
What? So yes you want no social studies taught....SMH
So social studies can be taught at any private institution just not public ones...
The dumbing down of the country continues...
Christians are allowed to spew their dogma at their private institutions. Comparing the two is really a stretch.
Exactly, in comparison to other countries, our kids are very behind in math and science.
Which has nothing to do with people wanting to do away with social studies.
If you are trying to say that those classes would take away from learning other things you might as well take away sports.
Sports are not a divisive controversial issue
Neither was social studies until some people decided they don't want their children taught certain things.
If parents want to keep their kids in the dark, find another place.
I pay taxes just like you were complaining about and I would rather have them actually learn about the world and not stuck in some bubble.
By the way...what are these divisive issues you are referring to?
George floyd for example. Its a distraction from school work and like i said, you can pay extra to have your kids taught whatever you want.
Who has recommended that?
If someone leaned about one thing, how is it a distraction from other things? You say social studies is a distraction, I say what about sports, when we all know that is a distraction. Then you pivot to well that is not divisive.
So which is it? You seem to believe both claims.
Where is a class taught about George Floyd? And if they are what are the circumstances? Was it during all the protests?
Sounds to me like you only want them to be taught what you personally think they should be.
The guy I was conversive with admits it...
Dont all countries teach their students some form of social studies? History has been a subject in schools since schools began. The ancient Romans wrote histories of their country which have survived til today.
What is your argument, other than you dont like having Americas questionable past on race relations (and other topics) brought up in schools?
That seems to be their major point. They only want taught what they want taught.
Youre only okay with it because you know all schools are going to teach social issues from a progressive standpoint. If your kids were being taught by a conservative i bet you would have an issue with it. And George floyd isnt a class but if you dont think it hasnt been discussed in classrooms then you arent paying attention to the news
Most countries dont have the diversity of culture that America does
How in the world does true social studies come from any standpoint... So you have nothing to show of this progressive standpoint except to say people talked about Floyd.
Which actually would be social studies as it was happening at the time.
So are you upset about the way it was supposedly framed or just how dare someone talk about current events in general...
So if a teacher was telling kids in their social studies class that what the police did to george floyd was justified, you wouldnt have an issue with it?
I don't make up scenarios to fit a narrative.
If it is high school kids and they want to debate it, so be it.
Of course that wouldn't even be allowed these days.
“That's why social issues should not be addressed in public schools.”
Oh my.
“So if a teacher was telling kids in their social studies class that what the police did to george floyd was justified, you wouldnt have an issue with it?”
And conversely, if a student asked a question in a high school social studies class about the Floyd case, and the teacher was denied the opportunity to open a conversation (read teach), you ‘wouldn’t have an issue’ with that?
I really suspect this is a solution in search of a problem. Is anyone really getting through the 12th grade without understand that white Europeans conquered the Americas, while enslaving Africans? Do they really get that far and not hear about racism? Do they really get through 12th grade without hearing about the Civil War, Jim Crow, and civil rights movements?
I mean if they are, then yeah, some changes need to be made, but I would expect this is not common. And the idea that this is something urgent for 6 year olds is a little silly.
I know I did. The problem is that for most circullums these topics are bullet points as they should be. Progressives want whole classes/circullums built around these topics and if you try to say that is college level material you are simply a bigot and nothing else. They want to claim the moral high ground where i feel morality should have very little to do with subject matter. Of course discrimination should be against the rules of any school, but should have little to do with circullums content
There are a lot of white parents who dont want their children, or any children, taught that America has been a historically racist country. I have seen parents interviewed that say that.
One can talk somewhat generically about slavery without putting the onus for it (in America) on white people. There has never been a period in this country when there has not been a lot of racism against "people of color". I think our kids should know as much about it as possible so it can be eliminated in the future.
I don’t know how you study slavery, Jim Crow, and civil rights without reaching that conclusion on your own.