Facts in School
Are You Serious
If you are against teaching children factual history about slavery in the U.S. and its ramifications to the present, if you are against teaching children how to think critically and not just regurgitate what they hear and especially if you are against destroying our children through evil sex education, then I have a group for you.
The group calls itself “Protect Ohio Children Coalition” and they are hell bent on ending “indoctrination in schools” and with “putting daylight on the darkness of Critical Race Theory (CRT), Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE), and Social Emotional Learning (SEL)” and their affiliates are active in New Jersey. They are against a whole cornucopia of educational programs including such right wing targets as the 1619 Project, Action civics, Generation Citizen, Brain Pop, CASEL, Sanford harmony, Edgenuity and RethinkEd.
If you aren’t familiar with these programs, don’t worry, because the “Protect Ohio Children Coalition,” a group connected with the Heritage Foundation, the nation’s premier right wing, conservative organ, will think for you. The group has links with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., potential presidential hopeful, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and trump’s one time, leading henchman, Rudy Giuliani.
By golly, the children’s coalition, is dedicated to providing education “that protects their (children’s) innocence, free from comprehensive sexuality education and radical indoctrination. We will not tolerate the radicalization of children in our schools.”
The group is part of a national network of conservatives who are working to replace “radical” school board officials.
“By putting daylight on the darkness of indoctrination, we can protect children from the left’s radical agenda. Learn what’s in your schools and talk to your teachers, principals, superintendents and school boards. If they refuse to remove harmful curriculum, it’s time for the community to act! We must defeat school levies, replace the administration and elect new school board members,” says the statement on the raison d’etre of the “Protect Ohio Children Coalition.” The group is asking people to anonymously forward information from any school district presenting “obscene, radical, or dangerous information in the classroom?”
“We will assist in replacing radical school board officials through the election process,” the group notes.
The group has chapters around the nation, including in New Jersey, under the umbrella of Family Watch International, a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center reports works within the United Nations and with countries around the world to “further anti-LGBT and anti-choice stances. “
“Founder Sharon Slater promotes anti-LGBT pseudoscience that includes the falsehood that homosexuality is a mental disorder derived from childhood trauma, and that so-called ‘conversion therapy’ can effectively eliminate same-sex attraction,” the law center notes.
“Protect Ohio Children Coalition” and its sister branches are affiliated with Heritage Action for America, a conservative policy advocacy organization founded in 2010 and is the sister organization of the conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation. Heritage Action, with a 2017 balance of $10,239,032, is supported by individual and corporate donors, with its 2012 tax return indicating that 44 percent of its overall contributions came from donations of $5,000 or less that year. Heritage Action generally does not disclose its donors but did, in 2013, confirm a $500,000 donation made by the Koch brothers.
The former CEO of Heritage Action for America, Michael A. Needham, is now Chief of Staff to Rubio. Tim Chapman, executive director of Heritage Action for America for a decade, said he will leave to be executive director of “Stand For America,” an advocacy group founded by former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Haley said “Stand for America,” opposes “the far left forcing critical race theory down kids’ throats and trying to dumb down learning for the sake of its ‘equity’ agenda. The Biden administration is waging another battle in America’s schools. Now, the Biden administration wages war on parents who want a say in their kids’ education.”
Needham also served in the Giuliani presidential campaign committee.
So what exactly are all of these Satanic educational platforms that threaten the foundations of our educational system? Here are some thumbnail explanations:
1619 project: The 1619 Project is an ongoing initiative from The New York Times Magazine that began in August 2019, the 400th anniversary of the beginning of American slavery. It aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.
Culturally responsive teaching: Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) attempts to bridge the gap between teacher and student by helping the teacher understand the cultural nuances that may cause a relationship to break down — which ultimately causes student achievement to break down as well.
Generation Citizen: The organization inspires civic participation through a “proven state standards-aligned action civics class that gives students the opportunity to experience real-world democracy. Through student-driven projects, truth learn how to effect policy change by engaging with local government and leaders to solve community problems.”
White fragility: Academic and educator Robin DiAngelo created a program because she found that white people are “sensationally, histrionically bad at discussing racism. Like waves on sand, their reactions form predictable patterns: they will insist that they were taught to treat everyone the same, that they are color-blind, that they don’t care if you are pink, purple, or polka-dotted.” DiAngelo coined the term “white fragility” to describe the “disbelieving defensiveness that white people exhibit when their ideas about race and racism are challenged — and particularly when they feel implicated in white supremacy.”
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Diversity is the presence of differences that may include race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, language, (dis)ability, age, religious commitment, or political perspective. Populations that have been and remain underrepresented among practitioners in the field and marginalized in the broader society.
Equality doesn’t mean Equity: Equity is about promoting justice, impartiality and fairness within the procedures, processes and distribution of resources by institutions or systems. Tackling equity issues requires an understanding of the root causes of outcome disparities within our society, according to the centreforwelfarereform.org/library/graphics-diagrams/graphic-from-exclusion-to-inclusion.html.
Equity initiatives: This addresses the fact that Income, address and education directly affect health.
“Health equity means that everyone has a fair opportunity to be as healthy as possible, but there are many non-medical factors that influence this which include income, education, policy, and other social systems affecting daily life.”
Brain pop: BrainPOP creates cross-curricular digital content that engages students and supports teachers, from animated movies, creation and reflection tools, coding projects and quizzes to learning games, custom and playful assessments, lesson plans, and beyond.
CASEL: The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning is makes evidence-based social and emotional learning an integral part of education from preschool through high school.
SEL PROGRAMS, include Sanford harmony, Edgenuity, purpose prep, second steps, RethinkEd , 7 Mindsets, Panorama, unbounded ed, the Wallace foundation, any social emotional learning.
UnboundEd designs learning for educators for equitable instruction so that students experience grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful instruction.
Wallace foundation: The mission is to foster equity and improvements in learning and enrichment for young people, and in the arts for everyone.
Rethinked: Rethink Ed combines technology and research to deliver innovative, scalable and evidence-based tools and resources to support the whole school, whole community, and whole child.
Purpose Prep: The premier social-emotional learning (SEL) program, Purpose Prep transforms students and teachers worldwide through evidence-based and relevant SEL curriculum.
Sanford Harmony: Harmony is a program that develops key social and emotional competencies in the classroom, at home, or in out-of-school programs.
Edgenuity: This customized virtual program helps build a program tailored to the district, helping serve more students with a wide range of diverse needs.
None of these programs are threatening unless, except for reactionary, right wing groups like “Protect Ohio Children Coalition” whose goal is to continue the myths of American life and keep children in the dark about truths that remain and remain to be corrected.