Dumb and Dumber (No. 4)

Watching the Education Apocalypse in Slow Motion

K-12 EDITION

YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR SCHOOLS. “Virginia county school board votes no on adopting state transgender policies.”

IMAGINE A WORLD WHERE PARENTS CONTROLLED 100% OF WHAT WAS TAUGHT IN THEIR KIDS’ SCHOOLS AND BY WHOM. If you can imagine that, you can also imagine a true free-market in education. If you can imagine a free-market in education, you’re just one step away from making it happen. “Anti-CRT Republicans Sweep Connecticut School Board Primaries.” 

SCHOOL LOCKDOWNS ARE HURTING THOSE WHO NEED THE MOST HELP. I promise you, though, these lockdowns are NOT hurting the children of the wealthy. Walk away. “New Study Shows Just How Much School Lockdowns Harm Innocent Kids.”

As the nation grapples with an increase in COVID cases due to the spread of the Delta variant, a recent report makes clear one thing policymakers should not do in response: Close down in-person learning.

The study, from the consulting firm McKinsey, shows how school shutdowns and lockdowns set back millions of American students—and hurt the poorest and most vulnerable families hardest. It reiterates how prolonged school closures, instigated by overly cautious politicians at the behest of intransigent teachers’ unions, may have set back an entire generation of American children. . . .

The results show that, on average, elementary school students lost the equivalent of five months—or half a school year—of learning in math, and four months in reading. . . .

But families without the financial means to do so—whether African Americans in urban areas or households in the rural South and West—remain hostage to the demands of their local school districts and unions that classrooms remain shut. Their children have suffered the most during the pandemic—suffering that could continue if unions use the rise in Delta variant cases to demand continued school closures.

SCIENCE DENIAL IS HURTING CHILDREN: “Masking kids and closing schools is irrational, unscientific child abuse.”

But kids unlucky enough to live in blue cities and states were subjected to the anti-science mania of gentry liberals and the cravenness of political leaders beholden to teachers unions. 

CRITICAL RACE THEORY IS RACISM—PERIOD! But as I keep telling you, CRT is simply a means to an end, and the end is NOT improved race relations—the end is socialism: “The Left’s CRT Straw Man Shows They Don’t Trust Parents to Teach Morality.”

HOW IS THIS NOT RACISM? How is this not indoctrination?

Under the colorblind approach, we were taught to view people as individuals, to emphasize our common humanity, and to avoid racial or ethnic generalizations. Under the new racialism, we are told that it is naïve to believe that transcending race is possible in a society where every institution is shaped by past and present racism; therefore, we need to acknowledge, emphasize, and place value on racial categories.

If you want to know how this new racialism manifests in the real world, look no further than Oregon’s Kindergarten 2021 Social Science Standards, which have been updated to integrate “ethnic studies.” Standards like this one lay out the knowledge, skills, and understandings that educators are expected to impart to their students, and teachers use them as a rough guide for composing their lessons for the year. Although Oregon schools are not required to implement these new standards until 2026, they have been approved for classroom use as of March of this year. (Read the whole thing: “Teaching Race in Kindergarten.”)

SOME MIGHT CALL THIS FRAUD—THE KIND, YA KNOW, THAT LANDS ONE IN JAIL: “California finds LA Unified School District illegally kept millions in funds from Catholic schools.”

IMMIGRANT VOICES MATTER! “Iranian immigrant cut off at board meeting for slamming CRT: 'My motherland was ravaged by communism'.”

DON’T WANT YOUR KIDS BEING EXPOSED TO CRITICAL RACE THEORY? There’s only one way to guarantee that doesn’t happen: “Number of students being homeschooled in Colorado more than doubles.”

HIGHER ED EDITION

THE CRAZY YEARS ARE GETTING A WHOLE LOT CRAZIER: “Harvard lecturer takes heat for defending existence of biological sex on 'Fox & Friends'.”

WRONG-THINK MUST BE PUNISHED. St. Joseph’s is a private university, but I hope Professor Manco can sue for a lot of money. “University refuses to rehire math professor who criticized slavery reparations.” 

WITH EVERY PASSING DAY, AMERICA BECOMES A LESS SERIOUS NATION: “California May Require Public Colleges to Provide Free... Men's Menstrual Products?”

I’D SAY IT’S WORSE THAN JUST BEING ABANDONED. Jews, particularly pro-Israel Jews, are on the Left’s enemy’s list: “Berkeley instructor says 'Jews have been overwhelmingly abandoned by progressive activists'.”

LEFT WITHOUT COMMENT: The University of Wisconsin-Madison just spent $50,000 to move a rock. 

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