Print This Post
Email This Post
12:36 pm CST - February 18, 2010
Posted under On The Record
Texas Teachers Warned Against Being ‘Heterosexist’
By Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily
‘We must help people to become committed to social change’
Candidates for certification to teach in public schools in Texas are being told that they will be held accountable for any “heterosexist” leanings and must become agents working to change society, according to one candidate who was alarmed by the demands.
The applicant, who requested anonymity for fear of repercussions, told WND part of the teachings on multiculturalism required him to read several online postings about the issue inside the education industry.
One warns that “teachers and administrators must be held accountable for practices deemed to be racist, sexist, heterosexist, classist, or in any other way discriminatory.” And a second warned that educators must not define education as the basic skills.
“How do we create a better world? How do we do more than simply survive? As educators, we must help people to become committed to social change,” the article demanded.
The teacher candidate told WND the studies were mandated by the Region 10 service center for the public school educators’ program. The center had a recording that it was closed throughout the holidays and officials could not be reached by WND.
But spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe at the Texas Education Agency said the state rules require teacher preparation programs to cover 17 curriculum topics, but not multiculturalism.
“Although the training should address educating special populations such as English language learners and children with disabilities,” she added. “While we establish the broad rules that are to be followed, we do not write or approve a training program’s curriculum,” she said.
She said the articles, if part of the program, were chosen at the region level.
One of the articles was on the EdChange Multicultural Pavilion and discussed defining “multicultural education.”
There it states that there are several focuses for such programs, including those that insist “on education change as part of a larger societal transformation in which we more closely explore and criticize the oppressive foundations of society and how education serves to maintain the status quo – foundations such as white supremacy, capitalism, global socioeconomic situations, and exploitation.”
The article demands, “Schools must be active participants in ending oppression of all types, first by ending oppression within their own walls, then by producing socially and critically active and aware students.”
“The underlying goal of multicultural education is to affect social change. The pathway toward this goal incorporates three strands of transformation:
1. The transformation of self;
2. The transformation of schools and schooling; and
3. 3. The transformation of society,” the teaching material said.
The traditional teaching approaches, it continued, “must be deconstructed to examine how they are contributing to and supporting institutional systems of oppression.”
It demands that the “transformation of society” be part of a school’s goals.
“It is not enough to continue working within an ailing, oppressive, and outdated system to make changes, when the problems in education are themselves symptoms of a system that continues to be controlled by the economic elite.”
A second article that was assigned to the student, the candidate told WND, was “Multicultural Education and Developmental Education: A Conversation About Principles and Connections with James A. Banks,” and included the same concepts of change.
“In the Pedagogy of the Oppressed [the author] says that we must teach students to read the word, which is basic skills, but we also must teach them to read the world, and that is to critique and change society,” the article said.
“One of the things that is happening in this assessment mania that is going on is that we’ve defined education too narrowly. We’ve defined it as only basic skills: reading, writing, and arithmetic. We’re missing that the biggest problem of humankind is not basic skills but how to get along. How do we create a better world? How do we do more than simply survive? As educators, we must help people to become committed to social change,” it stated.
The article also warned instructors must lead their students in a specific social direction.
“I think it is essential that students acquire basic skills and I don’t think they’re neutral. The skills are as value laden as the commitments we want students to share. Although it’s essential that students acquire basic skills, this alone is clearly not sufficient for them to become effective citizens in a global society. They must also develop the commitment and ability to critique and change society,” the article said.
A similar issue of demanding a specific social perspective arose recently at the University of Minnesota. Officials at the school there backed off a proposal after publicity about its planned requirements to examine teacher candidates about “white privilege” as well as provide “remedial re-education” for those who hold the “wrong” views.
That case was taken up by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which promotes civil liberties on the campuses of America’s colleges and universities.
FIRE officer Adam Kissel said the report from the Race, Culture, Class, and Gender Task Group apparently would involve screening teacher applicants for “wrong” views and withholding their degrees if “the university’s political re-education efforts proved ineffective.”
By any “nontotalitarian” standards, he wrote, the plans being made so far by the school are “severely unjust and impermissibly intrude into matters of individual conscience.”
In Minnesota, among the issues discussed in the plans, are requirements that teachers would be able to instruct students on the “myth of meritocracy” in the United States, “the history of demands for assimilation to white, middle-class, Christian meanings and values,” and the “history of white racism.”
Those demands appeared to be similar to those promoted earlier at the University of Delaware.
As WND reported, the Delaware university’s office of residential life was caught requiring students to participate in a program that taught “all whites are racist.”
School officials immediately defended the teaching, but in the face of a backlash from alumni and publicity about its work, the school decided to drop the curriculum, although some factions later suggested its revival.
FIRE, which challenged the Delaware plan, later produced a video explaining how the institution of the university pushed for the teachings, was caught and later backed off:
Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten said the Minnesota plan would have required teachers to “embrace – and be prepared to teach our state’s kids – the task force’s own vision of America as an oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist and homophobic.”
She wrote, “The first step toward ‘cultural competence,’ says the task group, is for future teachers to recognize – and confess – their own bigotry. Anyone familiar with the re-education camps of China’s Cultural Revolution will recognize the modus operandi.
“What if some aspiring teachers resist this effort at thought control and object to parroting back an ideological line as a condition of future employment?” she posed. “The task group has Orwellian plans for such rebels: The U, it says, must ‘develop clear steps and procedures for working with nonperforming students, including a remediation plan.’”
17 Comments
Cheryl Cooper
4:57 pm CST
February 18, 2010
This is not just scary; it is absolutely terrifying. I have grandchildren who are being fed this drivel. Fortunately they have parents and grandparents who are “socially aware” and can counter this bunk. Drive on Texas Insider; continue to keep us informed and ahead of the masses.
Sam
8:03 pm CST
February 18, 2010
It’d be interesting to see other states follow the lead of Virginia, whose new governor just stripped special rights for homosexuals under Virginia’s anti-discrimination policy
CWJensen
8:41 pm CST
February 18, 2010
In 1961 I was enrolled at Mankato State College and had a communist professor in one of my secondary education classes. Everyone knew he was a commie and listened to and did what was necessary to pass the course.
No one believed his dribble and we often enjoyed a good laugh at his expense over a cold beer.
I have since that time raised 7 children . Of those children two graduated from the U of M , two others from other teachers colleges in MN. Two are also married to teachers that were educated in MN.
All that being said;
They are outstanding teachers with strong conservative values that were raised to question and form their own conclusions based on ALL available information.
Cheryl makes an excellent observation and I spoke clearly on the subject in one of yesterday’s posts:
WHAT is happening can and will only continue if WE allow it.
We had a rule :
1.Everyone was present for the evening meal.
2. NO TV NO MUSIC NO OUTSIDE DISTRACTIONS
3. No one was excused until we all shared things about our day.
It is mind boggling what you can learn that may have never been discussed had the opportunity NOT been made available.
As PARENTS and GRANDPARENTS we have a unique opportunity and obligation to LISTEN.
Many times we DO NOT even have to FORCE children to make good decisions and choices.
Just listen while they examine something and come to LOGICAL Conclusions or ask questions that will encourage them to look in another direction.
DO NOT misunderstand I more than ONCE injected MY WAY or the highway argument which was usually the ABSOLUTE wrong way to go at the time.
Fortunately as they got older I and their mother got expodentially more intelligent.
MY POINT is YOU can be the MOST important INFLUENCE in your children’s lives or
YOU can ALLOW others to take your place by neglecting to assume that role.
David Sims
11:58 pm CST
February 18, 2010
This is outrageous. I agree that, as parents, we are enabled and empowered to have the
greatest influence on our children.
However, as parents and/or taxpayers, we finance the public school system and they work
for us.
The information in the WND article is very enlightning. Conservative and concerned parents
and taxpayers should let their expectations be known.
The website for TEA regional offices is: ritter.tea.state.tx.us/ESC
Perhaps we should enlighten the regional staff members about Texas conservative expectations
in education and teacher requirements.
Michael
6:39 am CST
February 18, 2010
The public school system in this country has been taken over by the left and by mediocraty. Parents who care about their children should take them out of this socially corrupt and corrupting menace to our society and teach at home. Public education was started in this country by people who believed in the Judeo-Christian ethic and the founding principles of this country. We have to think of our children first. If we teach them correct principles, the new worls ethic won’t have the destructive effects that the leftist intelligencia have in mind for them and our society.
Martin Nielsen
7:17 am CST
February 18, 2010
This is not only going on in the field of education but also in Texas state agencies. Child Protective Services also requires employees to attend this training and accept their view of reality. Thus bringing this view to all assigned cases.
MikeInPlano
9:12 am CST
February 18, 2010
Holy cow! How did this c–p get into the TX education system at such a high level. I’ll be doing some serious research to ferret out the source of this drivel and start working to expose them for the communist/socialist they are.
This is something right out of Marx and Lenin.
Ed H
9:25 am CST
February 18, 2010
Since District 10 covers my county, I’ve contacted both state Representative and Senator about this. We should all be raising the issue, particularly since the attitude of the Texas Education Agency seems to best be described as “It’s none of our business, we don’t control what the Districts do”. If the TEA districts are free to do what they want, as long as they do the minimum required by the TEA, why do we have a TEA?
Radman
2:59 pm CST
February 18, 2010
I agree with Cheryl. The potential impact of this type of activity on both teachers and students is terrifying! Every candidate for the Texas State Board of Education needs to read this article, investigate the veracity of the assertions, and, if true, condemn them “from the rooftops”…and commit publicly to do everything in their power to halt this type of PC “mindset control” in our Texas educational system wherever it might be attempted.
In this nation, teachers should present the facts of their subject without social commentary, sort of like the way the news used to be broadcast (i.e., “just the facts ma’am”). Math and science have basic laws and theories; and teachers need to make students understand that true advancements in knowledge require researchers to adhere to stringent ethical standards. However, when the topic is history, social studies, psychology or sociology, etc. students should be free to read, “bat around” various viewpoints, develop their own opinions regarding the topic and the motives of the actors, and then feel free to express their views without fear of condemnation or “grade deflation” because they did not parrot their teacher’s opinions, coerced or inherent, regarding “multicultural education,” “institutional systems of oppression,” America’s historic oppression of the disadvantaged, “white racism” and control by the “economic elite,” etc., etc.
From the article: “Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten said the Minnesota plan would have required teachers to ‘embrace – and be prepared to teach our state’s kids – the task force’s own vision of America as an oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist and homophobic.’”
She wrote, “The first step toward ‘cultural competence,’ says the task group, is for future teachers to recognize – and confess – their own bigotry. Anyone familiar with the re-education camps of China’s Cultural Revolution will recognize the modus operandi.
THIS TYPE OF THINKING MUST NEVER BE ALLOWED IN TEXAS COLLEGES OR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
lanczos
4:26 pm CST
February 18, 2010
“The underlying goal of multicultural education is to affect social change. The pathway toward this goal incorporates three strands of transformation:
1. The transformation of self;
2. The transformation of schools and schooling; and
3. The transformation of society,”
the teaching material said.
Well, you can’t say that the Progressive / Marxist / Communist / totalitarians are quitters. In fact, THEY NEVER STOP. Just look at The 0bammunist – watches total electoral disaster unfold before his eyes, and… Moves Further Left. “It’s because He hasn’t given enough speeches – or been clear enough about what He WantsTto Do To America.”
And TEA – Region 10 can HARDLY WAIT to sign on with 0bammunism. (Don’t they understand that under communist regimes, the teachers are ALWAYS among the first lined up against The Wall?
sparrow
6:05 pm CST
February 18, 2010
the re-education camps of the USA are rolling
~~~~full speed ahead. We are no longer a
Christian nation.
gt3xb
9:41 am CST
February 18, 2010
This is scattered throughout the Ed System and is currently embraced at the top level. Current core standards being pushed nationally and Race To The Top money used as a carrot to get states to accept the standards is already in the works. Forty-eight states applied for Race money before the core standards have even been determined. Only Texas and Alaska says they will not apply for Race money. Thank you Rick Perry for this at least. TEA was chomping at the bit to apply, and it is interesting that Houston ISD says it will defy the Governor’s order and apply for Race Funds with adherence to national core standards when they are obligated to the state standards. Wonder how that will work out? Additionly, Kevin Jennings let ship that part of the core standards will somehow include school climate requirements and ratings. So if a school climate does not meet national standards, there will be penalties and labeling of schools as failing in the school climate category. Some families may actually seek those particular schools out for there children!
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2010/02/bait_and_switch_on_common_standards.html
Edgar Reed
11:01 am CST
February 18, 2010
I will be passing this on to my poliSigh list, and urge everyone to read and lead on this! I cannot believe we are killing our country ourselves.
Khruschev may have been right. They WILL bury us. And without firing a shot. UNLESS we wake up, and defend our country, from all enemies, domestic and foreign. To coin a phrase…
Brother Harold
10:52 am CST
February 18, 2010
Fear change! Change is evil! Change is the devil! Keep everything the same! You guys crack me up. Your conservativism is so stereotypically backwards its laughable. I hope you guys enjoy fighting the inevitable.
Brother Harold
11:00 am CST
February 18, 2010
Also, I must add this; calling things ‘communist’ and referring to famous dictators of the former soviet union does NOT help you make your point. It is juvenile sensationalism and does not reflect well on your intelligence or understanding of the issues. It’s only a step away from comparing politicians that you don’t like to Hitler.
Phil
2:34 pm CST
February 18, 2010
Brother Harold? Didn’t all the liberals compare Bush to Hitler? Typical for you to want to eat your cake.
Dan
4:58 pm CST
February 18, 2010
Has Bob or anyone at Texas insider checked the accuracy of this story? I had several check into it & this is the reply:
“I have looked into this issue in depth.
The service center had 1 article on multiculturalism that was available
for voluntary use (ref. material) to teachers in the alt. cert. program.
When this controversy broke they pulled this article and re-read it.
Nowhere in the article is sexual orientation or the tern hetro-sexist used.
To be on the safe side they removed this resource from availability to
those in the program.
They are not sure exactly how this rumor started or the motivation
behind it.”
If Region 10 is being honest then this was much ado about nothing, but worse it causes a turmoil that will cause others to doubt the accuracy of information in the Texas Insider as well as articles by Bob Unruh. I would welcome followup or details to show this as being accurate.
Leave a Comment