Indoctrinate this, part 2: Would DeSantis and Latvala fire me for teaching this lesson on the state-mandated 1920 Ocoee pogrom standard? - Public Enemy Number 1

Indoctrinate this, part 2: Would DeSantis and Latvala fire me for teaching this lesson on the state-mandated 1920 Ocoee pogrom standard? - Public Enemy Number 1

Indoctrinate this, part 2: Would DeSantis and Latvala fire me for teaching this lesson on the state-mandated 1920 Ocoee pogrom standard?

A case study in the performative stupidity of your state government and its fake, impotent, embarrassing outrage at real history.

Part 1: The voices of the Great Migration laugh at Richard Corcoran — A grifter who can't make finalist in a university president search rigged for him is no match for the honest, competitive study of America, which is an unpoliceable classroom without walls.

This is part 2 — in which I “teach” a lesson about the Ocoee racial pogrom of 1920. The Florida Legislature recently required the state education system to “teach” it. But I can’t find the actual standard, now long overdue, anywhere.

A new 2020 law requires the task force to recommend to state education leaders by March 1 how to teach the massacre.

But in a state where fewer than 20% of the teachers are Black, and lots of new teachers enter classrooms each year, many teachers are unaware of these events or unsure sure how to tackle tough subjects of violence and racial discrimination.

There may not be a standard yet because Ron DeSantis is unilaterally making it illegal to teach it. What follows is my case study for testing that.

Hopefully, DeSantis and Corcoran and Chris Latvala will tell me if this is fireable so CONTINUE READING: Indoctrinate this, part 2: Would DeSantis and Latvala fire me for teaching this lesson on the state-mandated 1920 Ocoee pogrom standard? - Public Enemy Number 1

Nikole Hannah-Jones was terminated because she did not come from a “traditional academic-type background.” Good grief. Racism in academia. – Fred Klonsky

Nikole Hannah-Jones was terminated because she did not come from a “traditional academic-type background.” Good grief. Racism in academia. – Fred Klonsky

NIKOLE HANNAH-JONES WAS TERMINATED BECAUSE SHE DID NOT COME FROM A “TRADITIONAL ACADEMIC-TYPE BACKGROUND.” GOOD GRIEF. RACISM IN ACADEMIA.

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill said Thursday that the tenure application for New York Times journalist and The 1619 Project lead author Nikole Hannah-Jones was terminated because she did not come from a “traditional academic-type background.”

As a journalist for the New York Times, Nikole Hannah-Jones has been a leading researcher on the impact of race on education.

Her work on the on the ground-breaking 1619 Project is profound in its story of America’s foundation in the labor of enslaved people, and has found its way into classroom across the country.

And it is racism that led UNC to deny Hannah-Jones tenure.

Nothing else.

My professor and doctoral advisor at the University of Illinois Chicago, Dr. William CONTINUE READING: Nikole Hannah-Jones was terminated because she did not come from a “traditional academic-type background.” Good grief. Racism in academia. – Fred Klonsky

The Villains of Education | Teacher in a strange land

The Villains of Education | Teacher in a strange land

The Villains of Education

Back in the early days of internet bulletin boards and discussion platforms, there was a seminal piece on forming virtual communities that was passed around by educators interested in using technology to do more than record grades and attendance. Its author (Howard Rheingold, maybe?) posited a working theory of how virtual communities evolve, and the kinds of connections they built, if they were allowed to exist over time without moderation.

The author said most groups and interactions tend to cluster, over time, into three patterns: Sex. Religious veneration. Common villains. (Or something pretty close to those.)

What s/he meant was that people in online groups either flirt, worship particular heroes, heroines or initiatives—or communally post critiques about persons or initiatives they don’t like.

These were not the outcomes of virtual communication that I wanted to consider when I read this white paper. Back then, I wanted to believe that real and complex work, deep learning and genuine community could be accomplished online, and that the crummy habits we develop in face to face encounters could be avoided. But no.

If you wallow in ed-related social media (and if you’re reading this, you likely do), then CONTINUE READING: The Villains of Education | Teacher in a strange land

The Politics of Calling for No Politics: 2021 – radical eyes for equity

The Politics of Calling for No Politics: 2021 – radical eyes for equity

The Politics of Calling for No Politics: 2021

As a part of the education community, I noticed two immediate responses to the insurrection of the U.S. Capitol by domestic terrorists seeking to disrupt the confirmation of the next President of the U.S.

One response anticipated that (once again) teachers would be on the front line of addressing trauma by suggesting ways that examining the riot in DC could be (should be) incorporated into the classroom—notably for those teachers dealing with history.

Another response, however, was the both-sides warning calling for no politics in the classroom.

Some educators received the identical email shared after the November elections, essentially telling teachers not to take political sides in the classroom.

We stand in the first weeks of 2021 once again needing to clarify language and confronting just what being “political” means.

First, to remain neutral or to use the “both sides” approach (or to remain silent) is a form of politics—often imposed by those with power onto those who CONTINUE READING: The Politics of Calling for No Politics: 2021 – radical eyes for equity

Attacks on Educators | The Crucial Voice of the PeopleThe Crucial Voice of the People

Attacks on Educators | The Crucial Voice of the PeopleThe Crucial Voice of the People

Attacks on Educators

Historically, attacks on educators were confined to attacks on “liberal” professors. Not any more!

Photo Credit: Posted by Gen Z Conservative 

“As Trump clearly signals an escalated attack on teachers, remember that these right wing groups from Turning Point USA to Campus Watch are not only targeting professors but high school teachers. He has blown his dog whistles, so watch out for the vicious dogs now.” (First Posted by Hyung Nam on Facebook 10/31/18. Updated:7/5/2020 )

Attacks on educators— and the whole public education system —will continue. Raging since the 80’s, this modern-day battle for control of education will not simply end with the election of a new president. Any single president is not integral to success of the plan. The plan requires organized control of the rules of governing.

Enter: Turning Point USA Coupled with Leadership Institute

Founded in 2012, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is led by Charlie Kirk, an affluent young man that sees no need to continue his own formal education. Partnering with the Leadership Institute, the multi-million dollar TPUSA offers activism grants for conservative students around the country.

“Tax filings show the organization is funded by many of the same groups that CONTINUE READING: Attacks on Educators | The Crucial Voice of the PeopleThe Crucial Voice of the People

China Crushes Freedom to Teach in Hong Kong | Diane Ravitch's blog

China Crushes Freedom to Teach in Hong Kong | Diane Ravitch's blog

China Crushes Freedom to Teach in Hong Kong 

Hong Kong was a British colony for a century and a half. Under British rule, the people of Hong Kong enjoyed democratic freedoms. On July 1, 1997, the British relinquished control and Hong Kong became part of China as a special administrative region. The Chinese government promised to maintain “one country, two systems.” Over the years the Chinese government has asserted tighter control, inspiring rebellions among the people of Hong Kong, who resisted absorption into the government of the Mainland. Twenty-three years after the removal of British rule, mainland China is clamping down, hard, to stamp out freedom of speech, freedom of thought, even freedom to teach.

This article in the Los Angeles Times describes the government’s tightening of control over teachers and textbooks. Teachers who dare to speak out have been purged.

One of the greatest threats to freedom in Hong Kong is China’s intensifying pressure on schools over what to put in the minds of students. Textbooks are being rewritten, teachers are being purged and history is being erased under a new national security law to bring this once freewheeling city more firmly into China’s grip…

With China’s tightening control over Hong Kong, including CONTINUE READING: China Crushes Freedom to Teach in Hong Kong | Diane Ravitch's blog

At War with Myself – radical eyes for equity

At War with Myself – radical eyes for equity

At War with Myself

There is a refrain I say to myself, something I likely have never admitted to anyone: “I hate my body.”

I say this to myself quite often and without the gravity the word “hate” should imply because this simply is a fact of my existence.

A good friend texted recently, sharing very dark morning thoughts and ending with #upliftingthoughts. I wasn’t being flippant but empathetic when I replied: “Well … uh … yep … done that, do that … it is called existentialism.”

Discovering and working through existential philosophy and literature throughout my undergraduate years and into the first decade or so of my career as a teacher was incredibly important for me.

Liberating.

As I followed up with my friend, I explained that existentialism, in my opinion, gets a bad rap as a negative philosophy—confused with nihilism (in the same way “communism” is conflated with “totalitarianism” in the U.S.). My reading of existentialism, I explained, was that humans had to acknowledge that our passions are our sufferings in order to move past that fact of human CONTINUE READING: At War with Myself – radical eyes for equity

Academic Freedom, Pedagogy, White Privilege, and Racism in Higher Education – radical eyes for equity

Academic Freedom, Pedagogy, White Privilege, and Racism in Higher Education – radical eyes for equity

Academic Freedom, Pedagogy, White Privilege, and Racism in Higher Education

“Reckoning” is an imposing word for those with power and privilege; for white people in the U.S. the threat or possibility of a reckoning is often terrifying, triggering what has now been identified as white fragility.

For those abused, assaulted, or marginalized by racism, sexism/misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, etc., the possibility of a reckoning is exhilarating—although tinted with at least skepticism if not cynicism about any reckoning coming to fruition.

Amidst a pandemic, however, the murder of George Floyd at the knee of a police officer seems to have reignited with a renewed stamina the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Professional sports, including even the ultra-conservative NFL, have blinked finally against the call for police reform and racial reform across all aspect of the U.S.

Like the symbolism now being allowed and celebrated in the NBA and WNBA, the diversity and inclusion initiatives in U.S. higher education remain mostly CONTINUE READING: Academic Freedom, Pedagogy, White Privilege, and Racism in Higher Education – radical eyes for equity