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

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

Burbank: Parents and District Debate Banning Books | Diane Ravitch's blog

Burbank: Parents and District Debate Banning Books | Diane Ravitch's blog

Burbank: Parents and District Debate Banning Books

The school district of Burbank, California, is embroiled in a bitter debate about book banning. The books in questions are about racism, and black parents are complaining that the books are racist. Among the books that parents want removed are: Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, one of the most censored books in American literature; Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird; Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

I wrote a book about censorship of language on tests and in textbooks and of books used in school. It is called The Language Police. I recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the history of these practices.

The Los Angeles Times describes the controversy:

During a virtual meeting on Sept. 9, middle and high school English teachers in the Burbank Unified School District received a bit of surprising news: Until further notice, they would not be allowed to teach some of the books on their curriculum.

Five novels had been challenged in Burbank: Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Mark Twain’s “The CONTINUE READING: Burbank: Parents and District Debate Banning Books | Diane Ravitch's blog

In crackdown on race-related content, Education Department targets internal book clubs, meetings - POLITICO

In crackdown on race-related content, Education Department targets internal book clubs, meetings - POLITICO

In crackdown on race-related content, Education Department targets internal book clubs, meetings

The guidance largely echoes OMB’s memo in describing the type of content that is now disfavored in government training sessions.

The Education Department plans to scrutinize a wide range of employee activities — including internal book clubs — in search of “Anti-American propaganda” and discussions about “white privilege” as it carries out the White House’s demand that federal agencies halt certain types of race-related training.

In an internal email this week obtained by POLITICO, the department ordered a review of agency contracts for diversity training and "internal employee activities" to root out topics such as “critical race theory” or materials that suggest that the U.S. is an inherently racist country. The crackdown comes as the department implements a government-wide directive the White House issued Friday to stop what it called “un-American propaganda training sessions" about race.

To implement that policy, the Education Department will require each of its offices in D.C., as well as regional outposts throughout the country, to review a range of training materials, including outside contracts for diversity workshops, plus content produced internally at the agency.

An Education Department spokesperson did not comment on the internal agency guidance Wednesday night.

The department's guidance largely echoes OMB’s memo in describing the type of content that is now disfavored in government training sessions: any material “that teaches, trains or suggests the following: (1) virtually all White people contribute to racism or benefit from racism (2) critical race theory (3) white privilege (4) that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country (5) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil (6) Anti-American propaganda.”

Department officials, according to the email, have already concluded that at least some of its training activities — including a program called “Unconscious Bias and Conversations in the Midst of Change” — would be allowed to continue because they do not include any of the topics prohibited by the OMB memo.

The email said department officials have similarly determined that all diversity and inclusion training offered by the agency’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Services complies with the new OMB policy.

The OMB memo, first reported on Friday evening by The Washington Post, states that “it has come to the President’s attention” that the federal CONTINUE READING: In crackdown on race-related content, Education Department targets internal book clubs, meetings - POLITICO