In the previous two Q&As of this series, we reviewed some of the many changes that have occurred during the lifetime of many of us in the education of our children. The fruits are there to be seen today in the way that many of the younger generation behave.
As a final look at contemporary education, let us review some recent news items. The following was printed in “Israel 365 News” on 29th March 2021, with the headline, “A plan to root out Christianity in California.”
The article stated: “The Department of Education in California… has approved a 900-page ‘Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum’ designed to ‘decolonize’ America. The program aims to right the supposed wrongs of the imperial Christianity that swept the Americas clean of their indigenous religions. The curriculum’s core promise is that it will help root out Christianity, and the capitalism and racism that apparently came with it.
“To empower children as forces for ending such white colonialist hangovers, pupils are being instructed to pray in chants each day to Aztec gods that formerly sacrificed (and sometimes ate parts of) children and their parents. The curriculum instructs the pupils to invoke these gods to empower themselves as ‘social warriors’…
“Huitzilopochtli, the former Aztec god of war and sun, is expected to be particularly helpful in the new curriculum’s mission to right these wrongs. Students are encouraged to entreat Huitzilopochtli (a deity who inspired hundreds of thousands of human sacrifices during Aztec rule) to endow themselves with ‘a revolutionary spirit’ in order to bring ‘transformation’ in combatting ‘white supremacy, racism and other forms of power and oppression.’
“It is not enough, apparently, in today’s ethnic studies to learn about other religions. Children must be made to practice those religions… the new curriculum ‘recommends that teachers lead their students in a series of indigenous songs, chants, and affirmations, including the “In Lak Ech Affirmation,” which appeals directly to the Aztec gods.”
In October 2020, The Mathematical Association of America released a statement… claiming that mathematicians should engage in “uncomfortable conversations” about race.
The statement went on to disparage the “biases” that mathematics supposedly “inherently carries,” pointing out:
“‘It is time for all members of our profession to acknowledge that mathematics is created by humans and therefore inherently carries human biases. Until this occurs, our community and our students cannot reach full potential,’ wrote the group. ‘Reaching this potential in mathematics relies upon the academy and higher education engaging in critical, challenging, sometimes uncomfortable conversations about the detrimental effects of race and racism on our community. The time is now to move mathematics and education forward in pursuit of justice.’”
On the website of farleftfacts, we read:
“Math education prof: 2+2 = 4 ‘trope’ ‘reeks of white supremacy patriarchy.’
“Math professors and educators at leading American universities have taken to Twitter and to debate whether math is racist.
“Some asserted that objective mathematics is rooted in ‘white supremacist patriarchy’ and white social constructs. ‘People say it’s subjectivism to ask if math is Western. I don’t get that.’
“The debate itself was rooted in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, in which citizens of a fictional totalitarian state believe that 2 plus 2 equals 5 as a result of government propaganda.
“Laurie Rubel, who teaches math education at Brooklyn College, says that the idea of math being cultural neutral is a ‘myth,’ and that asking whether 2 plus 2 equals 4 ‘reeks of white supremacist patriarchy.’ ‘Y’all must know that the idea that math is objective or neutral IS A MYTH,’ she tweeted.”
And then, the piano was considered to be racist! We can read on the website of greatamericanpolitics:
“The music department at the prestigious and ancient university has seen calls to remove music notation from the curriculum as professors seek to focus less on white European heritage and culture, according to documents seen by The Telegraph.
“The woke educators went on to claim that musical notation itself is a ‘colonialist representational system’ that has ‘complicity to white supremacy’.
“The claim is similar to leftist pronouncements in America that mathematics is inherently racist.
“The Oxford academics went on to pronounce that teaching the piano or conducting orchestras could cause ‘students of colour great distress’ as the skills involved are closely tied to ‘white European music.’
These are the sort of educators that mould young minds, and it is an inescapable fact that to influence young people to imbibe such leftist nonsense doesn’t bode well for the future.
And, finally, The Daily Mail published this report on 8th May 2021:
“A school secretly reported its chaplain to the anti-terrorism Prevent programme after he delivered a sermon defending the right of pupils to question its introduction of new LGBT policies.
“The Reverend Dr Bernard Randall told pupils at independent Trent College near Nottingham that they were allowed to disagree with the measures, particularly if they felt they ran contrary to Church of England principles.
“Among them was a plan to ‘develop a whole school LGBT+ inclusive curriculum’.
“Having decided that Dr Randall’s sermon was ‘harmful to LGBT’ students, the school flagged him to Prevent, which normally identifies those at risk of radicalisation.
“Police investigated the tip-off but advised the school by email that Dr Randall, 48, posed ‘no counter terrorism risk, or risk of radicalisation’. Derbyshire Police confirmed that the case ‘did not meet the threshold for a Prevent referral’.
“But in a disturbing development, Dr Randall, a former Cambridge University chaplain and Oxford graduate, claims that the school later told him that any future sermons would be censored in advance.
“He also claims that he was warned his chapel services would be monitored ‘to ensure that… requirements are met’. Dr Randall was later dismissed. He is suing for discrimination, harassment, victimisation and unfair dismissal and his case is due to be heard next month. ‘My career and life are in tatters,’ he said.”
In our weekly Update #965, dated 19th March 2021, there was an editorial entitled “Free Speech or No Free Speech, That Is the Question!,” in which we said:
“More recent struggles for freedom and equality in Western societies were just as intimately bound up with freedom of speech. The demand for free speech, the right for their voices to be heard, has proved central to the struggles for women’s emancipation, gay liberation and racial equality in the UK and US. There is a grim irony in the fashion… for feminist, trans or anti-racist activists today to demand restrictions on free speech as a means of protecting the rights of the identity groups they claim to represent. Without the efforts of those who fought for more free speech in the past, these illiberal activists would not be free to stand up and call for less of it in the present.
“Put another way, those who have used the right to free speech in the first place are happy to have done so in pursuit of their agenda, and when that has been achieved, they then try and close down any comment, discussion or debate on that very same subject. Freedom of speech or no free speech, we all know which! It can also be called the cancel culture.”
What we have seen in this Q&A is the stupidity that those educationalists who indulge themselves with such absurd theories that defy simple logic, can be very quick to try and suppress or quash any opposition to their outbursts. However, there is good news just over the horizon which we will address in the final two parts of this series.
(To Be Continued)
Lead Writer: Brian Gale
