I come from a family of educators, so this attack is personal & profoundly disturbing. My mother taught HS English and Polish. My dad taught English and history, then became a counselor, & retired as a HS principal. My siblings have all taught at the HS or college level & won “Teacher of the Year” awards from their students. (As the black sheep, I went into the arts & arts fundraising.)
GOP war on schools—
Indoctrination Nation
Convinced that schools are brainwashing kids to be left-wingers, conservatives are seizing control of the American classroom.
Republicans have begun saying things about American schools that not long ago would have struck them as peculiar, even insane. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has called schools “a cesspool of Marxist indoctrination.” Former secretary of State Mike Pompeo predicts that “teachers’ unions, and the filth that they’re teaching our kids,” will “take this republic down.” Against the backdrop of his party, Donald Trump, complaining about “pink-haired communists teaching our kids” and “Marxist maniacs and lunatics” running our universities, sounds practically calm.
More ominously, at every level of government, Republicans have begun to act on these beliefs. Over the past three years, legislators in 28 states have passed at least 71 bills controlling what teachers and students can say and do at school. A wave of library purges, subject-matter restrictions, and potential legal threats against educators has followed…
In the spring of 2021, Richard Corcoran delivered a fire-breathing speech at Hillsdale, a right-wing Christian college in Michigan, touting the agenda he had helped implement as education commissioner in Florida. When an audience member asked how he had been able to find common ground with people who disagreed with him, Corcoran responded, “I have fought … There’s no negotiation. I don’t think antifa wants to sit down and have a conversation with me about how can we make this society better.” Corcoran went on to compare America’s disputes over education to “the warring in the streets” in Germany before World War II between the Nazis and the communists. “The war will be won in education,” he vowed. “Education is our sword. That’s our weapon. Our weapon is education.”
nymag.com/...
GOP war on libraries—
Texas Revamps Houston Schools, Closing Libraries and Angering Parents
As part of a state takeover plan, libraries in underperforming schools are becoming spaces for disruptive students to watch lessons on computers.
Cheryl Hensley, a librarian in Houston, was excited for the start of school. A veteran of four decades in the city’s public school system, she had stocked her library at Lockhart Elementary, a mostly Black school, with $40,000 in new books, and won a statewide award for her work. Then, late last month, Ms. Hensley, 62, was told she was no longer needed: The school’s library would be one of dozens turned into multipurpose computer rooms and used, in part, for discipline.
The decision to fire librarians and effectively close libraries in some of the city’s poorest schools has been the most contentious yet made by a new set of Houston public school leaders who were imposed on the district and its 187,000 mostly Black and Hispanic students this year by the administration of Gov. Greg Abbott.
Link to gifted full article: www.nytimes.com/...
GOP war on teachers—
In the midst of a teacher shortage, Republicans are kicking more than 220,000 teachers from classrooms.
WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Republicans today [July 13, 2023] released the draft fiscal year 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies funding bill, which will be considered in subcommittee tomorrow. The legislation is an assault on education and job training, decimates research funding, and abandons ongoing public health crises.
For 2024, the bill provides $163.0 billion, a cut of $63.8 billion – 28 percent – below 2023. This year’s Republican allocation was the lowest for the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill since 2008. The legislation:
- Decimates support for children in K-12 elementary schools and early childhood education.
- Abandons college students and low-income workers trying to improve their lives through higher education or job training...
“When 161 House Republicans voted earlier this year to eliminate all K-12 funding at the Department of Education, I was horrified, but that was just the beginning. Now, in the midst of a teacher shortage, they have introduced a bill that would kick 220,000 teachers from classrooms. We are witnessing a widespread attack on public education that should horrify all of us”, Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said.
democrats-appropriations.house.gov/...
GOP war on books & subjects—
Blue states are sanctuary states for education & learning--
Read a book. Pass it on.