Running racism in America thread

So the consequences for the students involved are all good, but why the shelter in place? That’s used in times of threat or potential harm to students. Seems a bit harsh for something they used restorative justice to handle.

 

What’s with calling students “learners?” Our school system calls students “scholars.” FFS. How about just “students?”

 

This is one of the 3 "worst" (for lack of a better term) elementary schools in Vermont, a crushing combination of poverty and/or POC. So many of the kids have druggie parents or households.

They're trying all kinds of things with this school. They had a super terrific principal a few years ago -- just a great guy and perfect for the job -- who for some reason wasn't the principal just a year or two later (nothing nefarious). The school is now subject to a race-based lawsuit by a former teacher. These are the schools that break your heart because the kids hardly have a chance to begin with.

But as far as lockdown for saying racism ... and calling them learners ... it's gone too far. This is why Tucker Carlson et al are able to flourish.

 

It’s education speak brought on by people who get paid a lot of money to spew ideas without actually having to use them in the real world. We had a guy at the start of the year give us a talk about how we should expect trains from the shelter in place. Gave us a lot of high falutin ideas until someone asked how we used it in the classroom. His exact words were “I normally don’t offer advice about how to use it but…”

Basically, it’s nonsense that people think build up kids if they hear it and sounds good to parents but does nothing in reality.

 

Just desserts

 

If a kiddo is spewing hatred and is in the halls, you don’t want other kiddos in the halls, so you tell everyone to stay in their classrooms. But this is now called “sheltering in place.” I’m guessing it’s policy that the school notifies parents every time students are kept in classrooms and are “sheltering.”

 

A hospital sought a Black expert's help to diversify. They fired him over his stance on race.

 

Pupils!

 

Eye see what you did there

 

Knew where it happened before I even read the story (Texas).

 

It's been some time since I covered a school board meeting, but I found it to be an incredibly mind-numbing experience. Jargon, acronyms and buzzwords abounded. Results were -- uh, TBD. The bigger the institution the worse it is.

Teachers teach, but if you want to get ahead in the education bureaucracy you get a Ph.D. and move into administration. Never was the characterization "piled higher and deeper" more applicable. I almost symptathize with the torch-and-pitchfork crowd that has been showing up at a lot of SB meetings. They ask all the wrong questions, but at least they're making the administration sweat a little.

In Milwaukee the career of Howard Fuller is an example of how the educational bureaucracy can crush efforts at reform. Fuller was a left-leaning political activist in the '60s who saw the need for change to urban schools. Eventually he became superintendent of the Milwaukee Public Schools system. The system chewed him up and spit him out. He's now convinced that the teachers union is the biggest obstacle to improvement of urban public schools. I've been pro-union all my life, but I also attended public school in Chicago, and I have to say I see his point.

This article is several years old, but still pertinent. https://www.badgerinstitute.org/WI-Magazine/Volume-21No3/Still-the-Fighter.htm

 

Never mind the effects of racist racism here's: