BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS

Teaching plan: America 'an oppressive hellhole'

University outlines 're-education' for those who hold 'wrong' views
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Posted: November 27, 2009 9:15 pm Eastern


By Bob Unruh 2009 WorldNetDaily


A program proposed at the University of Minnesota would result in required examinations of teacher candidates on "white privilege" as well as "remedial re-education" for those who hold the "wrong" views, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

The organization, which promotes civil liberties on the campuses of America's colleges and universities, has dispatched a letter to University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks asking him to intervene to prevent the adoption of policies proposed in his College of Education and Human Development.

"The university's general counsel should be asked to comment as soon as possible," said the letter from Adam Kissel, an officer with The FIRE. "If the Race, Culture, Class, and Gender Task Group achieves its stated goals, the result will be political and ideological screening of applicants, remedial re-education for those with the 'wrong' views and values, [and] withholding of degrees from those upon whom the university's political reeducation efforts proved ineffective."

By any "non-totalitarian" standards, he wrote, the the plans being made so far by the school are "severely unjust and impermissibly intrude into matters of individual conscience."

Kissel wrote that it appears that the university "intends to redesign its admissions process so that it screens out people with the 'wrong' beliefs and values – those who either do not have sufficient 'cultural competence' or those who the college judges will not be able to be converted to the 'correct' beliefs and values even after remedial re-education."




"These intentions violate the freedom of conscience of the university's students. As a public university bound by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the university is both legally and morally obligated to uphold this fundamental right," he wrote.

WND messages left with the university requesting comment did not generate a response today.

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Among the issues discussed in the plans are requirements that teachers would be able to instruct students on the "myth of meritocracy" in the United States, "the history of demands for assimilation to white, middle-class, Christian meanings and values," and the "history of white racism."

The demands appear to be similar to those promoted earlier at the University of Delaware.

As WND reported, the Delaware university's office of residential life was caught requiring students to participant in a program that taught "all whites are racist."

School officials immediately defended the teaching, but in the face of a backlash from alumni and publicity about its work, the school decided to drop the curriculum, although some factions later suggested its revival.

FIRE, which challenged the Delaware plan, later produced a video explaining how the institution of the university pushed for the teachings, was caught and later backed off:

Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten said the developing Minnesota plan would require teachers to "embrace – and be prepared to teach our state's kids – the task force's own vision of America as an oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist and homophobic."

She said the plan from the university's Teacher Education Redesign Initiative – a multiyear project to change the way future teachers are trained – "is premised, in part, on the conviction that Minnesota teachers' lack of 'cultural competence' contributes to the poor academic performance of the state's minority students."

"The first step toward 'cultural competence,' says the task group, is for future teachers to recognize – and confess – their own bigotry. Anyone familiar with the reeducation camps of China's Cultural Revolution will recognize the modus operandi," she said.

"What if some aspiring teachers resist this effort at thought control and object to parroting back an ideological line as a condition of future employment?" she posed. "The task group has Orwellian plans for such rebels: The U, it says, must 'develop clear steps and procedures for working with non-performing students, including a remediation plan.'"


One building on the Universitiy of Minnesota campus

The plan asks: "How can we be sure that teaching supervisors are themselves developed and equipped in cultural competence outcomes in order to supervise beginning teachers around issues of race, class, culture, and gender?"

The original correct answer was to have "a training session disguised as a thank you/recognition ceremony/reception at the beginning of the year." The task force later edited itself to call for a required "training/workshop for all supervisors. Perhaps as part of an orientation/thank you/recognition ceremony/reception at the beginning of the year?"

"There was no deception planned or intended as may be implied in the use of the word [disguised]," a footnote said, "We have edited this to reflect our commitment to integrity in our work. This amendment was made 11/09/2009."

Nevertheless, FIRE's concern included the apparent plan for demands that teachers "discuss their own histories and current thinking drawing on notions of white privilege, hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, and internalized oppression."

Further, the letter noted, "the college in its proposal promises to start screening its applicants to make sure they have the proper 'commitments' and 'dispositions.'"

"Here's the kicker," Fire said in its report. "The college even realizes that its efforts to impose such a severe ideological litmus test may be unconstitutional." T

The letter cited a proposal to consult with the university's own lawyers.

"FIRE urges you to consider the Supreme Court's ruling in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943), which invalidated mandated allegiances to political ideologies at public schools," Kissel wrote for FIRE.

Writing for the court, Justice Robert H. Jackson declared: "Freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order. If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. "

Wonder why the economy stinks? 'Cause public tax dollars are paying for this crap, instead of educating students.

When visiting U of M where does one go to learn of what good accomplishments a straight white male may have done? Somebody remind me what color, gender and sexual orientation (assumption) the architects and signatories of the Constitution were. Well, that's another college I can cross off my list that my son will apply to in the future.

(11-28-2009 09:16 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  Wonder why the economy stinks? 'Cause public tax dollars are paying for this crap, instead of educating students.

Bingo.

(11-28-2009 10:57 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  When visiting U of M where does one go to learn of what good accomplishments a straight white male may have done? Somebody remind me what color, gender and sexual orientation (assumption) the architects and signatories of the Constitution were. Well, that's another college I can cross off my list that my son will apply to in the future.

Other races have done good things too you know?

(11-29-2009 04:48 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(11-28-2009 10:57 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  When visiting U of M where does one go to learn of what good accomplishments a straight white male may have done? Somebody remind me what color, gender and sexual orientation (assumption) the architects and signatories of the Constitution were. Well, that's another college I can cross off my list that my son will apply to in the future.

Other races have done good things too you know?

He's not objecting to recognizing the accomplishments of other races. He's objecting to denigrating everything that has ever been done by white males.

(11-29-2009 05:10 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(11-29-2009 04:48 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(11-28-2009 10:57 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  When visiting U of M where does one go to learn of what good accomplishments a straight white male may have done? Somebody remind me what color, gender and sexual orientation (assumption) the architects and signatories of the Constitution were. Well, that's another college I can cross off my list that my son will apply to in the future.

Other races have done good things too you know?

He's not objecting to recognizing the accomplishments of other races. He's objecting to denigrating everything that has ever been done by white males.

Jeez I missed the point there...Sorry smn

Just more insanity in America's college system. The suggestion that someone has the "wrong" ideas on a college campus is absurd. College is the LAST place free speech and multiple ideas should be limited...Especially on a "Public" university campus. I do however have NO problem with private schools doing whatever the hell they wish. The marketplace will handle that type of problem.

(11-28-2009 10:57 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  When visiting U of M where does one go to learn of what good accomplishments a straight white male may have done? Somebody remind me what color, gender and sexual orientation (assumption) the architects and signatories of the Constitution were. Well, that's another college I can cross off my list that my son will apply to in the future.

This whole state is Lily White. Everything done here has been done by a pasty white man or women. The only colored people up here are those who get red cheeks from freezing winter winds.......



But seriously, the UMinn is a great school. Education is top notch - don't cross it off your list because of one looney news report. Here are some Spring 2010 English classes

EngL 3090 General Topics: Origins of English Words
EngL 1172 The Story of King Arthur
EngL 3002 Modern Literary Criticism and Theory
EngL 3003W Historical Survey of British Literatures I
EngL 3007 Shakespeare
EngL 3101 Survey of Medieval English Literature

EngL 1401W Introduction to "Third World" Literatures in English
EngL 3090 General Topics: Environmental Imagination in 19th-Century America
EngL 3300 Multicultural American Literatures and Cultures: North American Imperialisms & Colonialisms
EngL 3330 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Literature: Stories for Our Time: GLBT Fiction, 1950-present
EngL 3090 General Topics: The Exotic & the Savage
EngL 3090 General Topics: Marxisms
EngL 3351W Voices from the Gaps: Writing and Art by Women of Color
EngL 3741 Literacy and American Cultural Diversity

Seems about par for the course at a liberal arts university.

this is the unofficial policy of nearly all Universities

(11-30-2009 10:31 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(11-28-2009 10:57 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  When visiting U of M where does one go to learn of what good accomplishments a straight white male may have done? Somebody remind me what color, gender and sexual orientation (assumption) the architects and signatories of the Constitution were. Well, that's another college I can cross off my list that my son will apply to in the future.

This whole state is Lily White. Everything done here has been done by a pasty white man or women. The only colored people up here are those who get red cheeks from freezing winter winds.......



But seriously, the UMinn is a great school. Education is top notch - don't cross it off your list because of one looney news report. Here are some Spring 2010 English classes

EngL 3090 General Topics: Origins of English Words
EngL 1172 The Story of King Arthur
EngL 3002 Modern Literary Criticism and Theory
EngL 3003W Historical Survey of British Literatures I
EngL 3007 Shakespeare
EngL 3101 Survey of Medieval English Literature

EngL 1401W Introduction to "Third World" Literatures in English
EngL 3090 General Topics: Environmental Imagination in 19th-Century America
EngL 3300 Multicultural American Literatures and Cultures: North American Imperialisms & Colonialisms
EngL 3330 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Literature: Stories for Our Time: GLBT Fiction, 1950-present
EngL 3090 General Topics: The Exotic & the Savage
EngL 3090 General Topics: Marxisms
EngL 3351W Voices from the Gaps: Writing and Art by Women of Color
EngL 3741 Literacy and American Cultural Diversity

Seems about par for the course at a liberal arts university.

14 good reasons why state supported education should be abolished. Or at the very least, limited to explicitly technical and financial (accountng) programs.

I wonder what the settlers in these states, and the early taxpayers would think if they saw what their efforts produced.

(11-30-2009 04:19 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  I wonder what the settlers in these states, and the early taxpayers would think if they saw what their efforts produced.

Knowing that the early settlers of Minnesota were of German and Scandinavian stock, they'd probably say

Out Loud to Their Neighbor: "it's fine you betcha."
Indoors to No One in Particular: "stoopid liberals."

(11-30-2009 04:59 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  

(11-30-2009 04:19 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  I wonder what the settlers in these states, and the early taxpayers would think if they saw what their efforts produced.

Knowing that the early settlers of Minnesota were of German and Scandinavian stock, they'd probably say

Out Loud to Their Neighbor: "it's fine you betcha."
Indoors to No One in Particular: "stoopid liberals."

I thought one of the reasons Minn. is so liberal historically is because of the way it was settled?

(11-30-2009 05:08 PM)GGniner Wrote:  I thought one of the reasons Minn. is so liberal historically is because of the way it was settled?

Very true, the liberal idea of helping the downtrodden is a very traditional Minnesota value, however throughout the entire state there is a swift undercurrent of quiet cultural conservatism.

Now there are some areas of the state that are as liberal as the most liberal areas of the country, particularly the inner city of Minneapolis in addition to a heavy Union influence in the Iron Range far up to the northeast.... but there also are some areas, such as the outer-ring suburbs, that are as conservative as some of the more conservative parts of the country.



I thought I read somewhere, but I can't seem to dredge up right now, that if you excluded Minneapolis-St. Paul, the State of Minnesota would probably be as traditionally red as the Dakotas.

(11-29-2009 04:48 PM)nomad2u2001 Wrote:  

(11-28-2009 10:57 PM)smn1256 Wrote:  When visiting U of M where does one go to learn of what good accomplishments a straight white male may have done? Somebody remind me what color, gender and sexual orientation (assumption) the architects and signatories of the Constitution were. Well, that's another college I can cross off my list that my son will apply to in the future.

Other races have done good things too you know?

Now that's a smooth move. It's understandable that you misinterpreted my post - I do it all the time. But instead of jumping up and down and calling me a racist you ask a simple question that puts the ball back in my court. I can either clarify my remarks or I can say racist things that will ruin my credibility here and subject me to the Spin Room beat down.

For this move I was going to give you a +2 but when I checked I noticed that at some point in time I already did.