Tuesday, September 26, 2023
AND I NOTICED A HEADLINE on page one of The Seattle Times the other morning that read: “Students of color now the majority in Washington Public Schools.” Simon also fills the bill in that …
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AND I NOTICED A HEADLINE on page one of The Seattle Times the other morning that read: “Students of color now the majority in Washington Public Schools.” Simon also fills the bill in that regard (half Korean or “Asian”). He’s also a quarter Jewish (but that probably falls under the old former racist standard of “white” when it can be torn away from some self-assumed superiority of religiosity). In all, Simon is 100% American.
Meanwhile, I also noticed that former Trump appointee Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now governor of Arkansas, took advantage of the rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s inspirational State of the Nation speech — to brag about her own youth and attack the age of Joe.
As of June 14, 2022, Donald Trump turned 76 years old. Joe Biden was 78 during his 2021 inauguration into the presidential office. He was 77 at the time of his victory at the polls. No matter. By the time Biden’s my age it will be 2037 and he will have done a lot toward preparing the country for climate change . . . in addition to taking it in other positive directions.
It seems that many Republicans rather would redeem themselves than ally any further with Donald Trump. Which leaves us looking at Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who probably will get around to declaring his candidacy whenever the polls appear most favorable. Everyone else of Republican consequence at the moment is pretty much a no-name to the general public.
However, quoting Jelani Cobb in The New Yorker, DeSantis last year signed into law the Stop Woke Act, “a piece of Trumpist culture warfare that regulates how subject matter relating to race can be taught in public schools.” (The same board had banned the teaching of critical race theory in public schools in 2021.)
“DeSantis also signed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which limits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools and became the centerpiece in a conflict over gay rights with Disney, one of the state’s largest employers.”
DeSantis also voiced concern over inclusion of “queer theory” in a proposed advanced placement course in African American studies rejected by the state’s department of education. “When you try to use Black history to shoehorn in queer theory, you are clearly trying to use that for political purposes,” he said.
Cobb also noted that “DeSantis shared some of his own ideas about the nation’s past during a gubernatorial debate last fall, stating that ‘it’s not true’ that ‘the United States was built on stolen land.’ That claim, of course, is starkly at odds not only with the history of westward expansion but with the history of Florida; thousands of Native Americans were forcibly relocated from the region with the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
“In general, the governor’s objective is seemingly to provide white Floridians, from a young age, with a version of the past that they can be comfortable with regardless of whether it’s true.”
So much for “shoehorning” and details of history. If I had the option here, I would cast that previous paragraph in larger and bolder type — as it describes just one more snake-oil attempt at selling White superiority. I don’t want DeSantis making decisions on American education.
The A.P. (Advanced Placement) program is being piloted in 60 high schools across the country including at least one in Florida). There seems to be little problem teaching it — except in Florida. On Jan. 12, the state’s education department sent a letter to the College Board, which oversees implementation of the A.P. courses. It read that the curriculum is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
OF RELATED INTEREST to DeSantis’s comment to land not being stolen: The “Trail of Tears” involved the forced relocation of the Five Civilized Native American tribes between the 1830s-1850s to lands west of the Mississippi River via the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Five Civilized Tribes included the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, and Chickasaw. President Andrew Jackson supported and signed the Indian Removal Act into law.
Donald Trump — despite his gaping and well-demonstrated ignorance of American history — developed an unusual fixation with the seventh president. He described Jackson as "an amazing figure in American history” and hung a portrait of the early president in the Oval Office.
15 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
Justin Hale
Governor Sanders was merely stating a fact, comparing her age to that of President Biden, but I guess if you're a partisan Democrat you'd see that as "bragging and attacking".
"DeSantis last year signed into law the Stop Woke Act"
" The Legislature approved the measure in March along mostly party-line votes. The bill (HB 7) prohibits any teaching that could make students feel they bear personal responsibility for historic wrongs because of their race, color, *** or national origin." (https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2022/04/22/florida-governor-desantis-stop-woke-act-race-bill-law-sign-discussions-republicans/7403239001/)
Tom, do you really want your Grandson to be taught that BS?
"DeSantis also signed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill"
"The Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, commonly known as the Don't Say Gay act or as the Don't Say Gay or Trans act, is a Florida state law passed in 2022 that regulates public schools in Florida. The act most controversially and most notably prohibits public schools from having "classroom discussion"[a] or giving "classroom instruction"[b] about sexual orientation or gender identity from kindergarten through to third grade or in any manner deemed to be against state standards in all grades; prohibits public schools from adopting procedures or student support forms that maintain the confidentially of a disclosure by a student, including the confidentially of a disclosure by a student of their sexual orientation or gender identity, from parents; and requires public schools to bear all the costs of all lawsuits filed by aggrieved parents."
Tom, do you really want your Grandson tutored in sexual deviancy?
Wednesday, February 15 Report this
MargeS
An unbiased education is what most people want.
Wednesday, February 15 Report this
Justin Hale
"An unbiased education is what most people want", exactly!
That's why the Florida legislature was correct and Gov. DeSantis was right to sign those bills.
I certainly don't want my Grandchildren taught that sexual deviancy is normal and that because of the color of their skin, they are somehow a victim or a victimizer.
Thursday, February 16 Report this
MargeS
Your equating peoples sexual preference with "sexual deviancy" When I said an unbiased education, I was referring to bigots, who only want people to learn about what they choose, not what they dislike or find "deviant" If you think De Santis is not a bigot, you better do a little more research. What you learn in school has little to do with real life, better than it was when I was in school, but the U.S. has a long way to go before they can say this country treats everyone equal, and I believe you have proved my point.
Thursday, February 16 Report this
Justin Hale
Some people's sexual preferences are deviant.
I don't know about you but I send/sent my children to school to learn the ABCs, not the LGBQT & BLMs.
" When I said an unbiased education, I was referring to bigots, who only want people to learn about what they choose". Well, wouldn't that apply to those who wanted these race and *** materials taught to our children and are now calling those who oppose "bigots"?
Friday, February 17 Report this
Thomas Camfield
Just to set the record straight, all five of my GRANDCHiLDREN have completed at least four years of college. It's my GREAT GRANDSON who's pictured on the billboard. His father's in med school and well into his 30s. A granddaughter has her M.D. but is still studying medicine.
Friday, February 17 Report this
Justin Hale
Congratulations Tom.
The question remains the same, do you want ANY of your offspring being schooled in sexual deviancy or race shaming?
Friday, February 17 Report this
MargeS
The problem is “You can't understand someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes.” author anonymous
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird"
Empathy is the concept of not only walking in someone else's shoes, but also understanding what they are going through and taking action.
'Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.
Just a few thoughts about understanding and empathy that some people seem to have forgotten.
Saturday, February 18 Report this
Justin Hale
The first three thoughts are nonsense, they all deal with a singular notion that we could understand others IF only we could only be in their skin or walk in their shoes. Well, we can't. Hel, most of us have a hard enough time with that "know thyself" thing.
And what does any of that have to do with teaching children about sexual deviancy or race shaming? What?
I've asked the question for either you or Tom to respond to "do you want ANY of your offspring being schooled in sexual deviancy or race shaming?", the question goes unanswered.
Saturday, February 18 Report this
MargeS
Stupid comment.
Saturday, February 18 Report this
Thomas Camfield
It's always bothered me that Obama was immediately identified as our "first Black president" although he was half White Irish via his mother. I suspect that if he were 1/4 Black by ancestry and showed it, he'd have been promptly identified as non-white.
Sunday, February 19 Report this
Justin Hale
Isn't it telling that the two people on this comment thread who seem have a problem with the state of Florida passing laws against teaching race shaming and deviant *** practices to children in kindergarten won't answer the question put to them, do you want ANY of your offspring being schooled in sexual deviancy or race shaming?
Sunday, February 19 Report this
MargeS
still a stupid question.
Is there such a thing as a stupid question?
"Because there is an enormous amount of stupid questions. There are stupid people who say stupid things; so yeah, there is such a thing as a stupid question. https://garyvaynerchuk.com/
Monday, February 20 Report this
Justin Hale
In my second comment, I stated that I do not want my children exposed to classes that teach sexual deviancy or race shaming, I agree with the vote in Florida, and DeSantis signing those bills into law.
Tom and Marge disagree with those laws and yet will not say that they would be ok with their children in classes that would teach such topics. Typical liberal hypocrisy.
Monday, February 20 Report this
MargeS
Typical TROLL response.
Monday, February 20 Report this