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School board group in Pennsylvania quits national association
for suggesting angry parents are ‘domestic terrorists’
17 Oct, 2021 00:50
Pennsylvania state’s association of school boards has voted to leave the national federation for such governing bodies, saying the “final straw” was a letter to President Joe Biden that likened parents to “domestic terrorists.”
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) told members in a memo sent earlier this week that its directors had voted unanimously to withdraw from the National School Boards Association (NSBA). The state group has had a number of concerns about the NSBA’s direction in recent years, and the letter to Biden cemented the decision to quit the federation.
“This misguided approach has made our work and that of many school boards more difficult,” the PSBA said.
The most recent national controversy surrounding a letter to President Biden suggesting that some parents should be considered domestic terrorists was the final straw.
The state group added that the NSBA’s call for federal intervention against parents who are irate over school curriculums and policies has “fomented more disputes and cast partisanship on our work on behalf of school directors.” The PSBA said it seeks to “find common ground” and support all school boards, “no matter their politics.”
Now is not the time for more politics and posturing. It is the time for solutions to the many challenges facing education.
The NSBA letter to Biden, which was sent late last month, resulted in the US Department of Justice responding just a week later by announcing that the FBI would be investigating threats against school officials and staffers. NSBA executive director Chip Slaven praised the swift federal crackdown as “a strong message to individuals with violent intent who are focused on causing chaos, disrupting public schools and driving wedges between school boards and the parents, students and communities they serve.”
The trade group’s letter encouraged the Biden administration to investigate and classify the “heinous actions” of parents who allegedly threatened school officials as a form of “domestic terrorism and hate crimes.”
School board meetings across the US in recent months have featured calls for resignations and demands that curriculums be reformed after parents realized that in many cases, children are being taught that white people are racist oppressors and non-white people are victims of systemic racism. Parents also challenged curriculums that they considered anti-American, as well as such policies as teaching about gender identity as early as kindergarten. Allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms and locker rooms of their choice also has been contentious.
A parent in Loudoun County, Virginia was tackled by police and arrested after an emotional outburst at a school board meeting in June. That parent, Scott Smith, now plans to sue school officials for mishandling and allegedly trying to cover up the rape of his daughter by a 14-year-old male student who exploited the district’s gender-affirmation policies to access the girls’ restroom. The same “gender fluid” student allegedly raped another girl after being transferred to another Loudoun County school.
It would be interesting to know what comments on the student accompanied him to the new school!
Smith accused the Loudoun County School Board of smearing him as a dangerous troublemaker for political reasons, and he said the coverup gave the alleged rapist an opportunity to victimize another young girl.
‘Priceless’: US students accused of ‘hypocrisy’ as they back
diversity quotas… unless it comes to college football team
17 Oct, 2021 14:20
A report featuring interviews with University of Florida students has led to claims of hypocrisy regarding diversity quotas after some of those questioned changed their tune when it applied to their college football team.
A reporter from conservative news website Campus Reform performed interviews with students on game day as their team took on and eventually lost to Alabama last month, and were asked if they would support diversity quotas some institutions are spending millions of dollars on implementing when applied "in the workplace and the college admissions process".
At first, in the clip already seen by close to a quarter of a million people, every student surveyed showed a preference for diversity when it comes to making decisions on hiring staff and admissions.
"They should probably have diversity quotas for college admissions and a bunch of other things," explained one.
"As a first-generation college student from a Hispanic household it’s very important," stated another.
When the reporter shifted the focus to college sports, however, and whether diversity protocol should be applied to them, there appeared to be a marked difference in attitude among the same students who immediately rejected the notion.
Instead, they cited the need to allow factors such as talent, ability and skill be make or break.
"Obviously, with sports, it’s talent first over anything," stressed one, as another claimed that quotas in sports teams don't "make much sense" and "should be based on skill".
The inconsistency in their opinions was justified through arguments that sports are "different" than general admissions and hiring.
The students were then presented with what would happen if a diversity quota, based on the University of Florida's own demographics, influenced the Gators’ starting offense and left it without the majority of its current starters while only one black star would remain.
Such a conundrum saw some interviewees questioning the logic that resulted in their initial backing for diversity quotas with one saying: "We’d probably be losing because we recruit based on skill and if we recruited based on diversity we’d probably be worse."
They were asked if their minds had been changed on diversity quotas "in other sectors like the work place, like college admissions", and conceded that the comparison was "a good way to open your eyes" and "admit students based on their scores and their academic merit more so than diversity".
"I don’t necessarily think quotas are the way to go. I know they’re unconstitutional. I know they’re wrong," remarked another participant.
The comments on the YouTube video numbered more than 3,600, with one popular remark reading: "This is priceless. They don’t even realize their hypocrisy until pointed out."
"The reality is that conversations like these may be the very first time anyone on campus has engaged these students in a simple critical thinking exercise about their beliefs," said another person.
"That illustrates how politically monolithic campuses are these days. Campuses are often ideological bubbles surrounded by reality."
‘Feminist’ bookstore SLATED for ‘sexist’ decision to remove books
by bestselling ‘female’ author who turned out to be three men
18 Oct, 2021 15:02
A Spanish bookstore that only stocks works by women authors has come under fire over “sexism” and “censorship” for deshelving novels by Carmen Mola – after it emerged that the name was a pseudonym adopted by three male writers.
Over the weekend, the Madrid-based store, named Mujeres & Compania (Women & Company), had posted a TikTok showing the books being packed into a box to be returned to the publisher Penguin Random House. The video, which was widely shared on social media, has sparked furious debate.
It was prompted by the revelation on Friday that Mola, previously described by the publisher as a publicity-shy fortysomething university professor who wrote acclaimed crime thrillers in her spare time, was a front used for years by television script writers Agustin Martinez, Jorge Diaz, and Antonio Mercero.
The trio revealed their identity while accepting the 2021 Planeta Award and a cheque for €1 million ($1.16 million) at the 70th edition of the high-profile literary awards last week. During an interview with El Pais newspaper, Mercero said that they “didn’t hide behind a woman, we hid behind a name.”
However, the revelation rocked Spain’s literary world and drew anger from several influential personalities, including Beatriz Gimeno – former director of equality watchdog Women’s Institute – who branded the men as “scammers” who used the “false profile” to hoodwink “readers and journalists.”
Using the #CarmenMola hashtag, the bookstore posted the video as its “contribution” to the scandal on Saturday with an accompanying caption using a pun on the Spanish slang word ‘Mola’ (meaning cool) to say it was “more cool that men do not occupy it all”.
The store, which describes itself on Twitter as “feminist and non-sexist,” also mentioned in the video that, in 2018 – the year in which Mola’s bestselling book ‘La Novia Gitana’ (The Gypsy Bride) hit the shelves – “only 32% of the books published were written by women.”
However, the majority of Spanish social media users criticized the decision to remove Mola’s books as evidence of the store’s “sexism,” since it had not “judged the works on literary merit.” Many termed it “censorship” – with a number of people comparing the act to “book burning.”
“If a bookstore sells only men’s books, you would criticize it as much as possible saying that they are macho, that women are not given the option of being a writer, etc. That is not equality and it is one thing that you should be clear about,” one user tweeted.
Several commenters said the store owners had been “blinded by ideology,” with one person claiming they had “confused feminism with hembrism” – apparently referring to the theory that legitimizes contempt and attacks on men because of their sex. Another person described the act as “machismo with skirts.”
Others came out in defense of the store, with some users noting that it was its right as a private company to decide which books to stock.
In response to the backlash – described by the store as “patriarchal violence” that was “inevitable” after its “political decision” – the owners then tweeted on Sunday that it had decided to “block trolls” and take some “time offline” for the “self-care” of the shop and its customers.
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