By Nancy Thorner -
A guest editorial for the Chicago GOP by Vince Kolber, Oppose Culturally Responsive Teaching & Leading Standards, was forwarded to me by Joseph A. Morris, esq, as grist for an article to share with Illinois Review readers. Vince Kolber subsequently gave his permission to quote from his editorial.
As related by Mr. Kolber in his guest editorial:
"On Tuesday, February 16, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) of the Illinois General Assembly will vote on a new rule already approved by the Illinois State Board of Education. The rule’s title, which might as well have been dreamed up by a propagandist like Goebbels, is called “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards.” Assuming the rule is ratified on February 16, which will most likely occur, it will mandate that teachers fulfill a whole slew of progressive, politically-correct objectives, including but not limited to:
- “Understand and value the notion that multiple lived experiences exist, that there is not one ‘correct’ way of doing or understanding something.” This could mean that if a student’s parent is a drug-addict, his teacher would say that there is no single correct way to parent.
- “Recognize how their identity (Race/ethnicity, national origin, language, sex and gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical/developmental/emotional ability, socioeconomic class, religion, etc.) affects their perspectives and beliefs about pedagogy and students.” An affront to our Judeo-Christian foundation and a promotion of secularism (let’s not forget a rising sensitivity to Islam!)
- “Assess how their biases and perceptions affect their teaching practice and how they access tools to mitigate their own behavior (racism, sexism, homophobia, unearned privilege, Eurocentrism, etc.). Belief in God will be relegated to the bias ash heap.
- “Provide multiple opportunities for parents to communicate in their language and method of preference.” Continuation of the Left’s effort to divide through the multiplication of languages with a hiring spree for translators, thereby diverting more dollars from the classroom.
- “Engage with students’ families and community members outside of the classroom to develop a more holistic understanding of the students’ lived experience.” Open season for taxpayer-funded field trips to leftist political rallies.
Needless to say, this proposed rule is a complete encroachment on our liberties and will be imposed upon a bureaucracy already smothered with woke-ism and virtue-signaling."
Public schools have been moving toward ultra-woke curricula for the past several years, but the floodgates are about to open. As Stanley Kurtz describes, new curriculum standards in Illinois will take leftist extremism to a new level, and other states will not be far behind. Teachers who do not embrace propagandizing their students with progressive ideology might put their employment in danger, while students will either submit to the radical philosophies or risk losing their A in the class.
Kudos to Rep. Steve Reick (R)
IL Rep. Steve Reick (R), in an article posted on January 6, 2021, Culturally Responsive Teaching Putting Activism Before Learning, raised alarm over what the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, of which Reick is a member, will be asked to approve as an amendment to Section 24 which layers “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards” onto the minimums established in Section 130.
Wrote Reick: "Like every state, Illinois requires that programs for developing teachers adhere to a defined pedagogy by which certain standards of competency in the subject matter are to be taught and which assure mastery of the means of imparting that knowledge to students. Our standards are laid out in 23 Ill. Adm. Code 24. Section 24.130 contains the minimum requirements for any program leading to teacher certification, such as mastery of subject matter, varying plans of instruction for diverse students and the like."
"If adopted, these standards will lard our teaching programs with additional mandates just at the time when Illinois is suffering from a shortage of teachers. At the start of the 2020 school year, there were 2,000 teacher vacancies reported in Illinois schools. With these new requirements, we risk increasing the teacher shortage and losing quality, new teachers. But what we’re really seeing here is not so much an attempt to expand our teacher rolls as it is a means by which those who set education policy are cementing social activism into our schools. I don’t say this solely based upon what the amendment itself says, but also upon an examination of the reading list upon which ISBE relied in creating the standard.”
Eagle Forum sounds off
This informative article by Eagle Forum sounds off on the same issue in Insights, Political Orthodoxy and Re-education of Third Graders:
As quoted in the article:
"This amendment does not establish a “woke” curriculum on its own. What it does is create a vehicle by which curriculum will be curated to conform to the standards, which will ultimately have the same effect. In a recent article in National Review, the author examined the trend of creating new history and civics standards for which this amendment will be the implementing vehicle, using the initiatives that are found in IllinoisCivics.org as an example. The Chicago Public School system has begun to implement The 1619 Project Curriculum as part of its curriculum, even though the assertions in the 1619 Project as credible history have been strongly and effectively rebuffed."
"The Amendment is nothing more than a Trojan Horse which will only accelerate the movement to get an undefined progressive agenda permanently into our schools."
"The most inadvertently hilarious part of the standards is their insistence that there is “not one ‘correct’ way of doing or understanding something.” Except for Critical Race Theory, that is. Woke ideology is the one correct way of teaching, according to the new Illinois standards. The notes of the committee that created the proposed standards include a passage saying teacher preparation programs must be “forced” to teach Critical Race Theory. Relativism for thee but not for me."
Opposition to New Standards
Please reach out to the members of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules listed below before the vote on Tuesday, February 16.
Contact IL Rep. Andre Thapedi (D) Contact IL Rep. Frances Ann Hurley (D) Contact IL Rep. Keith Wheeler (R) Contact IL Rep. Michael Halpin (D) Contact IL Rep. Steve Reick (R) Contact IL Rep. Tom Demmer (R) Contact IL State Senator Antonio Munoz (D) Contact IL State Senator Bill Cunningham (D) Contact IL State Senator John Curran (R) Contact IL State Senator Kim Lightford (D)
This form can also be used to submit comments.
Below are two additional relevant articles to check out as motivation to engage in opposition to the draconian proposed Illinois Education Agenda up for a vote on Tuesday, February 14, 2021.
Proposed Rule to Require Teachers in Illinois promote Progressive Views by Greg Bishop, posted on Heartland's School Reform News, Nov. 10, 2020.
Woke School Mandate Garners National Condemnation written by Laurie Higgins and posted at the Illinois Family Institute on February 4, 2021.
Time is running out! Don't delay! Contact members of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.
