like” the whitened people who contributed to white power and segregation.”
When you question far-left demagogues in charge of your children’s education, liberal families in Newton, Massachusetts, have a reality test.
Beginning in 2022, several Newton Public Schools parents who were interviewed by The Boston Globe reported that they began to tone opposition to commitments to “dismantle buildings rooted in prejudice.”
But … how could such noble targets be in any way inappropriate?
Because as happens much too often ( and allegedly was the case in Newton ), they lead to the dismantling of advanced courses, “equity” is defined not as “fairness” but “equal outcomes”, and antiracism programs “emphasize differences rather than commonalities”.
One concerned family, an refugee from Colombia, said Newton’s capital thoughts were “ideology surpassing student needs”. Ability-level ( tracked ) and advanced courses were abolished, and in their place came “multilevel” classes — the justification being” students at varying levels would learn together”.
After all, white and Asian pupils were overrepresented in honors courses, while blacks and Latinos were the lot in “less hard” counterparts.
Three years ago, the families started a plea to create a familial “advisory screen” to provide input on intellectual matters, but they faced “fierce criticism”.
From the history:
The parents and their supporters were portrayed as dog-whistling racists pursuing the interests of right-wing regional organizations both online and in public.
Social media comments painted their part as “racism cloaked as intellectual quality” and “right-wing engagement cloaked as parental problem”.
PTO newsletters opposed them, as did the teachers ‘ union and the powerful regional party Families Organizing for Racial Justice, which claimed in an message that some petitioners” problem the need for any activities related to microaggressions, inclusion, respect, or belonging”. …
At]a ] four-hour-plus meeting, one speaker— a professor — compared the petition’s backers to the white women who helped perpetuate segregation and white supremacy.
MORE: Newton teacher receives’ All Lives Matter ‘ sticker, cops called in
Indeed, according to the FORJ email,” study excellence for one of my children can and should look different from academic excellence for the other.” They have two distinct needs and are two different people. ( This actually seems like good argument for ability-level classes. )
But now, district teachers are balking at Newton’s “equity” changes. A math/physics teacher who wrote an op-ed acknowledged tracking students has its “problems”, but multi-level courses “are worse”.
” Classes may appear more diverse with all students mixed in one room”, the teacher said,” but no data have been presented to suggest these classes are actually helping Black, Latino, or low-income students. Instead, we have first-hand experience that the students who are most in need of support are those who are least served by multilevel.
A Newton School Committee member continued, adding that he had” not heard from a single parent who believed their child would benefit from being in a multilevel class.”
The math teacher also made a point about something that I personally noticed: A teacher of foreign languages had stated that some students “are learning colors for the first time” while others are capable of “ananalyzing a Salvador Dali painting” in the mixed-class environment.
In my final years of teaching ( Spanish ), the state required that all students complete at least two foreign language studies for at least two consecutive years. As a result, I had classes with children who were easily condensed into irregular verbs in the target language (typically 30+ students ) and who were sitting alongside them.
In consequence, I managed to finish only about half of what I had already taught in my final year of school.
One of the Newton parents summarized the situation thusly:” Our kids internalize helplessness, fear, shame, and guilt from the learning initiatives designed to increase DEI. This is not how we implement social change and advancement.
MORE: Newton HS’s ‘ LGBTQ+ Awareness Day’ features ‘ Queer Jeopardy ‘
IMAGE: Rupert Lowe MP/X
Follow The College Fix on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
