by Marc L. Sabin, ScD, Corvallis
The recent (Jul, 2021) Summer 2021 Board Update for the Corvallis School District has interesting information that is important to all members of this community.
Two items were positive in the Update. First, masks, which are of questionable value for youngsters in the first place, will not be required. Apparently, the decision to have a child wear a mask or not will be left to the parent, the child and the child’s medical care professional. We hope that no political shaming will be undertaken to intimidate students into wearing masks.
Second, the Board explicitly states “Critical Race Theory [CRT] will not be taught in Corvallis.” This is good, but the board also says that Social Emotional Learning (SEL) will become an “additional area of focus” for the district. No further information is provided as to what this “additional area of focus” will include other than to say that a national presenter on SEL will work with counselors and staff. That presenter, Stacy York, is advertising a Boot Camp in Corvallis on 25 Aug. If you Google “Stacy York and SEL,” you will find links to information about her and her work.
The problem is that SEL is in many ways a pseudonym for Critical Race Theory used by the progressive left (including school districts) to obfuscate their true intent to indoctrinate students with the tenets of the Marxist ideology on which CRT is based.
In response to the rising tide of parental and other citizen opposition to CRT, leftists seek to redefine their activities while continuing down an unchanging path toward their long term objective of destroying the wealth, power, and freedom of this nation and assuming total control over the lives of its citizens. Instead of CRT they call it by names such as Transformative Social Emotional Learning, which is the same thing. One statement of SEL objectives is strikingly similar to the words of CRT . It proclaims that “In order for SEL to adequately serve those from underserved communities – and promote optimal development outcomes for all students and adults – it must cultivate in them the knowledge, attitudes, and skills required for critical examination and collaborative action to address root causes of inequities.” (Ref:https://www.panoramaed.com/blog/transformative-sel )
An OpEd in the Wall Street Journal edition of 22 June by Gerald Baker lays out a clear comparison of the tyrannical, mind numbing approach of CRT with that of true education in which students are taught to evaluate ideas with critical thinking rather than by rote propaganda. The focus of CRT in viewing everything though the divisive prism of racism is diametrically opposed to the ideals of Martin Luther King’s goal of a color-blind society.
It is interesting that this Board Update includes the process for curriculum updates. Parents should demand the Board provide them a detailed description of what is encompassed in their plan to focus on SEL and what, when, and how curriculum changes were approved in accordance with the described process.
Clark P Lee says
So all these decades, that family, friends and neighbors have been counting our votes and teaching our children, now we can’t trust them?
Sounds and smells like cow flop to me!
I would wager that the proponents of this ‘Boogy man in the classroom” thinking have never spent a day in their child’s classroom and rarely if ever, show up for parent/teacher meetings.
If you want to improve your local education system, a focus on helping parents to be supportive of their child’s educational success rather than fabricating ideological issues (outside of Philosophy class) would be more constructive.
And by the by, reading Karl Marx, makes you aware of Marx, not a marxist.