"The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants" - Albert Camus

Friday, March 23, 2012

FCPS Teacher Does His Share to Re-elect Obama

It is no secret that the NEA, AFT, and other teachers' unions are in the back pocket of the Democrat party.  Needless to say, over 99% of their campaign donations go to Democrats in what can only be described as the scandal of the century where taxpayer dollars are recycled from the unions to Democrats and back in a continuous loop - in other words, financially supporting the ideological enemy of majority of the citizenry.  Those who follow the mini-scandals of the teachers' union leaders are also aware how dedicated they are to cultural Marxism*.  But I digress.

I live in Fairfax County, Virginia where I have two children in county schools which are renowned as being among the very best in the nation, but apparently not immune to the in-and-out of the classroom antics employed by union zealots.  According to a report by the Daily Caller, a middle school teacher in our county has assigned his students a little opposition research project on the GOP candidates' "weaknesses".  Further, the students were asked to prepare a strategy paper to exploit those weaknesses and forward their suggestions to the Obama campaign.

Now, thank God this did not happen in my daughter's middle school but, not being someone to step back and watch the system brainwash my kids, I nevertheless decided to e-mail the county school superintendent's office.  The following is the exchange:

12:25 PM (11 hours ago)

to CWDonohue, NWReese, Jack.Dale

Dear Ms. Donohue and Ms. Reese:
I would like to bring to your attention a serious concern as a parent of two current students in the county schools.  It is regarding lackof impartiality in the County schools.  As part of the Superintendent's Parent Advisory Council, I feel you are the most appropriate contacts for me to write to.

There have been reports that a teacher at Liberty Middle School, Michael Denman, assigned his students what obviously sounds like a partisan task that smacks of what might normally be expected in authoritarian regimes elsewhere.  His students were asked, in mid-January, to do opposition research on the Republican candidates' weaknesses and prepare a strategy paper to exploit those weaknesses, and then to locate an individual inside the Obama campaign to send their suggestions to.  In this group project, no group was asked to do the same for the current President.
This is simply a perfect example of outrageously partisan teacher behavior that gives public schools across the nation a bad reputation.  Partisanship, that seems to be the essence of teachers unions, has no place in the classroom.  We, the tax payers of the county, finance public schools to a great extent (with the rest coming from state and federal tax payer funds).  That, by definition, also means we finance the union dues that go to the same unions that are shamelessly partisan.  As such, these kinds of shameless partisan brain washing tactics are simply unacceptable in our county schools.  Individual
teachers simply cannot promote a political view point regardless of what side of the political spectrum they are demonstrating partiality to.

Fairfax County Public Schools have a great reputation as prime educational institutions among all public schools in the U.S.  Let's not ruin this reputation by letting a few rotten apples upset the whole cart.  Mr. Denman would do service to his students by concentrating more on our founding principles and the sense of fairness our founders displayed over two centuries ago - not assisting the current occupant of the White House to satisfy his selfish political ends.
Might I be so bold as to suggest that the superintendent's office issue a communique to all the teachers to refrain from bringing in partisan politics in to their classrooms?

Thank you for listening to my concerns that also reflect the concerns of thousands of other fair minded residents of the County who entrust you with their childrens' education.

Sincerely yours,
--

Shortly after, I received the reply I anticipated:


Donohue, Christine W. CWDonohue@fcps.edu

1:07 PM (11 hours ago)

To Jack, me, Nancy


We are very aware and unfortunately, the media has chosen not to cover the corrective action that was taken despite being sent that information. Thank you for taking the time to share your views. The assignment was meant to teach about the political process and was not intended to be an endorsement of one candidate over another. Students were not instructed to send their "research" to the Obama campaign.   However, the principal advised the teacher about the misperceptions that this assignment created and counseled him that, in the future, students should be given a choice in researching candidates from either major party. Also, the principal advised the teacher that he should emphasize to his students that this assignment was supposed to be learning more about the political  process and it was not to endorse a particular candidate.  The teacher agreed with the principal's direction.

Chris Walsh Donohue
Chief of Staff
Superintendent's Office
Fairfax County Public Schools
--
As you will note, the e mail was not even addressed to me personally.  I would not let a canned response be the last word on this matter, so I replied back:


1:41 PM (10 hours ago)

To Christine, Nancy, Jack


Ms. Donohue:

Thank you for your speedy response.  We all believe that the political process is a worthy subject to familiarize students with.  However, doing what amounts to be opposition research does NOT constitute an important part of such a wide subject matter that has a lot more relevant aspects to cover than opposition research unless the students were majoring in it at college.  This is middle school and as the parent of a 7th grader, I am well aware how precious instructional time is.

As I mentioned, FCPS curriculum would do better educating the students more in depth with the rather complex and infinitely more valuable subject matter of our founding rather than focusing on clearly politically motivated antics of certain teachers.

I stay on top of what likes of AFT and NEA are up to, so none of this surprises me.  I just expect the FCPS to hold itself to higher standards than other jurisdictions. Thank you.

Sincerely yours,
--

The moral of the story is simple and one to take to your heart if you entrust your precious ones to the NEA/AFT goons who shamelessly call themselves teachers.  Ask them what they learned in school, and if you find anything objectionable, contact your principal right away before you give an earful to your county school superintendent.  Do not back down and confront them at every occasion that calls for confrontation.  The unions are playing hardball while most parents are trying to figure out T-ball.  Wake up America before you find your children replaced by good little robots. 

-----
*To those unfamiliar with the term, cultural Marxism is the 20th century movement founded by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (among other contemporaries as well as late comers such as Frances Fox Pivens), who astutely realized that Marxism could only realistically be achieved over the long run by systematic brainwashing of the society through education and culture rather than by violent revolution.  In other words, like termites devouring a wooden structure, hollowing out and rotting the structure of the society is the best way to prepare for eventually collapsing it. 
This is a rather genius approach as incremental curricular achievements (sarc.) by the public school systems ("Heather Has Two Mommies" anyone?) and cultural outlets like Hollywood or TV (where all sense of traditional decency has long been abandoned) have been overlooked as minor inconveniences while their cumulative effects over the past half a century have prepared society for the right politician to give it the final nudge or "fundamentally" alter.  This is the moment that the movement has been waiting for; but I digress.  More on that later.

1 comment:

A. Sinan Unur said...

Sadly, this is edumacation as usual. Choice in the schooling market is the only real answer. A real choice in that market can only exist if public schools have to compete for funds on an equal footing with private schools.

Until that possibly utopian goal is attained, however, the best we can do is follow your advice.