Blogger-teacher Steven Singer lists five big lies about public schools that Republicans are pushing.
Be it noted that he leaves out a sixth big lie about public schools: some GOP nuts claim that public schools are putting litter boxes in classrooms for students who say they are cats. No one has identified a classroom where this has happened, but why should facts get in the way of propaganda?
Singer begins:
Critical race theory, pornographic school books, and other bogeymen haunt their platforms without any evidence that this stuff is a reality.
Doug Mastriano, the GOP nominee for Governor of Pennsylvania, actually promises to ban pole dancing in public schools.
Pole dancing!
“On day one, the sexualization of our kids, pole dancing, and all this other crap that’s going on will be forbidden in our schools,” he says.
Mr. Mastriano, I hate to tell you this, but the only school in the commonwealth where there was anything like what you describe was one of those charter schools you love so much. The Harambee Institute of Science and Technology Charter School in Philadelphia used to run an illegal nightclub in the cafeteria after dark.
But at authentic public schools with things like regulations and school boards – no. That just doesn’t happen here.
Maybe if your plan to waste taxpayer dollars on universal school vouchers goes through you’ll get your wish.
Singer goes on to list the following five lies:
1. Teaching boys to hate themselves.
2. Teaching kids to be gay.
3. Teaching kids to be trans.
Open the link to read about the other two.
They are all smears, lies, and propaganda.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Kids who think they are pole-dancing kitty cats.
As delusional as Private Political Fiefdoms who PRETEND they are The People’s Choice.
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Caught In A Lie!
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Thanks for this clear and concise post. Singer debunks many the lies being told about public education. He does it with facts and evidence, two things the GOP fails to do. Public schools are an easy target of the culture wars. The goal is create dissension and mistrust in public education in order to turn a public institution into a private cash cow. Right wing extremists have no concern or empathy for anyone that does not fit their agenda, including vulnerable students. And no, it does not harm anyone to change gender pronouns for some students. Even though the mental health of our young people has been highlighted in the news recently, the ignorant right wing behaves like playground bullies by targeting vulnerable, marginalized young people that cannot defend themselves. Shame on them!
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Absolutely correct! The real public schools and their unionized teachers are the national punching bag, scapegoat and sacrificial lamb for the GOP/libertarians (and some corporate Democrats, sadly). It is the GOP that is spreading these horrible rumors (total lies) about public schools. What’s next, the GOP will claim that public schools are controlled by alien civilizations from the Ring Nebula, NGC 6720.
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An actual poll of public school parents recently showed that between 70% and 80% were happy with their children’s public schools.
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key word and truly scary word: TARGETING
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Yes, well, the hard-right has been after–trying to weaken or destroy–public education since the Supreme Court ordered desegregation in ’54. That effort picked up steam from the Nixon/Reagan “Southern strategy,” and was also fueled by the right’s hatred of unions. In the ’60’s and ’70’s America’s public schools unionized in the AFT and NEA. The NEA then broke tradition and endorsed a candidate for President–Jimmy Carter, a Democrat. As the private sector unions were losing members because of plant closings and relocations, the public sector unions became even more important in the scheme of things. So, we got the increased attacks on public schools as “government” schools, etc. “A Nation at Risk” was an opening salvo in that round (which included confused Democrats who wanted better schools for minorities), followed by Clinton & Bush agreeing on “Goals 2000,” and followed by “NCLB” and “RTTT.” What’s happening now is partly the result of the development of a kind of fascism in the current Republican Party, and a natural outgrowth of the “Privatization Party.”
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I’m surprised he could limit himself to five. Don’t forget to add those of DFER-types.
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The biggest lie for decades has been that schools are failing
Lies come and go, but the Big Lie endures.
And it’s a nonpartisan lie.
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Sometimes a nonpartisan lie equals bipartisan agreement!
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Only five??????
Republicans and neoliberals have been lying about the public schools, public school teachers, and teachers’ unions for decades, at least as far back as 1983. The only limit to their lies is how limited their imaginations are. And when their imaginations are too limited, they pay someone else to think of more lies.
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As Mark Twain said, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and DeSantis.
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Speaking of GOP lies.
How can you tell when Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is lying?
His interest rates are moving up.
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TARGO!!!!!
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Kids today are in fact being taught to sexualize everything including themselves. They are also being taught to hate everything about themselves, sexually, racially, and otherwise. They are being taught to hate others as well. I see it every day in school. Republican extremists are SPOT ON CORRECT about all of that. They just made one mistake. It’s not in the schools where the teaching of hate and disgust take place; it’s on the web. It’s being taught by tech CEOs: Peter Thiel, Larry Ellison, Meg Whitman, Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Reed Hastings… It’s being taught by billionaires, Republican billionaires and Republican Lite billionaires. It’s being taught by Republicans.
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7 Truths About Public Education That Must Be Addressed, or Else . . .
1) Rampant cell phone use combined with 40+ million Chromebooks and 7+ million iPads that dominate our classrooms have completely transformed the secondary education landscape (all screens, all the time) – and not in a good way.
2) Photomath, Calculator Soup, Chegg, Write My Essay and countless other apps and websites have normalized cheating and made it readily accessible in the classroom. (See #1)
3) Human (child) sacrifice on the altar of standardized test score data has produced an unprecedented expansion of the K to 8 (and beyond) null curricula, closing doors and shuttering windows of opportunity.
4) Embracing debunked methodologies such as discovery learning, constructivism, project-based learning along with the mistaken notion that 21st century thinking, and problem-solving skills can be taught in an intellectual vacuum. All while rejecting and even ridiculing the importance of content and procedural knowledge.
5) Ignoring cognitive learning theory and our understanding of developing young brains has pushed advanced, subjective, and often abstract standards
down into elementary classrooms in lieu of teaching fundamentals/basics.
Collective failure to understand that, with few exceptions, students throughout the K to 12 public school years remain at nearly every level, concrete, novice learners.
6) Failure to create fair, just, and redemptive disciplinary codes that include concrete limits of student disruption, misbehavior, and apathy.
7) Retaining 20th century school year schedules and grade level promotion policies that shun any sense of urgency or student responsibility – and that have produced a path of least resistance to the graduation stage that is laughable.
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