The Christmas Miracle

By dianeravitch
December 25, 2021 //
18

What a wonderful story from World War 1. Please read it. These men and boys were not enemies. The politicians told them they were.

On a frosty, starlit night, a miracle took place. In 1914, a melody drifted over the darkness of No Man’s Land. First “O, Holy Night,” then “God Save the King.”

Peeking over their trenches for what must have been the first time in weeks, British soldiers were surprised to see Christmas trees lit with candles on the parapets of the enemy’s trenches.
Then a shout: “You no shoot, we no shoot!”

The Christmas Truce was a brief, spontaneous cease-fire that spread up and down the Western Front in the first year of World War I. It’s also a symbol of the peace on Earth and goodwill toward humans so often lacking not just on the battlefront but in our everyday lives.

In that spirit, the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City has published an online gallery of hundreds of accounts of such Christmas truces — letters home from soldiers that were published in British papers.

Here, a sampling of these letters shows the variety and wonder of the Christmas Truce:

“This has been the most wonderful Christmas I have ever struck. We were in the trenches on Christmas Eve, and about 8.30 the firing was almost at a stand still. Then the Germans started shouting across to us, ‘a happy Christmas’ and commenced putting up lots of Christmas trees with hundreds of candles on the parapets of their trenches.” — Cpl. Leon Harris, 13th Battalion, London Regiment (Kensington)

“At 2 am on Christmas morning a German band played a couple of German tunes and then ‘Home, Sweet Home’ very touchingly which made some fellows think a bit. After they played ‘God Save The King’ and we all cheered.” — Pvt. H. Dixon, Royal Warwickshire Regiment

“We would sing a song or a carol first and then they would sing one and I tell you they can harmonise all right.” — Pvt. G. Layton, A Company, 1st Royal Warwickshire Regiment
“Half-way they were met by four Germans, who said they would not shoot on Christmas Day if we did not. They gave our fellows cigars and a bottle of wine and were given a cake and cigarettes. When they came back I went out with some more of our fellows and we were met by about 30 Germans, who seemed to be very nice fellows. I got one of them to write his name and address on a postcard as a souvenir. All through the night we sang carols to them and they sang to us and one played ‘God Save the King’ on a mouth organ.” — Rifleman C.H. Brazier, Queen’s Westminsters of Bishop’s Stortford

German and British soldiers stand together on the battlefield near Ploegsteert, Belgium, during the Christmas Truce. (Imperial War Museum/AP)

“We soon came up to them. About 30 could speak English. One fellow wanted a letter posted to his sweetheart in London.” — Gunner Masterton
“Between the trenches there were a lot of dead Germans whom we helped to bury. In one place where the trenches are only 25 yards apart we could see dead Germans half-buried, their legs and gloved hands sticking out of the ground. The trenches in this position are so close that they are called ‘The Death Trap’, as hundreds have been killed there.” — A junior officer

“On Christmas Day we were out of the trenches along with the Germans, some of whom had a song and dance, while two of our platoons had a game of football. It was surprising to see the German soldiers — some appeared old, others were boys, and others wore glasses . . . A number of our fellows have got addresses from the Germans and are going to try and meet one another after the war.” — Pvt. Farnden, Rifle Brigade

“On our right was a regiment of Prussian Guards and on our left was a Saxon regiment. On Christmas morning some of our fellows shouted across to them saying that if they would not fire our chaps would meet them half-way between the trenches and spend Christmas as friends. They consented to do so. Our chaps at once went out and when in the open Prussians fired on our men killing two and wounding several more. The Saxons, who behaved like gentlemen, threatened the Prussians if they did the same trick again. Well, during Christmas Day our fellows and the Saxons fixed up a table between the two trenches and they spent a happy time together, and exchanged souvenirs and presented one another with little keepsakes.” — A British soldier


“One of our men was given a bottle of wine in which to drink the King’s health. The regiment actually had a football match with the Germans who beat them 3-2.” — A British officer

American filmmaker, Wilbur H. Durborough made a silent documentary film called “On the Firing Line With the Germans” about the German army during World War I. (Courtesy: Library of Congress)


“You said I should probably hardly know it was Christmas Day, but far from it; we had a most extraordinary day and quite different from others. . . . Lots of English and Germans met between the two lines and had talks . . . there were bicycle races on bikes without tyres found in the ruins of the house.” — A British officer

“A hundred yards or so in the rear of our trenches there were houses that had been shelled. These were explored with some of the regulars and we found old bicycles, top-hats, straw hats, umbrellas etc. We dressed ourselves up in these and went over to the Germans. It seemed so comical to see fellows walking about in top-hats and with umbrellas up. Some rode the bicycles backwards. We had some fine sport and made the Germans laugh.” — Brazier

“I daresay you will be surprised at me writing a letter on such paper as this, but you will be more surprised when I tell you that it contained cake given to one of our men by a German officer on Christmas Day, and that I was given some of it . . . We were able to bury our dead, some of whom had been lying there for six weeks or more. We are still on speaking terms with them, so that we have not fired a shot at them up to now (Dec. 29), neither have they, so that the snipers on each side have had a rest.” — Pvt. Alfred Smith, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment

“Really you would hardly have thought we were at war. Here we were, enemy talking to enemy. They like ourselves with mothers, with sweethearts, with wives waiting to welcome us home again. And to think within a few hours we shall be firing at each other again.” — Masterson

Gillian Brockell is a staff writer for The Washington Post’s history blog, Retropolis. She has been at The Post since 2013 and previously worked as a video editor.

Categories Ethics

North Carolina: A Teacher Brought a Community Together to Feed Children in Need

By dianeravitch
December 25, 2021 //
7

The Washington Post published a story about a teacher-librarian who launched a community tradition of feeding children and families during the Christmas holidays.

Elementary schoolteacher Turquoise LeJeune Parker was a few days away from the start of her holiday vacation when she received a text message from the mother of one of her second-grade students.

The parent wondered if Parker knew where she could find food for her children during the school’s two-week winter break because her refrigerator and pantry were almost empty. Her kids relied on free school breakfasts and lunches to get them through the day.

Parker, now a library teacher for 387 students at Lakewood Elementary School in Durham, N.C., said she felt like crying on that phone call six years ago.
“This mom told me she wasn’t worried about herself, but she couldn’t let her kids go without food for those two weeks,” she recalled. “I told my husband about it, and we knew we had to do something.”

Parker and her husband, Donald Parker, a carpenter, immediately went out to shop for groceries for the woman and her family, but then they thought about all the other families.

“If one parent was going into the holiday break with no food in the house, we knew there must be others,” said Turquoise Parker, 34.

Although the Durham Public Schools district regularly worked with a nonprofit to provide food-insecure families with weekend groceries, the program couldn’t serve every child, she said.
On Dec. 14, 2015, Parker decided to text everyone she knew asking for donations to buy enough holiday groceries for all 22 students in her class at the time.

“I’m trying to send each of my 22 students home with a bag of non-perishables to help their families with them being out for Christmas break,” she wrote. “If you know anyone wanting to donate, let me know! I’ll go pick it up!”

Within a couple of days, she had $500.
“It really took off and made such an impact for these families that I knew I had to keep going,” Parker said. “Food is something that no one can do without. It’s not only a basic human need, it’s a human right.”

The second year, she said she raised $1,000 and the program grew from there. Last year, more than $55,000 came in.

This year, from Dec. 8 to 11, Parker and a group of 70 volunteers once again bagged groceries to send home with students at the beginning of their winter break.

This time, $106,000 was raised through fundraisers, a charitable foundation and social media. It was enough to help every child at 12 elementary schools in her school district, said Parker, noting that about half of the district’s students qualify for free or low-cost school lunches.
About 5,200 students took home bags filled with a two-week supply of cereal, bread, peanut butter, pasta, granola bars, oatmeal, beans, mac ‘n’ cheese, canned chicken, fruit and vegetables, she said. The groceries were ordered online this year at Costco and delivered to the gym at Lakewood Elementary.

Parker said she named the project “Mrs. Parker’s Professors’ Foodraiser,” because she considers all of her students to be “little professors.”

“I’m a part of their family now and they’re a part of mine,” she said. “We’re all learning together. They help me as much as I help them…”

Parker is relieved that the program now helps thousands more students, and it runs with the dedication of many volunteers.

During her first year of raising funds to feed about two dozen students, she heard from Durham attorney T. Greg Doucette, who asked how he could help. Doucette now pitches in to help coordinate the project every year, she said.

“This has become a community effort — not mine alone — and that’s how it should be,” Parker said.
Doucette said that when he first signed on to help, he didn’t anticipate that bagging groceries would become a recurring project. But when he learned about food insecurity in his community, he wanted to do something to lessen the need, he said….

Her mother, Marian Thompson, was a single mom with three children who got a doctoral degree in education and worked for 43 years as a teacher and school counselor, she said.

“Oh, my gosh, did she ever inspire me,” said Parker, noting that she often accompanied her mother to work as a preschooler.

“I saw everything she did for kids at school, and from age 4, I also wanted to become a schoolteacher,” she said. “At home, I’d line up all of my teddy bears and baby dolls and teach them.”
After she graduated from North Carolina Central University in 2010 with a degree in public administration, she took her first teaching job at Estes Hills Elementary School. Since 2019, she’s been the library teacher at Lakewood Elementary, although she prefers to call herself a social justice teacher, she said.

“Food inequality is systemic and that’s not okay,” Parker said. “Giving children food for their Christmas break is not a lavish thing — this is food we’re talking about. The well-being of our community is directly related to the well-being of our children. We have to fight for each other.”
It’s a lesson she has thought about often since giving birth to her first child, Madame, four months ago, she said.

Categories Creativity, Goodness

Fred Smith: Christmas Greetings to All

By dianeravitch
December 25, 2021 //
6

Fred Smith published his annual Christmas poem in the New York Daily News and shares it her with us. Fred was for many the director of assessment at the New York City Board of Education. Since retiring, he has worked with parent optout-of-testing groups.

Christmas 2021

In a year filled with trauma on this Christmas eve,

I’d just taken a booster shot under my sleeve.

And then starting to fade in-and-out woozy,

I dreamt of getting a hot tub jacuzzi.

Soon my vision was clouded, my eyesight grew dim

As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t spot him.

For the guy in the red suit had been chased away.

I saw Amazon trucks, not his wonderful sleigh.

And with Bezos’ boxes flying off of the shelves,

Santa couldn’t find work for his beloved elves.

But he emailed the names on his naughty-guy list,

And said what he’d have given each one as a gift.

His roll covered miscreants across all levels

From the state to the fed to a broad range of devils:

For Andrew a thick pair of anti-grope mitts;

Melissa gets valium to curb her mean fits.

A special surprise awaits Jim Malatras:

Strong itching powder to rub in his gatkes.

And for highly placed, overstayed, wealthy Queen Tisch;

A time-to-go sendoff with a stale kasha knish.

To those congressmen who block legislation,

Cartons of Ex-Lax to relieve constipation.

For roadblock senators Manchin and Sinema,

A progressive bundle far more than the minima.

And Donald gets a golden bowlful of kale,

And sentenced to life in a health foodie jail.

A Clorox colada for his goombah Rudy,

And Mitch gets a voracious turtleneck cootie.

Community service—what Trump’s racist friends need,

Posting BLM banners ‘til their hateful hands bleed.

And to all the crazies of his insurrection,

Poison pills to choke down for the “stolen election.”

And fittingly, for all climate change deniers,Full-time sweat labor putting out raging fires.

For all anti-vaxxers and anti-mask wearers,

The names and addresses of local pall bearers.

To Proud Boy gents and those QAnon ladies,

Immediate transport to hovels in Hades.

For the same “Breaking News!” droning on all the day,

Cable news gets a free pass to go faraway.

For donors and lobbyists who bought Mayor Bill,

A backhoe that recoups their ill-gotten fill.

For Michael Mulgrew and his right of retention,

50 years to teach shop for a Tier 20 pension.

To Pearson executives who are truly villains

Killing 8-year-old minds with bubble sheet fill-ins:

Here’s an endless supply of sharp No. 2s

To suck all the lead out, as your brains start to ooze.

The roster of evil includes many foul names

Equally worthy of being consigned to the flames.

So, he filled up their stockings with hot burning coals,

An appropriate payment for selling their souls.

From the time I came under my glum Pfizer-ish fog

He hadn’t named anyone on his A+ log.

Such a negative Santa made me melancholy

There was no ho, ho, ho; what happened to jolly?

Then suddenly he sent me a rose-colored wink

To show that his spirit was still in the pink,

Reminding me how he loves kids most of all

And those who protect them who won’t let our schools fall.

So, all was not bleak on this dark Yuletide night;

The greatest gifts always go to those who do right,

Who like his own reindeer outlast any storm

With unblinking vision to create a new norm.

On Leonie fiercely striving to lower class size;

On Ravitch and Burris puncturing charter school lies;

On Rosa and Cashin up high, seeing the light

On Rebell and Jackson, winning equity’s fight

There’s steady Norm Scott always keeping the score

With faith in our teachers who deserve so much more.

And Jeanette and Lisa working at the grass roots.

Giving parents their voices and speaking the truth

Though the online business has invaded our lives“

Yes, Virginia” still lives; and goodness survives.

Categories Joy

Merry Christmas from the Network for Public Education!

By dianeravitch
December 25, 2021 //
8

Dear Friends,

NPE wishes you happy holidays and Merry Christmas! Open the link to learn about our plans for 2022.

Join us in our work of supporting, defending, and improving our nation’s public schools. Join the 350,000 devotees of public schools who are part of NPE. Help us to fight budget cuts and privatization of our most valuable public assets. Help us defeat the billionaires and grifters who want to grab the funding of public schools and devote it to charters and vouchers. Stand with us as we press for reduced class sizes and the misuse of tests and technology.

2021 has brought both good and bad news for our public schools.

Schools were able to open, and although COVID is surging and difficult to manage, our students are in class with the teachers they love. We thank all of our educators for their heroic efforts during such difficult times.

The bad news is that a new war on public schools has begun. Public schools and teachers became a target after the 2008 recession; sadly, it is happening again. Post-2008 brought teacher evaluations by test scores, Common Core testing, and a push for charter schools. This time we face book-banning, anti-CRT laws, and more charter schools and vouchers.

Here is a quote from The New York Times:

Chris Rufo, the right-wing intellectual entrepreneur behind the anti-critical race theory campaign, told me last month that the next phase of his offensive will be a push for school choice, including private school vouchers, charter schools, and home-schooling. “The public schools are waging war against American children and American families,” he said, so families should have “a fundamental right to exit.”

The Network for Public Education will defend our communities’ right to have well-funded, neighborhood schools open to all students and governed by the public. We believe in the ultimate goodness of our communities, even when times are dark. Public education is a pillar of our democracy; privatized “choice” is its wrecking ball. We must fight it in all of its forms.

Won’t you help us keep the lights on and continue the fight? Please give generously.

On behalf of NPE,

Diane Ravitch, President

Carol Burris, Executive Director

Darcie Cimarusti, Communications Director

Marla Kilfoyle, Grassroots Coordinator

Categories Joy, Network for Public Education, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund, Supporting public schools

Will the New Superintendent of Los Angeles Expand Charter Schools?

By dianeravitch
December 24, 2021 //
15

Jack Ross of California-based Capital & Main posed the question: Will Alberto Carvalho, who was recently hired away from Miami-Dade public schools to become the new superintendent of the Los Angeles public schools, expand the number of charter schools in L.A.?

At Carvalho’s first press conference, the first question to him was about where he stood on charter schools. This issue has prompted billionaires like the late Eli Broad, Michael Bloomberg, and Reed Hastings of Netflix to pour millions into school board races. The current board has a 4-3 pro-charter majority.

Ross wrote:

So where does Carvalho stand? During his 13 year tenure in the Sunshine State, the number of charter schools in the south Florida district rose from 65 to 145 (while more than 30 charter schools also closed). More campuses were converted into magnet programs offering specialized education in subjects like robotics, computer science or performing arts: In 2010, around 41,000 Miami students attended magnets, and by 2019 that number had risen to more than 72,000. The Miami magnets, however, are operated by the school district and not by private owners. “I have always been a proponent, and dramatically expanded, publicly offered, accountable choice in Miami-Dade public schools,” Carvalho said at his press conference, referring to his investment in public magnet schools. “In Florida, charter schools are enabled by Florida statute, and school boards, by and large, do not have great latitude in the approval of charter programs.”

Carvalho liked the story so much that he tweeted it with a comment:


Alberto M. Carvalho@MiamiSup Publicly accountable choice, under the leadership of representative boards, that serve all children, regardless of their diverse abilities, not profits, is a model that has worked well. Will L.A.’s New Superintendent Expand Charter Schools? @capitalandmain

Right below Carvalho’s tweet was a response from Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education.

Opposed to for-profit @miamiSup? Why did largest for- profit Academica more than double # of schools in your district?

Academica is a huge for-profit chain based in Florida that is unusually avaricious and highly political.

Categories Administrators, superintendents, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Los Angeles, Miami

Florida: Another DeSantis Attack on Teachers, Schools and Common Decency

By dianeravitch
December 24, 2021 //
21

Peter Greene describes his latest gambit. He is pressing for the adoption of his “Stop WOKE” act.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is doing his level best to wreck education in his state by politicizing every education policy. It’s a textbook illustration of fear-mongering and race-baiting. How low can he go without scraping his head on the ground?

Greene writes:

Florida owns the Number One spot on the Public Education Hostility Index, but Governor Ron DeSantis is not willing to rest on his laurels. You may have already heard about this, or you may have passed over the news because it’s Florida, but some bad news needs to be repeated, particularly when it comes from the state that launches so many of the bad trends in education.

DeSantis has borrowed from Texas, where a new abortion banhas come up with a clever way to circumvent rules about what a state can and cannot enforce. Now upheld by SCOTUS, the law makes every citizen a bounty hunter, with the right for “anyone to sue anyone” suspected of being in any way involved in an abortion (in a rare display to restraint, Texas exempts the woman getting the abortion from the civil liability). 

The idea of insulating the state is not new to education privatization efforts. Part of the reasoning behind education savings accounts is that it let’s the state say, “What? We didn’t give taxpayer dollars to a private religious institution. We just gave the money to a scholarship organization (and they gave it to the private religious school). Totally not a First Amendment violation.”

So here comes DeSantis with his “Stop WOKE Act” (as in “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees”– some staffer was up late working on that one). This is legislation he’ll “push for” because of course a governor doesn’t propose legislation–he just orders it up from his party in the legislature. 

The proposal comes wrapped in lots of rhetoric about the evils of “critical race theory,” which DeSantis defines broadly and bluntly: Nobody wants this crap, OK? This is an elite-driven phenomenon being driven by bureaucratic elites, elites in universities and elites in corporate America and they’re trying to shove it down the throats of the American people. You’re not doing that in the state of Florida.

Along with vague rhetoric about learning to hate America, DeSantis brought in crt panic shill Christopher Rufo for his pep rally. And of course he trotted out some highly selective Martin Luther King Jr. quotage, because, hey, he’s totally not racist.

But the highlight here is creating a “private right of action” for parents, an actual alleged civil rights violation. Anyone who thinks their kid is being taught critical race theory can sue (and this will apply to workplace training as well). Parents who win even get to collect attorney’s fees, meaning they can float these damn lawsuits essentially for free– watch for Florida’s version of Edgar Snyder--attorneys advertising “there’s no charge unless we get money for you.”

Allowing parents to file lawsuits would have the effect of making the operating definition of crt even vaguer–it’s whatever Pat and Sam’s mom thinks it is. You can say that using a bad definition that loses the lawsuit would limit this vaguery, but that misses the point–the school would still have to defend itself in court, costing money and time…

Open the link and read the rest.

Greene predicts that teachers will not feel free to teach about America’s racist past. I agree with him.

A few nights ago, I watched a PBS documentary about the life of Marian Anderson, who was hailed in her lifetime as one of the greatest singers in the world. She toured the capitals of Europe to great acclaim. Yet for most of her life, she sang to racially segregated audiences in the United States. The documentary showed that Hitler admired America’s segregationist laws and practices and saw them as a model. Today, those who remember Anderson’s name know her as the black woman whom the DAR (Daughters of the Revolution) prohibited from performing in Constitution Hall in 1939, D.C.’s premier concert hall. D.C. was rigidly segregated. Instead she sang at the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of 75,000 people. Her opening number was “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”

I expect that no teacher in Florida would show that documentary in class. It may be factual, but some students’ parents would complain and sue the teacher for exposing their children to CRT.

Categories Bigotry, Curriculum, Florida, Race, Racism

New Bedford Parents: We Don’t Want a Charter School!

By dianeravitch
December 23, 2021 //
11

This post was published by the Network for Public Education. The authors remind us that the only thing innovative about charter schools is their marketing practices.

Cynthia Roy and Richard Rosa are co-chairs of the New Bedford Coalition to Save Our School. In this op-ed for SouthCoast Today, they explain why a newly proposed charter school is not something that Massachusetts needs.

One of the most morally disturbing aspects of the Innovators Charter School proposal for New Bedford and Fall River is the joining of considerable political and economic power to withdraw resources from public education systems that have been historically underfunded. What is appalling is the deliberate indifference to the impact on our public school systems in New Bedford and Fall River which, together, serve 22,563 students. As students and families are seduced to exit their public schools, the operating costs in these schools remain the same. This proposal is just more of the same looting of the public school system that we have seen with charter schools.

The Innovators Charter School is not an incubator of innovation for public education reform; rather, it is part of a movement to treat public education as a market opportunity for entrepreneurs and business that has proven to be catastrophic for communities across the state.

Virtually every “innovation” that charter schools utilize to decorate their proposals was born in public schools. Charter schools have been on the scene since the 1980s, and yet there has been little to no shared innovation even though they are released from significant regulations that public schools must abide by.

The greatest innovation that charter schools have engendered is that they are very seductive with their false narratives of “failing public schools.” The application is loaded with these references, insinuating that public schools are dated in their assumptions about learning and educator development.

The ICS application places great emphasis on its educators being knowledgeable about adolescent development. There is nothing innovative about this. All licensed public school educators in the state have taken various courses in adolescent development. Many hold advanced degrees and possess a deep understanding of child psychology and how students learn and grow, including students with disabilities. We also wonder how ICS will recruit and retain professional educators who are knowledgeable in adolescent development when they intend on paying their educators ten thousand dollars less than their counterparts working in our public schools.

Read the complete op-ed here.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Massachusetts, Parents

Minnesota: Charter School Hires Outspoken Critic

By dianeravitch
December 23, 2021 //
16

Rob Levine, charter skeptic, photographer, and charter critic, recently discovered that the Hmong College Prep Academy had hired one of its loudest critics.

He writes:

BY NOW MOST people who follow education in Minnesota are aware of the Hmong College Prep Academy’s illegal $5 million investment in a hedge fund that ended up losing $4.3 million, costing the power couple who run the segregated St. Paul-based charter school their jobs and casting doubt on the long term viability of the institution.

As the messy saga unfolded, an opaque school finance and consulting outfit called The Anton Group weighed in on the scandal with two blog posts, the first in June of 2021, and the second in late September. In a nutshell, Anton’s assessment was: This is fraud! The following month, something weird happened: Despite Anton’s very public criticisms of HCPA, the company landed a $100k contract to clean up the mess. A month after that, Anton’s Finance Officer became the Chief Financial Officer of the school itself. And sometime between that second blog post in September and the hiring of Anton in October those two blog posts were deleted.

As Levine puts it, “Charter school decided to feed the hand that bit it.”

Please note that Rob Levine asked me to correct the way I wrote the last line.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Reform, Minnesota

Leonard Pitts, Jr.: Why Worry about School Shootings When the Real Danger is Books?

By dianeravitch
December 22, 2021 //
56

Leonard Pitts, Jr. wrote the following article in the Miami Herald:

Once again, carnage goes to school. Once again, American students are used for target practice. But conservative leaders are on the case. Recognizing the ongoing threat to our children, they know it’s time for decisive action.

It’s time to do something about books.

And if you expected that sentence to end differently, you haven’t been paying attention. In red America these days, books are Public Enemy No. 1.

As Time magazine recently reported, librarians are seeing a definite spike in censorship activity. Deborah Caldwell-Stone, executive director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, called it “an unprecedented volume of challenges.” From Texas to South Carolina, to Virginia to Florida and beyond, conservative governors and advocacy groups are removing books from school library shelves, particularly those that deal with the two subjects they find most threatening: sexuality and race.

All to protect our children.

Open the link and read the article in full.

Categories Democracy, Guns in Schools, Republicans, Safety, Stupid

Billy Townsend: Florida Extremists Demand Removal of an Anatomical Drawing that Labels “Anus” and “Bladder”

By dianeravitch
December 22, 2021 //
76

Sometimes I think our nation has time-traveled back to the 1950s, when demented people made demented demands of the public schools and accused them of “indoctrinating” children with “socialist” or “Communist” or other labels. The crazies are back, as Billy Townsend reports from his town of Lakeland, Florida. These crazies want to protect their children from seeing certain dangerous words, specifically, “anus” and “bladder.”

Billy begins his post:

You would think that Polk County’s so-called County Citizens Defending Freedom (CCDF) would welcome inclusion of anuses in school curriculum. 

After all, Steve Maxwell and Jimmy Nelson and Hannah Peterson and the other “leaders” of CCDF have been very supportive of anuses in the last year — particularly those anuses who tried to overturn the presidential election and who cheered on the Capitol Lynch Mob. 

Back in May, the CCDF even made one of those anuses — convicted felon and coup advocate Michael Flynn — the guest of honor at some big local event/fundraiser. A fuller account of CCDF’s scandalous flirtation with Capitol Lynch Mob-supporting anuses can be found here.…

Given the CCDF’s celebration of figurative anuses, I find it curious that a number of them showed up to yell at School Board members Tuesday night about biological anuses and bladders, or least clinical diagrams of them. 

As near as I can tell, the CCDFers thought they had some sort of gotcha when they found a 6th grade health curriculum diagram labeled “the reproductive system” that had the “anus” and “bladder” labeled. That’s it. Just identified and labeled. There was no hint of sexual content — beyond the clinical “reproductive system” label….

Excited by the words “anus” and “bladder,” a number of CCDFers berated the School Board Tuesday night — over and over and over again — about “anal sex,” which they clearly think about far more than 6th graders do. 

See this dude for an example, starting about 58:30 of the board video hearing, linked here. Paraphrase: was this anatomical diagram with an “anus” and “bladder” labeled on it a secret coded nod to “homosexual behavior?…”

“Bladder?” Is bladdering a thing? 

I guess I’m just an old school, traditional, 26-year married, sexually-sheltered man; because I can’t figure out, mechanically, where the bladder fits into the CCDF sex fantasies. I suppose I could ask the CCDF, as curriculum experts, to explain their sexualization of the bladder to me so I could understand it. But … I really don’t wanna. 

The anti-choice anus people think they own your kids’ education

So, just go ahead and label the drawing “reproductive and excretion system” and/or “the plumbing” if your mind rushes off to weird sex images when you see the words “anus” and “bladder” written down on a clinical anatomy diagram in a 6th grade curriculum packet. 

But, in that case, you also might consider intensive therapy. Normal people and parents don’t suffer from that pathology. 

And yes, normal parents, this handful of anus people want to control what your kids are allowed to encounter and learn in school. They want to dominate you and your child with their anal sex fantasy talking points. That’s not a joke. Not remotely.

From bladders to Beloved, they think they own your kids’ public spaces and the content they can engage in a classroom. These book-banning, sex-obsessed charlatans are the most fervent anti-choice force in education today.

Two of these anus people are already running against lifetime teacher and public education warrior Sarah Fortney in 2022 School Board re-election campaign. Another anus person is running for a different seat. So expect to hear a lot of talk about anuses in education in the coming year.

Open the link and read more about the anus people of Lakeland, Florida.

Categories Florida, Health, Science
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »