Anti-Trump Hysteria Plagues Our Schools
Teachers and their unions are front-and-center in advancing Trumpocalyptic fearmongering.
Worse than anything Donald Trump ever said, the backlash to his election has been horrifying. While the hysteria and teddy-bear-clutching over the election of a Republican president is nothing new – remember “Bushitler?” in which some on the left equated W to Der Führer – the present-day Trumphobes are second to none.
In Los Angeles, the teachers union, stressing the “politics of fear, racism and misogyny,” supported students who skipped school on November 14th to protest the election. “As educators, as people spending every day with students and caring about each student’s future, we believe we have a sacred role in times like these….” the union said in a statement.
Sacred?!
And if you care so much about the students’ future, please don’t encourage them skip school for a useless protest. Late afternoon and weekend venting would be just as effective.
Then there is San Francisco, where the teachers union has issued a “Lesson Plan on the 2016 Election,” a guide for teachers that is truly deplorable. The United Educators of San Francisco document issues the following advice to teachers when talking to their students about the election: “DO NOT: Tell them that we have LOST and that we have to accept this. We do not have to accept ANYTHING except that we must and will fight for justice against an unjust system and against unjust people.” (Emphasis in original.)
Well sorry, but assuming Clinton was your choice, you did lose and you do have to accept it. But the denial here is just the tip of the iceberg. Regarding students, the plan advises:
I know that they might curse and swear, but you would too if you have suffered under the constructs of white supremacy or experienced sexism, or any isms or lack of privilege. You would especially do so if you have not yet developed all of the tools necessary to fight this oppression. It is our job to help them develop these tools, ie the language etc., Let’s not penalize and punish our youth for how they express themselves at this stage.) (Hate mongering people see this as an invitation to use profanity, keep your hate to yourselves, our students are not hateful.)
The rest of this repulsive lesson plan continues in this vein and should be read in its entirety to fully appreciate its blatant intention to indoctrinate. While teachers are free to accept or reject the lesson plan, the fact that some will use any or all of it is truly alarming.
Sadly, there is so much more bad news to report:
- California: A “Holocaust scholar” compared Trump to Hitler in an attempt to show his high school students “that the 2016 election is a reflection of the past.” (As I said, when a Republican is elected….) Interestingly, the teacher has been put on paid leave, but not to worry, his union-protected job is safe and his suspension won’t cost him a penny.)
- Texas: Under the watchful eye of a teacher, two 10th grade students staged a skit featuring “The Assassination of Donald Trump.” Parents were outraged by the performance in which one of the boys made a gunfire sound effect with his cell phone as the other boy, portraying Trump, fell to the ground in mock death. The teacher and his students were “reprimanded.” (When a second grader nibbled a Pop Tart into the shape of a gun in Maryland a couple of years ago, he was suspended for two days. Maybe had he chewed a second Pop Tart into a replica of Newt Gingrich, and pointed the “gun” at it, he too could have gotten away with a reprimand.)
- Alabama: An 8th grader was paddled by the assistant principal for writing “Trump” on the blackboard, allegedly because the time for discussing the election had passed. However I can’t help but think that if the student had written F— Trump on the blackboard, he may have gotten a high five instead of a beating.
- Maryland: A bunch of anti-Trump students severely beat up a classmate who had the temerity to sport a “Make America Great Again” cap. The frenzied and ironically-challenged perpetrators were ditching school and carrying signs reading, “Love Trumps Hate.” I guess peace and love just ain’t what it used to be.
We owe it to our young people to tell them that the election is a done deal and all the acting out, whining, marching and screaming, “He’s not my president!” won’t change a damn thing. While kids often do silly things, the scary part is that, in this case, they have support from many teachers and their unions. They, along with a compliant media, are fanning unnecessary flames and ratcheting up the indoctrination of our kids. As Rick Hess and Chester Finn wrote in “Stop Teaching Anti-Trump Bias,” a must-read piece in U.S. News & World Report, the election could have been a “teachable moment.” Teachers could have educated their students about how the Electoral College works or the great tradition our country has for a peaceful transfer of power. They could have suggested that their students follow the advice of President Obama, who said that we should give Trump a chance. But sadly, all too often, none of this is happening.
In fact, notorious America-hater and author of “A People’s History of the United States” Howard Zinn’s philosophy often reigns supreme in our classrooms: “Objectivity is impossible and it is also undesirable.” Zinn felt that the teaching of history “should serve society in some way.” As a Marxist, he’d prefer a society that resembles Stalin’s Russia. That his book is assigned reading in many colleges and high schools is a red flag – in both senses of the term.
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I wish we could all take a deep breath and celebrate our commonality and put aside the acrimony… oh, at least until next week. But the National Education Association has other ideas. While unrelated to the recent election, the following does point out the true radical agenda of the teachers unions. The NEA devotes a page on its website to educators across the country who want to embrace “the truth and teach the real story of Thanksgiving.” You thought the Pilgrims and Indians happily broke bread together? Wrong! According to NEA, the Pilgrims were a bunch of murderous, disease-spreading thugs who treated the “indigenous people not as human beings like themselves, but rather as inferior beings and ‘spawns of the devil.’”
Just remember that as you stuff your face with turkey, Paleface!
The unions and the media constantly browbeat us into thinking that there has been an epidemic of hate crimes, all of which have come to pass because of Trump’s nomination and subsequent victory. What they don’t comprehend is that their vicious anti-Trump propaganda is so much more devastating than any isolated bullying due to anything Trump has ever said or done.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I am no fan of Donald Trump. In fact, of the 17 Republican candidates, he was my 18th choice. That said, the people have spoken. Now grow up and deal with it.
Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.