Education equity push an 'assault on excellence': Vivek Ramaswamy
Strive Asset Management founder Vivek Ramaswamy reacts to Gov. Glenn Youngkin blasting Fairfax County, Va., schools for their 'maniacal' focus on equity on 'America Reports.'
Raise your hand if you've been branded as 'that crazy parent.' (Hand raised.) I've had my microphone turned off at board meetings, been reprimanded by a local teachers’ union leader, and publicly assassinated by social justice moms for vocally opposing activism in my children's former school district.
I've complained about our current education system and am exhausted from confrontation. But, I refuse to be quiet and quit on our country's future.
These days, conservatives get a bad rap for contesting things we don't consider fit for our education system—from explicit books in classrooms to school-sanctioned racism.
This year, let's stop complaining and instead commit to action-based solutions. Here are four effective ways to fight woke practices in schools.
1. Opt your child out of SEL surveys, sex-ed, and DEI activities
Social Emotional Learning (SEL), 'gender non-conforming' initiatives, and 'culturally-responsive and restorative' Diversity, Equity & Inclusion programs are fancy words for victim-versus-oppressor initiatives.
SEL surveys mine sensitive information from our children, sex education is now taught through a radicalized, 'pleasure-based' lens, and most standard DEI programs aim to usher in race-based affinity groups and/or activism not appropriate for minors—all without our expressed parental consent and on our taxpayer dime.
VIRGINIA MOM SHREDS 'EQUITY WARRIORS' AFTER SON'S MERIT AWARD WAS KEPT SECRET FOR 2 YEARS
So, let’s each opt our kids out of these divisive directives preemptively (with written notification to your district and school), to protect our children and send a stern message that we will not tolerate nonsense force-fed to our kids.
2. Donate good books
The last few decades, our school system has stripped children of learning through classic literature that flexes their brains. Instead of vocabulary and virtue through stories like "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," social justice and sexualized lessons now force kids to tackle complex topics like being "Gender Queer" through graphic illustrations and/or explicit material labeled "inclusive."
PARENTS WANT AN EDUCATION FOR THEIR KIDS NOT INDOCTRINATION. THEIR VOICES MUST BE HEARD
"Conservatives want to ban books!" they wail when we criticize inappropriate literature in school classrooms and libraries. Let’s instead be proactive, provide alternatives, and donate the kinds of books we want made available on library shelves.
3. File a FOIA request
FOIA stands for Freedom of Information Act—which requires disclosure of public records upon request and is valid in all 50 states. Parents have a right, protected by law, to know what's happening in classrooms and what’s being said in communications between teachers and administrators if reasonable cause is presented.
Submitting a FOIA request is free, and allows us to access emails, curriculum details, paper trails and more. Filing a FOIA request communicates that you are actively engaged, unafraid to ask questions, and serious about demanding accountability.
PragerU offers an introductory Parent Action Guide to get you started with step-by-step instructions for taking an active role in your children’s education.
4. Teach knowledge at home
The decades-long dismantling of knowledge-based curriculum opened the door for unproven methods like 'child-led learning' and project-based lessons, which ultimately don't teach children how to think, how to reason, or much of anything else.
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It's our job, as parents, to cultivate an appetite for knowledge, so we may restore cultural literacy for a cohesive, informed nation. Since we can no longer rely on public or private schools to provide the kind of education we desire for our children, we must harness outside resources to help us guide our children toward the type of education that raises reasonable citizens.
There are dozens of resources now, PragerU Kids being one of them, that are designed to teach children the values of hard work, real knowledge, history and civilization, and equality of opportunity—things that will inevitably serve as an inoculation against woke efforts inside a classroom.
Taking positive control of our primary parental responsibility to educate our kids is arguably the most satisfying way to school our failing system.
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And you can always speak your mind at those pesky school board meetings, too.
Be brave. Our country’s future depends on it.