by Kyle Olson A paper published by several college professors, entitled “Organizing the Curriculum for Labor Consciousness,” calls for more weaving of Big Labor history and tactics into every day K-12 school curriculum.
The professors cite leftist American “historian” Howard Zinn, who wrote:
“If teacher unions want to be strong and well-supported, it’s essential that they not only be teacher-unionists but teachers of unionism. We need to create a generation of students who support teachers and the movement of teachers for their rights.” (emphasis added)Kate Lyman, an elementary teacher in the Madison, Wisconsin school district, is clearly answering the call.
According to an article she penned for the leftist Rethinking Schools magazine, she was swept into the recent collective bargaining protests in her hometown by her daughter and Facebook, because “that’s how they did it in Egypt.”
Lyman described the mass “sickout,” which forced some districts, including her own, to cancel classes, as “four exhilarating days, four confusing days, four stressful and exhausting days.”
For the record, she’s speaking on behalf of the self-serving school employees. She’s not talking about the working parents that had to scramble to find child care because their children were not in school.
At first Lyman, who already has a warning in her personnel file for violating the school’s “controversial issues” policy, claimed she simply invited students to share their personal observations of the recent protests.
One student said Walker would “send (illegal immigrants) back to Mexico.” Lyman apparently didn’t correct this idiotic notion. Another said, “Does he want to be rich?” “Yeah, he wants to be rich!” Then there were the assorted “He’s selfish,” “He’s crazy,” “He’s guilty,” “He’s greedy” and “He should go to jail, even though he’s governor.”
We’re certain their teacher was pleased with their responses, and her own successful effort to transplant her own thoughts into their minds.
Lyman’s efforts went even further. She created math problems with the attendance numbers from the protests.
Lyman’s student teacher created a PowerPoint presentation, with side-by-side pictures of the Madison protests and images from the civil rights fights in the south. Then, she went lower than I thought was possible even for union activists. Quoting Lyman:
“I hesitated to ask this last question as the students were examining a photo of white segregations (‘We want a white school!’) juxtaposed to a Walker supporter (‘WisSCOTTsin’). But we talked extensively about rights, in the context of both the Civil Rights Movement and the Capitol protests.”
I bet you can’t guess how old these kids were. Surely if they were tuned into the news, they must be high schoolers. No, Lyman is warping the brains of 2nd- and 3rd-graders.
This is a perfect example of what the professors’ paper was calling for. Brainwash them while they’re young and they will support the revolution when they’re older.
We don’t believe Wisconsin taxpayers would agree with this strategy. They pay taxes so children will be taught the fundamentals of learning. They do not pay to send the kids to leftist indoctrination camps.
The superintendent of Madison schools should make sure Lyman understands that point, once and for all.
Big Government
