Massachusetts Teachers Association Wants To Mandate Black History And Ethnic Studies For Pre-K Students

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2021/07/21/massachusetts-teachers-association-wants-to-mandate-black-history-and-ethnic-studies-for-pre-k-students/

The Massachusetts Teachers Association supports the Black Lives Matter Movement, and its leaders want the organization in public schools. 

The state’s largest teachers union’s web site says that the Black Lives Matter at School movement has been endorsed by its board of directors and “is aimed at engaging classrooms and communities to support racial and social justice.” 

So what does that mean? 

It says that every year, educators across the state will participate in a “week of action” in February that promotes “racial equity” and counters “racism and xenophobia in our schools.”

For reference, it is the official position of the Massachusetts Teachers Union that former President Donald Trump is “racist, xenophobic, and mysoginistic.”

“While voting for our presidential candidate here in Massachusetts can feel less crucial because of the Electoral College system, make no mistake that it matters,” the Fall 2016 issue of the union’s magazine MTA Today — which endorsed Hillary Clinton for president — said. “Our votes help send a message to the nation that we refuse the racist, xenophobic, misogynistic lies and intimations of violence coming from one candidate.”

The Massachusetts Teachers Association’s BLM page also notes that educators will wear Black Lives Matter T-shirts to school and “teach lessons such as structural racism, intersectional black identities, black history and anti-racist movements.”

It says that the teachers union was inspired by a Black Lives at School Day organized in Seattle as well as a group of educators in Philadelphia, who sponsored an entire week of events “around the guiding principles of Black Lives Matter.”

Here is what the the Massachusetts Teachers Association lists as its demands concerning the Black Lives Matter movement:

 

    • End “zero tolerance” and implement restorative justice in all schools 
    • Hire more black teachers in our schools 
    • Mandate black history & ethnic studies in preK-12 schools

 

The teachers union web site does not say if any white teachers will give up their jobs so that schools can hire more black teachers. 

A zero-tolerance policy at a school is a policy that says that if someone breaks a rule, there is a predetermined action bearing consequences for breaking the rule. The argument often used against it is that the policy results in a disproportionate number of minority students being punished for their actions. The American Civil Liberties Union says that causes something called the school-to-prison pipeline where students who repeatedly don’t behave can end up being kicked out of school and their behavioral problems will lead them to juvenile detention or prison. 

Meanwhile, restorative justice doesn’t focus on punishing students for bad behavior. 

Here is what the city of Montpelier, Vermont’s web site says about restorative justice:

 

The idea of bringing together a victim of a crime and the person who committed that crime is based on age-old values of justice, accountability, and restoration. The United Nations Working Group on Restorative Justice defines it as: “A process whereby parties with a stake in a particular offense resolve collectively to deal with the aftermath of the offense and its implications for the future.”

 

Earlier this year, a Dedham High football coach was fired after raising objections to pro-Black Lives Matter material in his daughter’s seventh grade history class. Dave Flynn’s complaint stemmed from a class called “World Geography and Ancient History I.” He and his wife saw the teacher’s online instruction, which dealt with “race, gender, stereotypes, prejudices, discrimination, and politics,” and that a cartoon version of the teacher was wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt in the instruction materials.

A spokesman for the Massachusetts Teachers Association could not be reached for comment on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday this week.

 

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