The reason students on college campuses have lunged toward the proverbial leftist cliff is readily found in America’s K-12 public school classrooms, where teachers are politically grooming students, usually with the consent of school and district administrators.
Earlier this year, a middle school social studies teacher in Seattle Public Schools, Ann Christianson, encouraged her students to write hate messages to Moms for Liberty. In an envelope with the return address listed as Seattle Public Schools headquarters, Christianson mailed her students’ letters with a message of her own: “Dear Moms for Liberty,” she wrote, “Please read the enclosed cards from concerned middle school students in Seattle.”
These young children’s messages included, “Gay is slay. Stop being a rat,” and “LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.”
A representative from Seattle Public Schools tried to abdicate the district’s responsibility by stating that the Moms for Liberty letters were part of “an independent activity and not part of the school curriculum.” The representative did not indicate whether or not the teacher had been disciplined for her inappropriate assignment.
Aside from the social-emotional lessons and critical race theory embedded in standard public school curricula and the transgender flags and safe-space signs adorning the hallways and classrooms in schools across the country, teachers like Christianson are brainwashing America’s children without any form of recourse from public school administrators.
Teachers Get Political
Maintaining close communication with our children about what they are learning in their classrooms has never been more important.
Public schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, located just outside our nation’s capital, have an oversupply of rogue teachers engaging in their own polemic monologues and assigning one-sided political projects to even the youngest students. These rogue teachers intentionally abuse their profession and taxpayer dollars to politically manipulate America’s children. Doing so is not only unprofessional but immoral.
Most recently, a seventh-grade science teacher in Fairfax County’s public schools tried to manipulate her students about the issue of wolf restoration in Yellowstone National Park. She spent two weeks providing the 12-year-old students all of the arguments in favor of restoring wolves. The teacher presented one side of a controversial issue to her students and expected them to adopt her perspective. In fact, she was so righteous about her cause that in an Oct. 18 email to parents discussing the unit, she admitted that in their assigned letters to Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., the district’s congressional representative, students must “[encourage him] to continue support of the restoration.”
That is a clear example of political indoctrination. The principal’s initial response was dismissive and in defense of the teacher. She wrote, “[The teacher] did share with me that she verbally told students that if they wanted to write their letter in support of the ranchers, they could do that.”
With more parental correspondence and persuasion, the principal eventually conceded that there was something amiss. In an email dated Nov. 2, she wrote, “While the teacher was passionate about the topic and was trying to make a connection to real-world application for students, the [assignment] was not in alignment with our controversial issues policy.”
Like with Christianson in Seattle, it remains unclear if the school penalized the science teacher for violating the controversial issues policy. The principal likely would not be so cavalier about the teacher’s inappropriately expressed “passion” if it were placed behind a conservative issue.
Anti-White Racism and Gender Ideology
Like in many liberal districts across the nation, individual teachers’ snide leftist comments and polemic monologues are systemic in Fairfax County’s public schools.
Last month, for example, a ninth-grade English teacher, who is white, referred to one of her students condescendingly as “a basic white boy” in front of the entire class. She subsequently referred to Shakespeare’s Romeo as a stereotypical, privileged white boy.
Earlier this year, a sixth-grade social studies teacher, also white, who speaks to his students incessantly about white privilege, suggested that the Fourth of July is racist. He further argued that Juneteenth is superior because everyone can celebrate it.
Racism against white students in Fairfax County’s public schools has no educational value and is counterproductive. Yet it has a pervasive and unchecked presence in the district’s classrooms.
Gender ideology, against the religious beliefs of many families, also has saturated almost all classrooms in the district’s 199 schools. Students must use preferred pronouns of other students. If they refuse, they are subject to suspensions. The “gender identity” craze has taken root in individual classrooms.
After an initial gender-identity survey in German class, the eighth-grade language teacher informed her students that German is not a “gender-expansive language” and that the students should draw smiley faces in sentences with pronouns referring to themselves if the binary he/she was insufficient.
Anti-American and Authoritarian Teachers
A high school history teacher, who was known to spend significant time in class discussing her lesbian daughter’s impending nuptials with her students, aggressively demonstrates her hate for our country. She displays an American flag on a wall labeled “‘Merica” and repeatedly punches the flag with her fist when trying to make a point about her disregard for the nation’s leaders and policies with which she disagrees. She further implies to her students that conservatives who hold patriotic views are rednecks.
Another high school history teacher in the district admitted he was willing to use his status as a teacher to intimidate students into wearing masks, even if district policy doesn’t require it. On Jan. 15, 2022, he tweeted, “Don’t underestimate the power of peer pressure and teacher-voice.” Here, he very publicly implies that he is willing to bully and intimidate his own students with the help of other students in his classes.
Ditch Politics, Embrace Professionalism
Rogue and extreme leftist teachers face no ramifications and even get support from administrators and the district’s school board members. Teachers outside of the accepted leftist narrative, however, face punishment, termination, humiliation, and the loss of free speech.
Everyone has the right to his or her own beliefs. Few of us care what our children’s teachers’ political inclinations are, only that they do not use them to manipulate our children.
If the American public is ever going to have faith in public education again, district administrators and teachers must focus their attention on depoliticizing classrooms and restoring classic academic excellence. To that end, the heavy lifting isn’t simply policy-based. Districts need to focus on the professionalism of their teachers.