Compulsory Political Ideology for Illinois K-12 Teachers And Classrooms Moves Closer To Finalization – Wirepoints

By: Mark Glennon*

A sweeping, radical rule is pending for Illinois K-12 teachers that should prompt everyone, of all political stripes, to fear about the fundamental roles that teachers and classrooms are assigned to fulfill.

We will get to the specifics of what is in the rule, but first ask some basic questions: What does it mean to be a teacher? What should it mean?

At least some answers are probably shared by most everybody — right, center and left – and certainly by the best of our teachers.

It should mean devotion to training our young people to think critically, free from any doctrinaire political mandates imposed on classrooms.

It should mean prioritizing basic skills for students in systems that have failed to teach them to read or compute at the most basic levels.

And it definitely should mean freedom to enter and stay in the teaching profession without any political litmus test.

Those answers, however, will be void if a pending rule in Illinois is allowed to become effective. The rule, proposed by the Illinois State Board of Education, is called the Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards, or CRTL Standards. UPDATE 2/10/21: This link now goes to a revision that differs somewhat from what was linked when this article was drafted). It will get final ratification on February 16 unless heavy opposition materializes.

As you will see, it’s no exaggeration to say the standards would tell teachers what they must think, believe and teach – in broad political terms — and they would disqualify teachers who don’t conform.

We wrote about the proposal in November when we first heard of it. Unfortunately, the scope of its threat to education got little attention, with a couple important exceptions.

One who wrote about it is Nathan Hoffman, a black education policy researcher.

In an op-ed opposing the standards, he wrote they would “force onto teachers a singular view for some of our country’s most-heavily debated topics that they are then expected to carry forth into the classroom.”

Even if well-intentioned, Hoffman wrote, the standards would “impose one view of our culture and politics. They strip teacher candidates of a presumption of good faith intent and distract from the primary goal of providing a basic quality education to our students.”

Harsher criticism came this week from Stanley Kurtz, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. “Illinois is literally about to mandate that every one of its licensed teachers adopt progressive political orthodoxy and impart that ideology to students,” Kurtz wrote. “The entire Illinois teacher corps will be effectively forced into political re-education and compelled to turn their classes into woke indoctrination sessions.”

We hope Kurtz’s article sparks further national attention to the pending standards.

What do the proposed standards say?

On the surface, the CRTL Standards might appear to be only about required teaching of critical race theory – alleged systemic racism, gender discrimination, systems of oppression, white supremacy, etc – centering on a requirement to be a “culturally responsive teacher.”

But each section of the rule starts by saying what a culturally responsive teacher will do. A few examples:

  • Mandatory counterculture curriculum. The culturally responsive teacher, the standards say, will “co-create content to include a counternarrative to dominant culture.”
  • Training students to be progressive activists. Culturally responsive teachers and leaders, the standards say, will “Research and offer student advocacy and activism content with real world implications and [h]old high expectations in which all students can participate and lead as student advocates or activists.” Teachers are also encouraged to substitute “social justice work” or “action civics projects” for more traditional forms of testing when deciding on a student’s grade.
  • Required thinking for teachers. The “culturally responsive teacher and leader will,” according to the standards, “engage in reflection about their own actions and interactions and what ideas motivated those actions,” and “explore their own intersecting identities, how they were developed, and how they impact daily experience of the world.” Teachers must “assess their biases and perceptions” about, among other things, “unearned privilege, Eurocentrism, etc.”

The first and most obvious problem is that the standards would force dogmatic answers to what indeed are some of our country’s most-heavily debated topics.

More importantly, compulsory answers on those topics necessarily imply compulsory viewpoints on broader political matters. As Kurtz put it, “the concept of systemic oppression detects racism and bigotry in almost every conservative policy position, from the environment to the budget. That means teachers who want to get and keep their licenses in Illinois have got to be full-spectrum progressives.”

Hoffman’s op-ed focused on the distraction away from what is a crisis at hand in many schools:

Consider that in 2019, only 37% of Illinois third graders could demonstrate grade-level proficiency in English-language arts and only 41% could demonstrate grade-level proficiency in math. In this same year, the Illinois General Assembly eliminated the basic skills test required for all teachers in Illinois, which assessed basic content understanding and application of core academic areas such as math and literacy.

With these new proposed standards in place, a teacher in Illinois will need not demonstrate competency in their basic knowledge of academic material but will have to demonstrate knowledge in concepts that are not only contentious but push an overtly political ideology outside the mainstream of the social and cultural debate.

What would happen to noncompliant teachers?

First, those who think differently would probably never get that far. The proposed regulation would govern how teachers are licensed and trained in Illinois. It would be incorporated into teacher preparation programs at college and university schools of education in the state. All public schools require licensed teachers, and many private schools prefer licensed teachers, although licensure in private schools is not legally required.

If a free-thinking teacher made it past that, they would face an evaluation process and the new standards would be part of how all teachers and administrators are evaluated. The new rule would make it easy for schools to force them into therapeutic “mitigation” of their deficiencies, as Kurtz put it.

Truth, in short, is something the rule’s authors think they own, and teachers better accept it.

That’s really the core problem with the standards: They are dogma sought to be imposed by extremists intent on making their truth the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Don’t even think about touching it. And their truth is not about whether the earth is round or how to do math. It’s about political ideology.

Kurtz put it this way:

The most inadvertently hilarious part of the standards is their insistence that there is “not one ‘correct’ way of doing or understanding something.” Except for Critical Race Theory, that is. Woke ideology is the one correct way of teaching, according to the new Illinois standards. The notes of the committee that created the proposed standards include a passage saying teacher preparation programs must be “forced” to teach Critical Race Theory. Relativism for thee but not for me.

How will Illinoisans react if the CRTL Standards go live?

Most are probably unaware of the proposal so far, but many surely will be livid when they wake up. That’s especially true for Illinoisans outside of the Chicago area.

The origins of the proposed standards are mostly in Chicago, where radically left educators dominate.

But beyond the Chicago area many Illinoisans will be repulsed by the standards. They are people of basic decency already fed up with what they see as the moral bankruptcy of Chicago area leadership. “The backers of the new civics bill, Kurtz wrote, “openly concede that the ‘social justice frame’ of the Chicago civics curriculum won’t easily fly in more conservative parts of the state. (Note the implicit admission that the Chicago civics curriculum is thoroughly politicized.)”

You can expect many of them to join the growing diaspora of Illinoisans if the standards are finalized. Illinois expats who left for other reasons already fill Cubs bars in Nashville, music joints in Austin and retirement communities throughout the Southeast. The regions they are in will welcome parents who want apolitical schools for their kids.

***********

All is not yet lost. The final word on the CRTL Standards is up to an obscure Illinois legislative committee known as JCAR, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. It will make its final decision on February 16.

Opposition to the standards seems to be led by Rep. Stephen Reick (R-Woodstock), a JCAR member. However, JCAR is usually a rubber stamp and it is dominated by Chicago area legislators and others who support the standards.

Unless they are overwhelmed by complaints, the standards will take effect. JCAR’s members are listed here.

Tell them what you think.

*Mark Glennon is founder of Wirepoints.

87 Comments
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Penny Glassman
3 years ago

God help us! Prayer is all we have left to stop this evil. Don’t give in, vote no.

Bernie Perry
3 years ago

Sounds like it’s taking freedom of thought away. Not good!

Michael Murphy
3 years ago

Absolutely not!!!! Keep that stuff out of school!! I will private school. Thank you.

Roger K
3 years ago

Will send kids to private schools; no doubt about it.

Mike
3 years ago

If you want to bring people together, this isn’t the way. Those people who disagree with these “culturally sensitive standards” are going to have their children attend private schools. Those who can’t afford the private schools won’t have a choice and their children will involuntarily become part of a new class of intolerant and closed-minded people. Their intolerance will be directed toward those who have the money to be able to attend private schools and are able to think for themselves. I can’t see how anyone will benefit from this.

Tina
3 years ago

Sounds like this is simply forcing us to examine our own belief system, which is not a bad thing, in my opinion.

debtsor
3 years ago
Reply to  Tina

Compelling under duress is a better description.

Larry Bowa
3 years ago

FLOOD THEIR CONTACT FORM
https://apps.isbe.net/ContactIsbe/

Larry Bowa
3 years ago

It’s even worse than you think.. forced acknowledging of multiple genders, taking students to protests, pushing gun control, critical race theory.

LEAVE THIS CRAPHOLE STATE NOW

debtsor
3 years ago
Reply to  Larry Bowa

I am going to demand that students at my children’s school:

~ attend pro-life rallies
~ visit churches to learn about diversity
~ learn all about gun rights rallies

My school and superintendent are going to be the receiving end of some pretty fun lawsuits demanding that the school ‘include’ pro-life rallies as part of their curriculum. I’ll win too, if they can attend abortion rallies, we can force them to do the pro-life ones too.

Margaret
3 years ago
Reply to  debtsor
Linda
3 years ago
Reply to  Larry Bowa

Why would anyone use children as political tools?
Why would anyone risk the safety of children by taking them to political protests?
After all the American People have been through – now this?
Why are these topics being discussed with children who deserve innocence & freedom of fear / reality comes soon enough!
Who gave this Administration the right to raise our children deciding what us best for them?

Domenic
3 years ago
Reply to  Linda

It’s called indoctrination!!

cheryl sheehan
3 years ago

Education of our children should never be a political platform. With so many children behind in their basic reading and math, the goal should be to improve this and leave the political agenda out!!

Colleen
3 years ago
Reply to  cheryl sheehan

You’re right. I went to a very progressive education school in the 1990s. While we got a lot of the CRT ideology, we were also taught that as teachers have a lot of influence over children and teens, it is wrong to share our personal political (or religious) beliefs with students.

Clearly, that’s not the case today.

debtsor
3 years ago
Reply to  Colleen

Teachers have little influence over their students. If they did, student would be able to read and write and do math at their grade levels, and consistently, students in the state fail at that.

That’s the problem with most teachers. They suck at teaching. That’s why I’m not too concerned about CRT taught in schools. it’s complicated and makes little sense, so it’s natural that students will not understand any of it.

And the smart ones will accept that they are the ‘oppressor’ on the intersectional hierarchy, and they will embrace it with glee, to the horror of the teachers.

Chris
3 years ago

I’m trying something new, I’m printing and sending actual snail mail to both office of each JCAR member tonight. At least I tried..

Debbie Sanders
3 years ago

I am against Critical Race Theory. I am a concerned grandmother and will fight this, hoping our teachers and unions are doing so as well. Do not allow this to happen.

Julia
3 years ago

I am against Critical Race Theory. As parents, what can we do to prevent the infiltration of this very damaging worldview?

Colleen
3 years ago
Reply to  Julia

We need to write to this committee at jcar@ilga.gov and to the Committee members. (I’ll try to find all their emails and post them. Their addresses are available in one of the links above.) We also need to counter the message with our beliefs and why they’re better. We need to set kids straight about what their teachers are doing.

Thomas E Rader
3 years ago

This is ridiculous and I could not be more pissed off! I’m sick and tired of YOU the politicians of this state trying to control the outcome of our lives!!!! Have you ever heard of LIFE LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS? Have you forgotten that theirs a small article called THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES? STOP trying to control and make robots out of all of us ESPECIALLY our children!!! You have a responsibility to TEACH!!!! TEACH them independence!!! TEACH them self confidence!!!! TEACH them respect!!!! TEACH them love!!!! TEACH them MATH ENGLISH AND HISTORY!!!!! But when you… Read more »

Fed up neighbor
3 years ago
Reply to  Thomas E Rader

I agree 100% with you Thomas, one problem , we’re are the parents at why are they not standing up for there children are they all that fickle and think the government is right about everything I cannot believe that this will be excepted by parents, if so god help us all especially in this crap hole of a state.

Last edited 3 years ago by Fed up neighbor
Thomas E Rader
3 years ago

And I agree with you!!!! Where are the parents? Parents can stand up together and put a stop to this pitiful idea!!!!!

Choctaw Charlie
3 years ago

Shocked? Illinois citizens couldn’t believe it a generation ago either when you were first informed. Nor a decade ago when the Bummer told it to you. Now you want help? Don’t hold your breath!

Jane Clark
3 years ago
Reply to  Thomas E Rader

Thank you for putting into words for all of us that believe exactly as you do. I am a grandmother also and I cannot imagine little ones as well as the older students being “guided” by what the teachers are expected to teach.
As if being locked down due to COVID and this crazy election year hasn’t been enough we now have something this ignorant thrown out at us here in Illinois.
Everyone, let your voices be heard.

S Cox
3 years ago

I’ve just composed a letter to be sent to all members of JCAR. This is similar to pre WWII Germany! I hope everyone who disagrees with these “standards” will contact JCAR. Can’t this get on the local news?

Noel
3 years ago

Socialism… I don’t think so. Teachers are there to teach not brainwash.

s & p 500
3 years ago

I never imagined that movies like “Dr. Zhivago”, “Dr Strangelove”, and “The Manchurian Candidate” (the 1961 version) or that Larry Cohen creation “The Invaders” with Roy Thinnes would someday become more reality than fiction in the USA. There’s a new documentary about Larry Cohen in Amazon Prime. Maybe school districts will bring back junk food like pizza and Doritos to calm the kids while they are being brainwashed. (that’s another Cohen movie, “The Stuff”).

ProzacPlease
3 years ago

The education establishment and teachers unions have already destroyed Illinois’ financial future. Now they are taking direct aim at the minds of our children. How much more damage will they be allowed to inflict, all the while claiming it is “for the children” and about producing a “safe environment”, as Kristin states below?

We have already seen what their ideas produce. They need to be stopped NOW. This is not an armchair political discussion- they are playing for keeps with our children’s future.

Donna Burgh
3 years ago

Communism anyone? Hitler mind games and loss of our nation’s basic freedoms. What about still teaching children to critically think for themselves? Graduating without math skills will be the least of our nation’s problems!!!

Goodgulf Greyteeth
3 years ago

Easier for “teachers” to dawdle the day away on this nonsense than it is to do something about changing the direction of K-12 “education” in Illinois that’s left us afflicted with hundreds of thousands of high school “graduates” whose reading comprehension ability hasn’t prepared them to complete an employment application correctly. I’ve been recruiting, hiring, training job applicants for everything from minimum-wage to mid-six figure wages for 40 years. Illinois’ byzantine school-district-on-every-corner K-12 “lets find a new victim class” bureaucracy is an expensive, socially miasmic, failure. JCAR? The dog’s tail wagged by political and private-sector stakeholders who’ve turned Illinois’ governance… Read more »

A
3 years ago

I’m not okay with this. You can’t go through with it!

NB-Chicago
3 years ago

as an alternative to CLTL, (which will never happen), would be to make it mandatory to teach the kiddies how the total repressive scam of Illinois government works. Start by simply teaching them the difference between government/ cash accounting that the government class lives by vrs the accrual accounting standard the rest of us try to scrape by on where debt actually matters. Teach them that if your mom or dad are gigged-up with a job in Illinois gov your magically gaurenteed a zero risk/ zero layoff /upper income lifestyle & retirement where debt magically disappears and all you got… Read more »

Charlene
3 years ago

We have a lot of immigrant children in my hometown. I see white children walking and talking with Hispanic and black children all the time. I think this curriculum will turn them against each other and cause them to believe things that might of been true a hundred years ago, but is not the case now. Our only half black president we ever had and his wife were so bent on dividing out country , they are still doing it. If being black is so bad in this America, how did they make it to the White House for 8… Read more »

Kristin M
3 years ago

You are clearly a white privileged male who never struggled in school thanks to a curriculum that was curated just for you. As a teacher in a different state, I see a gap between the content and books we teach and the lived experiences of students of color. How about you experience the world outside of your bubble, sit in a real classroom, and recognize these standards are to create empathy and openness so that conservatives and liberals can coexist in a society. When I stand in front of my students every day, I just want each student to learn… Read more »

debtsor
3 years ago
Reply to  Kristin M

“You are clearly a white privileged male … ” ~~~~Typical response, attack the speaker by calling him a slur, ‘white privileged male’. Kinda racist. “…who never struggled in school thanks to a curriculum that was curated just for you. ” ~~~~How do you know he didn’t struggle? Or what if I didn’t struggle? What if my parents were addicted to opioids for half my life, or alcohol? What if my siblings were also on drugs, and some of them died? What my family was at times below the poverty line struggling to pay bills? You mean the curriculum was curated… Read more »

Trish S
3 years ago
Reply to  Kristin M

If you’d like school to teach from a colored person point of view, then wonderful – let’s just go back to segregation so we can all be “comfortable.” The reality is that we live in a place that has 250 years of shared history, and we should be taught that history together from both a white and colored perspective. One is not dominate or better than the other. As a teacher its not your job to change content to make it more comfortable. It is to impart knowledge. The biggest bubble is the one your are making for your students.

Rick
3 years ago
Reply to  Kristin M

So schools need to lower the standards for those not “privileged” as you say? OK theoretical physics, non linear equations and advanced chemistry for the privileged. We’ll save all the touchy feely soft skills subjects for your POC since as you say their “experience” is different. Gender studies, black studies, women’s studies, etc. Will be for the POC so they can “feel” as you wish right? We wouldn’t want to give them subjects that are actually flunkable where ability is measured objectively, we’ll give POCs subjects where the measurement of passing is simply adequate indoctrination in socialist thought?

ProzacPlease
3 years ago
Reply to  Kristin M

Teaching reading and writing would be a good start. Unfortunately these basic skills have not been adequately taught while educators spend their time and energy promoting their progressive agendas. If you want us to believe that you simply want to teach reading and writing in a safe environment, then start acting like it. Stop using children as pawns in your political agenda.

Last edited 3 years ago by ProzacPlease
Mary
3 years ago
Reply to  Kristin M

Racists like you have no business teaching our kids.

Chase Gioberti
3 years ago
Reply to  Kristin M

And this is why her students are idiots.

John Q
3 years ago
Reply to  Kristin M

White privileged comment already? No people of any race should be called that because of where they stand in society either by birth or what they have done with their lives. SO people should be penalized or labeled because of this? I am a teacher too, and I think your statement and stereotype, Kristin, is way out of line!

Thee Jabroni
3 years ago
Reply to  Kristin M

Typical leftist liberal response,racist,racist racist,white privelege,systemic racism-is that your only response?!-like ive said before,the true racist is the person always accusing everyone of being a “racist”-its getting REALLY old-can you leftist have ANY other response or argument besides ALWAYS accusing people you disagree with of being “racist”-yawn,youre argument is really boring°

Marie
3 years ago
Reply to  Kristin M

Kristin, you might yourself be in a bubble. You are making an assumption that every single student “of color” is disadvantaged and oppressed, and every single conservative is a “white supremacist.” You are grouping people based on skin color. You assume that your school is a microcosm of the world, when in fact it is not. It is a sliver of society. Your personal experience is not the universal experience of everyone in the world. Many students “of color” are doing remarkably well, especially in schools (usually private or charter schools) where the focus is on academic achievement. How do… Read more »

taxpayer
3 years ago
Reply to  Kristin M

Kristin M, it seems you’re not the typical sort of person who reads Wirepoints. I’m curious to know whether you are a regular reader, and what you like about it.

Willowglen
3 years ago
Reply to  Kristin M

Kristin, I am sure you are persuaded by your views and will not change them. But the safe spaces narrative is really harmful to black children. Learning is about challenge, experiencing frustration and ego damage, and picking yourself back up again and again. If your objective is safe spaces and comfort, well, that is what you get. But you don’t get much real accomplishment. And don’t conflate what I say with condoning a hostile school environment. There are plenty of teachers who can challenge and cajole and set high standards and do so in a non hostile and encouraging way.… Read more »

Chase Gioberti
3 years ago

It won’t be that much work for these teachers.

Most teachers are SJW’s anyway.

It will force a minority of sane teachers to consider a new profession.

Jeff Hubbard
3 years ago

CRT Well at one time that term would have meant Cathode Ray Tube and had been linked to Computer Class. If you want to explore racism in the US then use history. James Baldwin,Langston Hughes W.E.B. Dubois for starters. Begin a Curriculum there first.

debtsor
3 years ago
Reply to  Jeff Hubbard

A CRT is an electron gun pointed at your head!

Theresa Schroeder
3 years ago

I retired early because of common core and this type of ideology that would be forced on us to teach! We need to speak up! It is pure evil, communism, and priming our children for a Godless society of anarchy!

Had Enough Liberal BS
3 years ago

Like Lambs to slaughter… Let’s just teach everyone to freely walk to the knife….

Hock
3 years ago

Talk about the Brave New World Scenario. Let’s brainwash everyone and have no critical thinking, but wait is that not what the teachers unions have already done? You can have the most incompetent teachers working, but once they get tenure they are golden and the Teachers unions make sure they stay in place no matter what, even if they commit a rape. How do Illinois Schools rank to the rest schools in America, sure pretty poorly or else why so many private schools with waiting lines. The Teachers Unions want everyone to have the same kind of education they give… Read more »

Tim Meyer
3 years ago

Teachers should be banned from this type of teaching not directed to My grandson goes to aCatholic HS and his English teacher made a comment supporting a political position.I suggested she report this teacher

Stevet
3 years ago

Communist takeover is here

#FedUpWithSilly
3 years ago

Wait, I thought with Obama’s insurance plan – I mean Biden – being elected the world would be perfect – littered with unicorns, kittens, rainbows, bunnies, and unity?

Who would have thought Ayn Rand and Orwell would have been so prescient?

nixit
3 years ago

How does adding more mandates and overhead to the teaching profession help the teacher shortage?

rick1099
3 years ago

I got a kick out of the sign ” What it means to be a teacher”. It means this, 4 or 5 hour day of work 9 months out of the year. Huge benefits and no consequences if you are incompetent. The ability to complain about how bad you have it and the ability to strike causing major disruptions in people’s lives. Dress like a homeless bum and pursue an advance degree in order to bilk the system of more money. Tell why having a Doctorate in Physical Education or Drivers Ed means anything.

Heather
3 years ago
Reply to  rick1099

I was a teacher for 20 years. With experience & having started with a Master’s degree I have been constantly pushed out for being too expensive when most years, I was simply getting by. I worked at lease 10 hours a day, worried about my student 24 hours a day, and spent all of my “breaks” learning and improving for my students. I am not the only one. The majority of the old-school teachers care more about their students and their students’ success than they do about anything in their own lives. I went into teaching FOR MY STUDENTS. There… Read more »

ProzacPlease
3 years ago
Reply to  Heather

Our country’s descent into complete irrationality could not have been accomplished without complicity by the education establishment. Universities especially will have a lot to answer for in the coming years. They have ushered in this disaster. Now they are trying to push this poison on grade school children for God’s sake.

I blame the administrators more than the teachers, but teachers have gone along with it as long as their pay and benefits kept increasing. They certainly have done nothing to stop it.

Eugene on a payphone
3 years ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

There are people like Heather who take the job very seriously. However, they are overwhelmed by the “Many” in CPS and other big city school systems who just occupy time and space. Simpletons like the 91% of Chicagoans who voted for Pritzker’s progressive income tax are always ready to force school children to endure social changes they themselves won’t tolerate.

ProzacPlease
3 years ago

I understand and agree that there are many excellent teachers. But I think that, while we should praise and be grateful for good teachers, we need to address the overall situation. I stand by my comment that the education system, all of it, has done a tremendous amount of damage in our country. The fact that there are some excellent teachers does nothing to get us in a direction to fix what is obviously broken, unless the teachers themselves start to fight back. I will be impressed when I see teachers striking over a horrible curriculum.

The Truth Hurts
3 years ago
Reply to  ProzacPlease

I will be impressed when I see teachers striking over a horrible curriculum.”

So you’ll be impressed when teachers decide to perform an illegal strike as long as it’s something that you agree with? I don’t think any teachers union can strike over the curriculum and I think it would be a horrible idea to ever allow it. Could you imagine CTU members having that ability? I’m sure they would love to have that option.

ProzacPlease
3 years ago

I see your point. However, they have already tried to include items that do not belong at a teacher contract negotiating table. All of the progressive pet ideas have been brought up -affordable housing, homeless assistance etc. So yes, I would applaud a strike over something worthwhile for a change. CTU is voting on an illegal strike right now, and my guess is that they will vote for it.

Last edited 3 years ago by ProzacPlease
rick1099
3 years ago
Reply to  Heather

No money? Gym teacher at local high school, $120K a year. Drivers Ed teacher, $120K a year. Avg salary above $80K a year. Strike every 3 yrs. First thing asked for in contract, more money. You must have worked in a parochial school where the cash isnt large and the teaching staff actually try. Local HS 8, 50 minute periods, teacher gets 1 for lunch and two for prep or tutor time. Go by their room during tutor time, empty, go by during prep time, empty. Several run second businesses during those times. Several arrange their schedules to use their… Read more »

Last edited 3 years ago by rick1099
Susan
3 years ago
Reply to  Heather

You were a teacher for 20 years–the benefits vesting period? Then retired at 55 with free health insurance and annual pension about triple what a nurse will need to wait about 10 more years to start getting from social security…to which the nurse actually contributed? And you worked 10 hours a day…181 days a year for the same salary a nurse must work 250 10 hour days to earn? (And what makes you think other professionals aren’t required to.spend hours off the clock on skills enhancements and continued education? Most responsible people work hard and have pride and diligence about… Read more »

Becky
3 years ago
Reply to  Heather

“The problem is NOT the teachers, it is the politicians….” That’s the core of the problem right there!

ProzacPlease
3 years ago
Reply to  Becky

Let’s remember what group has most influenced politics in Illinois with their massive donations to the Democrats for decades. They have also been on the front lines volunteering for Democratic political campaigns and “get out the vote” drives. That group is the teachers union. It’s rich that they now blame the politicians for the problems, when they have been promoting these same politicians for years. Without the support of teachers unions, these people would never have been elected. Of course the politicians know that, so they give the unions what they want. So teachers, you cannot now blame politicians for… Read more »

Riverbender
3 years ago
Reply to  rick1099

Don’t forget the ability to go on strike and at the same time irreplaceable via the tenure system.

Flash413
3 years ago
Reply to  rick1099

Yes, those mail order Master Degrees greatly enhance a teacher’s skill to impart knowledge. You forgot full retirement at age 56.

Chase Gioberti
3 years ago
Reply to  rick1099

Post of the year

Rick
3 years ago

Chinese kids are so much more advanced in math, engineering, chemistry, physics, etc. America’s are already way behind. It won’t take long for china to rule the world now because all our kids will be too busy being offended and spreading memes all day every waking hour on facebook. I in fact have some high school math, electronics and physics books from the 1930’s, it’s amazing how much more advanced kids were taught then.

Hock
3 years ago
Reply to  Rick

While I agree with you that China put more into education, most are being educated to support the State in one form or another. The real joke is our Colleges give free education to these same Chinese kids who go back and work for the State to try and overthrow America, which is pretty easy when you bribe all the politicians with sex or cash.

Rick
3 years ago
Reply to  Hock

No, in china supporting the state is taught from infancy at home, the chinese college student is already onboard with that no need for the college to spend time teaching the social indoctrination. Just like american kids used to enter college loving america. Rather chinese college is rigorous and thorough in subject matter that actually moves their country to dominance in science, engineering and theoretical subjects, advanced. While it is our kids that are being indoctrinated. High math and physics are abhorrent over gender studies. When china finally takes over america we will be a nation of cross dressers and… Read more »

nixit
3 years ago

DSA Handbook: Why Socialists Should Become Teachers

https://teachers.dsausa.org/

nixit
3 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

What’s funny is their political philosophy is insulting to the profession of teaching. They think any Marxist can hopak their way into the classroom of their choice and brainwash the kiddies.

Heyjude
3 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

I see much more of a parallel with 1930’s Germany than with 1917 Russia. Corporate involvement combined with the racial obsession.

Last edited 3 years ago by Heyjude
NB-Chicago
3 years ago
Reply to  Mark Glennon

Yea, but as a chicagoan, i jokingly refer to the ctu hypocrite hero’s as the “$six-figure-socialists$” or “fake socialists” because instead of socking it to the corporate 1%, etc. Instead once you get past all the fake progressive talk about LaSalle str tax etc, they have no problem opertunistially socken it to middle & low income folks in the form of never ending city tax hikes to fund vastly overpriced education sevices and pensions for millionaires. How many ctu retiries are millionaires or multi-millionaires? Mr sharkey set a great example, married into a 1%er family. And they’re all creatures of… Read more »

debtsor
3 years ago

“Teachers are also encouraged to substitute “social justice work” or “action civics projects” for more traditional forms of testing when deciding on a student’s grade.” This will backfire massively and spectacularly when parents petition the districts and principals for social justice activism to be protesting abortion clinics. I know as soon my kids are encouraged to become Activist, we’re going to demand that the entire class, as a field trip, drive to the local abortion clinic to protest and hold up signs of the aborted unborn. I can’t wait for the long, sustained campaigns from parents demanding that activism include… Read more »

Heyjude
3 years ago

What kind of people would propose fixing a perceived problem of “unearned privilege” by shoveling unearned guilt on CHILDREN?? The State Board of Education should not be anywhere near children. This proposal is child abuse, and no decent person could support it.

debtsor
3 years ago
Reply to  Heyjude

It’s only a matter of time that students with ‘unearned privilege’ begin to exercise it in ways that could have never imagined, to the horror of the CRT lobby. I encourage my children to treat everyone equally and fairly, but if others slander you as an oppressor, it’s better to embrace the power you have than to bend the knee and supplicate to the victim.

Hock
3 years ago
Reply to  debtsor

Sort of like how all the Chicago Politicians follow Madigan.

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A statewide concern: Illinois’ population decline outpaces neighboring states – Wirepoints on ABC20 Champaign

“We are not in good shape” Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski told ABC 20 Champaign during a segment on Illinois’ latest population losses. Illinois was one of just three states to shrink in the 2010-2020 period and has lost another 300,000 people since then. Ted says things need to change. “It’s too expensive to live here, there aren’t enough good jobs and nobody trusts the government anymore. There’s just other places to go where you can be more satisfied.”

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