Meanwhile in the West Bend Schools, this is happening (reported by the Washington County Insider)
The “Privilege Test” was marked “optional” however the parent said the “kids get scored on participation and that goes on their report card.” Plus he noted, “What’s a child to do when the teacher hands it to you during class… if you’re a good kid you’re doing what you’re told.”
[…]
Some of the questions are:
I have never tried to hide my sexuality.
I have never been called a derogatory term for a homosexual.
I never doubted my parents’ acceptance of my sexuality.
I have never been told that I “sound white”
I am always comfortable demonstrating PDA with people I like.
Nobody has tried to “save me” from my religious beliefs.
Meanwhile, this is the kind of transparency we have come to expect from the district:
Principal Dave Uelmen indicated he had no comment and directed all questions to Nancy Kunkler with the West Bend School District. West Bend police confirmed receiving a call from a parent and said this was a school district issue. School board members refused to comment on the situation; most said they had no idea this occurred. I have asked the district for a copy of the survey and they said I had to put in an Open Records Request to see it.
Utter crapola liberalism. Yet another reason why schools are too important to trust to government in any way.
I consider this institutional left wing hate speech.
Owen, I notice that your outrage over lack of transparency is rather selective. While I support the reduction in corporate tax rates, the process of the new tax bill was anything but transparent. Crickets from you.
And that was a huge change to our economy. This is a trifle. And yet it gets Kevin’s panties in a snit. Talk about a snowflake.
Ah yes… the “but you didn’t talk about X” distraction. If I were to comment on every instance of opaque government, I’d wear out my keyboard.
Frankly, while the official tax bill was inappropriately kept close to the vest, the main issues and provisions were vigorously debated in the public space. And elected officials were more than willing to talk about it. Not so for our local school board. “No comment” is the order of the day.
For the record, the board was much more transparent when you were on it. Even though we often disagreed, at least you would engage and make your case.
Charlie,
This “White Privilege” nonsense is not a “trifle”. It is disgusting academic, institutional racism.
“White Privilege” is meant to disparage, demean, and destroy people based on the color of their skin.
I support evaluating people by character, not the color of their skin.
Racist liberalism has no place in our schools, and I am very disgusted you think this is a “trifle” issue and fail to call for an end to this liberal racism.
Thanks Owen. If one engages, it soon becomes clear that most reasonable people agree on most things. I have encouraged the current Board to engage more, even with those of differing views.
I think this Board will be fine. Having an unpopular and apparently ailing super makes things difficult. Let’s see what they do.
And Kevin, I’d suggest you watch a bit by Louis CK on “being white”. It’s funny and kind of true. You take this way too seriously.
I like Ibram X. Kendi’s definition of racism as “any concept that regards one racial group as inferior or superior to another racial group in any way.”
He won the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction for his book, “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America.”
Indeed, the book spends plenty of time on the centuries of history of people who want to focus on “character” and how that affected the course of the history of racism. You can still see it today in things like drug use and arrests for drugs. Although the fraction of people who use drugs is the same independent of perceived skin color, arrests are far different.
A student exercise to examine privilege seems like a perfectly good way to begin to understand how one group can influence and affect another. I’d think you’d need that understanding as part of your start in understanding racism in general. Of course, if you read the page above, it aims at many other areas well beyond the color of your skin.
If you think that whites haven’t had privilege in the USA, and that that privilege is not still affecting your life today, then I encourage you to read Kendi’s book for starters.
For a second book even closer to home, I’d recommend “Evicted.” It follows several Milwaukee families as they move from place to place. It won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, as well as many other awards.
Charlie,
I tend to take a pass when it comes to cues from the liberal Hollywood sexual abuse culture on the race topic. The only time I have even heard of Louis CK is when he made news for his disgusting treatment of women.
We should look to better role models for our children.
‘We should look to better role models for our children’.
I wholeheartedly agree, starting with 45, the current occupant of the WH. He certainly sets the bar pretty low.