education

Indoctrination Station: New York State Education Department Pushes Critical Theory on Students

This is Part 2 of a two-part series examining the New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) systematic indoctrination of its students. Part 1 reveals a New York school district’s adoption of gender ideology. Part 2 explores the NYSED’s intentional perpetuation of Critical Theory.

The American public school system relies on an unspoken agreement between taxpayers, parents and the government. Citizens fund schools and, in exchange, schools teach kids to become productive, well-educated members of society.

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has abandoned this age-old partnership in favor of indoctrinating students into Critical Theory, the philosophical root of “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,” gender ideology and intersectionality.

According to the department, schools have only two responsibilities:

New York State understands that the responsibility of education is not only to prevent the exclusion of historically silenced, erased, and disenfranchised groups, but also to assist in the promotion and perpetuation of cultures, languages and ways of knowing that have been devalued, suppressed, and imperiled by years of educational, social, political, economic neglect and other forms of oppression.

You read that right. The government institution responsible for the education of more than 2.4 million children believes educators aren’t responsible for teaching or fostering character development. Instead, they exist to lead a social revolution.

This is just one of the critical positions articulated in the “Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework” (CR-S), a document that influences curriculum taught in the department’s more than 4,400 public schools. Hastings-on-Hudson district Superintendent William S. McKersie claimed his district’s “gender lessons” were “created in alignment” with CR-S after the curriculum drew criticism online.

Critical Theory is a philosophical derivative of Marxism. It argues that relationships between social identity groups are inherently oppressive, and that all social and economic inequalities stem from these unjust relationships. To achieve justice, critical theorists believe citizens must actively equalize and dismantle unfair power dynamics.

In CR-S, NYSED uncritically accepts the idea that “structural inequities” in American society prevent people of marginalized classes from succeeding:

A complex system of biases and structural inequities is at play [in students’ lives], deeply rooted in our country’s history, culture and institutions. This system of inequity … routinely confers advantage and disadvantage based on linguistic background, gender skin color, and other characteristics.

The department holds educators responsible for upending this system. CR-S suggests teachers can achieve this goal by “empowering students as agents of social change.”

Most parents don’t send their kids to school so they can become a cog in a niche social movement. NYSED doesn’t appear to care. Instead, it aspires to educate students who:

  • “Experience academic success.”
  • “Are sociopolitically conscious and socioculturally responsive.”
  • “Have a critical lens through which they challenge inequitable systems of access, power and privilege.”

Two of these goals are explicitly ideological; they advance the “integrated assertions, theories and aims” of Critical Theory. Students are graded based on their adherence to these controversial concepts.

A “sociopolitically conscious” student, according to CS-R, must believe that American society inherently and unfairly benefits some identity groups over others.

[Students will] recognize that personal, cultural and institutionalized discrimination creates and sustains privileges for some while creating and sustaining disadvantage for others.

Students can “demonstrate excellence” in sociopolitical consciousness by being “inclusive-minded” and focused on “expressions of diversity” including race, social class, gender, language, sexual orientation, nationality, religion and ability.

“Socioculturally responsive” students must demonstrate respect for people of different backgrounds and understanding of culturally diverse education. They must also:

Build alliances across differences to eradicate all forms of discrimination [and] act as agents of social change to redress historical and contemporary oppression.

Whatever that means.

In the “Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework,” the NYSED has published its intention to indoctrinate and mobilize students in pursuit of a problematic, controversial creed. This agenda taints every public school in one of America’s most populous states.

Students and parents deserve better. NYSED shouldn’t receive a dime of government money until it recommits to its fundamental teaching responsibilities.

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Kindergarteners Taught Gender Ideology in New York School District

This is the first in a two-part series examining the New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) systematic indoctrination of its students. Part 1 reveals a New York school district’s adoption of gender ideology. Part 2 explores the NYSED’s intentional perpetuation of Critical Theory.

A New York elementary school found itself in hot water shortly before Thanksgiving after it allegedly introduced a new “gender curriculum” for kindergartners. But Superintendent William S. McKersie says it’s nothing new — the whole school district has been teaching gender ideology for years.

The popular X account @LibsofTikTok outed Hillside Elementary School for teaching gender ideology after it obtained a copy of its kindergarten “gender curriculum.” The program synopsis, which Hillside reportedly emailed to parents, endeavors to “center [kindergarten students’] discussions on gender identity” by introducing concepts like:

  • “Identity is who you are.”
  • “Identity includes your gender and the pronouns that you use.”
  • “There is no right or wrong way to be any gender.”

The curriculum teaches that gender isn’t linked to biological sex. The five- and six-year-olds learn to use “cisgender,” “transgender” and “non-binary” to describe a person whose internal sense of being male or female matches their biological sex, a person whose feeling of being male or female doesn’t match their biological sex, and a person who doesn’t feel male or female, respectively.

Unlike the alphabet or addition, Hillside’s kindergarten gender lessons don’t teach students how to perceive or navigate reality. Instead, it perpetuates a philosophical belief system that denies the importance and, in some cases, the existence of biological sex.

But don’t worry, parents — educators will introduce this vocabulary in a “developmentally appropriate way.”

@LibsofTikTok’s original post suggested that Hillside hadn’t yet implemented the curriculum. Superintendent McKersie’s internal response to the backlash claims gender ideology has been a district-wide mainstay for years.

“The gender lessons have been in place for several years and are rooted in Hillside’s core values of respect and fostering dignity for all students,” he wrote.

McKersie claims the brouhaha began when his district, Hastings-on-Hudson, “notified elementary families that Curriculum Synopses for all subjects were available on the website.” By his reckoning, parents should not have been surprised:

The gender lessons have been well received by the vast majority of students and families. We have made annual presentations to families about the lessons. I also have made a point to meet with parents regarding the gender lessons.

A third-grade gender curriculum obtained by @LibsofTikTok supports McKersie’s claim that gender ideology is an established part of the district’s teaching material. The synopsis suggests the school’s 8- and 9-year-olds learn to use people’s “preferred pronouns” as soon as they learn what a pronoun is.

McKersie promises HOH’s gender lessons “do not address sex education or sexuality.” But gender ideology is intimately tied to sexual expression and behavior. Consider this “resource” design to help students determine their “gender identity”:

Regardless, teaching gender ideology defeats the purpose of sending children to school. Taxpayers pay for public schools so kids can become productive members of society. Perpetuating gender ideology diminishes their creative potential.

Teaching children they can “choose” their gender exponentially increases their likelihood of experiencing gender confusion. Natural bodily discomforts become indications a child was “born in the wrong body.” Gender-confused children learn to interpret their bodies as worthless errors, rather than intentional gifts.

Though research shows gender confusion is a socially sensitive, often temporary phenomenon, some of these children will undergo irreversible opposite-sex hormone treatments and surgeries to “affirm” their “gender identity.” These interventions occur before the legal age of consent but consign the recipient to a lifetime of medical complications. “Gender affirming treatments” do not demonstrably improve mental health, but frequently result in sterilization.

Prioritizing “gender identity” over biological sex effectively eliminates sex-based protections for women. Men who “identify” as women can access women’s sports, bathrooms, locker rooms and other private spaces. Biological differences that can make women vulnerable to men, like men’s greater strength and bone density, are minimized or ignored.

In other words, gender ideology has the educational benefit of a beginner’s course in Klingon and the social benefit of “Armed Robbery 101.”  The fact that a New York school district has been hawking gender ideology for years — apparently without some parents’ knowledge — is unconscionable.

Even worse? The tax-funded body responsible for more than 2.4 million public school students explicitly endorses it.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Additional Articles and Resources

Court Sides With parents Over Teaching First Graders ‘Transgender Ideology’

The Shifting Ground of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’

‘Transgender’ Means Many Different Things — and Nothing

Here’s What Happens When Good People Don’t Connect Gay and Trans Ideology

U.K.’s Review of Child Gender Policy Reveals Profound Failures that U.S. Still Defends

The WPATH Files Exposes ‘Surgical and Hormonal Experiments on Children’

England’s NHS Stops Dispensing Puberty Blockers for Children — Not Safe or Effective

Former ‘Transgender Clinic’ Worker Blows the Whistle, Becomes First to Speak Out Against ‘Transitioning’ Minors

Gaines, Women’s Rights Groups Support Women Appealing Case of man Joining Sorority

New Research Confirms Gender Dysphoria Usually Temporary in Children and Young Adults

‘Pride’ and Black Lives Matter Flags to Become School Symbols

A Colorado school board is poised to make the “Pride” and Black Lives Matter (BLM) flags symbols of their public school district — just one month after trying to ban them.

Durango School District 9-R ordered teachers to remove the flags from schools in October, The Durango Herald reports, after a parent complained they violated the district’s ban on political speech. The edict elicited fierce backlash, including a student walkout, a public protest and animated pushback at a board meeting.

Last week, at least three board members expressed new willingness to exempt the “Pride” and BLM flags from the political speech ban.

The only problem? That pesky First Amendment.

Public school districts like Durango are allowed to ban some types of speech, like political speech, but must apply such restrictions equally.

That’s why the district’s lawyers advised it to remove “Pride” and Black Lives Matter flags in October. Durango can’t ban some kinds of political expression and not others without violating the First Amendment.

Importantly, neither Durango’s school board nor its lawyers deny the contested flags constitute political speech. Most people understand “Pride” flags symbolize support for gender ideology, including policies like allowing minors to undergo transgender medical interventions. BLM is an explicitly political movement geared, in part, toward disrupting the nuclear family.

Instead of trying to defend the “Pride” and BLM flags as apolitical, board members Rick Petersen, Kristin Smith and Katie Stewart say they could draft and sign a resolution endorsing the flags as speech consistent with the district’s educational and cultural goals.

“By designating it as government speech and adopting [the flags] as symbols of our school district, it avoids a First Amendment problem,” Petersen explained in last week’s board meeting.

The line between government and private speech was most recently delineated Shurtleff, et al., v. City of Boston, a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that found public organizations have more leeway to express their own speech than limit the speech of others. Writing for the majority, then-Justice Stephen Breyer explained:

The First Amendment prevents [the government] from discriminating against speakers based on their viewpoint. But when the government speaks for itself, the First Amendment does not demand airtime for all views.

Denver Public School District (DPS) successfully used Shurtleff to defend displaying the “Pride” flag in its schools. A DPS parent had sued the district for displaying the flag, calling it discriminatory and asking they be taken down or paired with “Straight Pride” flags.

A magistrate judge dismissed the suit in August, writing,

Here, DPS selected the Pride Flag, and not [the “Straight Pride” flag], as representing the message that DPS wishes to convey.

DPS’ victory doesn’t mean Durango’s path forward will be easy. The district’s lawyers do not appear to endorse the board’s proposed resolution, according to the Herald. Petersen suggests one wrong move could bankrupt the district:

What this board is trying to do is find a way where can do two things to the best of our ability. One is abide by our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging policy resolution … and the other side of it is making sure we don’t put the school out of business.

Did you catch that? The district decided to endorse the “Pride” and BLM flags in accordance with their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging resolution. Published in 2021, this document reads, in part:

Education is at the heart of social justice, as we are a huge player in determining the type of key that children will hold in their hands as adults in our society.

As the Daily Citizen frequently demonstrates, “social justice” means different things to different groups. Black Lives Matter, for instance, believes social justice involves defunding the police, monetary reparations for slavery, and teaching “anti-racism” in elementary schools.

Education requires teaching skills that allow children to grow into productive, engaged members of society. Teaching children to support and inform specific policy agendas isn’t education — its indoctrination.

Durango’s board seems content to further this indoctrination to avoid public backlash. That’s dereliction of duty.

The proposed resolution could take six months for board members to draft. In the meantime, “Pride” and BLM flags will be allowed to stay. The Daily Citizen will keep you updated on this developing story.

To learn more about politics and gender ideology in schools, check out Focus on the Family’s Back-to-School resource for busy parents.

Additional Articles and Resources

Students’ Test Scores Tank After School Consults ‘Woke Kindergarten’

BLM Coloring Book Teaches Elementary Students the Nuclear Family is Racist

Five Things for Christians to Remember During ‘LGBT Pride Month’

Back to School With Sexualized Lessons

Is it ‘Book Banning’ to Keep Sexually Explicit Books out of Schools?

Oklahoma Superintendent Announces New Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism

Oklahoma Department of Education Superintendent Ryan Walters announced plans to open an Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism.

The superintendent also announced the formation of a Trump Education Advisory Committee, saying Oklahoma schools would align themselves with President-elect Donald J. Trump’s education policies.

Following the November 5 election, the superintendent applauded the incoming administration’s proposal to eliminate the federal Department of Education, saying:

By eliminating the federal bureaucracy, money can be efficiently directed to local schools and allow disenfranchised parents to have more direct say over education in their states and communities.

According to a press release, the Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism “will serve to promote religious liberty and patriotism in Oklahoma and protect parents, teachers, and students’ abilities to practice their religion freely in all aspects.”

The new office will support “teachers and students when their constitutional rights are threatened by well-funded, out-of-state groups.”

Embed tweet https://x.com/RyanWaltersSupt/status/1856459198705385525

Walters explained the necessity for the new Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism:

For decades our nation’s public schools have tragically been ground zero for the erosion of religious liberty across our country. The radical left never misses a chance to co-opt the teacher unions and their minions to indoctrinate our children against traditional values of faith and family, seeking to attack any display of faith or religion or patriotism.

He added:

It is no coincidence that the dismantling of faith and family values in public schools directly correlates with declining academic outcomes in our public schools. In Oklahoma, we are reversing this negative trend and, working with the incoming Trump Administration, we are going to aggressively pursue education policies that will improve academic outcomes and give our children a better future.

As an example, the superintendent pointed to a 2023 incident where Skiatook High School received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation about Bible verses posted in classrooms. FFRF wrote to Skiatook Public Schools Superintendent Missy Bush, stating:

A concerned local District community member has reported that there are multiple religious messages on display at Skiatook High School. Our complainant reports that Room 120 has a bible verse posted on the south wall of the classroom. The verse is, John 3:16, “For GOD so loved the world that he gave his only SON that whoever believes in him should not perish but have ETERNAL LIFE.” …
Our complainant also reports that Room 114 has a sign that says, “He is still good,” which is likely a reference to Daniel 3:18.

Bush had the Bible verses removed from the classrooms.

When the incident occurred, Superintendent Walters stated:

The removal of Bible verses from display in Skiatook under the threat of a baseless lawsuit is unacceptable. The Constitution guarantees, and the Supreme Court has affirmed in Kennedy v. Bremerton, the right of teachers to religious freedom and expression. American citizens do not give up their right to practice their faith at the schoolhouse door or anywhere else.

He said the Education Advisory Committee would work to implement new federal polices that would allow “communities – not Washington bureaucrats – to decide what is best for their children.” The new committee will:

  • Champion parents’ rights.
  • End social indoctrination in classrooms.
  • Protect patriotism in school curriculums.
  • Stop illegal immigrations’ impact on schools.
  • Block foreign influence in school.

As reported in the Daily Citizen, Waters announced a plan in September to spend $3 million to place a Bible in every classroom, saying the Bible is “a necessary historical document to teach our kids about the history of this country, to have a complete understanding of Western Civilization” and “one of the most foundational documents used for the Constitution and the birth of our country.”

It’s also important for students to know and understand the Bible for teaching English literature, as it’s the book most quoted, referenced and alluded to by authors throughout history, followed by Shakespeare’s plays and Greek and Roman myths and literature. The latter two are part of many English curriculums, so why not include the Bible as well?

Anti-religious liberty groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, are suing to block that program, despite the role of the Bible throughout American and Western history.

Related articles and resources:

Equipping Parents for Back-to-School

‘Equipping Parents For Back-To-School’ – Updated Resource Empowers Parents

Is it ‘Book Banning’ to Keep Sexually Explicit Books out of Schools?

Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Bill is Good for Kids, Communities, and the Nation

Oklahoma Superintendent Announces Plan to Place Bibles in Every School Classroom

Oklahoma Superintendent Directs All School Districts Teach the Bible

Image from Shutterstock

Education is on the Ballot – Over 20,000 School Board Seats up for Election

BallotReady reports that 21,144 school board seats are on the ballot November 5. Local school boards wield a great deal of authority over our nation’s children, so it’s critical that good candidates are elected to these positions. The results affect around 50 million students in government-run schools.

It’s difficult to overstate how important these local elections are, as the results affect around 50 million students in government-run schools.

As we explain in the Focus on the Family resource Equipping Parents for Back to School, parents are ultimately in charge of their children’s education, but when children go to government schools, they give up some of that authority, and the school is empowered – to some degree – to act on parents’ behalf.

And local school boards oversee those schools.

While school boards operate under the authority of federal laws, state regulations and state departments of education, local boards also have a lot of power and authority.

They choose curriculums, establish teacher hiring criteria, set student achievement standards, write bathroom and locker room policies, select books for libraries, choose research databases for students, contract with other districts for school choice transfers, and more.

Parents – as well as grandparents and other concerned citizens – are becoming increasingly aware of serious problems in government schools, such as these:

  • Despite federal, state, and local government funding of $878.2 billion, or $17,700 per pupil, students are not learning basic skills like arithmetic, reading, and writing.They are also failing to learn subjects like history and civics.
  • National math and reading scores show low levels of academic achievement. As Fortune reported, “American students are in trouble. About a third of students in the youngest grades are behind on reading. Only 36% of fourth graders are proficient at grade-level math.”
  • City Journal reports, “The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results in reading and math, released in June, are appalling.” Known as “The Nation’s Report Card,” results from the NAEP U.S. history and civics test “revealed that just 13 percent of eighth graders met proficiency standards for U.S. history, meaning that they could ‘explain major themes, periods, events, people, ideas and turning points in the country’s history.’” For civics, “About 20 percent of students scored at or above the proficient level,” the Journal stated.
  • As previously reported by the Daily Citizen, each year since 2016, school districts across the country have participated in events like “Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action,” where students are taught to be “queer” and “transgender” affirming. Students and teachers are expected to pursue globalism and diversity and to be committed to “building a Black women affirming space free from sexism, misogyny, and male‐centeredness.”
  • Abigail Shrier reports in The Free Press, “There is a well-coordinated, national effort between teachers, activist organizations, and administrators to indoctrinate American children against Israel.” She explains, “In August, the second largest teachers union chapter in the country – there are more than 35,000 members of United Teachers Los Angeles – met at the Bonaventure Hotel in L.A. to discuss, among other things, how to turn their K-12 students against Israel.”
  • Parents Defending Education (PDE) reported that more than 1,143 school districts have “Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Policies,” allowing schools to hide a child’s sexual identity confusion from parents and encouraging schools to open bathrooms and locker rooms for students based on their “gender identity,” not on their sex. This includes 20,951 schools and more than 12.2 million students.

Around the nation, parents have become aware of schools sexualizing and confusing K-12 students by teaching about homosexuality and transgenderism – in literature, social studies and sexual education classes. Parents have learned about profanity-laced, violent and sexually explicit books in school libraries, and they’ve seen the erosion of free speech, religious freedom and parental rights.

It’s time to take a stand and protect all children. Vote for school board members who will fight for academic success for all students; safeguard parents’ rights; protect students’ free speech and religious freedom; and defend children from indoctrination and inappropriate instruction.

Related articles and resources:

Christians, the Election is in Your Hands. It’s Time to Vote!

Dad Confronts School Board for Allowing Boys in Girls Restrooms

‘Equipping Parents For Back-To-School’ – Updated Resource Empowers Parents

Is ‘Critical Race Theory’ Being Taught in Public Schools? CRT Deniers Claim it Isn’t

Is it ‘Book Banning’ to Keep Sexually Explicit Books out of Schools?

Join the Nationwide Prayer Call for the 2024 Election

The National Education Association Wants to Indoctrinate Children Across the Country

Students’ Test Scores Tank After School Consults ‘Woke Kindergarten’

Image credit: The Family Foundation Action