Welcome back to Education Insanity, a weekly column updating you on the most insane events taking place in our nation’s schools. Here we’ll delve into the growing presence of critical race theory, the ideology that claims that America is irredeemably rooted in racism, and “woke” culture.
Let’s get started.
10. Harvard Club Cancels Event Set To Feature Expert On Cancel Culture – The College Fix
James Lindsay, the author of the book “Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity — and Why This Harms Everybody,” was set to speak at an event for the Harvard Business School Club of New York. Lindsay’s book addresses the topic of cancel culture. According to The College Fix, the school said it canceled the event with Lindsay because his ideas didn’t “align with the club’s goals.”
9. Elite American University Remains In Alliance With The Chinese Communist Party – The Daily Wire
Washington University-St. Louis joined an alliance with the Chinese Communist Party that helps the Chinese government grow its economy and influence. The university remains the only Northern American school to join the University Alliance of the Silk Road, which is an academic arm of the People’s Republic of China.
8. University of Texas Med School: Read Robin DiAngelo, Ta-Nehisi Coates, 1619 Project To Become ‘Anti-Racist’ – The Daily Wire
The University of Texas’ Dell Medical School is promoting two racial equity challenges for students who wish to become “allies” and “anti-racist.” The medical school’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion launched the Dell Med Racial Equity Challenge — which lasts 21 days — and an “ally nudge” initiative.
7. Student Columnist Calls White Peers Returning To Campus An ‘Invasive Species’ – The College Fix
A student at American University in Washington, D.C., referred to her white peers returning to campus as an “invasive species.” The university announced that it would open temporary housing, which would allow 1,250 students to return to campus living for the remainder of the school year. In the publication The Eagle, a student reporter dubbed the housing a form of “settler colonialism” because the majority of students returning to campus will be “affluent white students.”
6. ‘These Biological Males Are Just Taking It Away From Us’: High School Girl Athlete Blasts Biden Administration For Abandoning Her Lawsuit – The Daily Wire
The Biden administration’s Department of Justice withdrew its support for a lawsuit brought by three high school female athletes that would block biological males from competing in girls’ sports in Connecticut. One of the three girls who brought the lawsuit appeared on Fox News and said, “fairness needs to be restored in our sport and all other women’s sports … these biological males are just taking it away from us.”
5. Cornell Charges Students $1,800 For Racially-Segregated Rock Climbing Class, Scrubs Website When Confronted – Campus Reform
Cornell University changed the description for a racially-segregated rock climbing course after a student journalist confronted the university. According to a website archive, Cornell offered a course to students titled “BIPOC Rock Climbing,” restricted to people of color. After a contributor for Campus Reform brought the course to the university’s attention, the school changed the course description.
4. Harvard Launching App To Help Student Find Inclusive Bathrooms – Washington Free Beacon
Harvard University is launching an app that will help students determine where gender-neutral bathrooms are located across campus. The program is called the Gender Inclusive Restroom Mapping project. According to a flyer obtained by The Washington Free Beacon, the university is seeking to “ensure that all Harvard community members, including those who are transgender, gender nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming, have accurate and inclusive means of locating restrooms at Harvard.”
3. Minnesota Teacher Praises Transgender Activist, Sex Worker In Front Of Middle Schoolers – The Daily Wire
A Minnesota middle school showed 11-to-13-year-olds a video of a teacher praising a transgender activist and sex worker. On Friday, Feb. 19, a Minnetonka Middle School East Language Arts teacher praised Marsha P. John, who is a transgender activist and drag queen who worked as a sex worker, in his “person of the day” video.
2. Buffalo School District Tells Students That ‘All White People Play A Part In Perpetuating Systemic Racism’ – City Journal
Buffalo Public Schools diversity czar Fatima Morell created a new curriculum for middle and high schoolers, which teaches students that American society was designed for the “impoverishment of people of color and enrichment of white people.” Students also learn that “all white people play a part in perpetuating systemic racism” and that “often unconsciously, white elites work to perpetuate racism through politics, law, education, and the media.”
1. Oh The Places The Woke Will Go: Dr. Seuss Canceled For ‘Racial Undertones’ – The Daily Wire
A national educators organization told schools to avoid reading Dr. Seuss because the children’s books allegedly have “racial undertones.” The Loudoun County Public School district announced that it will no longer recognize Dr. Seuss on his birthday, which is also known as “Read Across America” day.
“As we become more culturally responsive and racially conscious, all building leaders should know that in recent years there has been research revealing racial undertones in the books written and the illustrations drawn by Dr. Seuss,” the district said.
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