In a recent article I introduced a joint effort by the National Education Association, World Economic Forum, and United Nations which appears to make children into global citizens and activists through a set of lesson plans centered on the 17 UNESCO Sustainability Development Goals.
So, what is in these lesson plans? For starters, the lesson plan for Kindergarteners focuses on making 5-year-olds hyper sensitive to issues surrounding hunger.
Creative Lessons to Open Classrooms & Minds
To learn about what it feels like to be hungry, 5-year-old students are asked to draw pictures of their favorite foods and read stories about children who are hungry. One activity suggests children cut out food pictures and glue them to a paper plate. Then, while sitting in a circle proudly displaying their new creations, 1 out of every 5 children has their plate taken away in order to demonstrate hunger statistics.
This lesson is unquestionably inappropriate for 5-year-olds because it manipulates their perspectives through emotion. First of all, through the lessons’ follow-up questions, these children are being taught to feel responsible for worldwide problems beyond their control. These are problems that adults already struggle with and should address, not 5-year-old children. Secondly, these lessons are listed under Social Emotional Learning, leading parents to believe that these lessons support the emotional development of children. Rather, they appear designed to create emotional instability in children. Thirdly, the goal of these lessons seems to be to make children into activists by introducing them to injustices suffered by people who are defined by identity categories. In this case, children are being divided into the hungry and the full. The hungry have suffered an injustice and it is the job of the full to correct the injustice. All of the lessons in the NEA-WEF-UNESCO curriculum pray on emotions to promote activism. The roots of curriculum like this is Cultural Marxism and it has proven devastating when implemented.
Here is a short video that does a good job explaining exactly what Cultural Marxism is.
Cultural Marxism Explained in 7 minutes
I postulate that it is precisely lessons like this that are causing the nationwide suicide rate to increase. Rather than allowing kids to be kids, children are told they are responsible for correcting widespread injustice in a crappy and unfair world. They are divided into groups based on characteristics beyond their control and they are told one group is oppressed or has suffered an injustice and the other group is an oppressor or must work to lessen the injustice of those suffering.
These lessons are dangerous to our children and they are devastating for our society.