I have always thought educating children was a community issue; a community effort to provide our youth with the tools they need to become successful, thriving, independent adults. I have never seen this as an us versus them issue. Aren’t we all Americans and community members who want the best for our children? But the more internal Grand Haven Area Public School documentation I read, the more my opinion is changing.
Do you agree with any or all of the following statements?
The book “Call Me Max” should not have been given to children without parental consent
Masking children was a choice that should have been left up to families
Children can be harmed by reading books they are not emotionally mature enough to handle
Schools should be focusing on reading, writing and math and not diversity, equity, and inclusion
Even if you agree with only one of these statements, the current social climate would make you are part of the RESISTANCE.
On this website we often focus on school administrators and community leaders who are pushing ideologies onto our children, but today I would like to talk about the resistance. In reference to the current situation within our public school system across America there are basically three types of people: the Activists, the Resistance, the Unaware. The activists have one goal in mind (impart their ideology onto as many people as possible) and they use three tools when people from the resistance push back.
Silence
Discredit
Root out/Replacement
The first tactic used by The Activists is silence. Anyone who dares to even question lessons given to our youth is actively silenced. If those speaking out are persistent, and silence isn’t effective, they move to the second tactic, discrediting. They use student newspapers, local news media, social media and activists to discredit anyone speaking in opposition. Finally, in order to further their long-term goals, they actively work to fill key positions with allies who agree with their ideology. Here are some examples of their tactics in action.
Silence
When individual parents question curriculum, they are invited to meetings with teachers, principals and the curriculum director to be placated. Administrators make statements such as “We hear you”, “Your input is important to us,” and “You are your child’s most important teacher.” Yet they very rarely act on concerns. Rather, they tell parents what they think the parents want to hear and get them to go away, so that they can continue on with their agenda. This has happened many times and here are a few examples.
When citizens ask questions at school board meetings the school board does not respond. Board members either ignore parent concerns, or respond afterwards by phone call or with an invitation to a private meeting. This silencing technique is very effective, because the parent is separated from the group and appeased while the community never knows what happened and never gets the answers to the concerns that were raised during the public meeting. The Masking in Gym Class article plainly displays this tactic.
Silence is such an effective tactic, that the GHAPS DEIB Committee has even written a Handbook for GHAPS employees on how to silence citizens concerned about Critical Race Theory.
Call Me Max – Did you know that a large group of teachers stood up for families during the Call Me Max controversy? They banded together and spoke out as a group, threatening to resign if the book was made part of the school library. This is one example where teachers were not effectively silenced. Unfortunately, against threats of retaliation and termination teachers opposed to the agenda being pushed by administrators rarely speak up. Below is an interview with the GHAPs Curriculum Director talking about this incident.
Near the end of the podcast at the 55:55 minute mark, GHAPS Curriculum Director Mary Jane Evink states, “There are teachers in our district at the elementary level who said ‘if you have the book Call Me Max in our library, we might resign.’…multiple teachers said this…..and they said, what we say to our students, our words ‘Hang on the Moon.’”
Powerful Podcasts: Episode 4, A Modern Day Book Burning (April 7, 2022)
What’s ironic, is that in the same podcast, at the 56:30 minute mark, Mary Jane Evink states, “I’m telling you what happened when a book about transgender accidentally landed in some student’s hands without parental permission.” Apparently, she forgot that she was the one who directed all elementary teachers Young 5’s-4th Grade to use this book.
These brave teachers risked their jobs. They banded together and spoke together to fight for our children. Teachers opposed to the agenda are out there. In fact, there are a lot of them, but they are scared to speak out. They face retaliation for speaking out. We need to stand up for them and give them a voice so they can better use their classroom time to effectively teach our children.
In addition to silence, GHAPS has used techniques of discrediting as well as root out and replacement against those who oppose their agenda. Stay tuned for part 2.