Another NC Reading Assignment Questioned

Posted on April 30, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Former Buncombe School board member, Lisa Baldwin, recently raised an issue with school staff at her child’s high school.

The reading assignment was the book, The Kite Runner, and was given to her child in their 10th grade Honors English class.

 

The book, according to Baldwin’s research, apparently has a lexile score of a 6.8th grade range, yet it contains a number of sexually explicit scenes and accompanying strong language.

I’ve read this book. If you haven’t, you didn’t miss anything but here’s the Cliff’s notes.

Rape is consistent and recurring theme. It’s violent. It’s depressing. If they are using this for ‘cross-curricular’ purposes with AP World History, to which one has to ask, exactly what purposes?? Other than being set in Afghanistan, I’d like to hear this ‘cross curricular’ purpose.

To be blunt, it’s a damn downer and I’d rather read a collection of Sylvia Plath poems 1,000 times over before picking The Kite Runner up again. So I tend to agree, it “sucks“, although I’d probably say ‘creepy-depressing’ instead.
Shorter: It’s not something I’d have my 15 or 16-year-old reading without my knowing about it.

Back to the Objections
Baldwin reached out to me, knowing that I’ve written about and covered similar events.

Baldwin expressed her concerns with the book to local school staff at the high school, via email. In the email, Baldwin listed her objections and her request that her child be given an alternate reading assignment.

What happened next may be familiar to parents who bother to ask questions —
The school staff that she emailed brought Baldwin in for a meeting.

I’ve got a summary from Mrs. Baldwin on what happened at the meeting. At least there was an opt-out form offered, most parents who come to me don’t even get that much.

It looks like that opt-out doesn’t matter much.

The net-net of the meeting was the staff wouldn’t stop using the book, but her child could read an alternate book. However, her child would still be brought in on class discussion of The Kite Runner.

It’s worth noting, the book the other class (1,000 Splendid Suns) is reading doesn’t look much better and looks equally as depressing. It is also set in Afghanistan.

The following text is unaltered, except to address formatting and to clarify sections for ease of reading.

Hi Andrea,

Here’s what happened:

Present at the 3:15pm meeting were the A.C. Reynolds High School principal, 10th grade Honors English teacher, Ms. Bowman, and Eric Grant, the BCS ELA Specialist.

I told them all I was videotaping the meeting with my phone and I did.

1. Why was the book, The Kite Runner, chosen?
Answer: For the setting in Afghanistan; content relevant to today, part of the standards.

2. Who chose the book?
Answer: 10th grade honors English teachers, Ms. Latini and Ms. Bowman, chose to use 1000 Splendid Suns (Latini) and The Kite Runner (Bowman), respectively. The two classes will come together to discuss the two books at some point.

3. It was explained to me that the books were on the “approved list”. I asked where the list came from? The MTAC committee decides what is “approved”. I asked if there were any parents on the MTAC committee and no one knew the answer.

4. I made the point of the book’s 6.8th grade reading level and thus its additional inappropriateness for a 10th grade Honors English Class. Of course, they insisted that it was the content that was important. Cross-curricular plans have been made with the AP World History class.

5. I also made the point that the book includes graphic descriptions of extreme cruelty and violence, including homosexual rape. Also, it includes murder, beatings and a suicide attempt.
I asked the principal to explain to me what the word “cunt” on page 7 meant.  She did; I had to look it up on-line. According to Wikipedia, “Scholar Germaine Greer said in 2006 that cunt “is one of the few remaining words in the English language with a genuine power to shock.”

6. Another point I made was that this normalizes abnormal behaviors and desensitizes teens. Of course, the argument was made was that this was reality. (Huh? In whose world?)

7. Apparently, this book is taking the place of the 9th grade reading level book, All Quiet on the Western Front. This will be the book my son reads as an alternative.

8. The teacher said she would draw Will and his book into the discussions.

9. I said I didn’t want Will in the discussions of the other book. I would like him to be separate and have a certified ELA teacher.

10. I expressed that Will reads Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn and I expect classical literature to be taught in his Honors English class.

11. Of course, the teacher mentioned that there is “language” in All Quiet on the Western Front. I can’t imagine that this book would be as sexually charged in the 1930s as literature is now, but I will check on it.

12. I expressed my disappointment and even called it a “black mark on Reynolds HS” to read this book. I also explained that I was unhappy with the opt-out form; it should be an opt-in or permission form. The principal said she would bring up the form at her next principals’ meeting.

13. What I didn’t mention, since I had just picked the book up from the library, was the racism in the book (there were 2 classes of Afghans.) I am disturbed as to how this may be discussed and applied to minorities in the US today.

I appealed to their sense of morality and Christianity and got nowhere.

Posted in EDUCATION | Tagged | 7 Comments

NC NAACP Employs ‘Let No Crisis Go To Waste’ Strategy #BaltimoreRiots

Posted on April 30, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

You never let a serious crisis go to waste.

Oh FFS, NC NAACP…. with one hand they stir the pot and with the other fan the flames heating it.  See the letter from Moral Monday’s leader below.

 

An Open Letter on the Fires of Baltimore

By Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, Pastor, Architect of the Forward Together Moral Movement, Father of Five Children, and NC NAACP President

After dismissal, high school students went to the new shopping center, built after The Wiremade their community—Freddie Gray’s community—famous. He is dead. No one is talking. Trust is dead. The police came with their face shields in place. The students and the police lined up, ready to do battle, like the two armies in the Hindu sacred book Bhagavad Gita. It seemed too late for talk. Too late to seek truth, then trust. All that was left were two fearful armies, fated to act out the script of distrust.

Watching this tragedy unfold on television, suddenly a major fire came on the screen, near the Baltimore Harbor. I thought of Francis Scott Key, watching fires in the same harbor, from the battle between the new U.S. Navy and what had been the omnipotent British fleet, prompting his famous words: O say can you see by the dawn’s early light…

Can we see by the dawn’s early light? Can we—the forces of love and justice—by the dawn’s early light, unify around a comprehensive strategy to get people talking, seeking the common truth of reality, and repairing the breach of trust. It’s too late to create trust when the police are wearing face shields.

Our response must be comprehensive. Not just an indictment of the system and the officers that killed Freddie Gray. We must also indict the economic and social systems that led to distrust. And we must repair the breach in our society with long term anti-poverty, economic and human development investments. We must agree on a transformative strategy, not just for Baltimore, but our nation, because what is happening in Baltimore is not an isolated problem. Baltimore—like Ferguson, Staten Island, Sanford, Charlotte, North Charleston, and others—is a metaphor. People in every city in North Carolina and in other states must understand this.

Our young people, black, white, and Latino, have nightmares of heavily armed white cops killing unarmed black and Latino men. Most of our kids have not been taught the historic role of well-armed white men, empowered by white slave holders, corporation owners, and urban landlords to protect their property—slaves, women, stores, and banks. Because we don’t understand how the racist system was built, we often don’t realize that the occasional overt display of rage is the result of daily ongoing traumatic syndrome or DOTS. This rage is produced by years of insults to our dignity. The exposure of the constant killing of black men—these killings have been routine since racialized slavery was invented—by officers of the law triggers the rage.

We believe fully in nonviolence and do not condone rioting or the destruction of property. But we must see the connections between the violence of rage and the totality of police violence—not to justify violence, but to clarify the dynamic of distrust. As Dr. King said, rioting is often “the language of the unheard”.

We now watch communities that have long been under siege with no strategy to build trust. Television and internet images keep the DOTS on the front burner, and the killing of one of your neighbors with no immediate response causes the pot to boil over. The hyper police violence that seems to be getting worse is connected to a white backlash that, U.S. historians remind us, always accompanies the fear of power shifts in America.

Leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and George White understood this about lynching. We are living through a similar power shift today.

Many believe police brutality and violence against unarmed blacks is a perverted political act. Such acts have been condoned and rationalized by a dual system of justice. It is wrong to think of them as an isolated, individual act of violence. State terror is the proper term for acts that “put a community in its place”. We must therefore deal with the system’s sickness.

Such a comprehensive response includes trials of police who wrongfully kill and cover-up the killings. It includes transparency of information—immediate sharing of information with the family and neighbors of the victim of the white backlash. It includes training for officers, to unpack racist stereotypes, using young people from the streets as trainers in creating authentic community protecting and serving, as opposed to driving by and occupying. It includes tracking of police brutality with data reporting and community review boards that include legitimate representatives from the “hood” with real subpoena power. It includes taping interactions with body cameras, cell phone cameras, inside and outside vehicle cameras. It includes a transformation of the discriminatory practices in our “justice” system in arrests, investigations, indictments, trials, sentencing, and prisons.

Without these, we cannot achieve trust. We will not achieve trust.

All of the forces of love and justice have the ability to create a national response rooted in these ideals.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Moral Monday, NC NAACP, Reverend Barber | Tagged | Comments Off on NC NAACP Employs ‘Let No Crisis Go To Waste’ Strategy #BaltimoreRiots

North Carolina’s 2015 Summer Circus Schedule

Posted on April 29, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

Occupy Monday Starring Rev BarberThe Circus is coming back to towns all over North Carolina.

Yeah, I mean Moral Monday or MoMo for short.

The MoMo’s we nice enough to publish a partial schedule of their circus act, titled the ‘Summer of Moral Resistance Tour’.

Thanks MoMo!! Avoiding these events has almost become a game with downtown workers and visitors.

The schedule hangs off the NC NAACP site. Note that only half of these events are actually on a Monday.

April 29th | Moral Monday Reunites | NC General Assembly, Raleigh

May 4 | Chatham/Lee County Moral Monday | Sanford, NC

May 13 | Labor Rights & Living Wages Moral Monday | NC General Assembly, Raleigh

May 18 | Pitt County Moral Monday | Greenville, NC

May 27 | Healthcare & Environmental Justice | NC General Assembly, Raleigh

June 1 | Mecklenburg County Moral Monday | Charlotte, NC

June 10 | Equal Protection Under the Law Moral Monday | NC General Assembly, Raleigh

June 15 | TBA

June 17 | Women’s Rights Moral Monday | NC General Assembly, Raleigh

July 6 | Voting Rights March | Winston-Salem, NC

**This list is not comprehensive. We will notify supporters of additional Forward Together Moral Movement actions through our Facebook page, website, and email list.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), BlueprintNC, Moral Monday, Occupy 2.0, Reverend Barber, THE LEFT | Tagged | Comments Off on North Carolina’s 2015 Summer Circus Schedule

#KingDuncan Has Spoken! Threatens Peasants That The Government Will ‘Step In’

Posted on April 29, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

In case you missed it, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has expanded on his colorful rhetoric aimed at the peasants a.k.a, parents.

No longer is the ‘white suburban mom’ the target of his umbrage. Now any parent opting their kids out of the Common Core tests is fair game. He’s put the states on notice that they better get the peasants back in line.

 

While I mock King Duncan, but I also want to echo the warning from the Homeschool Defense League article in the linked Tweet above.

In short – Don’t underestimate the Fed:

Nearly 200,000 students have opted out of taking these tests in New York State alone—and nationwide, the numbers of Common Core student test-takers continue to diminish. So with unprecedented numbers of parents keeping their children at home on test day, the federal government will be tempted to “step in” more than ever.

HSLDA is concerned that federal officials will again resort to financial incentives—or threaten to withhold funding—to coerce students into participating in these tests. As demonstrated empirically by 2009’s “Race to the Top” grants, state governments have a track record of prioritizing federal funds over their own sovereignty. Lured by the promise of funding, many cash-strapped states could not or would not resist the offer of billions of dollars in exchange for what seemed, at the time, a small sacrifice: adhering to a set of K–12 learning standards.

But far from being just another set of standards, Common Core revolutionized education in America—and not for the better. Concerns over data collection, high stakes testing, and a lack of transparency have provoked a groundswell of resistance among parents and educators.

As grassroots movements and parental opposition continues to dismantle Common Core piece by piece, concerned citizens should remain vigilant and take Duncan’s threats seriously. Whenever the government threatens to “step in,” the right of parents to be involved in their children’s education is bound to suffer.

Children and their welfare do not belong Arne Duncan, to a testing consortia, or to the Big Ed Reformers.

They aren’t numbers for you to crunch.  They belong to their parents; their family.

It is their parents that work in the best interests of their children.  It is the parents who are rebelling and, in doing so, are exposing the elaborate system in place that attaches data sets and a dollar sign shaped target to the backs of our children.

The rebellion has just begun, King Duncan. The peasants are just getting started.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION, Testing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Electronic Monitors Aren’t Just For Adults Anymore

Posted on April 29, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

A variety of criminals are given electronic monitors to track their activities as a condition of parole and probation.  These monitors have typically been on adult criminal offenders.

Not anymore.

WSCOTV is reporting that right here in North Carolina, the number of kids with these type of monitors on has “skyrocketed”.

Story highlights:

  • Number of children wearing electronic monitors in N.C. has skyrocketed in the last three years
  • In 2014, 807 children between the ages of 6 and 15 were assigned to electronic monitors
  • Electronic monitoring serves as a ‘second chance’ for most offenders, who otherwise may have been jailed

[…]

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Lt. Lisa Carricker told Channel 9 that electronic monitors, or EMs, are sometimes a condition of release from jail for teens over 16 years old. The North Carolina Division of Juvenile Justice says they’re also often assigned as a term of juvenile probation. During the wait, Carricker said many teens attend regular classes.

What does ‘regular classes’ mean?

How many of these ‘second chances’ were given after assaulting a teacher or fellow student?

SB 343 is running through the Senate at the General Assembly right now.  The bill makes assault a teacher a felony. Perhaps WSCOTV’s characterization of the electronic monitor use “skyrocketing” will become an understatement.

I don’t have to wonder if Carolina Plott Hound is asking how many teachers have this same monitor on after assaulting their students.
#NotAHomeSchool #WhoIsTeachingYourChild

Hey, is this the real ‘school to prison pipeline’?

Related: 

PARENTS CONCERNED AFTER TWITTER ACCOUNT CLAIMS TO SHOW FIGHTS AT PANTHER CREEK HIGH SCHOOL IN CARY

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), EDUCATION, NCGA | Comments Off on Electronic Monitors Aren’t Just For Adults Anymore

Student ‘Health Assessment’ Helps ‘Track the Fat Kids’. Bonus: US is a Democracy?

Posted on April 29, 2015 by A.P. Dillon

I’ve warned people for a while now about HB 13 (Amend School Health Assessment Requirement) and the ramifications of the parental ‘consent’ signature block on the health form that the bill references.

Parents have been signing away the confidentiality between their child’s doctor to allow DHHS and DPI to contact the provider directly.  Here’s the signature block:

“Parental Consent: I agree to allow my child’s health care provider and school personnel to discuss information on this form and allow the Department of Health and Human Services to collect and analyze information from this form to better understand health needs of children in NC. Signature: _________________ Date:_________”

Now we’re seeing this health assessment form in action.

Lindalyn Kakadelis of the John Locke Foundation has also been reporting on this health assessment. In her latest report, she find that this form is coordinating efforts to track kids based on their BMI data.

Excerpt from Invasive Health Assessment Takes “Next Step”:

Earlier this month, I wrote on the invasive health assessment form used for 5 year old kindergarten students. Last week the New Hanover School Board got a presentation from the County Manager’s Office, showing HOW this information can be used. Remember, these forms are NOT “voluntary,” but required for enrollment. Seems the county complied the “data” and now wants schools to spend time working on obesity issues.

In fact, their “data collection” includes: (see slide #3)

  • − Demographic information
  • − Parental attitudinal / perceptual information
  • − Insurance status, where child obtains regular health care
  • − Developmental screening information
  • − Height, weight, BMI, weight status, BP and BP status
  • − Calculated BMI and BMI status

THINK DATA COLLECTION IS CONFIDENTIAL – THINK AGAIN! Seems the County’s office took all the Kindergarten Health Assessment forms and can even tell where the “fat” kids go to school. There are maps! The county also proposed a PLAN for the system to continue monitoring the BMI (Body Mass Index) of students, and mandate staff time to “community working groups.”

You’re reading that right. In a nutshell, this data is being used to track the ‘fat kids’.

This is a way for DHHS and DPI to get more ‘Big Daddy Fed’ money to do more studies, have more interventions and continue to pile on programs that are not directed at actual academic instruction.

And we wonder why our kids are failing at basic courses like History and Civics?

Even our ‘education officials’ can’t get those basics right. Just look at this article at WRAL today; emphasis added is mine:

Only about a quarter of eighth graders showed solid performance or better in U.S. history, civics and geography on tests known as the Nation’s Report Card.

The 2014 results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress released Wednesday were similar to those four years ago when the assessments were last administered. Students did better overall in U.S. history and civics than their peers in the 1990s when the tests were first given, but geography scores have remained stagnant since 1994.

Among the findings: Less than half — 45 percent — of eighth-grade respondents were able to correctly interpret time differences using an atlas with time zones. Only about a third knew that “the government of the United States should be a democracy” is a political belief shared by most people in the U.S.

Michelle Herczog, president of the National Council for the Social Studies, said the results “point to a need for immediate action.” Tackling issues like terrorism, human rights, race relations and poverty require a deep understanding of the historical and geographic context, she said.

Wait, what? 

Wait-whatThe U.S. is a Constitutional Republic!

What evidence is there that the U.S. should be a Democracy and is a political belief shared by most people in the U.S?

The article of course does not supply any evidence backing that up.

Having said that, if true, that means our education system has failed generations of citizens.

Issues like “terrorism, human rights, race relations and poverty” are part of learning about History, but when the BASIC FACT that our nation is a Constitutional Republic isn’t acknowledged, the rest of those topics are also skewed.

Michelle Herczog, president of the National Council for the Social Studies, needs a lesson just as much as our kids do!

Some fun facts about the National Council for the Social Studies:

  • They are furiously aligning their material to the Common Core via the “C-3 Framework“.
  • They host annual conferences. In 2013, their list of topics and speakers was appalling and included extremely biased sessions, one of which was taught by an Occupy Wall Street sympathizing high school teacher.

Once you account for this activity with the C-3 Framework that is going on in our K-12 social studies, it is hard to argue that the new APUSH framework is anything but an attempt to reshape what our kids learn about our own country and history in general.

Posted in A.P. Dillon (LL1885), Common Core, EDUCATION | Tagged | 2 Comments