Thread for the right-wing war on American public education (book bannings, CRT hysteria, vouchers, teacher pogroms and other witch hunts)

There's so much of this shit going on right now. I've been covering public education on and off for 30 years and I've never seen an atmosphere like this. Concentrated in red states but not limited to them, it's an ever-growing part of the GOP culture-war playbook, and it deserves its own thread.

This case in Oklahoma is maybe the most egregious, at least of the past month or so.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/education/2022/08/31/ryan-walters-calls-to-revoke-former-norman-teacher-summer-boismier-certification/65466233007/

But there's plenty more like it out there. Here in Tennessee, we have had this spectacle involving the president of Hillsdale College:

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/revealed/revealed-teachers-come-from-dumbest-parts-of-dumbest-colleges-tenn-governors-education-advisor-tells-him

NPR just had an interview with an outgoing Idaho librarian (herself a conservative republican) who had received threats from the crazies over gay books that the library didn't even stock, and the 'grooming', the 'grooming'

Yeah people are really acting deranged. Like this jackass in Maine, who has been a Tucker Carlson guest (of course he has).

Ellsworth, ME kindergarten open house, provides parents a look at the indoctrination their kids are facing by teacher Rhonda Ulichney. Her class is not a family, it’s not about being kind, it’s about colors and ABC’s. Parents are the family. Pull your kids now. pic.twitter.com/oFKwYuPNFA

— Shawn McBreairty 🇺🇸 (@ShawnMcBreairty) August 30, 2022

Fucking hell, that Oklahoma story.

The rest of that Maine asshole tweet thread gets worse.

Walters is a high school history teacher


Oof feel bad for his students.

There is a group of parents--mostly moms, as far as I can tell--who are working hard to ban a bunch of books from classrooms in at least one metro Atlanta county. They claim these books include inappropriate sexual content. My question to these folks is, You can monitor what your child reads. Why are you trying to decide what my child reads? The real goal, of course, is erasure of any narrative that does not fit their white, Christian, heterosexual world view.

From school libraries, not classrooms, although it amounts to the same thing.

This whole thing is so fucking strange to see

Actually, the real goal is to destroy public education.

"If you wanna read Christian-hating books by trans writers, teach your kid at home or pay for a private school."

I don't understand why they want to destroy public education. Like if you want to homeschool your kids, do it, but like what's the endgame of all the other kids doing it?

As jimbeaux notes above, theocrats gonna theocrat, and racists don't want to be called on their shit. They can homeschool their own kids, but erasing dissenting opinion is the larger endgame.

Lots of money to be made with charter, for-profit, religious schools and the like! They can even direct public funds to them.

yeah this has been an ongoing battle for over a century -- public school was not popular among certain circles!

Conservatives hate public education like they hate most public goods.

I don't understand why they want to destroy public education. Like if you want to homeschool your kids, do it, but like what's the endgame of all the other kids doing it?

― Histoire de BradNelson (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, September 1, 2022 1:34 PM

A crippled country is easier to loot.

How dare the public schools not teach that the USA was chosen by God to be greatest of all?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/george-dawson-middle-school-book-students-b2152964.html

Texas school named after a black author who learned to read at 98 bans his autobiography.

anything that makes white children feel slightly uncomfortable must get the Fahrenheit 451

Education should not make our children uncomfortable, damn it!

Meanwhile in Texas: https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2022/08/29/christian-cell-phone-company-texas-school-boards

Patriot Mobile, a North Texas-based cell phone service reseller that markets itself as "America's only Christian conservative wireless provider" was the driving financial force behind the election of 11 new school board members in four suburban North Texas districts.

With this result among others: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/24/texas-school-dont-say-trans/

In the early hours of Tuesday morning, after a “marathon” school board session featuring four hours of debate from parents, students and community members, the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District in North Texas narrowly passed a sweeping set of policies that includes a total ban on all classroom discussion of “gender fluidity.”

The new rules also impose more limits on how race, gender and sexuality are taught; restrict which bathrooms transgender youths can use; and give greater power to the school board to determine which books are available in school libraries.

Every time I read the words "Patriot Mobile" I get a headache.

"Christian conservative wireless provider." I've always had a special distrust for people who use religion as a marketing tool.

Christian conservative septic tank service
Christian conservative small appliance repair
Christian conservative industrial alloy manufacturer
Christian conservative dog grooming

To be fair — well, not to be fair, I don't care about being fair to Patriot Mobile — but back in the '90s I had my long distance service through Working Assets, which donated some percent of revenues to liberal causes.

I remember Working Assets. I wouldn't object at all to a faith-based company that donated some of its profits to, e.g., help for the homeless (or, hell, missionary work), but as far as I can tell these people just put "Christian conservative" up as a way to attract customers.

And to take over school boards to persecute queer and nonwhite kids, yeah. Pretty foul all around.

So Florida homeschoolers are using DeSantis' school vouchers to buy their kids Disney passes. lol/sob

https://popular.info/p/disney-tickets-ps5s-and-big-screen