How do you ensure your kids to get a balanced view of culture war issues discussed at school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meritocracy? ? The U.S.? If I had a drink I would have spat it out!
Based on what is the U.S. a meritocraxy?
USSR was a 'more' meritocracy than this feudalism we have here!

As I recall, you had to mouth the party line in the USSR or be sent to the Gulag. Only the party of Trump is trying that sort of loyalty test.

Well, you don't recall because you are here and were not there.
Even if they towed the party line, so what? Here you towed the capitalism line, no? At least they thought kids in schools that all races are created equal, that all humans are equal, oh and that evil capitalism use African Americans as property!
And the education they brought to that huge country? Yep, created smart people and taught them science! Here in 2021, we have a thread about one of the most liberal counties in the U.S. trying to teach racial equality and factual history, and we have people complaining about it!

^^taught kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meritocracy? ? The U.S.? If I had a drink I would have spat it out!
Based on what is the U.S. a meritocraxy?
USSR was a 'more' meritocracy than this fedalism we have here!

Most immigrants would disagree with you.

I am a first generation American and my dad would happily discuss with you how important the American Dream is to immigrants. And how, the US, more than most countries in the world, does a fantastic job allowing people upward mobility.

He comes from a country with a well-defined social system. Where it is very difficult to ‘break-out’ of the category you are born into.

Hard to take you seriously if you truly think the USSR ever offered people more opportunities to get ahead based on merit than the US does.

I don't have to think about it. I know if. If you are not from the USSR, you don't know a thing about it. Do not run off your mouth about things you don't know. That is how the U.S. got into this mess in the first place.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you are white, why should your opinion about racism towards black Americans count?[/quote]

This is sarcasm right? [/quote]
No. Not at all. What would you possibly know about it?
I am skinny, what do I know about being obese? Nothing? What do I know about obese people trying to lose weight, nothing?
I am not Chinese, for example. What do I know about being Chinese and their opinions, values, etc? Very, very little and personal experience? Nothing. Never been there, have 2 acquaintances who are Chinese. Should I chime in on China and what people there should do, should not do, how they perceive this or that? No.
I know nothing about it.
Does an elephant know how to hunt a zebra? No, we look to a lion for that information.[/quote]

Who is most often blamed for racism against black Americans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meritocracy? ? The U.S.? If I had a drink I would have spat it out!
Based on what is the U.S. a meritocraxy?
USSR was a 'more' meritocracy than this feudalism we have here!

As I recall, you had to mouth the party line in the USSR or be sent to the Gulag. Only the party of Trump is trying that sort of loyalty test.

Well, you don't recall because you are here and were not there.
Even if they towed the party line, so what? Here you towed the capitalism line, no? At least they thought kids in schools that all races are created equal, that all humans are equal, oh and that evil capitalism use African Americans as property!
And the education they brought to that huge country? Yep, created smart people and taught them science! Here in 2021, we have a thread about one of the most liberal counties in the U.S. trying to teach racial equality and factual history, and we have people complaining about it!

That’s the problem. They’re teaching Stamped, which is not totally ‘factual’.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meritocracy? ? The U.S.? If I had a drink I would have spat it out!
Based on what is the U.S. a meritocraxy?
USSR was a 'more' meritocracy than this fedalism we have here!

Most immigrants would disagree with you.

I am a first generation American and my dad would happily discuss with you how important the American Dream is to immigrants. And how, the US, more than most countries in the world, does a fantastic job allowing people upward mobility.

He comes from a country with a well-defined social system. Where it is very difficult to ‘break-out’ of the category you are born into.

Hard to take you seriously if you truly think the USSR ever offered people more opportunities to get ahead based on merit than the US does.

I don't have to think about it. I know if. If you are not from the USSR, you don't know a thing about it. Do not run off your mouth about things you don't know. That is how the U.S. got into this mess in the first place.

Where do you live now? Where are you posting from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meritocracy? ? The U.S.? If I had a drink I would have spat it out!
Based on what is the U.S. a meritocraxy?
USSR was a 'more' meritocracy than this feudalism we have here!

As I recall, you had to mouth the party line in the USSR or be sent to the Gulag. Only the party of Trump is trying that sort of loyalty test.

Well, you don't recall because you are here and were not there.
Even if they towed the party line, so what? Here you towed the capitalism line, no? At least they thought kids in schools that all races are created equal, that all humans are equal, oh and that evil capitalism use African Americans as property!
And the education they brought to that huge country? Yep, created smart people and taught them science! Here in 2021, we have a thread about one of the most liberal counties in the U.S. trying to teach racial equality and factual history, and we have people complaining about it!

That’s the problem. They’re teaching Stamped, which is not totally ‘factual’.

Not only that but it was written specifically to indoctrinate kids into believing the woke ideology they are pushing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coleman Hughes is funded by rightwing billionares and his career was built via those billionaires at the Manhattan Institute. His ideas lost in the marketplace, and we only hear about them because billionaires find him politically useful to achieve their agenda. Wealthy funders are the reason he’s part of public debate.

That’s a long way of saying: Don’t be fooled. Hughes has been selected by the wealthy to deceive you.

What is the agenda that billionaire founders are trying to achieve through Coleman? His messages and approach to anti racism seem very positive and balanced. Far left anti racism messages actually start to sound racist and are also funded by billionaires.

PP, if you think they're "far left", then please consider recalibrating your political spectrum. They're not far-left at all. They're conventional and mainstream.

DP. So you don’t think there exists a single far left “anti racist” view and that they’re all conventional and mainstream?

Instead of asking hypothetical questions, please provide an example of a viewpoint you consider "far left".

That meritocracy, including requiring a certain level of education and experience when hiring for a job, is racist.

No, we need to unbundle that. Is it racist to require a certain level of education and experience when hiring for a job, when that job's tasks requires the knowledge/skills acquired through that education and experience? No. Is it racist to require a certain level of education and experience when hiring for a job, unrelated to that job's tasks, as a way of weeding out "unqualified" applicants? It might be. Is the idea that the US is a meritocratic society racist? Yes.

Something you may not know is that the term "meritocracy" was invented by an English sociologist to describe a dystopia (Michael Young, "The Rise of the Dystopia"). I wonder whether there are people who would complain about "culture wars" and "far-left" indoctrination if students in MCPS were assigned that book.

I’m not making that example up. It’s something that I read that was building on the teachings of Ibram Kendi and personally consider to be “far left anti racism.” It exists. You don’t agree with it, fine. But it’s part of the dialogue in my social circle of highly educated millennials with jobs on the Hill and in media and in education.

It's something you read somewhere, written by somebody, who said it somewhere...

It's not "far left" anti-racism to say that the US is not a meritocracy and that employers are requiring college degrees for jobs that don't require college degrees as a way of eliminating, well, "those people" from the applicant pool.

So it’s far left and fringe, it doesn’t exist, or that person is right? Because you’re saying all 3 here. Which is it?

It's not "far left" anti-racism to say that the US is not a meritocracy and that employers are requiring college degrees for jobs that don't require college degrees as a way of eliminating, well, "those people" from the applicant pool.

You are ridiculous if you think that employers or professions use educational qualifications to specifically weed out racial groups. Instead, they use increasing educational qualification to weed out people who are uneducated. The difficulty of obtaining a high school diploma has been reduced to zero, so its value as a signal to employers of basic education and perseverance has also been reduced. Hence, the basic employment qualification is now a bachelor's degree. Unfortunately, the substance behind those degrees is also being reduced, causing further inflation in the need for degrees.

If you want to solve this problem, go back to K-12 education and demand that there be real substance in teaching and expectations for learning. Demand that failure not only be allowed, but can be expected for kids who do not perform. Give them multiple attempts, give them vocational opportunities, etc. if they fail, BUT don't graduate them unless they can read, write, do math, assess scientific data and know something about history, geography, government and economics. This is the biggest gift that you could give kids of any racial group, not the false compassion of social promotion, weakened standardized tests, affirmative action into colleges above their level of achievement, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this conventional and mainstream? https://twitter.com/marya_hay/status/1230546821346471939?s=20

A good psychologist can help with your obsession over that tweet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meritocracy? ? The U.S.? If I had a drink I would have spat it out!
Based on what is the U.S. a meritocraxy?
USSR was a 'more' meritocracy than this fedalism we have here!

As I recall, you had to mouth the party line in the USSR or be sent to the Gulag. Only the party of Trump is trying that sort of loyalty test.

Please give an example. I find this to be far more prevalent amongst wokes. It's what virtue signaling is all about (personal pronouns, BLM signs, etc).

Liz Cheney says Hi! She failed the Trump loyalty test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is my personal experience with employers trying to address race problems.

The employer first tries to hire black people equally qualified (by education and experience) as the rest of the applicant pool.

Those candidates are HIGHLY sought after. Employer is not able to attract them.

Employer then reduces a the requirements, finds applicants, and hires.

The black employee is then assigned work as they would be if they had the preferred experience and education, or at least similar.

The employee is not able to meet expectations.

The company then slowly stops giving them the work they were hired to do. The company avoids difficult conversations about how the employee is not fulfilling the needs of their role because they’re scared of being called racist (or, if they’ve done bias training, managers are even scared that they *are* racist).

The employee is gently counseled out after a couple of years.

Nothing offered right now by far left OR mainstream “anti racism” training or theory addresses any of this. I would love to see people engage with this real problem. But telling more employers they should do what my employers have done, which is lower the bar for hiring? No. That’s not helping.

Oh, my.

Oh my indeed. It’s a big fat disaster. I’ve seen exactly this play out several times. And the answer from the leading voices in “anti racism” is that meritocracy is the problem? That’s not helping us in industry actually trying to live anti racist values.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meritocracy? ? The U.S.? If I had a drink I would have spat it out!
Based on what is the U.S. a meritocraxy?
USSR was a 'more' meritocracy than this feudalism we have here!

As I recall, you had to mouth the party line in the USSR or be sent to the Gulag. Only the party of Trump is trying that sort of loyalty test.

Well, you don't recall because you are here and were not there.
Even if they towed the party line, so what? Here you towed the capitalism line, no? At least they thought kids in schools that all races are created equal, that all humans are equal, oh and that evil capitalism use African Americans as property!
And the education they brought to that huge country? Yep, created smart people and taught them science! Here in 2021, we have a thread about one of the most liberal counties in the U.S. trying to teach racial equality and factual history, and we have people complaining about it!

That’s the problem. They’re teaching Stamped, which is not totally ‘factual’.

So you are writing letters to complain about every single book your kids read that is based on some history, but still a work of fiction? Is To Kill a Mockingbird on your list of no, no books?
Are you telling me that all the previous books your kid read were factual? Most of the books your kid read and still reads are not factual. Are those off-limits too? Do you have the same opinion about the book that tells how George Washington fought for liberty, democracy, and for the right to have "people created equal?"
Is that book ok?
Because I have some of those my kids learned from, and that is also not factual. Not in the slightest.

[Anonymous]

I feel that some of these pps should watch Them on amazonprime.
Maybe then you can get some idea what it means to live in a country that wants to kill you.... and your kids and pets. all the time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Meritocracy? ? The U.S.? If I had a drink I would have spat it out!
Based on what is the U.S. a meritocraxy?
USSR was a 'more' meritocracy than this fedalism we have here!

Most immigrants would disagree with you.

I am a first generation American and my dad would happily discuss with you how important the American Dream is to immigrants. And how, the US, more than most countries in the world, does a fantastic job allowing people upward mobility.

He comes from a country with a well-defined social system. Where it is very difficult to ‘break-out’ of the category you are born into.

Hard to take you seriously if you truly think the USSR ever offered people more opportunities to get ahead based on merit than the US does.

I don't have to think about it. I know if. If you are not from the USSR, you don't know a thing about it. Do not run off your mouth about things you don't know. That is how the U.S. got into this mess in the first place.

Where do you live now? Where are you posting from?

Why? You gonna send CIA to get me? I am writing from upper MoCo and I am a Yugoslav by birth. Is that a problem? Aren't you the one arguing that we all have the right to free speech in this country?
Or is that only until you find a crony of McArthy to report me to?
Toting the line, indeed! In a country that has freedom of speech and thinks the USSR and Russia are bad but arrested anyone who suited them and labeled them "communists." So much better than the USSR when it comes to toting the line!

[Anonymous]

Do you really think that reading a book by Kendi will indoctrinate your kids? LOL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is my personal experience with employers trying to address race problems.

The employer first tries to hire black people equally qualified (by education and experience) as the rest of the applicant pool.

Those candidates are HIGHLY sought after. Employer is not able to attract them.

Employer then reduces a the requirements, finds applicants, and hires.

The black employee is then assigned work as they would be if they had the preferred experience and education, or at least similar.

The employee is not able to meet expectations.

The company then slowly stops giving them the work they were hired to do. The company avoids difficult conversations about how the employee is not fulfilling the needs of their role because they’re scared of being called racist (or, if they’ve done bias training, managers are even scared that they *are* racist).

The employee is gently counseled out after a couple of years.

Nothing offered right now by far left OR mainstream “anti racism” training or theory addresses any of this. I would love to see people engage with this real problem. But telling more employers they should do what my employers have done, which is lower the bar for hiring? No. That’s not helping.

Oh, my.

Oh my indeed. It’s a big fat disaster. I’ve seen exactly this play out several times. And the answer from the leading voices in “anti racism” is that meritocracy is the problem? That’s not helping us in industry actually trying to live anti racist values.

In my company they’re generally moved to middle management roles where not much damage can be done or moved into the rapidly growing “diversity, inclusion and equity” portion of HR.