University of Minnesota calls for ideological purity for teachers
Uncommon Sense
December 16, 2009
When did ideological purity become a prerequisite to attaining a teaching degree? The University of Minnesota wants to cleanse the Minnesota education system of cultural biases. Therefore, it will expect its’ education graduates to confess to their own bigotry if they believe in the American dream of equal opportunity.
These are the conclusions of the Race, Culture, Class and Gender Task Group at the U’s College of Education and Human Development. Specifically the task force says that future teachers must dismiss the idea of “the American Dream” in order to obtain their teaching licensure required by the state.
The task force proposes making race, class and gender politics the “overarching framework” for all teaching courses at the university. In January, planners will review the recommendations and decide how to proceed.
The first step toward “cultural competence,” says the task group, is for future teachers to recognize — and confess — their own bigotry”. This will be achieved through exercises designed to allow prospective teachers to describe their own prejudices, stereotypes and take a “cultural intelligence” assessment. The assessment is designed to help them identify their own racism, classism and other cultural assumptions.
According to the task force the objective is to ensure that “future teachers will be able to discuss their own histories and current thinking drawing on notions of white privilege, hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, and internalized oppression.” These teachers will be required to champion social justice, “to explain how institutional racism works in schools” and acknowledge the flaws in the American Dream. They also recommend requiring “our future teachers” to “articulate a sophisticated and nuanced critical analysis” of this view of the American promise.
This is liberal indoctrination and manipulation for adults. It is also further proof that in the ranks of higher education there is a concerted effort to drive a social re-engineering of our country.
Much more at Uncommon Sense.
