2/ “ Indeed, the district superintendent had already called off the “One Book, One School” program before board meeting, after some teachers told him they didn’t want to get dragged into a political controversy over a program intended to promote literacy. Call it a different kind of dangerous “climate change”: a political climate in which global warming is now joining racism and LGBTQ issues as under fire by culture warriors who don’t want young minds exposed to debate around such ideas.”

4/ “Far-right assault on what young people learn is an immoral panic that has only accelerated since teens —even in rural and conservative communities— voiced support for #BlackLivesMatter after the police murder of #GeorgeFloyd. The fact that what began as an attack on antiracism education — given the scary misnomer “critical race theory” by conservatives — has metastasized into assaults on the LGBTQ community and is now going after climate science is no surprise.”

5/ “Kutztown parent Wismer essentially said the quiet part out loud: Conservatives are increasingly worried that a well-educated younger generation is rejecting their parents’ worldview.”

6/ “Real impact of right-wing anti-book crusade — to create a chill over the classroom that terrifies teachers from discussing any subject that might be controversial. That’s especially worrisome when it comes to climate change, since boldness and not timidity is needed to stop the two-degree global temperature rise of the book’s title.”

7/7 “For now, school officials are shipping hundreds of copies of Two Degrees —the program is funded by a grant from a nonprofit group — back to the publisher, not to be read by the middle schoolers of Kutztown. The good news is about 50 copies that were opened by teachers or district officials are still around, & kids aren’t prevented from reading those on their own time, if they want. The bad news is that the reading list for the Kutztown Teens Banned Book Club has just expanded by one title”

@GottaLaff the parents rights groups all over the country are trying to get parents United on the left and right. They don’t really care what the issue is- they want parents to unite to tell teachers what should be taught. Unfortunately that leads to THIS in conservative states.

@Danetteb I remember the very first time I’d heard of charter schools. My kids were in first grade and the parents were trying to unite and feel more powerful. Little did I know…