Contributed by Nan Potts
It’s Fall and children are back in school!
A time for kids and their parents to rejoice. Classrooms filled with anxious youngsters eager to learn and parents anticipating the continuation of their growing child’s educational experience, right?
Well, that’s the ideal scene.
It wasn’t until the second week of school in Vancouver, Washington, my ten year old granddaughter encountered her first snag in the fifth grade.
Her teacher assigned the class to create posters to welcome all of the students, returning and new. The posters were to be positive and colorful, an “All Welcome” assignment.
The kids worked independently while casually discussing ideas, each coming up with crayon drawn themes. She did two posters. One, “Kindness Zone” which included a bright rainbow. The other poster she came up with was, “All Lives Matter”. This was in response to the idea, “Black Lives Matter”, mentioned by another student. My granddaughter immediately realized the BLM poster was not inclusive and countered with hers.
The ALM poster was rejected by the teacher. WHY? The teacher’s explanation was that some groups required more help or attention than others.
Needless to say, my granddaughter returned home that afternoon upset. Why? The teacher’s explanation didn’t make sense to her.
I happened to call my daughter that night to find out how the second week of school had gone. My granddaughter told me her tale in a an angry voice.
My initial reaction, “What word in ‘All Lives Matter’ does your teacher not understand to be inclusive?”
“I don’t know!” she replied. “I’m so angry! I want to write the Principal!”
I suggested she write out her frustration. It would help clarify her understating of what happened. She could decide later if to send it.
She did. And, she sent it — to her teacher. This was the email she wrote and sent:
“On Friday you told me that you wouldn’t hang my “ALL LIVES MATTER” poster. Even though at the moment I said that I understood. Now I realize that I do not. I would also like to bring to your attention that we were doing INCLUSIVE posters, the definition of inclusive is not focusing on specific groups like LGBTQ or BLM, it is not even close to that. The definition is really: including DIFFERENT items (or in this case people). So technically by not hanging up my poster that is not being inclusive. Also by not including my poster, which says “all lives matter”, makes me feel like you’re saying, [name of friend]’s life doesn’t matter, [other name of friend]’s life doesn’t matter, YOUR life doesn’t matter, which they do! I just think that all people matter and we all should be appreciated, and you might think that my parents are telling me to write this but that is not the case, this is all me. So I will ask one more time, not angrily but politely, will you please hang my poster? I will leave it at your desk and let you decide tomorrow.
— [granddaughter’s name]
The following day, her teacher confronted her. “I was very impressed,” her teacher said. Her teacher did not hang the poster but continued to defend her stance with an analogy regarding focusing on specific groups. Here is the cartoon analogy the teacher used to justify her stance:
My granddaughter decided on another poster. This time it read, “You Matter”. She felt good about her idea being accepted and enjoyed the remainder of the school day. Unfortunately, she didn’t finish it and it was not posted.
Later that evening, when she told her mom and me how the situation was resolved, she realized she had been manipulated — tears flowed.
In my book that’s an act of betrayal.
My granddaughter has moved past this episode, but she is thinking twice about what happened: How is ALM different than You Matter? How is, “certain groups, individuals, etc., need more attention than others”, inclusive?
Can different words or wording convey the same thought? The answer, Yep! Words matter for clarification. However, in this case, have the definition of words been changed? The answer, Yes!
In my February article, “The Cancer of Cancel Culture”, I wrote about Cancel Culture (CC) and how it has changed the definitions of words to qualify their fictitious narratives. Now, the CC, our Woke Government and the mainstream media are changing the significance of sentences and phrases:
Peaceful Protesters = Rioters
White Supremacists = Disagreeable White People
Government Mask Mandates = Governmental Control
Government Vaccine Mandates = Governmental Control
Lock-downs = Governmental Control
Monetary Congressional Bills = Higher Taxes, Inflation and Governmental Control
According to Teachers’ Unions, School Boards and the DOJ:
Domestic Terrorists = Concerned Parents
What? School Boards are voted in by The People (many parents)! What part of the First Amendment is not understood? When have parent voices been silenced in regard to their children’s education? Answer: Never! In fact, teachers for decades have desperately WANTED parental INVOLVEMENT in education.
What has changed? Answer: Leadership, from top government leaders to our teachers and the WOKE folk.
Kids aren’t stupid! Although their minds and emotions are malleable, some kids “get it”. Social trends and teachings have changed dramatically. Kids recognize the divergence from the things they were taught in Kindergarten, First, Second and Third Grades. How can the teachers be trusted if students realize their morals are being twisted — supporting a trending narrative? Kids know it doesn’t make sense. Are these kids confused? You bet!
Meanwhile, other students absorb the propaganda that social media and WOKE parents provide.
True Socialism has arrived folks. And, people in power have plans for it to stay!
Scary? You bet!
How are you planning to take back control of your kids’ minds and education?
WARNING TO “EDUCATORS”: There are sharp kids in your classrooms who can see through your “Bait and Switch” (BS)!