By Phyllis Schlafly
The monthly journal called Education Reporter recently published an informative expose by a teacher who attended a conference on training teachers how to teach students what is called “social justice.” “Social justice” has become a code word for a specific type of teaching in U.S. public schools that is contrary to traditional American notions of justice based on individual rights. “Social justice” teaches children that America is an unjust oppressive society that should be changed. Social justice materials typically include far left proposals such as acceptance of homosexuality and alternate lifestyles, radical feminism, abortion rights, illegal immigration, cultural relativism, and the redistribution of wealth.
Social justice is often promoted through what is called “student-directed learning” because students are supposed to “construct” their own knowledge. These words are used by education gurus to put a new spin on what was previously called “unguided learning” or “minimal guidance learning.”
That kind of teaching is a terrible cheat on the kids. All evidence from controlled studies supports direct, strong instructional guidance rather than teaching that is “student-directed.” In classrooms with so-called “minimal guidance,” no real learning takes place because nothing is really taught to the students. Common sense and hundreds of years of education tell us that anyone needs a base of knowledge first in order to know what to look for when conducting research and doing problem-solving. Instead of teaching students American history and what’s great about our country, the liberal policy is to continue to have 12-and-13-year-olds “brainstorm” to come up with topics they want to talk about. The kids come up with such worthless subjects such as marijuana, gun violence, Afghanistan, poverty, and youth culture.
The Moral Liberal contributing editor Phyllis Schlafly is founder and president of Eagle Forum, a syndicated columnist, bestselling author and radio show host.
Used with the permission of Eagle Forum.
