Academic Freedom and Cancel Culture

[mahagonny]

Just like CRT, no one really gives a f**k except people like you and the parents that the right-wing rage machine picks out to put a few faces to the manufactured rage. Most parents on any aisle of the political spectrum are dis-engaged with k-12 curriculums (it's why if you even ask "what is CRT" to the average k-12 parent, they won't even take the time to inquire further--they just don't care). The only ones engaged with their schools are helicopter parents who want special treatment for their kid, especially when their kids' grades are disappointing, but the engagement has more to do with grades and less to do with curriculum.

I am amazed that you could think you know something as detailed as this so intimately from afar. Also frankly I don't appreciate your use of the term 'rage.' Sounds like it is intended to raise doubts about someone's mental stability. The parents in Loudoun are using their legal right to be heard and protest. They are saying 'we don't like what you are doing with our children and we want it to stop.' This is a sane response. If your point is you think there is a small enough number of them that they can be defeated, that's different. It wouldn't surprise me if that's what you hope. But 'manufactured rage' is a smear suggesting you think you need some bullying tactics to get what you want.

I meant it figuratively. But, please go on with your wild and tangential speculation, as you probably need it to get through the day. I'll even let you have the last word on this, because I know it means a lot to you. Frankly, you are not even entertaining anymore--you are just boring.

Actually I don't need the last word, because you've conceded that the parents are not unhinged lunatics nor is the press ginning up a fake news story; they are normal people reacting sanely. And I wouldn't get taken in by the silliness of "oh, you don't even know what CRT is anyway.' The parents not only know all they need to to make an informed decision, they are better nicer, more well adjusted people than the CRT proponents, even if they haver lower IQ (though in the case of Ibram X. Kendi, I would doubt it.)

Nothing here is tangential. All these folks who sound like they've been smoking the same water pipe, e.g. Ibram Kendi, Hannah-Jones, Eddie Glaude, Khalil Gibran Mohammed, Charles Blow, L. Z. Granderson, Chauncey deVega all are part of a misguided movement. May it die a slow, noisy death so their names are remembered.
As my mother used to say, boring people get bored.
ETA: Those Black writers and professors with the hopelessly bleak view of the world are not representative of Black America either. They're just the noisy ones who make a lot of money peddling their resentment to white liberals.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324853704578587610461933172

[mahagonny]

Oh, and I forgot this guy. What a sad case. He gets paid a lot of money to write nothing, but I wouldn't want to be him.

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/sims-video-utopia/

[fast_and_bulbous]

Man, I love the ignore function. Sure makes for interesting reading.

[mamselle]

Yes, I note who's posting to a thread and then ignore it until the next round if need be.

Its like a washing machine on spin cycle, pretty much the same dirty, facts-adjusted-to-my-opinions water comes spewing out, no matter what you start with

I've only opened this one twice.

M.

[mahagonny]

See, if you need to comment on the fact that you're ignoring a poster, it's not the opportunity to ignore posters that you love. It's something else.

[mahagonny]

More intemperate, divisive ranting by the bully Hannah-Jones.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/2021/09/08/nikole_hannah-jones_schools_a_teacher_551172.html


"Tafuto joins a growing number of teachers who have broken ranks with the teachers union and their radicalized fellow teachers to complain about the subversion of American schools. The trend has caught the attention of no less than the godmother of 1619-ism, Nikole Hannah-Jones, who has a sideline as a fast-draw Twitter assassin. Hannah-Jones's nom-de-Twit is 'Ida Bae Wells'; as Aunt Ida she expresses her disdain for Tafuto:

'So you entered teaching to willfully deny the history of this country and the lived experiences of your students? Fact check: 7 and 8 year-old Black kids already know they are being judged by their skin color and good educators don't pretend otherwise but help explain why.

'This is just so tiresome and it's a game, the game they've long played that says that actual racial inequality is not the problem, talking about it is.'"

[Parasaurolophus]

I have a friend who was hired on the TT at a school in the south last year (after much adjuncting). She was explicitly hired to teach critical race theory. But she's just heard from her dean that the provost has been trying to fire her for teaching the courses she was hired--and scheduled!--to teach.

Free speech!

[downer]

I have a friend who was hired on the TT at a school in the south last year (after much adjuncting). She was explicitly hired to teach critical race theory. But she's just heard from her dean that the provost has been trying to fire her for teaching the courses she was hired--and scheduled!--to teach.

Free speech!

Isn't inviting a lawsuit?

Sounds like a pain.

What about the distinction between teaching about X and teaching that X is true?

[Parasaurolophus]

I have a friend who was hired on the TT at a school in the south last year (after much adjuncting). She was explicitly hired to teach critical race theory. But she's just heard from her dean that the provost has been trying to fire her for teaching the courses she was hired--and scheduled!--to teach.

Free speech!

Isn't inviting a lawsuit?

Sounds like a pain.

What about the distinction between teaching about X and teaching that X is true?

I would imagine so, yes. (Then again, so are all those laws forbidding the teaching of "critical race theory".)

[marshwiggle]

I have a friend who was hired on the TT at a school in the south last year (after much adjuncting). She was explicitly hired to teach critical race theory. But she's just heard from her dean that the provost has been trying to fire her for teaching the courses she was hired--and scheduled!--to teach.

Free speech!

Isn't inviting a lawsuit?

Sounds like a pain.

What about the distinction between teaching about X and teaching that X is true?

I would imagine so, yes. (Then again, so are all those laws forbidding the teaching of "critical race theory".)

It would probably be unconstitutional to forbid teaching Flat Earth Theory or Phlogeston Theory, but then you'd be hard pressed to find anyone teaching those because they were believed to be true. They'd usually be discussed precisely as examples of theories that don't stand up to the evidence. CRT, on the other hand, is probably usually taught by its adherents as being irrefutable.

[jimbogumbo]

I have a friend who was hired on the TT at a school in the south last year (after much adjuncting). She was explicitly hired to teach critical race theory. But she's just heard from her dean that the provost has been trying to fire her for teaching the courses she was hired--and scheduled!--to teach.

Free speech!

Isn't inviting a lawsuit?

Sounds like a pain.

What about the distinction between teaching about X and teaching that X is true?

I would imagine so, yes. (Then again, so are all those laws forbidding the teaching of "critical race theory".)

It would probably be unconstitutional to forbid teaching Flat Earth Theory or Phlogeston Theory, but then you'd be hard pressed to find anyone teaching those because they were believed to be true. They'd usually be discussed precisely as examples of theories that don't stand up to the evidence. CRT, on the other hand, is probably usually taught by its adherents as being irrefutable.

In 2013-2014 Ball State had not one but TWO Physics professors teaching that intelligent design was a legitimate scientific theory.

[dismalist]

I have a friend who was hired on the TT at a school in the south last year (after much adjuncting). She was explicitly hired to teach critical race theory. But she's just heard from her dean that the provost has been trying to fire her for teaching the courses she was hired--and scheduled!--to teach.

Free speech!

Isn't inviting a lawsuit?

Sounds like a pain.

What about the distinction between teaching about X and teaching that X is true?

I would imagine so, yes. (Then again, so are all those laws forbidding the teaching of "critical race theory".)

It would probably be unconstitutional to forbid teaching Flat Earth Theory or Phlogiston Theory, but then you'd be hard pressed to find anyone teaching those because they were believed to be true. They'd usually be discussed precisely as examples of theories that don't stand up to the evidence. CRT, on the other hand, is probably usually taught by its adherents as being irrefutable.

In 2013-2014 Ball State had not one but TWO Physics professors teaching that intelligent design was a legitimate scientific theory.

A certain point needs repetition, probably forever: We will never have and do not need universal agreement on all things.

-If somebody is desired to teach Critical Race Theory, let them!
-If somebody thinks s/he would benefit from going to a Phlogiston college, let them go!
-If somebody thinks s/he believes an intelligent designer would design us, let them!

The important thing is to be have institutions that enable us to live peacefully with people with whom we disagree.

There will be different institutions that handle them differently, individual States being the final arbiter.

[jimbogumbo]

I have a friend who was hired on the TT at a school in the south last year (after much adjuncting). She was explicitly hired to teach critical race theory. But she's just heard from her dean that the provost has been trying to fire her for teaching the courses she was hired--and scheduled!--to teach.

Free speech!

Isn't inviting a lawsuit?

Sounds like a pain.

What about the distinction between teaching about X and teaching that X is true?

I would imagine so, yes. (Then again, so are all those laws forbidding the teaching of "critical race theory".)

It would probably be unconstitutional to forbid teaching Flat Earth Theory or Phlogiston Theory, but then you'd be hard pressed to find anyone teaching those because they were believed to be true. They'd usually be discussed precisely as examples of theories that don't stand up to the evidence. CRT, on the other hand, is probably usually taught by its adherents as being irrefutable.

In 2013-2014 Ball State had not one but TWO Physics professors teaching that intelligent design was a legitimate scientific theory.

A certain point needs repetition, probably forever: We will never have and do not need universal agreement on all things.

-If somebody is desired to teach Critical Race Theory, let them!
-If somebody thinks s/he would benefit from going to a Phlogiston college, let them go!
-If somebody thinks s/he believes an intelligent designer would design us, let them!

The important thing is to be have institutions that enable us to live peacefully with people with whom we disagree.

There will be different institutions that handle them differently, individual States being the final arbiter.

Sorry, repeat all you wish. It is NOT okay for a Physics prof to teach that in a Physics course. Both were, and it was definitely not relevant to either of their courses.

[dismalist]

I have a friend who was hired on the TT at a school in the south last year (after much adjuncting). She was explicitly hired to teach critical race theory. But she's just heard from her dean that the provost has been trying to fire her for teaching the courses she was hired--and scheduled!--to teach.

Free speech!

Isn't inviting a lawsuit?

Sounds like a pain.

What about the distinction between teaching about X and teaching that X is true?

I would imagine so, yes. (Then again, so are all those laws forbidding the teaching of "critical race theory".)

It would probably be unconstitutional to forbid teaching Flat Earth Theory or Phlogiston Theory, but then you'd be hard pressed to find anyone teaching those because they were believed to be true. They'd usually be discussed precisely as examples of theories that don't stand up to the evidence. CRT, on the other hand, is probably usually taught by its adherents as being irrefutable.

In 2013-2014 Ball State had not one but TWO Physics professors teaching that intelligent design was a legitimate scientific theory.

A certain point needs repetition, probably forever: We will never have and do not need universal agreement on all things.

-If somebody is desired to teach Critical Race Theory, let them!
-If somebody thinks s/he would benefit from going to a Phlogiston college, let them go!
-If somebody thinks s/he believes an intelligent designer would design us, let them!

The important thing is to be have institutions that enable us to live peacefully with people with whom we disagree.

There will be different institutions that handle them differently, individual States being the final arbiter.

Sorry, repeat all you wish. It is NOT okay for a Physics prof to teach that in a Physics course. Both were, and it was definitely not relevant to either of their courses.

Sure, that's a reason to change colleges for the student. Not for you or me. Competition, baby! :-)

[mahagonny]

I have a friend who was hired on the TT at a school in the south last year (after much adjuncting). She was explicitly hired to teach critical race theory. But she's just heard from her dean that the provost has been trying to fire her for teaching the courses she was hired--and scheduled!--to teach.

Free speech!

Isn't inviting a lawsuit?

Sounds like a pain.

What about the distinction between teaching about X and teaching that X is true?

I would imagine so, yes. (Then again, so are all those laws forbidding the teaching of "critical race theory".)

As I recall the new laws are often written with such things as 'you may not teach that one race is inherently inferior to another' which certainly applies if the message is that 'while all races have enslaved people, only white people are guilty of doing it, and declining to teach that white people are oppressors is refusing to teach history' or some such and other similar stupid bullshit. I don't know if they're mentioning CRT by name, but if they are, the radical lefties are responsible for these crude new laws that may be hard to obey, having proclaimed 'y'all are too stupid to even know what it is, so we are excused from responsibility for telling you what we're doing with your kids.'