It’s no secret that schools of education teach all manner of nonsense. So when the University of Minnesota’s College of Education and Human Development launched its Race, Culture, Class, and Gender Task Group, we might well have expected trouble. But the reality is worse than that. “Cultural competence” should henceforth frame the entire teacher preparation curriculum, the task force asserts, and aspiring educators must “be able to discuss their own histories and current thinking drawing on notions of white privilege, hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, and internalized oppression” and “articulate a sophisticated and nuanced critical analysis” of the American Dream, including “the history of demands for assimilation to white, middle-class meaning and values.” Or as ace journalist Katherine Kersten, who investigated these new changes, puts it, “teacher candidates must embrace--and be prepared to teach our state's kids--the task force's own vision of America as an oppressive hellhole: racist, sexist and homophobic.” Further, to ensure that the message doesn’t erode with time, once graduates go into the classroom their supervisors are supposed to undergo “a training session disguised as a thank you/recognition ceremony/reception at the beginning of the year.” Whenever you think it couldn’t get worse…
“Editorial: At U, future teachers may be reeducated,” by Katherine Kersten, Minneapolis-St Paul Star Tribune, December 2, 2009
“University of Minnesota Under Fire for Task Force's Discrimination-Based Teacher Education Plan,” by Diane Macedo, FoxNews, December 9, 2009