Edina High School in suburban Minneapolis was long regarded as one of the country’s top secondary schools. In recent years, its national ratings and its local reputation have slipped, perhaps in part because teachers are spending time promoting a left-wing agenda and bullying conservative students rather than teaching the subjects they are paid to teach.
Following last November’s election, 80 Edina High School teachers–which must represent pretty much the entire faculty–signed an editorial in the school’s newspaper that was basically a Democratic Party manifesto. The editorial was authored by Tim Klobuchar (second cousin). It went so far as to oppose calls for unity; unity, it implied, will exist only when all conservatives have been banished from the stage.
We learned of the editorial and other events surrounding the election just a few days ago, and I wrote about left-wing indoctrination at Edina High School on Center of the American Experiment’s web site. This caused more students and teachers to get in touch with us, and I did follow-up posts here and here. Stories about abuse at the hands of bullying left-wing teachers continue to come in.
Not many things shock me, but I confess that I have been shocked by what I have learned about the Edina public school system. Indoctrination in left-wing politics begins in elementary school, where children are taught the pernicious doctrine of “white privilege.” In Edina, not even bus drivers are exempt: they, too, are required to take political re-education classes.
Here are excerpts from some of the communications we have gotten from Edina parents and students. There are lots more at the links.
This one is from a student:
The day after the election I was texting my mom to pick me up from school and she almost had to!! Every teacher was crying in class, one even told the whole class “Trump winning is worse than 9/11 and the Columbine shooting.” The amount of liberal propaganda that was pushed every single day in class this year was worse than it’s ever been–and you’re bullied by the teachers and every student if you dare speak against it.
Yeah its horrible, the teachers can absolutely do whatever they want. The administration will do nothing about it!! The day of the election every single student was in the commons chanting “F*** TRUMP” and the teachers never did anything. A LOT of people are starting to complain and my mom has some friends who are leaving the school district.
A parent describes her daughter being abused in class in an email to a school administrator:
In talking with [my daughters], it came out that yesterday in my 10th grader’s AP World class, [the teacher] called out any Trump supporters and asked them to assure the class that they weren’t racist. Both my husband and I were aghast and we felt strongly that we should say something to you. … Yesterday’s incident in her class really surprised us as it is so completely inappropriate and unprofessional. If you talk with [the teacher] about this, please don’t mention my daughter. She doesn’t want to be identified for fear of retribution.
The fear of retaliation is a common theme in the emails and comments we have gotten from students and parents. Left-wing teachers and administrators are often vicious.
Another parent:
We’re tired of them trying to indoctrinate our children to believe what they believe rather than teaching critical thinking and actual course work. We’re tired of our kids coming home feeling defeated because their beliefs are forbidden at school and they will be ostracized if they speak out. We’re tired of our kids telling us that all they hear in LA and other classes is that white people, especially white men, are bad, over and over. We’re absolutely sickened when our son tells us that he is labeled a racist, sexist and rapist — yes, a RAPIST — because he is a white male.
Race plays a surprisingly prominent role in the liberals’ bullying. Edina is not exactly known as a multicultural city.
This account by a student of events surrounding November’s election is very sad:
I was one of 6 leaders of the Young Conservatives Club which, in our group message, had close to 200 participants. During the election we felt like the minority, which we were. The day of the election a group of us (maybe 20-30 kids) chose to wear political shirts to school. I wore a Trump shirt while other people were wearing Hillary shirts or Bernie shirts. I knew walking into school that it was going to be an odd day but I had no idea what was really in store for me.
I walked into morning rehearsal for choir at 7:15 am and I proudly wore my shirt. As I took my seat I could see and feel eyes on me and people whispering. I kept my head up and was proud. Then I got to the cafeteria where I liked to meet my friends before school starts and in between classes. People were glaring at me, whispering, challenging me on my views, people called me racist to my face and over social media, and I experienced public humiliation.
During lunch the YCC had gathered for a group picture with our Trump shirts on. And by 6th hour, when all I wanted was to go home and lie in bed after a day of bullying, a staff member pulled me out of class. As I was leaving the classroom a girl said “How ugly is that shirt haha” commenting on my Trump shirt. The staff member pulled me out of class not to ask me about how my day was going or if I was emotionally okay, but his question for me was “I heard there were students in the YCC picture yelling ‘deportation!’ as the picture was taken. Is that true?” I assured him that, no that wasn’t true. But he kept asking as if he didn’t believe me. Finally I got to go back to the last 5 min of class and then go home.
The next day, the day after Trump won, was even harder. Teachers were crying alongside students in the classroom. Speeches by teachers included the phrase “we will make it through this together.” One teacher said in front of a class of 100, through tears that “the election was rigged.” Teachers bashed President Trump in front of their students, and people continued to bully me for my views. … I had to have my mom come pick me up after third hour that day. I couldn’t stand to walk around a school filled with both teachers and students crying and looking to me through their tears with hurtful eyes. I’m not kidding when I say so many people were crying that walking through school felt like someone had died or something.
“We will make it through this together”? Do the liberals not realize how ridiculous they sound?
Another student got so tired of being bullied for his political views in class that he made an audio recording of the teacher, who repeatedly harangued him about Donald Trump. The recording got into the hands of several parents, who confronted school administrators.
In his words, they had to “own up” to the consequences of Mr. Trump’s election. Upon hearing this recording it reminded me of the descriptions a friend of mine makes when recalling his classroom experiences, growing up in communist Hungary in the 1970s. When this recording became public, several parents confronted the principal, and only then was he forced to take action…
The Edina school district has hired someone to go from elementary school to elementary school, lecturing little children on “white privilege”:
He has spent the last year going from classroom to classroom at the Edina Elementary schools, starting Kindergarten – 5th grade, teaching about white privilege, they did a 6 week project, the students age 8 had to each pick a black person and do a project on only black people including drawing pictures of them and writing up reports. What we know as parents is very little, but for every rat you see there are 50 you don’t see. I can’t imagine what is going on behind closed doors with these impressionable children.
Finally, the bus driver:
I worked for Edina for almost 13 years driving a school bus. We were forced to attend “Equity” classes that basically were excoriating us for our white privilege. I had some wonderful times driving but the indoctrination was more than ridiculous.
The outpouring of outrage and concern from Edina parents and students, following our first post on this subject, has been extraordinary. Yet I am sure we have barely scratched the surface. And Edina is by no means unique. Across the country, student achievement has been sliding as a “social justice” agenda has replaced rigorous instruction in the priorities of teachers and administrators. This can’t be allowed to continue.
Source: Power Line
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