# Would you want to send your kid to a "Public School Social Justice Factory"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 1, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982 "2018-02-01T20:54:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/41 "2018-02-02T04:45:46Z")
Just imagine if they weren’t as polite as to tender foot around _white fragility_. “White guilt” doesn’t exist unless you think that some how “white” people are so inferior as to require systemic discrimination to compete against other populations. Nothing is being asked but to acknowledge the truth, and to move closer to being “… one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/42 "2018-02-02T13:24:38Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > The above headline is from Drudge and it[links to an article about the Edina Minnesota Public School system](http://www.weeklystandard.com/inside-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/article/2011402). Well its pretty charged and basically states: > > "The shift began in 2013, when Edina school leaders adopted the “All for All” strategic plan—a sweeping initiative that reordered the district’s mission from academic excellence for all students to “racial equity.” The Edina district’s stated mission (from the district’s website) sounds a little different from what the article claims. _"The mission of the Edina Public Schools, working in partnership with the family and the community, is to educate all individuals to be responsible, lifelong learners who possess the skills, knowledge, creativity, sense of self-worth_, and ethical values necessary to thrive in a rapidly changing, culturally diverse, global society.'\* As to whether they’re trashing the idea of academic achievement, they seem to be ranked highly among school districts in the state, though that might not mean much if Minnesota is backwards overall. :dubious: Maybe Edina officials are lying about their mission and actively programming the little ones to overthrow the Constitution, but it’s difficult to take the article cited in the OP at face value. \*schools must’ve changed a lot since I was growing up. I remember our principal as being active in denigrating our self-worth, especially in athletics. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/43 "2018-02-02T13:56:58Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > So what do you all think? Would you want your 10th grader to read books and apply “feminist & marxist” thoughts to it? Yes. I would have no problem with it. I can tell you that she already provides “feminist” thoughts to her reading, and didn’t need to be taught to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/44 "2018-02-02T14:29:29Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Yes. I would have no problem with it. > > I can tell you that she already provides “feminist” thoughts to her reading, and didn’t need to be taught to do so. The other point about this, which I doubt the article-writer is informed enough to understand, is that there are many schools of literary criticism, and that course listed “marxist, feminist, post-colonial, psychoanalytic, reader response, and aesthetic lenses,” [some of the major schools in modern lit-crit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_theory#Schools). Teaching high school students about some of the major philosophical approaches to lit-crit is a 100% worthy educational goal, even if it gives some conservatives the vapors. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/45 "2018-02-02T14:42:10Z")
Oh, come on. We’ve all seen a thousand “articles” like this on the Internet, haven’t we? From both sides of the political spectrum? And people still fall for this kind of sensationalist crap? Everyone here who’s honest with themselves, or at least who don’t actually believe “Bat Boy” is a real thing, knows full well the account in the OP is exaggerated by at least two orders of magnitude. What happened is the Edina district instituted a few policies regarding sensitivity to racial bias, of the sort that require a little training but which otherwise are barely noticeable and you’d likely forget they existed, and a few snowflakes got all huffed about it and went ballistic. We have seen this story before, will see it again, and if you fall for it you’re a chump. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/46 "2018-02-02T15:45:35Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > We have seen this story before, will see it again, and if you fall for it you’re a chump. But what if the people in charge are secretly black nationalists trying to convince our white children that they’re members of the squirrel race naturally subjugated to the black lion race? What if, Rickjay? What if? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/47 "2018-02-02T15:58:45Z")
Never x 100000000 ---
**Author:** ![Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ass_For_A_Hat)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/48 "2018-02-02T16:13:40Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > We’ve all seen a thousand “articles” like this on the Internet, haven’t we? From both sides of the political spectrum? And people still fall for this kind of sensationalist crap? They do. This particular piece of sensationalist crap was well funded and professionally produced. The right wing “think-tank” that produced it paid to have it delivered as a glossy magazine to every address in Edina…just days before an upcoming school board election. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/49 "2018-02-02T16:16:25Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Yes. American right wing media is filled to the brim with patently false tales designed with one intent - make their audience angry. Because angry is addictive, and that addiction keeps them coming back for more. I agree! I used to fall for this silly-but-effective tactic, but I got better. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/50 "2018-02-02T16:18:41Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > That is completely not true. Right-wing media also has the intent to make their audience fearful. Well, ideally, both fearful and angry! ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/51 "2018-02-02T16:18:55Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > But what if the people in charge are secretly black nationalists trying to convince our white children that they’re members of the squirrel race naturally subjugated to the black lion race? What if, Rickjay? What if? All I noticed in your post is that you said, “SQUIRREL!!!” ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/52 "2018-02-02T16:23:37Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Oh, come on. > > We’ve all seen a thousand “articles” like this on the Internet, haven’t we? From both sides of the political spectrum? And people still fall for this kind of sensationalist crap? > > Everyone here who’s honest with themselves, or at least who don’t actually believe “Bat Boy” is a real thing, knows full well the account in the OP is exaggerated by at least two orders of magnitude. What happened is the Edina district instituted a few policies regarding sensitivity to racial bias, of the sort that require a little training but which otherwise are barely noticeable and you’d likely forget they existed, and a few snowflakes got all huffed about it and went ballistic. > > We have seen this story before, will see it again, and if you fall for it you’re a chump. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > But what if the people in charge are secretly black nationalists trying to convince our white children that they’re members of the squirrel race naturally subjugated to the black lion race? What if, Rickjay? What if? It’s more than that. It’s liberal idealists with their heads in the sand, who KNOW that poor/black/brown/urban kids cannot be educated–everyone KNOWS–but for some reason we can’t admit it. Therefore the secret agenda of the left is to eliminate the achievement gap by dumbing down white kids, because we are desperate to conceal the fact of white superiority because cucks. Not everyone who reads these sorts of things is thinking that, but the dog whistle is there for those who want to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/53 "2018-02-02T19:13:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Not everyone who reads these sorts of things is thinking that, but the dog whistle is there for those who want to hear it. Especially for those who really, really, REALLY want to hear it. And the purpose of a teacher who sets as an expectation > [@](#): > > "By the end of the year, you will have: > > • Become a deeper, smarter reader of literature and all texts > > • Learned how to apply marxist, feminist, post-colonial, psychoanalytic, reader response, and aesthetic lenses to literature" is to ensure that her students will hear it whether it’s there or not. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/54 "2018-02-02T19:16:34Z")
How horrible to be asked to look at the literature you teach through different eyes. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/55 "2018-02-02T19:29:51Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Now; > > _The racial makeup of the city was 88.1% White, 3.0% African American, 0.2% Native American, 6.1% Asian, 0.7% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.3% of the population._ > > _Edina has only one high school, Edina High School. As of 2015 it is listed as U.S. News and World Report’s highest ranked school in Minnesota and #197 nationally. Newsweek’s list of America’s Best High Schools also ranked Edina highest in the state, #121 nationally. According to Newsweek, the graduate rate is 99% and 96% go on to attend college._ > > [Edina, Minnesota - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edina,_Minnesota) _Hey buddy, ain’t ya heard of my school, it’s number one in the state_ 😃 > [@begbert2](#): > > What if liberals jumped out of bushes and attacked conservative children with chainsaws, you ask? > > Why yes! That would probably be bad! You’ve sure got me there! For the win. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/56 "2018-02-02T20:21:01Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > It’s more than that. It’s liberal idealists with their heads in the sand, who KNOW that poor/black/brown/urban kids cannot be educated–everyone KNOWS–but for some reason we can’t admit it. Therefore the secret agenda of the left is to eliminate the achievement gap by dumbing down white kids, because we are desperate to conceal the fact of white superiority because cucks. > > Not everyone who reads these sorts of things is thinking that, but the dog whistle is there for those who want to hear it. That’s it, pretty much. A huge part of this is white supremacy fighting back, as it’s done very effectively since Reconstruction. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/57 "2018-02-02T20:38:15Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Especially for those who really, really, REALLY want to hear it. And the purpose of a teacher who sets as an expectation is to ensure that her students will hear it whether it’s there or not. > > Regards, > Shodan Compaired to the the status quo which could be stated as: > [@](#): > > Learned how to apply bigoted, racist, fascist, genocidal lenses to literature" That is the real state the person from the OP is asking for? That commentator’s rhetoric shows that they are afraid their world view can’t survive in daylight, and that only hiding the errors of past generations will protect their world view. Are the ideals of the founding fathers especially their imperfectly implemented dreams of equality so tenuous that they can only be maintained by hiding the mistakes of our past? Is that entire world view on such shaky ground that we have to protect students from other ideas that look to better apply those core concepts? Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it, and we can move forward with the great experiment or we can continue to tolerate tyranny. Is it just that I and other feel more comfortable about fighting for justice and liberty? Outside of needing to compete on a more level basis, what risk is there in truly targeting for social justice and equality? Can you make a case for hiding historical fact or other points of view to me? I am not baiting here but I seriously want to understand why this is such a concern for some people. The only reason I can see is that people are embarrassed about bad things that happened in the past. It may be just differing world views, but I am far more bothered by the possibility that we continue these injustices in the future. I cannot change the past or the actions of others, but I can try to stop being what I view as evil to others today. I personally view it as learning from our mistakes. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/58 "2018-02-02T22:25:42Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > No, you weren’t asking. You were claiming that the school district was doing this and railing against it. > > Now you’re claiming that you’re just JAQing off. What a cowardly way to defend your position. No, your comeback was lame and failed to answer the question. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/59 "2018-02-02T22:27:45Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > No, your comeback was lame and failed to answer the question. Since they don’t exist, I won’t answer such an absurd hypothetical. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2018, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982/60 "2018-02-02T22:46:01Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > No, your comeback was lame and failed to answer the question. You mean the dumb strawman question you asked about something that’s not happening? Okay, I’ll answer it. Yes. I totally agree that if republicans were to go around murdering people it would be bad. They should totally cut that out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-send-your-kid-to-a-public-school-social-justice-factory/807982.md?page=4)