In its recently released report "From the Top," the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) documents discoveries from within the public universities around the Badger State that offer education programs. Specifically, the report reveals what the Institute describes as "controversial material spilling into schools today [as] the result of an indoctrination process that begins when teachers are enrolled" in those universities.
Following is an excerpt from WILL's report:
"Virtually all University of Wisconsin System schools require K-12 education majors to complete one or more courses concerning 'equity and inclusion,' 'culturally relevant pedagogy,' 'diversity in childhood,' etc. Such classes may appear copacetic to the training of teachers who will work with children and families from all walks of life, but the pretense for these courses, in fact, conceals an ulterior, political motive."
Discussing those findings this week on "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins," Dr. Will Flanders – one of the coauthors of "From the Top" – said they found all the negative things one would think would be there, including critical race theory (CRT).
"The Left and opponents like to say this stuff is not being taught in school, but that's absolutely not the case," he stated. "We found books like 'Antiracist Baby' being required reading – [and] we found a number of different texts that sort of set up this critical race theory narrative that individuals can't achieve on their own; that they're sort of subject into the race that they're born with and they can't succeed in life if they come from a certain background."
The picture book "Antiracist Baby" (authored by Ibram X. Kendi) is required ready for education majors at UW-Stevens Point. Another example identified in the report – a book titled "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" – is required reading for education majors at the UW-Milwaukee campus.
Flanders also discussed what he described as "a lot of controversial stuff in regards to LGBTQ+" curriculum.
"We found materials that suggested not only do you have to treat students with respect – which I think is a reasonable goal – but [that] we need to be promoting this in classrooms as young as three years old. That was one of the more horrifying findings that we had," he added.
The book "A Guide to LGBTQ+ Inclusion on Campus, Post-PULSE" is required reading for education majors at UW-Whitewater. One chapter in that book is entitled: "Just Another Gay Day in the Campus Three-Year-Old Room." WILL's report provides the following comments:
"[That chapter title] sounds ludicrous, but it means exactly what it says. This chapter discusses how strategies to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion ought to be implemented at 'multiple layers of campus life,' even in 'lessons with a three-year-old day care center.' It is hard for the authors of this brief to understand what teaching three-year-olds about sexual and gender identity contributes to proper or desirable child care."
Other required readings and/or lessons on the various UW campuses include:
- Ebony & Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America's Universities (UW-Madison)
- Bringing Black Lives Matter Into the Classroom (UW-Oshkosh)
- White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (UW-Stout)
- Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask (UW-Superior)
- The Transgender Experience and Multicultural Education (UW-Platteville)
- White Teachers Need to See Color: Here's Why (UW-Eau Claire)
- Trans Woman Manifesto (UW-La Crosse)
- Ten Things White People Need to Quit Saying (UW-Parkside)
- Safe is Not Enough: Better Schools for LGBTQ Students (UW-Green Bay)
- Rethinking Multicultural Education: Teaching for Racial and Cultural Justice (UW-River Falls)
According to Flanders, such topics are being taught to UW's education students throughout their four-year program.
