Sunday, December 13, 2009

Katherine Kersten on Cultural Competence, Part II

or

Teacher's re-education program at the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) under continued scrutiny.

The thinking person's Michelle Bachman has a piece up in the Sunday Star-Tribune:

Battle Lines Drawn Against U Initiative

Comment:

The Ends Do Not Justify the Means

Just because KK says it, does not mean it is wrong.

The beef here is the document: Race, Class, Culture... . People really ought to read this remarkable document.

It proposes that ALL teacher education courses to discuss issues of race, class, culture and gender. Students who DON'T meet the cultural competency guidelines, the plan calls for CEHD to develop remedial steps to teach students the material.

As Adam Kissel of FIRE - the new boogeyman apparently - put it:

“To learn about other cultures and cultural differences is one thing, but to say you’re not going to be considered an acceptable teacher if you don’t have these values and beliefs is unacceptable”

and

“As much as possible, we do want to defer to experts in the field to promote the views and values they feel are right,” he said. “But they cross the line when they say everyone should hold those views, especially when it’s an issue of genuine controversy.”

Come on folks, it is not just the conservatives who are against this.




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could you provide an example that illustrates your point that "not just conservatives" are against this? I've been following the coverage of this controversy pretty closely, and other than the Chronicle and Daily reporting on the fact that such controversy exists, I have seen zero examples of non-conservative outlets/columnists even acknowledging this "story."

Anonymous said...

And I'm sorry... You're telling me that "news" reports like these aren't prattle? Pretty embarrassing: http://www.citizenlink.org/fnif/A000011661.cfm

Mr. B. said...

Please see:

University of Minnesota Spokesman Makes Things Worse

http://www.margaretsoltan.com/?p=19981

by Margaret Soltan who is an English professor at George Washington University. It would be rather difficult to paint her as a conservative.

And, of course, I don't consider myself to be a conservative either...

Bill Gleason

Prattle occurs left, right, and center. Your point is?