News Haul Sunday 2.6.22

Headlines, News Links & Sources for Today's New's Notebook

newShrink, by dr. tish signet

Feb 06, 2022

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NPR interview with BBC podcaster Jon Ronson on the culture wars.

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/02/1077065644/abortion-critical-race-theory--banned-books-jon-ronson-podcast

“I am not proof of the American dream” (New York Times essay by Tara Westover, author of the memoir Educated.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/opinion/tara-westover-educated-student-debt.html?referringSource=articleShare

“Book Ban Efforts Spread Across the U.S.” (The New York Times).

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/30/books/book-ban-us-schools.amp.html

“What schools are banning when they ban books.” (The Atlantic)

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/02/maus-book-ban-tennessee-art-spiegelman/621453/

This Washington Post piece responds to banning of the award-winning graphic novel Maus with a guide for teaching kids about the Holocaust.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/02/03/holocaust-books-for-kids/

From Vanity Fair and the Fredericksburg, VA, Freelance Star newspaper:

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/11/virginia-school-board-book-burning/amp

“Youngkin takes office with immediate focus on education, thrilling some and terrifying others,” (WAPO)

A mask order has elicited vows of defiance from districts in more liberal parts of the state, suggesting heightened tension

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/16/virginia-glenn-youngkin-education/

The Youngkin snitch-line

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/01/28/problems-youngkins-snitch-line-teachers/

“There’s a new surveillance state: Your neighbor,” (Frank Bruni of The New York Times.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/03/opinion/surveillance-virginia-citizen-tip-line.html

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full text from Virginian Barbara Barnett, retired journalist and university journalism professor:

“Here is the report I sent to Glenn Youngkin’s Report a Divisive Teacher Tip Line. You can write him at: helpeducation@governor,.virginia.gov I’d like to report a divisive teacher. I’d like to, but it’s too much like something that might be asked of citizens in Nazi Germany, so I won’t. Instead, I’ll report some good teachers I had…
— Mrs. Pendleton, my first-grade teacher at Ogden Elementary School in Roanoke, who taught me to read and write. It was hard, but my parents explained that learning is hard and I might be uncomfortable from time to time…”
— Mrs. Pendleton, my first-grade teacher at Ogden Elementary in Roanoke, who taught me to read and write. It was hard, but my parents explained to me that learning is hard and I might be uncomfortable from time to time.
— Mrs. Taylor who taught me history, including /civil War history that sometimes made me uncomfortable, but made me think. My parents, including my father (USMC) did not think I was too delicate to handle the truth.
— Mr. Radcliffe and Mr. Lewallen, my high school English teachers, who encouraged me to go to the library and read books, including controversial books,, because I would learn to think for myself. Again, my parents did not think I was too delicate.
— Mr. Saez, who taught me Spanish, which made me real uncomfortable because I had a hard time learning to speak a different language. But he told us the world is a big place and communication and respect for other cultures is important.
— Mr. Siri, who taught me science, and Mr. Frazelle, my junior high principal who started out first day of school by telling us that our school was now racially integrated and there would be no problems, because we were there to learn. I learned about leadership from him.
— A professor at Duke University (the same elite school your daddy attended), who required us to read Beloved. I’m guessing you haven’t read it, but short synopsis can be found at sparknotes.com.
Who will use your Rat-on-a-Teacher Tip Line?
— Racist moms. Racist dads. Racist students.
— Parents who too cowardly to actually sit down face-to-face with a teacher or principal or school board member and share their concerns or complaints.
— Students who think they might get a bad grade, so they turn in their teacher.
— Parents who are afraid their children will get a bad grade, so they report the teacher as divisive.
— Spouses or ex-boyfriends and girlfriends who want to get revenge.
This is one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard [challenges Youngkin to behave like a governor of “all of Virginia” which includes teachers, parents, and students who aren’t only wealthy, white Republicans.] and closes with
“You campaigned in a fleece jacket, but you might as well have worn a white hood.”

Dana Milbanks piece on Youngkin's; own kids’ education about race…

“Glenn Youngkin didn’t mind if some kids — his own — got an anti-racist education,”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/01/26/glenn-youngkin-report-teachers-divisive-hypocrisy/

“NC Democrats face red walls outside of blue urban areas” (Editorial column by Ned Barnett in The Charlotte Observer.)
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=dea3bdc2-91fa-474b-a294-e1cf97f6dc80

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“Achieving diversity requires intentionality,” (Leonard Pitts of The Miami Herald, published here in The Charlotte Observer.)

https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=966725e7-6696-4b22-a135-1be7c03fc680

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on a more hopeful note in Black History Month

for schools

“Teaching about Greensboro Four sit-in urged for all schools,” (From The News and Observer of Raleigh in The Charlotte Observer.)

https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=ad33de3c-4e62-40d1-a0e6-ddaa03fde7a1

McKenzie Scott, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos’ ex and her schoolteacher spouse continue their foundation’s effort to give away what she has called “as much as possible” of her Amazon assets for causes that matter. The latest:

“$5M gift — the largest ever to the Communities in Schools program — will help struggling students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools”

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article257985198.html

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on democracy and voting rights

In breaking news Friday night, the North Carolina Supreme Court echoed a similar recent ruling in Ohio that gerrymandering of voting districts purely to favor one party over another is indeed unconstitutional:

“NC political maps unconstitutionally gerrymandered, state Supreme Court rules,” (The News and Observer of Raleigh, here in The Charlotte Observer.)

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article257975758.html

An earlier story, also in the Observer before the ruling, had some additional background from the case.
https://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=df3edc0d-54fb-4a7d-b48a-b3d8afcfae85

The similar ruling in the January Ohio case is reported in The New York Times:

“Ohio Supreme Court Strikes Down Republican Gerrymander of Map.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/us/politics/ohio-supreme-court-congressional-maps-gerrymandering.html

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