Teacher‘s Union Offered Grant to Create ’Activists’ Out Of 1st & 2nd Graders

The Blaze ^ | 27 October, 2011 | Tiffany Gabbay

[Watchdog85]

The National Education Association (NEA), the largest labor union in the country, offered a $5,000 Learning and Leadership Grant to two Wisconsin teachers who intended to use the funds to “help first and second grade students” become “activists.”

The description of the grant for teachers Andrea Burmesch and Tara Krueger of Muskego Elementary read:

Ms. Burmesch and a team of colleagues will develop a critical literacy inquiry based unit of study to help their first and second grade students understand the role that power plays in their lives. The teachers will learn how visual literacy and technology, particularly website and podcast development, can be used by students to create activist messages that make a positive difference in their lives and the lives of others. The students will create their messages around issues important to their lives.

The grant description is no longer available on the NEA Foundation website as Muskego-Norway Superintendent declined to accept the grant given its dubious language and intent.

Muskego-Norway Superintendent Joe Schroeder responded to an inquiry from Belling, and immediately “upon inspection, I found a description of the grant that, while rooted in the development of critical thinkers and positive community members, was described with some very concerning language.”

Schroeder said he had specific concerns over “helping first and second grade students ‘understand the role that power plays in their lives’ in effort to ‘create activist messages’ is language that, especially under the umbrella of a national union’s grant foundation, can understandably raise concern.”

He explained that those involved in the grant application process were spoken to, and Schroeder believed them “to be people of integrity who have a sincere interest in developing critical thinkers and positive, contributing members of our school and the larger community who were simply seeking additional funds in their service to students.”

Schroeder asserts that the teachers’ intent and meaning of “activism” differed from the obvious interpretation.

“I also told them that I believe the language of the grant description, especially within the context of a national union’s grant foundation, understandably can cloud their original intent. Upon review, they now understand that,” Schroeder added.

“To date, we have not collected one cent of this NEA grant — and will not do so. I have contacted the NEA office that we are declining the grant and, therefore, are requesting that they remove our approved grant from their website,” he said.

But if a glance at the NEA’s “Activist’s Library” is any indication, this is not the last time we will see attempts from the union to indoctrinate children and turn them into “activists.” The following books, including one from none other than Saul Alinsky, are listed on NEA’s site:

Rules for Radicals Saul Alinsky, Vintage Books, 1989 The classic book about organizing people, written by one of America’s foremost organizers.

Organize for Social Change Midwest Academy Manual for Activists Third Edition, Kim Bobo et al, Seven Locks Press, 2001 This is one of the best books about collective action and putting the screws to decision-makers. It’s about winning battles.

Building More Effective Unions Paul Clark, Cornell University Press, 2000 Penn State Professor of Labor Studies Paul Clark applies the latest in behavioral sciences research to creating more effective unions. His insights are both astute and highly practical.

The Trajectory of Change: Activist Strategies for Social Change Michael Albert, SouThend Press, 2002 Z Magazine’s Michael Albert has assembled a collection of thoughtful articles on ways to overcome various obstacles to social change.

Roots to Power: A Manual for Grassroots Organizing Lee Staples, Praeger, 1984 This is a good nuts and bolts guide to organizing. It is especially good on recruiting, developing action plans, executing them, and dealing with counterattacks.

Taking Action: Working Together for Positive Change in Your Community Elizabeth Amer, Self Counsel Press, 1992 Written by a Toronto community activist, this book is easy to read, full of examples, and sprinkled with how-to-advice.

Organizing: A Guide for Grassroots Leaders Si Kahn, McGraw Hill, 1981, Revised 1991 This book is well organized. You can find relevant material for your situation without reading the whole book.

Ethical Ambition: Living a Life of Meaning and Worth Derrick Bell, Bloomsbury, 2002 A gem of a book that delves into the question of “Why become an activist?” It is both thought-provoking and energizing.

Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time Paul Rogat Loeb, St. Martins Press, 1999 Provides solace for the activist‘s soul and juice for the activist’s battery

[Watchdog85]

More indoctrination courtesy of the NEA.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Typical commie bull****. Using young skulls full of mush as their useful idiots. Kommie Kids Gone Wild.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It would be interesting to alert the parents in the affected school(s), ask them if they want their kids to be turned into guinea pigs for protests.

[HiTech RedNeck]

(parents of kids in the affected school[s])

[ETL]

p>

From Investor's Business Daily (IBD), August 27, 2008:

"Ayers, now a tenured distinguished professor of education at UIC, works to educate teachers in socialist revolutionary ideology, urging that it be passed on to impressionable students.

One of Ayer's descriptions for a course called 'Improving Learning Environments' says prospective K-12 teachers need to 'be aware of the social and moral universe we inhabit and ... be a teacher capable of hope and struggle, outrage and action, teaching for social justice and liberation.

The Annenberg papers are quite extensive — 132 boxes containing 947 file folders with 70 linear feet of material. They undoubtedly contain more surprises regarding Obama's relationship with Ayers, one of many relationships Obama has sought to hide.'..."

Article: Annenberg Papers: Putting On Ayers?
http://www.ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=304729375940845
__________________________________________________________

REVOLUTION: Voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA [Maoist]
[Revolution] Interview with Bill Ayers, Revolution #63, October 1, 2006:
"On Progressive Education, Critical Thinking and the Cowardice of Some in Dangerous Times"
http://rwor.org/a/063/ayers-en.html

[ETL]

"This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English..."
--B.H. Obama

YouTube Video:
The O'Reilly Factor confronts Bill Ayers:
October 24, 2008:
(note the red communist star on his shirt)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP3uvK9gTIY

[skr]

Sadly, the parents probably won’t do anything about it.

[SuperLuminal]

Best way to stop this insanity is to jail all the parents who criminally abuse their children by committing them to these government asylums.

Those parents are the real culprits in the final destruction of the Constitutional Republic and the growth of the entrenched tyranny in which we now exist.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Watchdog85.

[airborne]

The Government Run Indoctrination Centers (public schools) continues to churn out useful idiots.

Here is where the college kids marching in the Occupy movements come from. Too stupid to have marketable skills, they want their money back for loans they took out in good faith.

It's not Wall Street who will be stuck with the bill! It's you and me!

[sbMKE]

It is very easy to introduce marketing ... er... educational materials into the public schools. I worked for an ad agency years ago that was able to distribute a video and workbook to teachers to promote a local waterpark destination. Teachers love canned and pre-planned curriculum - in the end all many are is office drones/assembly line workers punching a clock.

That’s why my wife and I homeschool.

[EQAndyBuzz]

We need to start establishing more conservative after school programs in the schools.. On-site.

Force the unions to fight it then we take them to court over property taxes.

Step one in beating back the communist threat in schools.

[tdscpa]

They should apply for a PTA grant to purchase tar and feathers.