History and civics classes may be designed to help students understand why their country considers certain people important and worthy of respect, but usually, those people are dead.
That’s not the case in this first-grade assignment out in the People’s Republic of California, which describes Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) as a “Champion of People’s Rights” and asks students to “write about changes Gavin Newsom made as mayor [of San Francisco] to respect people’s rights.”
The worksheet references then-Mayor Newsom’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage in San Francisco in 2004, which the worksheet described as “Gavin said that people could marry who they choose. Sometimes, Gavin helped marry people. Some marriages were not between a man and a woman. He made sure that people’s rights are respected.”
INSANE: Received this from a teacher in a California elementary school. First graders are being given an assignment praising Governor Newsom for being a “Champion for People’s Rights” and are asked to list praises for him.
Blatant government-funded propaganda and indoctrination!… pic.twitter.com/Fq2Ob4qK3W
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 10, 2024
Look, I know that history and civics classes will talk about people who are still alive, but I don’t think they usually try to make any overt biases. Plus, these are first graders we are talking about, and they barely understand relationships anyway. This appears to be yet another instance of the left taking up the long march through the institutions, indoctrinating future generations into being good little foot soldiers for their causes.
In late March, my friend Lincoln Brown described how the state of Washington would require students to learn LGBTQ history, or as the state described it, “Education leaders must develop a curriculum including the histories and contributions of LGBTQ figures, as well as the histories of people with various racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds.”
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The inclusion of multiple perspectives makes sense in more advanced history courses (since that’s literally part of how studying history works), but this will only complicate and confuse younger kids (like the first graders who had to sing Gavin Newsom’s praises), who likely aren’t going to remember much beyond names, dates, and maybe a few simple facts.
I was considered smart because I could name all the Presidents around this age (and became a living party trick for it), but nobody expected me to try and explain what they did. Heck, I barely knew when their terms in office were.
But that’s the point: the people who wrote this lesson made sure the simple (or at least simplified) fact kids would associate with Gavin Newsom was that he legalized same-sex marriage in San Francisco and framed it as respecting people’s rights because respecting rights is good.
It is a subtle thing to do, but the continual teaching of the left’s preferred historical figures and topics ensures kids will grow up to see things their way.
Thankfully, some students are waking up as Brown described in his column; students of John Jay High School in Upstate New York walked out of class in protest against allowing students to use whichever bathroom they identified with.
But that was just one instance of the kids showing that they’ll be all right. How many more are going to be the same?