Fixing Stillwater Schools

Mike McCarthy

March 11, 2024

WHY OUR STUDENTS CAN’T READ

What is the purpose of a high school English class? To develop literacy and competency? Or to instead instill a Neo-Marxist identity and oppression ideology in our children? Yes, as a parent, I can picture the eye-rolling now. So, let’s look at the materials our public school fought so hard (and spend your tax money) to keep hidden: the 2020-2021 Stillwater Area High School English 9A class.

This “English” class’s theme was “How do people find freedom in the midst of oppression?” And the course did instruct our children that America is thoroughly oppressive, and that victimhood is everywhere at the hands of the “privileged”. From describing California wildfires as a modern-day dustbowl, to stating Jim Crow still exists via mass incarceration, to Anti-trump political cartoons and a plethora of left-leaning media exposure, the entire course had progressive privileged oppressor-class versus victim-class ideology and worldview “baked in”.

Here, Stillwater youth were presented content from left leaning activist websites such as dosomething.org- a “collective of youth changing the world” as “English” studies.

Instead of reading, throughout the year the class was assigned to listen regularly to CNN 10 and National Public Radio (NPR) and answer follow-up questions. No assignments used sources with a conservative world view.

“English” class time was spent on the Buddhist Metta Prayer, a meditation embedded as Social-Emotional-Learning (SEL) material taught as an actual prayer and identity building. Apparently, our public school will teach our children to pray, as it sees fit.

Spread throughout this “English” class was the taking of an Enneagram personality test, learning the DEARMAN strategy, and other SEL topics.

Even the famous anti-socialism book “Animal Farm” was turned upside down to fit the progressive story to fear right-wing American “fascism” instead. Materials the school had kept hidden showed class discussion making a U-turn from the usual subject of parables, and the book’s clearly described dangers of socialism (and Marxism). Instead, lessons were reversed to present oppression as coming from right-wing fascism and tied to oppressor/victim lessons to be learned from the 1932 American Bonus Army, and the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

All this disguised as an English class?

The District’s English 9A class is more fittingly described as, “How can we find oppression and progressivism instead of English literacy and proficiency?”

Literacy skills are foundational for every student’s success. Without mastery of grade-level reading and composition, how can students thrive in their other classes and in later life?

Diverting precious time, money, and other resources out of essential learning and into instilling a progressive political world view in all students does, however, explain two things: 1) why our kids can’t read; and 2) why the school fought so hard to hide it for over two years.

Output from public inspection of the English 9 curriculum at Stillwater Area High School: