Friday, October 02, 2015



American Public Schools are Engaging in Islamic Indoctrination;  Parents are Fighting Back

As Islamic forces slaughter Christian minorities and terrorist groups gain an ever greater hold of territory in the war torn Middle East, American public schools have embarked on a liberal multiculturalist program whose end result would be the Islamic indoctrination of American children. Parents aren't standing pat. As the Conservative Tribune notes:

    "When a county in Georgia started indoctrinating their students in the Islamic faith, they figured that parents would just let it slide under the banner of multiculturalism. They figured wrong.

    Now, hundreds of Walton County parents are set to address the school board’s Oct. 10 meeting, looking to get equal time for Christianity and Judaism and to fix some of the misleading information in the curriculum. Especially controversial is a worksheet given to students where Allah is referred to as the “same god worshipped by Jews & Christians..."

Parents who want to opt their children out of the course must confront that doing so will result in their child receiving a lower grade. They are seeking a curricuulum that gives equal time to Christianity and Judaism. As the piece notes:

    "For parent Bill Greene, the issue was one of the county usurping one of the traditional functions of the family — the passing on of faith.

    “I believe my children are my responsibility and I believe I need to be the one teaching them what we believe instead of the school,” Greene said.

    Parents have started a Facebook group dedicated to criticism of the Islamic curriculum, and it has over 1,500 likes"

Meanwhile in Tennessee, the American Center for Law and Justice sent an open records request to 146 districts in the state. The group is investigating how Tennesee districts are teaching Islam, and so far districts have been unwilling to comply, citing the broad nature and impracticality of providing all the materials. As the Daily Caller reports:

    "The open records request is related to a grassroots reaction among parents — primarily evangelical Christian parents — against what they perceive as an inappropriate focus on Islam in history and social studies courses in Tennessee middle schools.

    Earlier this month, for example, parents in the Nashville suburb of in Spring Hill expressed alarm because their public middle school children are learning about Islam in a world history class but, the parents say, the course material pointedly ignores Christianity."

Whether or not the districts eventually choose to comply remains to be seen, but it's clear that parents aren't taking this relativist assault on their values lying down.  Source: AAN

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Washington School District Bans 'Dangerous' Game of Tag

Physically and emotionally unsafe?

Michelle Obama says “Let’s Move!” But that’s hard to do when schools restrict age-old children’s activities, ostensibly “to ensure the physical and emotional safety of all students.” That’s the defense claimed by a Washington state district when it recently decided to prohibit tag on school grounds.

Communications director Mary Grady wrote in a statement, “The Mercer Island School District and school teams have recently revisited expectations for student behavior to address student safety. This means while at play, especially during recess and unstructured time, students are expected to keep their hands to themselves.”

As one agitated parent put it, “In this day and age of childhood obesity, there’s a need for more activity. Kids should be free to have spontaneous play on the playground at recess. It’s important for their learning.” Unless, of course, that activity could inadvertently hurt someone’s feelings.

As this mother demonstrates, parents know what’s best for their children. So why, then, are parents increasingly being left out of the conversation? The district didn’t even consult them before making a decision. Furthermore, most sports involve some form of contact — are we going go ban soccer and football next?

The absurdity of zero tolerance policies has a well-documented history. Fortunately, the furor has many districts reversing course. And the quicker they do, the better. Otherwise, before you know it, the PC police may visit you next, shouting, “Tag, you’re it!”

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Deloitte in Britain has decided to keep quiet about where you went to school and university: Recruiter will deny background information to prevent 'unconscious bias'

Accent and deportment tell you everything about social class in Britain so this is just window-dressing -- JR

Deloitte has pledged to stop recruiters discovering where candidates went to school or university in a bid to stop ‘unconscious bias’ against people from underprivileged backgrounds.

The professional services giant said interviewers will be denied background information on education from now on until an offer is made.

Bosses hope to rid the firm of its reputation for favouring those from the top universities and elite schools and instead ‘ensure that the talent pool is diverse’.

But critics questioned whether the policy was really the best way to spot real talent and suggested it was a form of ‘social engineering’.

The US-based company is globally the largest of its kind and has been named by Bloomberg Business as the best place to launch a career.

Alongside the new ‘blind’ interviewing, ‘contextual’ data will also be used to identify candidates who have done exceptionally well in challenging circumstances.

David Sproul, senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte UK, said: ‘Improving social mobility is one of the UK’s biggest challenges. For us, there is also a clear business imperative to get this right.

‘In order to provide the best possible service and make an impact with our clients, we need to hire people who think and innovate differently, come from a variety of backgrounds and bring a range of perspectives and experience into the firm. We truly value this difference.’

The new process will be held during next year’s recruitment round to fill 1,500 jobs with graduates and school leavers.

Deloitte said the new ‘blind’ interviews will ensure that job offers are made on the basis of ‘present potential, not past personal circumstance’.

An algorithm will be used to assess ‘contextual’ information about past setbacks alongside academic results.

It will take into account disadvantages such as attending an under-performing school or coming from a deprived area.

As an example, Deloitte says an applicant getting three B grades at A-level could be seen as ‘exceptional’ if the average for their school was three D grades.

Mr Sproul added: ‘At Deloitte, we are working hard to ensure that our talent pool is diverse and reflects the make-up of today’s society. We want to show that everyone can thrive, develop and succeed in our firm based on their talent, regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or any other dimension that can be used to differentiate people from one another.

‘This includes an individual’s social or economic background, which we know continues to be used to hold some people back.’

The move by Deloitte is the latest in a wave of changes by graduate recruiters wanting to look beyond academic results.

Ernst and Young has scrapped a requirement for school leavers to have the equivalent of three B grades at A-level or graduates to have an upper second class degree. The accountancy firm will remove all academic and education details from its application process.

PricewaterhouseCoopers earlier this year also announced that it would stop using A-levels grades as a threshold for selecting graduate recruits.

Last week, leading firms pledged to give special consideration to working class graduates and assess applicants’ GCSE and A-level grades in relation to the overall performance of their school.

Law firms including Ashurst and Baker & McKenzie have piloted the scheme, which was designed by recruitment agency Rare and will be used by up to 20 companies.  It allows them to access exam results of 3,500 schools and 2.5million postcodes.

But Alan Smithers, professor of education at Buckingham University, questioned whether the policy was the best way to spot real talent.  He said: ‘There’s an element of social engineering here because they’re responding to pressure from people like The Sutton Trust that has been taken up by politicians.

‘The emphasis should be on identifying untapped talent, not saying for moral reasons you’ve got to take someone who went to university having had free school meals.’

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