13 ms·

How Activist Teachers Recruit Kids

60 points by prudhvid 5y ago

jdenning 5y ago
Sounds like there was some blowback after this article was published: https://spreckelsdistrict.org/2021/statement-from-the-district/ https://spreckelsdistrict.org/2021/statement-from-the-distri...
jevoten 5y ago
When we were doing our virtual learning – we totally stalked what they were doing on Google, when they weren’t doing school work. One of them was googling ‘Trans Day of Visibility.’ And we’re like, ‘Check.’ We’re going to invite that kid when we get back on campus. Whenever they follow the Google Doodle links or whatever, right, we make note of those kids and the things that they bring up with each other in chats or email or whatever,” Are the kids or their parents aware that their searches, e-mails, and chats are being monitored this way? And how exactly does this surveillance work? Are their teachers the only ones that get this data, or is there a private company the schools are partnered with that also hoovers up everything? This gross violation of privacy is the bigger story, in my opinion.
- lp0_on_fire 5y ago
  Marion Township in Pennsylvania had to pay out the nose a few years ago because of staff spying on children at home via webcams in school issued laptops. Why are teachers being allowed to spy on students at home? I can understand having remote access to view a laptop during school hours within programs used for school. But to have unfettered access to their search history? Or unfettered access to dial in and observe whenever they feel? > we totally stalked what they were doing on Google, when they weren’t doing school work. The perverts at Marion School district had similar attitudes and look where that got them.
- lern_too_spel 5y ago
  Yes, the kids and parents are aware that the teachers are watching them during virtual school hours. Kids who were watching YouTube or playing games in class were reprimanded on the spot.
  - lp0_on_fire 5y ago
    From the quote: "we totally stalked what they were doing on Google, when they weren’t doing school work." Emphasis on "when they weren’t doing school work"
    - lern_too_spel 5y ago
      When they weren't doing school work during school hours, like watching YouTube and playing games. Here is an example document sent to parents explaining how this works. https://www.pointschools.net/cms/lib/WI01932907/Centricity/Domain/4/Securly%20Parent%20Letter%20Template.pdf https://www.pointschools.net/cms/lib/WI01932907/Centricity/D...
      - jevoten 5y ago
        Monitoring student-to-student chat and e-mail, even during school hours*, is several steps too far, in my opinion. Like placing microphones at every desk. Such measures may be justifiable only during tests. *Do e-mails or chat messages sent outside school hours, or during recess, remain private?
        lern_too_spel 5y ago
        Students speaking to each other or texting each other in class would be reprimanded. This really is no different from before except that they can more easily get away with it by using another device to communicate. The students are fully aware that their school device is monitored during class.
        jevoten 5y ago
        I don't take issue with reprimands. I take issue with their conversations being recorded. Which absolutely is different than before, when whispering to a classmate, even during class, would remain reasonably private. Unless a microphone was installed at every desk. > their school device is monitored during class. So messages sent during recess, or after hours, are not recorded? Even if part of a chat conversation or e-mail chain where some messages were sent during class? Or is the entire device monitored, meaning if they view during class a chat conversation that took place after-school, the entire conversation is recorded? Or even if they don't view it during class? You said the device is monitored, so would that include all the chat logs and e-mails stored on it? Chats and e-mails that would leave students socially hermits if they ignored out of a desire for privacy. The example document you linked only mentions screen-recording, that the student is alerted to when it's activated. Are you sure that's the full extent of their spying capabilities, or that it's the same service these teachers were discussing? It does not seem to enable the kind of self-professed "stalking" these teachers described.
jawerty 5y ago
More reason for me to distrust public school systems. Big red flag in an educator if they're trying to "get to the kids" early about anything other than what the agreed upon curriculum is.
- klyrs 5y ago
  If a student shows up with visible bruises from domestic abuse, should the teacher attempt to "get to" that child, or just focus on the agreed-upon curriculum? If the chess club coach notices that a student displays aptitude at strategic thinking, would it be fair to invite them to attend chess club? If the student's parent is upset by the child attending chess club, does the school have a duty to inform them, or does the child have freedom of association? That said, I'm pretty uncomfortable with teachers having visibility into kids' Google searches, unless the kids know that they're under such scrutiny.
  - lp0_on_fire 5y ago
    If a student shows up with visible bruises as the result of domestic abuse the teacher is supposed to make a report to CPS and let the professionals handle it (teachers are mandated reporters in the United States). There's orders of magnitude difference between the chess club coach noticing a student displays aptitude and inviting them to join the club and a teacher _actively searching_ a students computer for "evidence" of them supporting the teachers politics-du-jour.
  - jawerty 5y ago
    If any person notices evidence of domestic abuse or someone's aptitude they are liable to do what they can do support them. The context here is they're trying to get to the child to influence them into their own worldview. Should we trust our public school teachers with that much responsibility? If your answer is yes, then you should ask yourself what would you do if the worldview was the one you hate the most.
    - fknorangesite 5y ago
      If the worldview you "hate the most" is one where LGBTQ kids are safe and loved and accepted, then forgive me if I don't have much sympathy for your position here.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
literalsunbear 5y ago
lern_too_spel 5y ago
Those activist teachers are also teaching the kids about MLK, Jr. and civil rights. Learning how to function within a heterogeneous society isn't what we send our kids to school for! But seriously, if society is failing due to not enough citizens understanding math, and the parents don't want their kids to learn math, but society has deemed it important that the schools teach math to those kids anyway, that's part of the social contract for public schooling. Here we have a case of sections of society perpetuating violence on an outgroup, and the voters as a whole deciding that one prong of the fix is educating the children. This technique has worked before on the same type of problem.
- vorpalhex 5y ago
  Nobody cares that you teach the history of racism in the US, correctly educate children about the civil war and slavery or talk about civil rights heroes. What most people object to are the Derrick Bell arguments that racial segregation is good, that racism is fundamental and unsolvable and that equality is not achievable or real. These are illiberal views that have no place being taught.
  - kennywinker 5y ago
    If you’re trying to describe critical race theory, that’s not it.
    - vorpalhex 5y ago
      Derrick Bell is one of the original CRT scholars. He believes desegregation was a mistake. [1] CRT holds, as a critical tradition, that there are fundamental unsolvable struggles. In critical gender theory this struggle is on the basis of gender, and in CRT this struggle is on the basis of race. The struggle can not be resolved, only inverted. I have read the work of Bell and Delgado, well liked overviews supported by CRT proponents and quite a few essays on the matter. I would recommend reading the source material and not the version of it touted in the press. Delgado in particular has many.. interesting views. [1] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Bell https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Bell
fknorangesite 5y ago
This sounds like the same group of pearl-clutching parents The Onion was making fun of 20+ years ago: https://www.theonion.com/98-homosexual-recruitment-drive-nearing-goal-1819564785 https://www.theonion.com/98-homosexual-recruitment-drive-nea... Why, next thing you know these activist teachers will be telling our kids that racism is bad. The horror.
- nickff 5y ago
  Well, one of the basic premises of public schooling is that the parents have a significant say in what is taught, via the election of school boards and other politicians. This report details a subversion of the 'consent of the governed', which is troubling.
  - woodruffw 5y ago
    It's remarkable how the underlying grievance has been dressed up over the years. I remember how it was teachers "failing" to "teach the controversy" re: evolution when I was in middle school; now they're "subverting" the democratic will! Gack.
    - potatolicious 5y ago
      Whenever someone speaks in lofty ideals it's always important to get them to be specific about what those ideals look like in practice, and be specific about what they're looking for. "Subversion of the consent of the governed" can be anywhere from "making the kids smoke cigarettes at recess" to "teaching the works of MLK Jr. even though it makes local parents uncomfortable". The classic example of this is the whole "states' rights" canard re: the American Civil War. The states' rights to what, exactly? People often defend the hard-to-defend by talking in generalities and appealing to abstractions. The real test of the idea is if you can defend it both generally and specifically.
      - nickff 5y ago
        >"The classic example of this is the whole "states' rights" canard re: the American Civil War. The states' rights to what, exactly?" The states have rights according to the tenth amendment (the last amendment in the 'Bill of Rights'): >"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
aaron695 5y ago
rosmax_1337 5y ago
What happens to a student that shows an interest in things that are vaguely antithentical to teachers like these, say for example: guns? With a student being caught Googling "biggest sniper rifle in the world". Does that also make them go "Check."?
Playable 5y ago
So based on her other blog posts she looks to be hard right leaning so this post doesn't really surprise me. No proof other than her retelling of "leaked" documents. Same crap, different day..
- NoGravitas 5y ago
  Conservatives say they're against "cancel culture", and then go cancel teachers online for not being conservative enough.
  - rangoon626 5y ago
    [flagged]
NoGravitas 5y ago
Contrary opinion: all this is good, actually. School should be a safe place for LGBTQA and questioning kids when home is not a safe environment. The teachers quoted all sound like they are doing a great job.
- rangoon626 5y ago
- drost 5y ago
  It isn't the job of the teacher to raise kids. Why the hell should math or english teachers being involved in a students developing sexuality?
  - aaomidi 5y ago
    It actually is the job of teachers to raise kids though. Just because a teacher is teaching a specific subject doesn't mean they're unable to also help the kid with growing up? Recognizing and providing direction is specifically what a teacher is supposed to do. One major part of school is to give children the ability to have more trusted alerts to help them understand the world and not keep them isolated into a single world view of their parents.
    - boeingUH60 5y ago
      Well, I disagree that it's the job of teachers to raise kids. That's entirely the job of a parent, teachers can help at will, but that's too much of a burden to place on them. Raising kids is hard and difficult and the person with the greatest incentive to put in the best efforts to do so is a parent.
      - aaomidi 5y ago
        I never said it's only the job of the teachers. Raising kids is realistically the job of everyone, but more importantly trusted adults in the life of the kid. Especially because in a lot of abusive cases, kids need another trusted adult in case they need to report what's going on and get guidance from them.

60 points by prudhvid 5y ago

Sounds like there was some blowback after this article was published: https://spreckelsdistrict.org/2021/statement-from-the-district/ https://spreckelsdistrict.org/2021/statement-from-the-distri...

jevoten 5y ago

When we were doing our virtual learning – we totally stalked what they were doing on Google, when they weren’t doing school work. One of them was googling ‘Trans Day of Visibility.’ And we’re like, ‘Check.’ We’re going to invite that kid when we get back on campus. Whenever they follow the Google Doodle links or whatever, right, we make note of those kids and the things that they bring up with each other in chats or email or whatever,” Are the kids or their parents aware that their searches, e-mails, and chats are being monitored this way? And how exactly does this surveillance work? Are their teachers the only ones that get this data, or is there a private company the schools are partnered with that also hoovers up everything? This gross violation of privacy is the bigger story, in my opinion.

lp0_on_fire 5y ago
Marion Township in Pennsylvania had to pay out the nose a few years ago because of staff spying on children at home via webcams in school issued laptops. Why are teachers being allowed to spy on students at home? I can understand having remote access to view a laptop during school hours within programs used for school. But to have unfettered access to their search history? Or unfettered access to dial in and observe whenever they feel? > we totally stalked what they were doing on Google, when they weren’t doing school work. The perverts at Marion School district had similar attitudes and look where that got them.
lern_too_spel 5y ago
Yes, the kids and parents are aware that the teachers are watching them during virtual school hours. Kids who were watching YouTube or playing games in class were reprimanded on the spot.
- lp0_on_fire 5y ago
  From the quote: "we totally stalked what they were doing on Google, when they weren’t doing school work." Emphasis on "when they weren’t doing school work"
  - lern_too_spel 5y ago
    When they weren't doing school work during school hours, like watching YouTube and playing games. Here is an example document sent to parents explaining how this works. https://www.pointschools.net/cms/lib/WI01932907/Centricity/Domain/4/Securly%20Parent%20Letter%20Template.pdf https://www.pointschools.net/cms/lib/WI01932907/Centricity/D...
    - jevoten 5y ago
      Monitoring student-to-student chat and e-mail, even during school hours*, is several steps too far, in my opinion. Like placing microphones at every desk. Such measures may be justifiable only during tests. *Do e-mails or chat messages sent outside school hours, or during recess, remain private?
      - lern_too_spel 5y ago
        Students speaking to each other or texting each other in class would be reprimanded. This really is no different from before except that they can more easily get away with it by using another device to communicate. The students are fully aware that their school device is monitored during class.
        jevoten 5y ago
        I don't take issue with reprimands. I take issue with their conversations being recorded. Which absolutely is different than before, when whispering to a classmate, even during class, would remain reasonably private. Unless a microphone was installed at every desk. > their school device is monitored during class. So messages sent during recess, or after hours, are not recorded? Even if part of a chat conversation or e-mail chain where some messages were sent during class? Or is the entire device monitored, meaning if they view during class a chat conversation that took place after-school, the entire conversation is recorded? Or even if they don't view it during class? You said the device is monitored, so would that include all the chat logs and e-mails stored on it? Chats and e-mails that would leave students socially hermits if they ignored out of a desire for privacy. The example document you linked only mentions screen-recording, that the student is alerted to when it's activated. Are you sure that's the full extent of their spying capabilities, or that it's the same service these teachers were discussing? It does not seem to enable the kind of self-professed "stalking" these teachers described.

jawerty 5y ago

More reason for me to distrust public school systems. Big red flag in an educator if they're trying to "get to the kids" early about anything other than what the agreed upon curriculum is.

klyrs 5y ago
If a student shows up with visible bruises from domestic abuse, should the teacher attempt to "get to" that child, or just focus on the agreed-upon curriculum? If the chess club coach notices that a student displays aptitude at strategic thinking, would it be fair to invite them to attend chess club? If the student's parent is upset by the child attending chess club, does the school have a duty to inform them, or does the child have freedom of association? That said, I'm pretty uncomfortable with teachers having visibility into kids' Google searches, unless the kids know that they're under such scrutiny.
- lp0_on_fire 5y ago
  If a student shows up with visible bruises as the result of domestic abuse the teacher is supposed to make a report to CPS and let the professionals handle it (teachers are mandated reporters in the United States). There's orders of magnitude difference between the chess club coach noticing a student displays aptitude and inviting them to join the club and a teacher _actively searching_ a students computer for "evidence" of them supporting the teachers politics-du-jour.
- jawerty 5y ago
  If any person notices evidence of domestic abuse or someone's aptitude they are liable to do what they can do support them. The context here is they're trying to get to the child to influence them into their own worldview. Should we trust our public school teachers with that much responsibility? If your answer is yes, then you should ask yourself what would you do if the worldview was the one you hate the most.
  - fknorangesite 5y ago
    If the worldview you "hate the most" is one where LGBTQ kids are safe and loved and accepted, then forgive me if I don't have much sympathy for your position here.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

literalsunbear 5y ago

lern_too_spel 5y ago

Those activist teachers are also teaching the kids about MLK, Jr. and civil rights. Learning how to function within a heterogeneous society isn't what we send our kids to school for! But seriously, if society is failing due to not enough citizens understanding math, and the parents don't want their kids to learn math, but society has deemed it important that the schools teach math to those kids anyway, that's part of the social contract for public schooling. Here we have a case of sections of society perpetuating violence on an outgroup, and the voters as a whole deciding that one prong of the fix is educating the children. This technique has worked before on the same type of problem.

vorpalhex 5y ago
Nobody cares that you teach the history of racism in the US, correctly educate children about the civil war and slavery or talk about civil rights heroes. What most people object to are the Derrick Bell arguments that racial segregation is good, that racism is fundamental and unsolvable and that equality is not achievable or real. These are illiberal views that have no place being taught.
- kennywinker 5y ago
  If you’re trying to describe critical race theory, that’s not it.
  - vorpalhex 5y ago
    Derrick Bell is one of the original CRT scholars. He believes desegregation was a mistake. [1] CRT holds, as a critical tradition, that there are fundamental unsolvable struggles. In critical gender theory this struggle is on the basis of gender, and in CRT this struggle is on the basis of race. The struggle can not be resolved, only inverted. I have read the work of Bell and Delgado, well liked overviews supported by CRT proponents and quite a few essays on the matter. I would recommend reading the source material and not the version of it touted in the press. Delgado in particular has many.. interesting views. [1] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Bell https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_Bell

fknorangesite 5y ago

This sounds like the same group of pearl-clutching parents The Onion was making fun of 20+ years ago: https://www.theonion.com/98-homosexual-recruitment-drive-nearing-goal-1819564785 https://www.theonion.com/98-homosexual-recruitment-drive-nea... Why, next thing you know these activist teachers will be telling our kids that racism is bad. The horror.

nickff 5y ago
Well, one of the basic premises of public schooling is that the parents have a significant say in what is taught, via the election of school boards and other politicians. This report details a subversion of the 'consent of the governed', which is troubling.
- woodruffw 5y ago
  It's remarkable how the underlying grievance has been dressed up over the years. I remember how it was teachers "failing" to "teach the controversy" re: evolution when I was in middle school; now they're "subverting" the democratic will! Gack.
  - potatolicious 5y ago
    Whenever someone speaks in lofty ideals it's always important to get them to be specific about what those ideals look like in practice, and be specific about what they're looking for. "Subversion of the consent of the governed" can be anywhere from "making the kids smoke cigarettes at recess" to "teaching the works of MLK Jr. even though it makes local parents uncomfortable". The classic example of this is the whole "states' rights" canard re: the American Civil War. The states' rights to what, exactly? People often defend the hard-to-defend by talking in generalities and appealing to abstractions. The real test of the idea is if you can defend it both generally and specifically.
    - nickff 5y ago
      >"The classic example of this is the whole "states' rights" canard re: the American Civil War. The states' rights to what, exactly?" The states have rights according to the tenth amendment (the last amendment in the 'Bill of Rights'): >"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

aaron695 5y ago

rosmax_1337 5y ago

What happens to a student that shows an interest in things that are vaguely antithentical to teachers like these, say for example: guns? With a student being caught Googling "biggest sniper rifle in the world". Does that also make them go "Check."?

Playable 5y ago

So based on her other blog posts she looks to be hard right leaning so this post doesn't really surprise me. No proof other than her retelling of "leaked" documents. Same crap, different day..

NoGravitas 5y ago
Conservatives say they're against "cancel culture", and then go cancel teachers online for not being conservative enough.
- rangoon626 5y ago
  [flagged]

NoGravitas 5y ago

Contrary opinion: all this is good, actually. School should be a safe place for LGBTQA and questioning kids when home is not a safe environment. The teachers quoted all sound like they are doing a great job.

rangoon626 5y ago
drost 5y ago
It isn't the job of the teacher to raise kids. Why the hell should math or english teachers being involved in a students developing sexuality?
- aaomidi 5y ago
  It actually is the job of teachers to raise kids though. Just because a teacher is teaching a specific subject doesn't mean they're unable to also help the kid with growing up? Recognizing and providing direction is specifically what a teacher is supposed to do. One major part of school is to give children the ability to have more trusted alerts to help them understand the world and not keep them isolated into a single world view of their parents.
  - boeingUH60 5y ago
    Well, I disagree that it's the job of teachers to raise kids. That's entirely the job of a parent, teachers can help at will, but that's too much of a burden to place on them. Raising kids is hard and difficult and the person with the greatest incentive to put in the best efforts to do so is a parent.
    - aaomidi 5y ago
      I never said it's only the job of the teachers. Raising kids is realistically the job of everyone, but more importantly trusted adults in the life of the kid. Especially because in a lot of abusive cases, kids need another trusted adult in case they need to report what's going on and get guidance from them.