The leftwing ideology deeply embedded in the American public education system is being fortified with the incorporation of a radical “Learning for Justice” curriculum—often funded with taxpayer dollars—in colleges across the country that are training future teachers, assuring that the indoctrination continues for generations to come. A new report published by an education nonprofit reveals that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a controversial leftist group that slanders conservative organizations in an interactive “Hate Map”, created the program lessons, resources and Social Justice Standards (SJS) in the educator training classes at Colleges of Education (COE) across the country. In some cases, federal grants pay for the biased teacher training that blends social justice standards into virtually all lessons.
The outrageous Learning for Justice curriculum is used to train future educators in 38 states plus the District of Columbia and at least 100 COEs nationwide utilize it, according to the probe conducted by the nonprofit Defending Education. The Virginia-based group confirms that the COEs that have adopted the SPLC’s material are responsible for preparing K-12 classroom teachers as well as the continuing education of present teachers and administrators, which means they play a major role in what content, materials, best practices and perspectives shape the educators. “This report also examines academic journal articles, doctoral dissertations, and master’s theses to provide additional insight into how SPLC materials and Social Justice Standards are incorporated into Colleges of Education, teacher preparation programs, and K-12 classrooms,” reads the report published by the charity that aims for the reestablishment of a quality, non-political education for all students. “Importantly, few COEs outwardly acknowledge their use of SPLC materials; instead, many COEs hide their usage and promotion behind faculty login pages.”
Among the cases outlined in the report is a $275,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for a venture between Northern Arizona University and the Flagstaff Unified School District that incorporates Learning for Justice’s SJS into its computer science curriculum. In another example, the Department of Education gave a California graduate program $3.3 million to “develop and cultivate educators-in-training” with “social justice teaching ideas and practices,” including “Social Justice Standards from Teaching Tolerance.” The University of Maryland College of Education’s master’s for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teachers features a key theme of “Equity, Access, and Anti-bias Education” that integrates social justice standards and critical practices from the SPLC’s Learning for Justice into its programs. The entire Maryland State Department of Education also incorporates Social Justice Standards into its regulations governing new teacher induction programming run by school districts. The University of Michigan’s education program is centered on a “more just and equitable elementary science teaching” that draws from Learning for Justice and Kutztown University in Pennsylvania forces future educators to complete a special “teaching tolerance module” to fulfill a requirement of developing an understanding of diversity.
The list of examples goes on and on, with colleges in California, Oregon, Washington State, Massachusetts and Virginia using the discriminatory SPLC material. Even top public universities in Republican states have adopted it and mandate it in educator training courses. The University of Florida’s College of Education has a required course called “Equity Pedagogy Foundations” that aims to define educational equity by exploring the foundational concepts of race, class, ability and sexuality as they impact children in schools. Florida Atlantic University trains future teachers with courses such as “Introduction to Diversity for Educators, Equity Issues in Multicultural Education and Education in Multicultural Society.” The University of North Texas makes future educators take an advanced teaching course that features required readings form Learning for Justice’s Social Justice Standards. The University of Kansas incorporates the SPLC’s “importance of multicultural education” in all teacher programs and Western Kentucky University mandates a diversity in the classroom course that requires students to read a book called “There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom.”
This latest report on the SPLC’s enormous influence in training the nation’s educators comes on the heels of an equally disturbing investigation that revealed the leftwing group has received millions of taxpayer dollars to spread its hateful message and materials across the United States, including in public schools. The money came from states, cities, counties, universities, school districts, and other public entities to help fulfill the SPLC’s stated mission of “dismantling white supremacy” and “creating a world where Black and Brown communities are represented and respected by our democracy.”
