A Reset For Jews

For John, BLUF:  Something that is often missed in both the media and during coffee table discussions is that American Jews are being pushed into a corner, where their support of Israel is seen as just more inherent Caucasian Supremacy.  Not by everyone, but certaining by their former progressive allies.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A strategic reset for Jewish community relations and advocacy

Here is the sub-headline:

Do we dig in our heels with progressives because it used to make sense, or do we pivot and develop new partnerships and strategies that reflect our community’s interests today?

From Americans for Peace and Tolerance, by Mr David Bernstein, 18 October 2021.

Here is the lede plus six:

For more than a decade, the primary strategy of the Jewish community relations field has been to build ties to key non-Jewish segments on the political left deemed “fence-sitters”on Israel.  An influential report issued by the REUT Group, an Israeli think tank, in 2010 stated that “Israel and its allies should maintain thousands of personal relationships with political, financial, cultural, media and security-related elites.”  The report went on to say that “Israel should engage its critics, while isolating the delegitimizers.”

Fence sitters include, among others, segments of the African American community, mainline Protestants, Latinos and LGBTQ activists.  The strategy had been to engage these groups on social justice issues that they — and many Jews — care about, and in the process influence their thinking on Jews and Israel.

With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2015, many in the Jewish community, myself included, were especially concerned about the prospect of growing hostility toward Jews and Israel.  We worried that a total breakdown would mean many mainstream Jews would become politically disenfranchised.  In 2016, as the president and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Jewish community relations umbrella, I wrote:

“If the (Jewish) community wants to have any influence on how today’s civil rights activists view Jews and Jewish issues, it must show up to the planning meetings, press conferences and protests.”

But, I cautioned:

“We must find our own voice on civil rights.  It will not be easy integrating the Jewish community into civil rights coalitions, some of which hold very different political sensibilities. Young activists routinely invoke phrases like -‘white supremacy’ – to describe America’s prevailing power structure…Rather than feeling obliged to use these terms, however, the Jewish community can…come to the table in its own voice.”

This strategy of engaging progressive activists, I am sorry to say, has largely failed.  The attitudes toward Israel among progressives have markedly worsened in the past five years.  And the prevailing ideological environment has become toxic and fundamentally illiberal.  Aligning ourselves too closely with the progressive movement, especially insofar as such alignment requires conformity to its pieties and credos, gives succor to an ideology that will ultimately harm us.  It’s time for the mainstream Jewish community to do a strategic reset.

It was just over a year ago that the Labour Party in the United Kingdom forced out its leader, Mr Jeremy Corbyn.  Part of Mr Corbyn's problem was his antisemitic presentation.

We are seeing the same sort of anti-Israeli attitude on the part of some Progressive Democrats, including members of The Squad.

Many GOP voters are clearly supportive of an independent home for Jews in the Holy Land.  Based on that, the Republican party should be making room for those Jews who can accommodate a more conservative philosophy, one oriented on freedom, including freedom of thought, speech and religion.

Regards  —  Cliff

Striving to Be Better

For John, BLUF:  The message from the Author, Ms Sara Hoyt, is that we need to struggle to be united, rather than separating ourselves.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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REGRESSING

From the Blog According to Hoyt, by Novelist Sarah Hoyt, 2 November 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

A Catholic priest, a rabbi and two Lutheran ministers walk into a bar…

If they’re friends, and at ease with each other, you’re almost certainly in America.  Or in a country so far gone into atheist socialism, that it doesn’t matter what religion you have, you’re an enemy of the state.

In this post Ms Hoyt introduces a name change.  She is now calling Progressives as "Regressives".  She sees the regressives as intent on destroying the progress we, as Americans, have made.  She says:

And that rows back decades of just learning to live together and ignoring what’s not relevant to building and living and having a functional society.

Ms Hoyt believes we can continue to get better as a nation, but not if we embark on a plan of separation.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Election Day

For John, BLUF:  Please, please, please vote.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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GO VOTE

There are a number of reasons to vote.  Perhaps your friend is running, and deserves a little suppport from you.  Perhaps someone you admire is running and you think they would be a good elected official for your town or city.

However, the best reason to vote is that politicians, and government bureaucrats, pay attention to the voter turnout. The reason the Belvidere section of Lowell seems to get special attention from local government is because, in local elections, about 40 percent of the voters actully go and vote.  On the other hand, in some parts of the city the turnout is less than 10 percent.  Which area attacts more attention?  Exactly.  Even with "districts" Belvidere will have a disproportionate impact on which "at large" candidates win.  But, if all areas turn out in large numbers, then the whole City because an important garden of voters, to be carefully cultivated.

The problem with the recent election law suit is that it misidentified the problem to be fixed. It wasn't minority participation.  It was voter turnout.  Remember what Dead Karl told us:  "The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman and commander have to make is to establish . . . the kind of war on which they are embarking."  It applies in politics, as it does in war.

Here are the Lowell polling locations.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Education Support by Parents

For John, BLUF:  Many parents are not happy with how things are going in the schools their children attend.  Further, many of those parents think they are not getting the strait word as to what is happening in those schools.  Finally, the school officials are not doing a good job of appearing to be transparent.♠  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Edexit:  We Shouldn’t Let the Education Crisis Go to Waste

From Law & Liberty, by Harvard Professor james Hankins, 1 November 2021.

Here is a key excerpt:

The most important factor keeping most American schoolchildren in unionized public schools is undoubtedly cost.  Public schools, after all, are free, and it’s hard to beat free.  Of course they are not really free; they are paid from tax revenues, mostly property taxes, which is to say they are in effect subsidized by wealthier property owners.  Property-tax-paying parents understandably do not want to pay twice to school their children.  To be sure, some public schools are highly rated.  Precisely for that reason, many parents have been willing to pay a premium for homes in townships with good public schools.  While it is true that the “awokening” of public schools has made even the best of them unpopular with most Americans, many parents, for now, will have to stick with their local public schools.  It’s a question of path-dependence: for many Americans, to go private would mean radically altering college funding plans and perhaps push retirement several years further out.  It could mean leaving beloved homes and communities for others with less burdensome property taxes.

What is clear is that a huge proportion of parents with children currently in K-12 public schools would go private if they could afford it.  That much is revealed by the polling data compiled by EdChoice, a non-partisan organization committed to giving American parents more power over their children’s education.  According to EdChoice’s Polling Dashboard, of current K-12 school parents, 83% have actually enrolled their children in district public schools, but only 39% would do so if they had the freedom to choose other kinds of school.  50% would like to send their children to private or charter schools, but only 14% are able to do so.  78% of the general population and 84% of current school parents favor Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs) once informed of how these accounts would work.  Similar numbers favor some kind of public voucher system which would allow parents to decide which schools will receive the public funds allocated for their own child’s education.  EdChoice’s polling data also shows that the last two years have seen a considerable jump in public support for educational choice in general, from the mid-70th percentile in 2018 to the mid-80s in 2020-21.

All this adds up, I believe, to a historic opportunity to set a new direction for American K-12 education.

This should be one of several wakeup calls coming out of the Pandemic.  This is like the imbroglio in Laudaun County, Virginia.  While a number of parents are happy to turn their children over to some school for the education of those children, there are others who are sitting there in silent horror over when it is going on.

This should be a wakeup call for school systems and teachers unions and teachers colleges.  Public Institutions depend upon public approval,  It is eroding for schools.  We should all be dedicated to fixing this.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I would say, with regard to transparency, our local Lowell School District was doing an excellent job of being transparent, right up until the Bob Hoey imbroglio.  Since they they have not been as open to all branches of the media, which is sad.  Perhaps post election things will open up again.

Placement of Students (By Parents)

For John, BLUF:  Are parents voting on Public Schools by moving their children to other schools or to home schooling or maybe just moving to a new community and school district?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Blue State Blues:  Record Number of Students Flee Nation's Largest Public School Districts

From PJ Media, by Reporter Gwendolyn Sims, 31 October 2021, 9:40 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

This week the three largest public school districts in the U.S. announced that they are in the middle of a massive and continuing problem: record low enrollment numbers.

The New York Times reported that since the fall of 2019 enrollment in New York City’s (NYC) public school system—the nation’s largest district—has dropped by about 50,000 students or 4.5%.  The numbers are even worse in the nation’s second-largest public school district, where the Los Angeles Times reported the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) lost a record of more than 27,000 students or 6.0% of its enrollment since 2019.  The third-largest district’s numbers are just as bad in Chicago’s public schools (CPS), where WTTW reported enrollment is down nearly 25,000 students or 3.0% over the same time.

What exactly is to blame for the record drop in enrollment across these districts?  The districts are quick to blame the COVID-19 pandemic; that’s not the only reason fewer parents want their children to attend these public schools, but you’d never know that to listen to them.

We need more data, but the current numbers suggest there may be problems out there.

While I find it unlikely to happen, it would be interesting and revealing if state and local governments allocated school money to the individual students, to be spent as the parents see fit.  Will parents who can't afford private or parochial schools today shift their children's school of choice under such a regime?  There is a hint in the election of Florida Governor Ron DiSantis.  What put him over the top was 100,000 Black women who voted for him over the issue of schools.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

CRT Again

For John, BLUF:  One has the sense that US Public Schools, by and large, embrace Critical Race Theory (CRT).  On the other hand, they deny all.  Where is the truth?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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CRT:  IT DOESN’T EXIST…AND IT’S AWESOME!  [WITH COMMENT BY PAUL]

From Power Line Blog, by John Hinderaker, 31 October 2021.

Here is the lede plus one:

Critical Race Theory has become the number one political issue in the U.S.  So, needless to say, it is the top issue in school board elections that are taking place across the country.  Thus, in one of Minnesota’s largest school districts, the administration emailed talking points to school board members, telling them how to answer questions about CRT from concerned parents.  No doubt many other districts have done the same.  Remarkably, this particular email included no fewer than six attachments with talking points on CRT.

These six pro-CRT missives are pretty much interchangeable, although they come from a variety of sources: the school district itself; Education Minnesota, the teachers’ union (this one includes an attack on American Experiment); the Minnesota School Boards Association; the University of Minnesota; the Minnesota Association of School Administrators; and the Council of the Great City Schools.

I like the title for this blog post.  It captures what I have picked up from the various news sources I consume.

I am all for looking at all of our history,  However, as a believer in evolution, I believe the same happens in history.  Most of our progress toward a freer and fairer society is based upon the actions of those who have gone before us.  While the Magna Carta wasn't the Declaration of Independence, it was a big step forward in helpinig define the Rights of Englishmen. 

What I don't see is where we are going.  Remember the line from General David Patraeus, "Tell me how this ends"?  I hear a lot of talk about how Caucasians from Europe have made the world a worse place,♠ but I don't hear much about how others are going to make it better.  I am sure there are folks who think General Secretary Xi Jinping is offering a better path, but I am not sold.  I thought South Africa might be a model of integration and freedom, but it doesn't seem to be working out.  Look at their Gini.  I wouldn't pick Venezuala and their Bolivarian Revolution.

This kind of issue is why voting in your local School Committee (School Board) is so important.  Even if you aren't sure who to vote for tomorrow, the fact that you vote will send the signal that folks are paying attention and the Committee Members and the school leadership needs to be aware of public sentiment.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  One of their worst acts was the elimintion of human sacrifice as a public ritual in North America.

Gifted and Talented

For John, BLUF:  In the name of equity and equality we are dumbing down the education of our youth.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Pitt students want to 'abolish' their community's elementary gifted program

Here is the sub-headline:

• The Pitt News Editorial Board recently published a piece in support of abolishing local elementary gifted programs.
• According to the piece, the gifted program intellectually and racially 'segregates students.'
• Members of the Pittsburgh community share mixed viewpoints about what such a change would mean for their community.

From Campus Reform, by Correspondent Logan Dubil, 29 October 2021, 8:55 AM.

Here is the lede plus two:

The Editorial Board of the University of Pittsburgh student paper recently published an article calling to get rid of the gifted program in surrounding schools.

“The gifted program segregates students — sometimes based on IQ tests conducted at an early age.  The program is deeply flawed, encourages students to unnecessarily compete against each other academically and often ends up leaving behind students of color.  It is time for Pittsburgh to follow New York’s example and eliminate the gifted program from local school districts,” claims the piece.

The paper published the piece in light of New York City mayor Bill de Blasio’s recent decision to remove elementary school based gifted programs over the next five year period, saying "Pittsburgh should be next."

I did poorly in elementary school, and not all that well in high school (junior high school was my period of shining).  Even so, I found that the brighter students, who surged ahead of me, did help me and my learning, both in school and after school.  Their interests and learning helped to spur me on and made me a better student.  My prime example is Lloyd Davis, who lived at the end of town in Wenonah, NJ.  His interest in science helped spur my interest in science.  Hold him back, even if only by not pushing him on, would seem to be the opposite of encouraging education.

This is a bad idea.  If you see no other indicztor, remember tht New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is backing it.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff