The good news is that not every teacher in the schools across the nation is an agendized leftist culture warrior. Some teachers actually practice virtues like dignity, values, and common sense, and embrace ideas such as free speech and critical thought. The bad news is that such teachers seem to be much fewer in number than their guerrilla counterparts and face uphill battles in their efforts to reintroduce sanity to the classroom. Caedran Sullivan, a 15-year veteran English teacher at Shawnee Mission High School in Overland Park, Kan., is one such teacher. And she is paying the price.
Sullivan had become fed up with the woke culture at the school, which she says fostered an atmosphere of contempt and disrespect, according to The Blaze. To that end, she penned two op-eds in an online magazine called The Lion, which advocates a Christian approach to education. One of the pieces titled, “Kansas public school teacher: Yes, your children are being indoctrinated” — outlines problems in the Shawnee Mission School District:
SMSD is fostering a toxic environment and requiring employees to attend Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) training and workshops centered around Critical Race Theory, including Black Lives Matter in the Classroom and Social Justice in the Classroom (using teachers’ “white privilege,” “white supremacy” and “de-colonizing our classrooms” propaganda).
There is repeated white shaming and a preoccupation with white people as the “oppressor,” including staff field trips with a focus on “systemic racism.” The white saviorism and virtue-signaling at DEI meetings is so condescending that many minorities and other staff members have stopped attending.
Our district is no longer academically focused. We are doing our students a disservice by allowing a biased curriculum to take over.
If parents knew what goes on in our schools, the majority would be appalled.
At a staff meeting this month, we were told we should refer to students by their preferred names and pronouns during the school day, but hide from the parents the fact that their minor children are transitioning at school. The district conceals the transgender policies from the public and will not release the DEI presentations we are compelled to watch.
Sullivan also talks about teachers enduring false accusations of racism. She also points out that things that were considered standard classroom management practices a year ago now leave teachers open to charges of bias. She commented, “There is a strong anti-capitalism, anti-conservatism, and anti-American bias in the DEI curriculum, with an emphasis on ‘white fragility’ and how to be ‘antiracist.'” Discussions among the faculty have included how best to incorporate the 1619 Project into the curriculum while trying to leverage Orwell’s 1984 against members of a certain political party. I think we all know the party in question. Sullivan has also been called a Nazi and a fascist for holding views that countered those of another teacher.
Related: Kirk Cameron Slams ‘Nefarious Progressive’ Public Schools
But it isn’t just Sullivan’s peers who oppose her. The students of Shawnee Mission High School were also affronted, offended, and appalled that she had the temerity to publish her thoughts and experiences. Standing in solidarity and indoctrination with the prevailing mindset, a cadre of students decided to stage a walk-out on Wednesday over Sullivan’s views. The Blaze reported that students commented:
“It’s not acceptable that she’s still here, and that she can post all that stuff on the internet, and that’s OK.”
“I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but when it’s so controversial like that, it can be uncomfortable for other people, especially if they’re teachers.”
Another student said she did not want Sullivan teaching her siblings, commenting “I don’t want them to be taught by her if that’s what she’s doing. Especially being a black student in her class and being in the LGBTQ+ community, I feel like she’s not respecting us. And we want to be heard. While you’re educating us, someone needs to educate you about what’s going on in the world now.”
The students want administrative action taken against Sullivan, or Sullivan even to be dismissed.
This gels with a comment from Sullivan’s op-ed in which she said, “The students run the school and know there will likely be little accountability for their actions, while teachers are accused of discrimination, then written up for a policy that does not exist.”
That Sullivan should attract the ire of her peers is not surprising. But sadly neither is the protest by the students. In true Orwellian fashion, they have been trained to participate in their Two Minutes Hate, which actually seems to be a 24/7 affair. The frightening thing is that at some point, these malcontents will graduate. And at that time, we will have yet another crop of entitled, clueless citizens who have no idea, and for that matter do not care, about how the world works, so long as they can enjoy a self-righteous surge of Teh Feels.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member