Baltimore City Schools are in bad shape. Earlier this year, Fox 5 Baltimore reported that "Results from the 2024 state test show nearly a third of all Maryland students who took the math exam last year scored in the lowest level of proficiency," and only 2% scored in the highest level of proficiency. Eight of the city's high schools had zero students who were proficient in math at all. Even worse, this is considered a "slight improvement" over last year's numbers. In 2023, zero students in 13 Baltimore high schools tested proficient in math.
Not only are the public school district's test numbers low, but so are graduation rates. In 2023, 10 schools in the city had a four-year graduation rate of less than 50%.
At the beginning of the school year, State Superintendent Carey M. Wright announced that Maryland would partner with the philanthropic organization Arnold Ventures to pay $20 million to Saga Education, a Massachusetts company that offers "high-impact, in-school tutoring." In a statement released by Governor Wes Moore's office, Wright said, "High-impact tutoring is backed up by research and data when it comes to addressing the pandemic's impact on student learning. This investment in our students will pay off as we scale up successful strategies, moving more students toward better academic outcomes. We are excited to see the benefits of this partnership."
While the tutoring might be beneficial, I can't help but think that it's the educational equivalent of treating the symptoms, not the cause. Perhaps the school district could dive a little deeper. Maybe, just maybe, it could focus on teaching math and other essential skills to its elementary school students rather than focusing on topics like gender identity, gay pride, and sexual confusion.
Spotlight on Maryland, which calls itself an "investigative project" of Fox 5 Baltimore and the Baltimore Sun, filed a public records request to gain access to the school district's sex education program. What they discovered was pretty disgusting, especially when you realize they're teaching it to children as young as six years old.
Baltimore City Public Schools teach first graders about gender identity and genitalia, according to sex education curricula obtained by SOM. https://t.co/Y9Fdu6kglO
— Spotlight on Maryland (@SpotlightOnMD) November 27, 2024
According to investigative reporter Patrick Hauf, Baltimore City Schools are teaching first graders about "their private parts and reproductive systems, showing cartoon photos and videos." Hauf also says that teachers must use gender-neutral language. Instead of saying "male reproductive system" and "female reproductive system," they're instructed to say "reproductive system one" and "reproductive system two." Hauf says by third grade, students learn about the "importance" of the LGBTetc. flag, and children in fourth grade watch videos about how it's okay to "feel sexually confused," complete with the song "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry.
Fox 5 Baltimore posted a copy of the curriculum online, and some of the language within is mind-blowing. For example, in a lesson called "Pink, Blue and Purple," an exercise for first graders involves teachers asking them how they know what gender they are and explaining that this is their gender identity. After that, it suggests teachers tell students the following:
Gender identity is that feeling of knowing your gender. You might feel like you are a boy, you might feel like you are a girl. You might feel like you’re a boy even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are ‘girl’ parts. You might feel like you’re a girl even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are ‘boy’ parts. And you might not feel like you’re a boy or a girl, but you’re a little bit of both. No matter how you feel, you’re perfectly normal!
I don't have children, but if I did, I wouldn't want some stranger telling my six-year-old how to think about her "parts." It's worth noting that parents can opt out of the so-called sex education program, but I can't understand why the schools even offer it in the first place. Why do children who haven't even come close to hitting puberty need to learn anything at all about sex?
And why do third-graders need to know about the Pride flag? I'm fairly certain I didn't even know what a lesbian or gay person was in third grade. As a matter of fact, I remember my best friend and me finding a book her mother bought her older brother about sex and being absolutely shocked at the basics. And those were the basics back in the 1980s and 1990s. It sounds like things have changed. "Discuss that the rainbow flag represents Pride of gay and lesbian people. Hold one up or show a picture of one for students to see. Explain that when gay and lesbian people, or people of various gender identities see a Pride flag, it may make them feel welcome and respected," the lesson suggests. It adds:
During puberty, it’s common to have feelings for people of your same gender and for people of a different gender. Sometimes, that’s part of understanding your sexual orientation. Sometimes, it’s not, and you’ll have feelings that come and go. So you may not know what your orientation is right away, or until you’re older – and that’s okay.
Um, no. Fox 5 Baltimore also talked to Dr. Sue Greenwald, a retired pediatrician who works with victims of sexual abuse, who suggested that these types of lessons are the "very definition of grooming" and that the curriculum "normalizes transgenderism."
The "Maryland 3Rs curriculum" is based on a program created by Advocates for Youth, a Washington, D.C.-based organization. One look at their website, and you see a bunch of liberal buzzwords that are code for the left's favorite topics, like abortion, gender identity, and social justice. Two of the authors of the program were previously employees of Planned Parenthood. It sounds to me like the educators in Baltimore are more focused on indoctrinating kids and ruining their mental health rather than teaching them the actual skills they'll need to succeed in life, and it's absolutely shameful that they're doing this to an entire generation of children.
I received this image on pronoun usage from an elementary school in Baltimore.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 16, 2024
23 Baltimore schools have 0 students proficient in math according to testing last year.
Perhaps Baltimore schools should be focusing less on woke gender pseudoscience and more on academics. pic.twitter.com/uModO5Oknp
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