When I first read this article in the Daily Signal about a particularly vile and grotesque celebration of Women's History Month in a Virginia high school, I tried to think back on my own childhood education. Did we celebrate Women's History Month? I'm honestly not sure. Congress first designated March as Women's History Month in 1987, which means it was around for the entirety of my K-12 public school experience, but I don't remember it being a big deal.
That doesn't mean we didn't celebrate women's history, though. I do remember learning about some of the great women from the past — Margaret Thatcher, Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Amelia Earhart, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Martha Washington, etc. — and learning about the plight of women's rights, but back in my day, "women's rights" meant normal things like being able to vote or do certain jobs that only men did at the time. It was a far cry from today's idea of "women's rights," a phrase now synonymous with killing babies and hating men. And I thought we were supposed to be the fairer sex? But I digress.
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On Sunday, Stephanie Lundquist-Arora published a piece for the Daily Signal entitled "'A Is for Abortion': Public High School Teaches ABCs for Women’s History Month." She writes:
America’s public high schools are strange places to find displays of the alphabet. Perhaps with plummeting standardized test scores and a substantial increase in English-as-a-second-language students in sanctuary districts, high school educators feel the need to review kindergarten basics. In Fairfax County, Virginia’s West Springfield High School, located just 17 miles from the White House, school administrators and teachers have decorated the history hallway this month with a special, leftist rendition of the alphabet.
The display, titled 'The ABCs to ME' is decorated with the school’s colors: a blue background lined with an orange border. Featured in the display is a sign that reads, 'A is for Abortion' with an image of a coat hanger with a positive pregnancy test.
At first glance, I was shocked that a public high school was promoting abortion to its students — is that the norm these days? — but upon closer inspection, it gets much, much worse.
A isn't just for abortion. One of the signs reads "H is for Hope," and it features a picture of Kamala Harris, one of the least hopeful people on the planet at the moment. Another says "L is for Leadership," and it features images of Harris, Michelle Obama, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). And yet another says "N is for NOW" or the ultra-liberal National Organization for Women.
A few of the signs are benign and feature what you might expect from some sort of typical "girl power" displays, like "S is for Scientific," "E is for Equality," or "M is for Music," but then it starts getting into sexuality and gender issues. "T is for Trans Women" and "Q is for Queer." On the "J is for Justice" sign, the Statue of Liberty is holding a female symbol in place of her torch, and she's surrounded by other symbols like a clenched fist for "black power" and what Lundquist-Arora says are the Palestinian, Ukrainian, and transgender flags.
Essentially, this display looks more like a shrine to modern-day liberal ideology than women's history. Or as Lundquist-Arora puts it, it's something "which would be expected in the Democratic Party’s National Headquarters but not in a taxpayer-funded public school."
But I think what bothered me the most is that not only does it not really celebrate women's history and not only does it appear to be some sort of exercise in indoctrinating students, but it also feels like it's designed to make boys feel bad or less than.
Signs that read "M is for Mansplain," "Z is for Male GaZe," "P is for Patriarchy," "F is for Femicide," and "O is for Objectification" seem like they're aimed at bashing men rather than propping up women. If I was the parent of a boy in that school, I'd be ticked.
Shouldn't all children be treated equally and made to feel safe and cared for by their teachers and other staff members? Shouldn't a school be working to boost all children's mental health and propping them up to be the best they can be? I feel like this does exactly the opposite for the young men who have to see it every day. And if these types of displays are featured in the hallway, there is no telling what's actually being taught in class.
Lundquist-Arora ends the article by stating that the "display clearly encapsulates the pervasive rot in the public education system and the pressing need for school choice in America." I agree completely, and I highly recommend checking out the article in the Daily Signal and looking at the pictures she took of the display to see it for yourself. It blows my mind that this is a reality today.
If you have children or grandchildren in public school, you may already be aware of just how often educators attempt to indoctrinate students with their leftist ideology. Unfortunately, far too many people, even parents and grandparents, don't know until it's too late, and that's why I try to highlight stories like this one.
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