District suspends 'race and social justice' class after complaint
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SEATTLE -- A curriculum controversy has a Seattle school teacher and some of his students speaking out about how issues of race should be taught.
Center School teacher Jon Greenberg's "race and social justice" curriculum was suspended recently after a student's parents complained about the material.
Now many of Greenberg's other students are teaming up to help their embattled teacher.
"He looked so sad that he couldn't talk about what he loves to teach," said student Yasab Pfister.
The district began investigating the class after a parent complained that her child felt intimidated by the material. The district agreed with the parent and released a statement addressing the class.
"These are important conversations for our students and staff. But we don't want to put any child into a situation where he or she feels so intimidated by the manner in which these issues are taught that the course is no longer effective," the statement reads.
Greenberg denied he singled out any students and said he has never received negative feedback about the class. After the decision, he emailed current and former students to let them know what happened and encourage them to help his cause.
"Throughout the first few weeks of the Race Unit, this student ... always seemed engaged, interested, and participatory. It was only after the parents demanded a meeting that this dynamic started to change," he said in the email.
Other students say there was nothing wrong with the course or the way Greenberg taught it.
"He has never made me feel uncomfortable," said Zak Meyer. "He's never called me out in front of the class, no student has ever called me out in front of the class."
Pfister agreed.
"It's really upsetting that this whole thing has to stop because a family made a complaint," he said.
In the letter to students, Greenberg encouraged them to testify at Wednesday's school board meeting.
Center School teacher Jon Greenberg's "race and social justice" curriculum was suspended recently after a student's parents complained about the material.
Now many of Greenberg's other students are teaming up to help their embattled teacher.
"He looked so sad that he couldn't talk about what he loves to teach," said student Yasab Pfister.
The district began investigating the class after a parent complained that her child felt intimidated by the material. The district agreed with the parent and released a statement addressing the class.
"These are important conversations for our students and staff. But we don't want to put any child into a situation where he or she feels so intimidated by the manner in which these issues are taught that the course is no longer effective," the statement reads.
Greenberg denied he singled out any students and said he has never received negative feedback about the class. After the decision, he emailed current and former students to let them know what happened and encourage them to help his cause.
"Throughout the first few weeks of the Race Unit, this student ... always seemed engaged, interested, and participatory. It was only after the parents demanded a meeting that this dynamic started to change," he said in the email.
Other students say there was nothing wrong with the course or the way Greenberg taught it.
"He has never made me feel uncomfortable," said Zak Meyer. "He's never called me out in front of the class, no student has ever called me out in front of the class."
Pfister agreed.
"It's really upsetting that this whole thing has to stop because a family made a complaint," he said.
In the letter to students, Greenberg encouraged them to testify at Wednesday's school board meeting.
Hmmmm, it seems that there's more to the story than meets the eye. In general it would probably take more than one complaint from one student and parent to get a curriculum pulled. Bettcha a dollar that there is a lot more going on than the school is letting on.Â
In the 60's anti-whites forced ALL and ONLY white countries to open their borders to non-white immigrants. Then anti-whites forced ALL and ONLY white people to "integrate" or face consequences for being "naziswhowantokill6millionjews." Now anti-whites are counting down the days until ALL and ONLY white children become minorities and eventually extinct EVERYWHERE. It's Genocide. "Anti-racist" is a codeword for anti-white.
you're all saying that this is a waste of time and that he's feeding students pointless information that won't matter some day. but that's not how you should look at it, you can't just ignore the problems our society faces with inequality. this class is important and seniors (who are usually 18, which is considered an adult NOT a kid) should be able to learn about these things as they are important and extremely eye opening.Â
Please sign the petition at :Â http://www.change.org/petitions/the-seattle-public-schools-curriculum-review-committee-reinstate-the-social-justice-curriculum-at-the-center-school
I find it interesting to see how many people have such a strong opinion on this course even though they have no idea what was being taught or how it effected any of the other students aside from the one who made a complaint. I'm a former student of The Center School and was a part of the race unit in Jon Greenberg's class. This unit was a very eye opening experience for me and taught me a lot about the institutionalized racism and white privilege that is still very relevant today. To any of the people saying this course is a waste of time and money, you're proving the point that racism in our society is a social justice issue that is still getting overlooked. Frankly, I think that the only reason why this unit was a problem for the family who made a complaint is because they felt threatened by the truth - and the truth is racism exists and it is all around us. Getting rid of this class or any classes similar to this in our educational system would just be a bad decision.Â
What a crock, I am curious if this student also got a LOW GRADE in this class! Seriously not that I think such a class is even necessary in our school system. At the rate we are going nothing is going to be able to be taught... though they should just stick to the Reading (how to read not directed towards any one race...dam that rules this out), Writing (cannot think of a way to make this subject offensive), Science (sorry cannot teach this because of the Darwin people....), and Arithmetic (that is not racist yet is it?) - History at this rate is going to have to be banned because there are so many different races and other groups in public schools something is going to offend someone every year... if people want to take classes like this then let them do it in a community college!
Forgive me but I am just a white male and honestly I didn't care to have to learn about black history month/Hispanic/European History, 'whatever race' month or whatever other subjects I had to hear about but I did the darn assignments and got over it... honestly people are too darn sensitive! I worry what is going to be in school when my kids get in there... I am either going to have to homeschool them or look at private schools because public schools are littered with people with no backbone!
"dismantling white privilege" is at the core of these curriculums. It's hard for adults to sit through, how the heck is a kid NOT supposed to feel intimidated.
This stuff is not put out for "consideration", it's being force fed as dogma, party-line, get with the program or else.
This entitlement crap is only getting worse in our public schools. If it isn't the parents complaining about their free day care, it's the teachers unions making a stink over something. It never ends. Everyone is a potential victim in the public schools and feels entitled to get their way. Â
In a private school, if a parent had a problem, there would be a meeting, a decision would be made, and that would be the end of it. No drama. The parent would have the option of finding a new school if they didn't like the decision. And everyone could get back to learning. Â
Leave this course along. Time for people to grow up>
@DGÂ Or take a spelling/grammar class instead?
@BoredETech @DG BoredETech, you are right on, to that point I wonder if DG meant to say "Leave this course ALONE", instead of leave this course ALONG"Â
with out knowing the actual subject matter but from all the hoopla it soundslike  educating a batch of more victims..
The teacher will not answer any questions of the press, but has no problems contacting many current and former students to lobby in his behalf. Â WTF? Â Better not call me!Â
@TheChosen I would not talk to the press either if I were him.  He is being portrayed as the bad guy.  The press is going to twist his words however they can to make the story more interesting and get more viewers / readers.  Â
@The206Â Â That is a valid point! Â But the press being what they are, usually supports this kind of stuff. Â He does seem to want to get things in his favor by stacking the deck by calling former and current students though. Â
@PlumBUSTED! @The206 Who better than the hundreds of kids who have taken the class? Â
@TheChosen My question is what was he doing with the phone numbers of all those former students?  Sounds kind of creepy to me!  And why would he think it is even okay to call them? Â
Waaa!! Â Whine to your parents, and call KOMO. It's the new parenting style. Â Wow, I can only imagine what the sensitive parents would have done if their kids had gone to school when I did. Â We had classes that were much more controversial, and no one whined to their parents. And the parents didn't whine to the media. Â We had a class, IN a public school, where we went to a Hare Krishna Temple, an animal testing lab, Watts Towers, slaughterhouse (we were told that we had to go to that one, and would flunk the class if we skipped it. I refused, and found out that I got an A for standing up for my beliefs,) Â We were exposed to all kinds of controversial or thought-expanding experiences.... Â The parents today would throw a fit!!! Â Â Chill out parents. Stop fighting your kid's battles constantly. You're teaching them to be spineless complainers. Â
@DTÂ You don't really know what happened in the class, so it's quite unfair of you to call the child a whiner.Â
@DTÂ You learned facts, not opinions based on an ideology. And, you're a coward for not fully participating because you didn't want to see something that might make you uncomfortable.
@DT What beliefs were you standing up for? Hiding your head in the sand?
If we removed all the rest of the brainwashing there would be no school. These courses are exactly why we have dropped from 1st to 25th in the world in math and science.Â
The people that pay the school's bills should determine course work, pay and all other matters.....the taxpayer....not slimy politicians and teacher unions.
@MonroeMad There are degree's in the social sciences ya know and they are just as important .
@MonroeMad These courses have nothing to do with why we have dropped to 25th in the world in math and science. If anything a class like this teaches critical thinking skills.  Something that is rarely taught in school now.  It's standardized testing everywhere. That and the No Child Left Behind act along with the fact that this class no longer exists because one person may have been offended is the reason we have dropped to 25th.  Our education system is broken and our society is weak, always looking for someone else to blame. Â
@The206Â @MonroeMad These courses do not teach critical thinking skills. More often than not, the teachers of these classes will fail any paper that expresses a different opinion than what they teach. And what they are teaching (race and social justice) is filled with unsupported opinion rather than factual data, like science and math can be supported with. What is being taught in a social science class will be outdated by the end of the decade.
I'd sure love to know what the complaint was, or what the lesson taught that the student found intimidating. Talking about racial relations and social justice is going to be an uncomfortable subject anyway, and I don't see why the offended student wasn't simply transferred to another class.
@WhatAPickle The complaint is that it is a total waste of time and money.
@WhatAPickle Yes, it sounds like an elective class, anyway.Â
hard to form an opinion when the article does not in any way say what about the class was found to be intimidating or offensive or wrong. So I wonder where all the other commentators get the info to form their opinions.
Calling it a class about 'social justice' doesn't make it so / or not so.Â
What is it that was found objectionable? The article doesn't say.
More info please KOMO
@jml I have to wonder if it's due to a possible lawsuit.Â
@jml I would guess that the student was white, and was uncomfortable learning how badly people of color have been treated in America's  history.Â
@DT @jml"I would guess that the student was white, and was uncomfortable learning how badly people of color have been treated in America's  history."
Yes, we know that certain groups have been mistreated. Thank you, Princess Obvious. Now we must pay for the sins of our fathers via reparations and collective guilt. Forward to economic and social justice.
@DT Sure, that's one guess but why does the student have to be white?
Social Justice is a bumper sticker on a Prius. Reason #237 no spawn of mine will ever darken the doorway of a public school in WA.
Concepts like âsocial justiceâ, or âeconomic justiceâ have no universally accepted meaning.These terms are frequently used by special interest groups that paint themselves as âvictimsâ of society, at largeârather than pursue any meaningful goals.
For instance, many people dwell on the fact that slavery existed in the US for a time, and try to make an iron-clad case that âslaveryâ makes US society âracistâ.These same people, when asked, rarely can provide any rational understanding of the history of slaveryârarely acknowledging that slavery more-likely-than-not started in Africa, tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of years ago.Most do not understand that slavery was a by-product of war.Those defeated become slaves, or they were killed.These barbaric practices were going on in Africa long before the Atlantic Slave Trade developed.
âSocial Justiceâ rarely looks at the big picture, but tends to focus on some small piece of itâand then distorts that piece until it no longer resembles historic fact.
Itâs difficult enough to get kids to learn to read and write in public school these daysâmuch less learn a little math.Allowing individual teachers to go off on their own, cooking up agenda-based courses that have the goal of destabilizing society is not a good use of the publicâs money!
@wmartin46Â So sad. Â I guess fox news has re-educated all the old white guys, perfectly. Â Economic justice includes the people who have been unemployed for years because their jobs were sent to India and China and Mexico, so that the billionaires and day traders on Wall Street, can own 30 homes. Â You know, it's people having to hold bake sales to pay for cancer treatment. Â Oh, never mind. You don't get it. You never will. You've been educated by the very people that are screwing you over.Â
@DTÂ @wmartin46 Or perhaps instead of teaching "social justice" in high schools, the district could focus on the tools necessary to actually succeed in society and obtain a decent wage. Instead of railing against the billionaires every other second, you could pursue a better education and try to reach that pinnacle of achievement.
@Necrobio @The206 You are absolutely correct, however there are a handful of people who actually run this country and the rest of us have no say.  I think that was the real issue.  Again, very poorly executed. Â
@The206 From my understanding, the Occupy movement fell apart due to the organizational structure (or lack thereof) used to determine the agenda on any given night.Â
My issue with the Occupy movement was that although there is a need to address corporate power in government there was an undertone of jealousy, namely that those involved did not have success. I tend to side with the philosophy that if you work hard, you can achieve great things.Â
@The206Â @TPÂ @Necrobio All I heard from them is "Wall Street is Bad"... How about presenting a solution to a specific problem. It doesn't matter what country you're in or what form of government is followed, the rich will hold more power than the poor.
@PlumBUSTED! @TP That is exactly what it turned into yes.  However the very original idea behind it was valid, but quickly go lost in the mess. They shot themselves in the foot big time and it became a completely misguided campaign. Â
@TPÂ The want what you have... without having to work for it.
@TP @The206 @Necrobio Haha, thus very poorly executed.  The basic idea behind it was that it was big business running government, which is true, but they were so disorganized that it turned into 25 different things they were fighting over and it turned into a big sloppy mess of bums and hippies camping out with no idea why other than they wanted to be a part of something on the news.Â
@The206Â @Necrobio The occupy movement is valid? I still have no idea what they want...
@Necrobio @The206 That proves that we need more good teachers like you most likely had, not teachers that have to go by the 1920's, lets pump out factory workers curriculum. Â
I think we are agreeing here, though the Occupy movement was a valid movement, just very very........ very poorly executed. Â
@The206 We do not have access to the curriculum in this instance to know for sure whether this was being taught or not. Many of the social justice talks I have seen involve modern movements, namely the Occupy movement and, more recently, the Brady Center (i.e. gun control). I wish KOMO could have dug deeper into this story to tell us more.
That said, my public school education did not involve a "social justice" curriculum but did include courses on American History and U.S. Government. I learned quite a bit from these courses and have a deep understanding (not the whitewashed version) of our complex history.Â
@Necrobio @DT @wmartin46 I would say that having a solid understanding societies history would be part of being able to succeed in society right along with English and math.  I'm not saying it needs to be force fed down their throats is the answer by any means, but it certainly should be a part of education. Â
@wmartin46 I think there is a fine line between teaching this information which is indeed a part of our history and should be taught, and fulfilling an agenda. It is a slippery slope.  I took a multicultural history class in college that was one of my favorite classes I have taken.  It opens your eyes to a lot of things about this country that gets glossed over in most places, but also (at least in my class) showed how we can move past that period and not make blanket statements about people or groups of people. Â
We all know that slavery was and is wrong, but at the same time, you can argue that without slavery, this country does not exist. Â Slavery was the economical force that allowed the country to thrive during its early years. Â Without it, we never would have had a sustainable economical impact. Eventually through the Civil War period and the advancement of technology in the North, we were able to end slavery and sustain a strong economy, but it was slavery that allowed us to reach that point. Â
So where does that discussion go? Â Does that mean slavery was worth it, or the right thing to do at the time? Â Factually tough to argue against, morally tough to argue for. Â
@The206Â @wmartin46Â I'm so glad I attended public school in the 60s and 70s, when teachers were actually able to teach the TRUTH, and parents didn't run to the media when someone didn't teach what Mommy and Daddy heard from Bill O'Rielly. Â The things we learned in school in LA in the 60s would have the parents in these suburbs screaming in the streets. Â Â
This seems ironic. Does the complainer now feel that social justice has been served in their case?