DNAinfo has more on the story:
BrainPOP, an interactive digital educational company based in the Flatiron that's used by students in public schools across the city, has agreed to create a new LGBT Civil Rights-specific curriculum by the fall — following nearly a year of pressure from students the East Village's Earth School as well as an outpouring of grief following the recent tragedy in Orlando.
“What is the purpose of education if not to change things for the better?” said Earth School teacher Colin Schumacher, who spearheaded the charge after his fourth grade class realized last year during their civil rights studies that BrainPOP had nothing available regarding the LGBT community's struggle.
Here are some Earth School students in a video from April...
ABC 7 has a story here from Friday... and Fox 5 from last night.
Good on these young folks. I came home about two weeks ago to a little handmade rainbow-colored card with their website address under my door, and I immediately checked them out. Not two days later they were all over the dang news with their campaign! I am impressed by their mobilization in action, as well as their dedication to fighting for inclusive education. Way to go, Earth School!
ReplyDeleteWay to go Earth School! Everyone knows that the United States educational system is nothing short of an embarrassment in the so-called civilized world. LGBT studies will go a long way to correcting our collective deficiencies in maths, reading, and the sciences. America! Fuck yeah!
ReplyDeleteLGBT studies? The religion of peace wont be happy about that.
ReplyDeleteThe kids are alright. Great to see their educational activism and that these kids are standing up for equality. Gives me hope for the future.
ReplyDelete@ 10:52AM - let's not get all xenophobic-y and racist-y, otay? You can't make a delicious melting pot omelette with a diversity of ingredients without a few dangerously hot peppers. Tongues will be scalded, stomachs will be ruptured, and explosive diarrhea will be the norm but by [fill in the whichever secular statist god-hero you prefer] we will go to our graves knowing that we were good, tolerant people.
ReplyDeleteEducational activism -- how ridiculous. Try demanding that kids get a real education, maybe, instead of more worthless grievances studies programs. A whole generation of professional thin-skinned know-nothings who see the very sectors of society and government that promote this nonsense as being beneficent whilst turning a blind eye to the fact that these same corporations and government bodies have absolutely no problem blowing the fuck out of people the world over on a daily basis to get what it wants. Oh, yeah, but they care about minorities. Maybe if you all weren't so educated things like inherent contradictions and pattern recognition wouldn't be so baffling, borderline thought crimes.
And Colin Schumacher is a dope. “What is the purpose of education if not to change things for the better?” No. Maybe in some distant golden age where everyone was sustained by naught but sunlight but not for a long time. (Hey, wasn't John Taylor Gatto an East Village resident?) The purpose of modern education was to make people punctual, obedient to authority and to adapt them to rote, meaningless jobs. Look it up. It's your world.
SO PROUD OF THESE KIDS! Some good parenting and educating is shining through. Keep up the fight, kids. It's important to stand up for your beliefs.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's perfectly possible to care about math and civil rights simultaneously. Or you can just be a bitter dinkus on the internet, raining on the parade of a bunch of nice, smart kids participating in activism for the first time during Pride month..
ReplyDelete