By Ray Cardello for July 8, 2021 Season 2 / Post 23

School is out for summer vacation. The kids are off enjoying their break from a year that many would like to forget. The teachers are off, but maybe they are working hard to put together a WOKE planner for next year to get them accolades from their peers. The school boards are busy working on the new curriculums that drew so much anger and passion from parents during the spring meetings. We all wish they had been so busy getting our kids back into school this past year.

Out of curiosity, I checked out the local school department website to see if there was any hint as to what lay ahead for September. I was not disappointed, but I was somewhat puzzled and angered by what I found. Included was a detailed slide presentation of the new curriculum to be incorporated throughout all SAU16 schools. It is termed Transformative and is heavily focused on DEIJ. DEIJ is the acronym or code word to denote Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. These are the tenets of the new WOKE method of indoctrination. Every parent should be aware and alarmed about the info on this webpage and the motives of the School Board. DEIJ is replacing the 3 Rs, and the poisoning of our children’s minds is starting in Elementary School.

One of the projects being focused on is in one of our Elementary Schools. This project will start in the fifth grade, where students will be analyzing the classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The students will document their opinions of the book in the light of DEIJ as art and audio clips shared with the K-4 grades. This doesn’t seem right in so many ways. First, this book used to be on High School summer reading lists, so what purpose does it serve by reading it in K-5? Let’s look at the book’s summary for answers.

Overview of the novel’s plot

An overview of the novel’s plot reveals that at that time, the sleepy town of Maycomb has been hit hard by the great depression. Although the Finch family is also affected by this crisis, Atticus manages to give his family a good life compared to what the rest of the society was going through. Scout Finch and Jem Finch are siblings who live together with their widowed father Atticus. Scout and Jem become friends with a boy named Dill who lives in their neighborhood during summer. A mysterious house in the neighborhood known as the Radley Place belonging to Nathan Radley intrigues Dill. They later find out that Nathan’s brother Arthur who has lived there for quite a long time without going outside at all. When Dill comes back to the neighborhood the next summer, he together with Scout and Jem decides to act out Arthur Radley’s story because they find it strange that someone can live in a house without venturing outside. Atticus reprimands them and urges them to try and understand what someone is going through before making any judgments about their lives.

The central event of the book concerns the Atticus’s law practice. He decides to be a defender of a black man named Tom Robinson who is accused of rape. Considering the racist society they are living, this action causes a lot of problems for the family. Scout and Jem face mockery and ridicule from other children because of the decision of their father to take this case. During the trial of Tom Robinson, Atticus is able to prove that the accuser named Mayella Ewell, together with her father Bob, were actually lying. It emerged that Tom Robinson had been propositioned by Mayella and this was apparent to her father. Tom was only accused because Mayella and her father wanted to hide her culpability and shame. Despite the overwhelming evidence, which showed that Tom was innocent, he still gets convicted. It is believed that this was done because all the judges were white hence racial prejudice prevailed.

It is obvious why this book is normally studied in High School. How can students in grades K-5 be expected to understand depression, racism, rape, racial prejudice, culpability, innocent, or conviction? They cannot nor should they be subjected to the basis of this book. The book is a classic, a great play, a captivating movie, but nothing to be presented to children ages 6-11. Then to discuss this in the light of DEIJ is ludicrous. So what is the purpose? What is the end-game of a curriculum item such as this?

Indoctrination, plain and simple. This book plays into the racist narrative that our education system wants to drop on students as quickly as possible. No student in this school, in grades 1-5, will be able to process this book, but the teachers involved can use it to introduce racism to these innocent students. It is wrong. It is corrupt. It is almost criminal.

Parents need to put a stop to this program. This program explains why a new Principal was hired for our other Elementary School that supports Critical Race Theory. This School Board indicated at their last public meeting that they believe, 27-3, that CRT should be taught in all grades. This, despite an overwhelming number of parents opposing it for their children. The parents started a movement to take back control of the local schools in the spring. Now is not the time to rest but to ensure the action is successful by exerting constant pressure and recalling radical board members.