One of the largest and most influential educational groups in America has announced that they are going to increase the amount of funding going to “social justice” educators. Learning for Justice (formerly known as the intolerant Teaching Tolerance) announced on January 5 that they will be giving awards from $500- $25,000 to support projects aimed at creating systemic change in schools. In their press release, they state that priority will be given to states in the southeast, as that is where their parent group, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), is located.
“The Learning for Justice Educator Fund supports educators who embrace and embed social justice, anti-bias and anti-racist principles throughout their classrooms and schools. We seek to collaboratively build educators’ capacity to do this. We believe these approaches in education encourage children and young people to challenge injustice and learn how to be agents of change in their own lives and communities.
Learning for Justice’s Educator Fund offers the opportunity to work with LFJ to address systemic inequities within education. Throughout our partnership, we offer ongoing guidance and critical resources. With help from your expertise about your own school community, we intend to collaboratively generate innovative solutions that promote affirming school climates, promote student action and raise everyone’s consciousness.” – Learning For Justice Educator Fund
This is another example of how groups other than the teachers union, school board, and school administrators can influence your child. It is also an example of the power teachers have to impact their own classroom, and their entire school community, by calling Learning for Justice for emergency help. This is not a program that will necessarily show up in a school curriculum, nor is it something that the school will necessarily advertise if they have been impacted by this new fund. To those who are saying, “this won’t happen at my school,” with access to over a half a billion dollars through their parent organization, SPLC, Learning for Justice could easily force their way into your school if they choose to accept the request of a desperate teacher, even those quietly staying under the radar.
While many on the right have been celebrating small victories, such as winning a single school board seat, the radical left has doubled and tripled down on their stance. They will be the ones deciding what children learn in the classroom through their countless highly esteemed resources and endless flow of money. Unfortunately, for those of us who are not far leftist radicals, and do not want our children to be taught the radical ideology from groups such as Learning for Justice, our side has not put up the money for an actual alternative. If we continue to follow the strategy of last year and the pundits who told us that we were winning by standing up and screaming at school board meetings, the country will fall completely into the hands of the radical left. To avoid this point of no return, The Locke Society needs support to grow our team and resources that will be the contender the radical left finally faces in the classroom.
