Mary Wood teaches English literature at Chapin High School in Chapin, South Carolina. Wood, who has been teaching for over a decade, offers a variety of honors courses, including Advanced Placement (AP) English Language and Composition. AP courses give high school students the opportunity to earn college credit. To get credit, students must receive a passing score on an exam produced by the College Board, the same organization that produces the SAT.
“Today I learned that the word Algebra is derived from an Arabic word and this made me feel uncomfortable as a Northern European. This is illegal under state law. I should not have to learn anything that makes me feel uncomfortable.” As high school student (way back when) I could have had all sorts of fun with this.
LOL! Don't forget Arabic numerals (1-2-3-4-5-6-etc.) which replaced use of Roman numerals (I-II-III-IV-V-VI-etc.). Just try to multiply XIII by VI.....
Half the point is to destroy public schools. All this education teaching children to think for themselves and be considerate of others is getting in the way of a certain small group controlling everyone.
These kids are going to grow up void of feelings for others. The Helicopter Parents of the Mom For Hate are doing a great injustice. This is only the 1st step in the assault. They really want to decimate Public schools so Charter schools will flourish. There, kids will learn that God is responsible to all of it. That Dinosaurs lived WITH people, everyone is happy and Pat Robertson was the second coming...
Maybe not but you must have your eyes open to the systematic destruction thats taking place and to what ends and purpose? You can't pretend this is a positive approach to education overall because a small percentage get it right. Need larger groups of people caring for larger groups of their communities. Stop this divide and conquer bullshit.
Or they'll complain that their child is unemployable because the simplistic education the parents insisted on, makes the critical thinking required to get a good paying job later impossible.
I am so pissed that this BOTOX BUNCH can wreak havoc on public schools. Poor wittle white kids, bo hoooo. WAAAAAHHHHH! They stir their parents up in a frenzy and then go to school board meetings and talk over the board members. STOP THEM!!!
I fear that the "tiny minority" is actually large enough to scare elected officials who need the base of "I get my news from Fox" crowd to keep them in office. The dis-information industry soothes the feelings of those who would rather forget history than learn from it.
Seems like the students are not qualified emotionally to be in the AP class, troubling to think of what their life will be like should they go to college/university.
The only adult in this situation is the teacher, and I hope she receives a barrage of offers from school districts that don’t just need but want teachers like her.
Red States want public education to fail. It's why they defund them so poorly. Look at Flori-duh. Their education system flourishes in a bubble. Take those kids outside the state and they are way behind others. Proven fact.
And it’s been that way for over 60 years—I have a friend in her 70’s that moved here from New York as a child, she was two years ahead of everyone else!
In the fifties when I went to school in Georgia students who transferred from North Carolina were ahead of us. And that was just the white kids. We missed the opportunity to improve our schools in the sixties when they were integrated, but a lot of white people just don't want to deal with the possibility that there might Black kids who are smarter than theirs.
Exactly—it’s so true, and such a shame the opportunity was squandered. Even in the north inner city districts have been left to rot since bussing was a thing, back when I was a kid.
The dumbing down of Republican-subjugated states is a great disservice to their constituents and will further disadvantage students, many of whom already attend schools with the worst educational outcomes in the US. On the other hand, I just ordered a copy of Between the World and Me.
Republicans want to keep the voters ignorant and stupid. They won't' know any better, they will keep using fear at the polls and the voters will keep pulling the lever for "R's", without thinking critically. WATCH!!!
Reading revised histories with no context (Rosa Parks merely wanted a "better seat" or cotton was picked by "guest workers" from Africa) makes me uncomfortable.
This is should be illegal under state law and I demand that it stop it right now!
Good luck with that. Not sure where you live, but it probably comes from the state department of education which has an appointed head compatible with the politics of the governor and state legislature.
If the two students were too academically immature to benefit from a demanding AP class they should be advised that they are ineligible and should return to regular English classes. AP classes are for students ready for college reading materials.
PSEO (which is what we call it in MN, it's when you take classes at a college during high school) and AP are two different tracks. Some are more popular in certain schools than others. At my kids' high school kids took AP, at a friend's kids' school, it was all about PSEO.
Frankly, you never know what classes/credits/scores colleges will take to fullfill Gen Ed requirements. My son took AP US History and AP Human Geography, but they filled the same Gen Ed requirement at his college. So technically it was a 'waste', but you can't know that as a high school junior. Which is why students should take classes they are interested in!
My youngest son took Marine Biology Community College level and spent Spring Break studying Coral Reefs in St. JOHN'S Virgin Islands. No one of my kids ever took another AP class. They published their data.
He also studied Astronomy and the group found 4 pulsars in a terabyte of info farmed to them from WVU from the National Radio Observatory in Green Bank, West VA.
I have little to no doubt that the student who wrote the e-mail and the school board member who demanded that that book be banned are also big supporters of showing Confederate battle flags, etc.
This whole story is as nauseating as it is offensive (the book ban, not Judd's exposing of it).
I'm sure this is the dinner table conversation. I bet the board member is friendly with this kids family. Most likely are told "to rat any teacher out" so Mrs. Kravitz can tattle on them.
At what point are we, sensible adults, going to say “enough is enough!” This is not only happening in South Carolina, it’s happening all across America.
Just exactly are our students learning in schools now? Surely they will do away with all Ethics, History, American History, World History, and any classes that the teachers/professors have to discuss race, or sexuality, or any and all this other that has been banned.
The best thing is to just close the schools. Have the parents teach their children at home. Then, once a year the child has to report to the state Capitol to be given a competency exam by our state legislators. Or, better yet, just forget all about giving our children an education at all. Let them get out and go to work and earn their living now. Let them learn the ways of the world all on their own. That might suit all these far right activists groups. No history or anything will be taught in the classroom. It will be taught on the streets, with guns. This way we can be burying more and more of our young people than we are now.
I can’t believe we, as responsible adults, are sitting back and allowing people like Ron DeSantis, and the legislators of Florida, South Carolina, and all these other states to take rights away from us. Take learning an education away from our children. I’m this case in South Carolina, you have ONE student which filed a complaint with a right wing school board member. What should have happened was that student should have been called to the administrators office and simply ask, “what class would you prefer to transfer to?” “We have a Child Bearing and Raising class, or a “I’m sucking my thumb class”. “Maybe you just don’t want to learn. How about you just sign out of school.”
At what point are we going to quit coddling these children, and adults, that complain because they are “uncomfortable” with the instruction of a class, or a picture in a book, or a video shown in a classroom. Damn, people, we have to get back to basics here. We are trying to prepare our children for life. For living in a world where everything isn’t all cozy and nice.
This country, this world, has history. Our history may not be pretty at times, but it’s OUR HISTORY. It needs to be taught in our schools. All of our historical statues have been removed from public sight. All of the state gulags she e been changed, or removed from sight is they had anything to do with the Civil War, or that time in history. Just exactly where are our children going to learn anything about the history of this country?
One more thing, thus class in South Carolina was a “College level” educational experience. It wasn’t a MANDATORY class that all students had to take. These students that complained should have simply been removed from the class and put in a different class. They weren’t the quality of students grown up enough to be in such a class in high school!
If we don’t get rid of all these Republican state legislators and governors, and our federal Representatives and Senators, we are going to regret it. We are going backwards. Soon, it will be reliving our history in a manner we won’t like. Then, our children will be forced to learn, first hand, what survival is all about.
Well said, well thought out. Some Republican operative got together and crafted this bullshit language of "making me feel uncomfortable:. It's such garbage. The USA is full of systemic racism and it exists today. Even the deep south still has issues, but we have to learn and keep it up front. These crazy parents who get caught up in this FOX NEWS nonsense probably are asking their kids to "tattle on the teacher" who bring up sensitive topics.
Hmmm... it seems these extreme measures, allowing unskilled individuals to adjust a school curriculum is a form of “reverse indoctrination”. By pushing these views they effecting the knowledge and understanding of children. By removing certain information, the children are having their views of the world warped by “opinions” and “feelings”. Those taught WITHOUT the agreious material are now indoctrinated to have the shallow views of a few “uncomfortable” individuals. Anyway - how is a level of “comfort” judged? Perhaps those who would not be offended by the material in question (a likely majority) are now having the basis of their education modified by a few unskilled, unaware individuals. We need courses in “comfort level measurement” so it can be determined at what level of discomfort is intervention actually needed. My discomfort level on disallowing unskilled selection of course material is VERY high and the practice must be stopped NOW!
The only way, people...Is to get involved in SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS. The mere whiff of Moms for Hate candidate means immediate outster. You can not allow them to gain a foothold!
I remember a time when conservatives complained that democrats were raising snowflakes ... now look who is talking. These kids can’t deal with “feeling uncomfortable”? ... well, welcome to life. As someone who hires people I have to say that I feel bad for the kids going through these new republican school systems since they are being kept dumb and kept from what would truly be the key skill someone needs today ... critical thinking.
Amen! You, my friend, have said a mouthful! These kids today are who’s going to be the leaders of this country. The state leaders. Federal leaders. We are in some real serious trouble!
I can see some of these kids in some of the situations I was in during my law enforcement career, or my firefighting career. I can see me telling my Sergeant, Lieutenant, or Captain that “I feel uncomfortable responding to this complaint”. Oh yes, that would have been special!
The same people complaining of bringing up "antiquated" history also complain about the removal of the confederate flag from state property and call it "erasing history".
If either of those students had put their arguments into an essay, they would have passed the class.
Unless of course, they realized that they could not prove those arguments to a nonracist.
AP is a privilege. Everyone else's education does not need to be dumbed down because of their fragility.
Suck it up, buttercup.
Are they going to argue that a college outside of South Carolina should be forced to accept their ignorant selves because it's unfair to make White children compete fairly?
I hope that teacher seriously considers moving to a different state. A lot of school systems are looking for great teachers.
I often wonder what would happen if all the educators in the entire system, including colleges and universities said “to hell with thus nonsense!” And walk out of the classrooms and off the job.
What would governors like DeSantis, do then? Call out the National Guard to teach the students? He probably would. That’ll be right up his alley if all the educators quit. Then he can have the NG teach his Authoritarian ways to all the students!
I never knew that high school is supposed to be a place where no one is permitted to feel uncomfortable, at least not certain unspecified, but we know who you are, people. One wonders whether any works of enlightened literature can long survive the onslaught of censorious legislation, and the zealous thinking that lurks behind it.
“Today I learned that the word Algebra is derived from an Arabic word and this made me feel uncomfortable as a Northern European. This is illegal under state law. I should not have to learn anything that makes me feel uncomfortable.” As high school student (way back when) I could have had all sorts of fun with this.
LOL! Don't forget Arabic numerals (1-2-3-4-5-6-etc.) which replaced use of Roman numerals (I-II-III-IV-V-VI-etc.). Just try to multiply XIII by VI.....
OOH I AM DOUBLY UNCOMFORTABLE.
Oh, dear! (LOL!) Brace yourself and read this article about words in the English language which derive from Arabic. There are hundreds of them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Arabic_origin
And my Spanish class, too! Too many Spanish words come from Arabic!
We cannot allow a tiny minority to destroy our public schools. Alternative readings can be assigned for that tiny minority.
Half the point is to destroy public schools. All this education teaching children to think for themselves and be considerate of others is getting in the way of a certain small group controlling everyone.
Truth
Exactly. Poor Jimmy or Suzie or whomever can sit in the corner with a kiddie book while everyone else's child gets a real education!
Then those same parents will whine about their child being excluded from the normal classroom activities right?
These kids are going to grow up void of feelings for others. The Helicopter Parents of the Mom For Hate are doing a great injustice. This is only the 1st step in the assault. They really want to decimate Public schools so Charter schools will flourish. There, kids will learn that God is responsible to all of it. That Dinosaurs lived WITH people, everyone is happy and Pat Robertson was the second coming...
I’ve heard it said that Creationists would have us believe that The Flintstones cartoon was a documentary.
I worked several years in a charter school in NY. Not all charters are bad, or even Christian.
Maybe not but you must have your eyes open to the systematic destruction thats taking place and to what ends and purpose? You can't pretend this is a positive approach to education overall because a small percentage get it right. Need larger groups of people caring for larger groups of their communities. Stop this divide and conquer bullshit.
I did not comment as "divide and conquer bullshit." I merely offered my opinion and did not insult you. Kindly do not insult me.
Actually, since dinosaurs are not in the Bible, they are fictional 🤷🏽♀️
Yes. And we can all jump into the bazooms of Jeezus and be little lost/found lambs for ever and ever.
Or they'll complain that their child is unemployable because the simplistic education the parents insisted on, makes the critical thinking required to get a good paying job later impossible.
That's it. They should get a 5th grade book. To help them grasp what's happening to them.
I am so pissed that this BOTOX BUNCH can wreak havoc on public schools. Poor wittle white kids, bo hoooo. WAAAAAHHHHH! They stir their parents up in a frenzy and then go to school board meetings and talk over the board members. STOP THEM!!!
Klanned Karenhood is my favorite moniker for them, but Botox Bunch is now second!
I fear that the "tiny minority" is actually large enough to scare elected officials who need the base of "I get my news from Fox" crowd to keep them in office. The dis-information industry soothes the feelings of those who would rather forget history than learn from it.
Is it the size of that tiny minority or the fact that many of them own small armories at home the part that scares officials?
Seems like the students are not qualified emotionally to be in the AP class, troubling to think of what their life will be like should they go to college/university.
THIS! And if they can’t do the curriculum, then no college credit
Unless they go to a University in Florida, which is now trying to protect flaky feelings up through post-Grad.
It's the equivalent of the Participation Trophy era. We know how those kids turned out. Not well....
The only adult in this situation is the teacher, and I hope she receives a barrage of offers from school districts that don’t just need but want teachers like her.
Red States want public education to fail. It's why they defund them so poorly. Look at Flori-duh. Their education system flourishes in a bubble. Take those kids outside the state and they are way behind others. Proven fact.
And it’s been that way for over 60 years—I have a friend in her 70’s that moved here from New York as a child, she was two years ahead of everyone else!
In the fifties when I went to school in Georgia students who transferred from North Carolina were ahead of us. And that was just the white kids. We missed the opportunity to improve our schools in the sixties when they were integrated, but a lot of white people just don't want to deal with the possibility that there might Black kids who are smarter than theirs.
Exactly—it’s so true, and such a shame the opportunity was squandered. Even in the north inner city districts have been left to rot since bussing was a thing, back when I was a kid.
The dumbing down of Republican-subjugated states is a great disservice to their constituents and will further disadvantage students, many of whom already attend schools with the worst educational outcomes in the US. On the other hand, I just ordered a copy of Between the World and Me.
You will love the book which deserves its incredible reputation.
Republicans want to keep the voters ignorant and stupid. They won't' know any better, they will keep using fear at the polls and the voters will keep pulling the lever for "R's", without thinking critically. WATCH!!!
I predict that you will appreciate the caring and humanity Mr. Coates brought to each page.
Reading revised histories with no context (Rosa Parks merely wanted a "better seat" or cotton was picked by "guest workers" from Africa) makes me uncomfortable.
This is should be illegal under state law and I demand that it stop it right now!
Good luck with that. Not sure where you live, but it probably comes from the state department of education which has an appointed head compatible with the politics of the governor and state legislature.
We won't have that problem in Illinois but Texas is another story.
God forbid the narcissistic racist children of the South should feel “uncomfortable” about the truth.
If the two students were too academically immature to benefit from a demanding AP class they should be advised that they are ineligible and should return to regular English classes. AP classes are for students ready for college reading materials.
The cost of AP when my kids took courses came out of my pocket for the class and I wonder if the same AP helped fund the teacher abd not the district.
My kids took advanced classes through the Community College system that did pay the teacher abd I paid the tuition it was hosted by the high school.
And honestly, much better prep for college than the AP classes. Plus they received 3 hours credit per class and credit for high school.
PSEO (which is what we call it in MN, it's when you take classes at a college during high school) and AP are two different tracks. Some are more popular in certain schools than others. At my kids' high school kids took AP, at a friend's kids' school, it was all about PSEO.
Frankly, you never know what classes/credits/scores colleges will take to fullfill Gen Ed requirements. My son took AP US History and AP Human Geography, but they filled the same Gen Ed requirement at his college. So technically it was a 'waste', but you can't know that as a high school junior. Which is why students should take classes they are interested in!
My youngest son took Marine Biology Community College level and spent Spring Break studying Coral Reefs in St. JOHN'S Virgin Islands. No one of my kids ever took another AP class. They published their data.
He also studied Astronomy and the group found 4 pulsars in a terabyte of info farmed to them from WVU from the National Radio Observatory in Green Bank, West VA.
Believe me it was unbelievable what they learned.
I have little to no doubt that the student who wrote the e-mail and the school board member who demanded that that book be banned are also big supporters of showing Confederate battle flags, etc.
This whole story is as nauseating as it is offensive (the book ban, not Judd's exposing of it).
I even doubt it was really the students but more likely their brain washed parent (s).
I'm sure this is the dinner table conversation. I bet the board member is friendly with this kids family. Most likely are told "to rat any teacher out" so Mrs. Kravitz can tattle on them.
At what point are we, sensible adults, going to say “enough is enough!” This is not only happening in South Carolina, it’s happening all across America.
Just exactly are our students learning in schools now? Surely they will do away with all Ethics, History, American History, World History, and any classes that the teachers/professors have to discuss race, or sexuality, or any and all this other that has been banned.
The best thing is to just close the schools. Have the parents teach their children at home. Then, once a year the child has to report to the state Capitol to be given a competency exam by our state legislators. Or, better yet, just forget all about giving our children an education at all. Let them get out and go to work and earn their living now. Let them learn the ways of the world all on their own. That might suit all these far right activists groups. No history or anything will be taught in the classroom. It will be taught on the streets, with guns. This way we can be burying more and more of our young people than we are now.
I can’t believe we, as responsible adults, are sitting back and allowing people like Ron DeSantis, and the legislators of Florida, South Carolina, and all these other states to take rights away from us. Take learning an education away from our children. I’m this case in South Carolina, you have ONE student which filed a complaint with a right wing school board member. What should have happened was that student should have been called to the administrators office and simply ask, “what class would you prefer to transfer to?” “We have a Child Bearing and Raising class, or a “I’m sucking my thumb class”. “Maybe you just don’t want to learn. How about you just sign out of school.”
At what point are we going to quit coddling these children, and adults, that complain because they are “uncomfortable” with the instruction of a class, or a picture in a book, or a video shown in a classroom. Damn, people, we have to get back to basics here. We are trying to prepare our children for life. For living in a world where everything isn’t all cozy and nice.
This country, this world, has history. Our history may not be pretty at times, but it’s OUR HISTORY. It needs to be taught in our schools. All of our historical statues have been removed from public sight. All of the state gulags she e been changed, or removed from sight is they had anything to do with the Civil War, or that time in history. Just exactly where are our children going to learn anything about the history of this country?
One more thing, thus class in South Carolina was a “College level” educational experience. It wasn’t a MANDATORY class that all students had to take. These students that complained should have simply been removed from the class and put in a different class. They weren’t the quality of students grown up enough to be in such a class in high school!
If we don’t get rid of all these Republican state legislators and governors, and our federal Representatives and Senators, we are going to regret it. We are going backwards. Soon, it will be reliving our history in a manner we won’t like. Then, our children will be forced to learn, first hand, what survival is all about.
Well said, well thought out. Some Republican operative got together and crafted this bullshit language of "making me feel uncomfortable:. It's such garbage. The USA is full of systemic racism and it exists today. Even the deep south still has issues, but we have to learn and keep it up front. These crazy parents who get caught up in this FOX NEWS nonsense probably are asking their kids to "tattle on the teacher" who bring up sensitive topics.
Hmmm... it seems these extreme measures, allowing unskilled individuals to adjust a school curriculum is a form of “reverse indoctrination”. By pushing these views they effecting the knowledge and understanding of children. By removing certain information, the children are having their views of the world warped by “opinions” and “feelings”. Those taught WITHOUT the agreious material are now indoctrinated to have the shallow views of a few “uncomfortable” individuals. Anyway - how is a level of “comfort” judged? Perhaps those who would not be offended by the material in question (a likely majority) are now having the basis of their education modified by a few unskilled, unaware individuals. We need courses in “comfort level measurement” so it can be determined at what level of discomfort is intervention actually needed. My discomfort level on disallowing unskilled selection of course material is VERY high and the practice must be stopped NOW!
Exactly!!! They are guilty of the very thing they are accusing the teacher of. Indoctrination? Gimmie a break!
The only way, people...Is to get involved in SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS. The mere whiff of Moms for Hate candidate means immediate outster. You can not allow them to gain a foothold!
They are mean, loud and threatening. Just learned my publication was the source of ire at a men's breakfast and the speaker was a local book banner.
It was meant to intimidate me, to draw others to intimidate me.
Screw them.
I remember a time when conservatives complained that democrats were raising snowflakes ... now look who is talking. These kids can’t deal with “feeling uncomfortable”? ... well, welcome to life. As someone who hires people I have to say that I feel bad for the kids going through these new republican school systems since they are being kept dumb and kept from what would truly be the key skill someone needs today ... critical thinking.
Amen! You, my friend, have said a mouthful! These kids today are who’s going to be the leaders of this country. The state leaders. Federal leaders. We are in some real serious trouble!
I can see some of these kids in some of the situations I was in during my law enforcement career, or my firefighting career. I can see me telling my Sergeant, Lieutenant, or Captain that “I feel uncomfortable responding to this complaint”. Oh yes, that would have been special!
The same people complaining of bringing up "antiquated" history also complain about the removal of the confederate flag from state property and call it "erasing history".
If either of those students had put their arguments into an essay, they would have passed the class.
Unless of course, they realized that they could not prove those arguments to a nonracist.
AP is a privilege. Everyone else's education does not need to be dumbed down because of their fragility.
Suck it up, buttercup.
Are they going to argue that a college outside of South Carolina should be forced to accept their ignorant selves because it's unfair to make White children compete fairly?
I hope that teacher seriously considers moving to a different state. A lot of school systems are looking for great teachers.
I often wonder what would happen if all the educators in the entire system, including colleges and universities said “to hell with thus nonsense!” And walk out of the classrooms and off the job.
What would governors like DeSantis, do then? Call out the National Guard to teach the students? He probably would. That’ll be right up his alley if all the educators quit. Then he can have the NG teach his Authoritarian ways to all the students!
I never knew that high school is supposed to be a place where no one is permitted to feel uncomfortable, at least not certain unspecified, but we know who you are, people. One wonders whether any works of enlightened literature can long survive the onslaught of censorious legislation, and the zealous thinking that lurks behind it.
That school board member is a sham and her election was a sham. She was put there for this exact purpose. Here we go.