Normal view

There are new articles available, click to refresh the page.
Before yesterdayMain stream

State revamps curriculum, bans ‘woke garbage’ to teach all aspects of Obama-Biden-Trump era

19 December 2024 at 02:00

EXCLUSIVE: Oklahoma’s 2025 school-year curriculum will look markedly different after major adjustments are made to eschew "woke garbage" while making sure students learn all aspects of complex figures like Thomas Jefferson and Donald Trump, and issues like the BLM and Capitol riots.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said Wednesday his state is "taking the lead" on a "direct rejection" of politicizing influences on the curriculum like teachers' unions and activist educators.

"What we are not going to allow is these radical teachers' unions to push lies in the classroom. That's not how we're going to teach."

Walters said school curricula are set every six years, and that he plans to hold schools accountable by withholding accreditation from any institutions that don’t follow suit.

CHINESE INFLUENCE IN SCHOOLS A RISING CONCERN, EDUCATION LEADERS SAY

He suggested the new rules are an extension of Oklahoma’s previous push to return the Bible to the classroom as an "important historical document" that shaped America’s founding – in that it is important to similarly give students a fuller perspective on landmark events and figures throughout the rest of U.S. history.

"We are driving out this woke indoctrination and woke nonsense that has been injected into the classroom by undermining Republican presidents and American exceptionalism," he said.

"So our kids are going to know America is a great country. They're not going to be taught to hate this country. They're going to be taught to love this country and a patriotism to come from the principles that our country was founded in our history."

Giving the example of former President Ronald Reagan in the last generation’s education, and how some curricula focused more on shortcomings during Iran-Contra and Col. Oliver North's hearings, Walters said he will not tolerate educators "maligning" President-elect Trump in the same way.

"You're not going to come in and teach President Trump wanted an insurrection on Jan. 6 [2021]. We're not going to allow it. We will be crystal clear on what President Trump's victories were in the White House," he said.

UNIVERSITY CUTS TIES WITH CONFUCIUS INSTITUTES AMID GOP SCRUTINY ON $17M DOD GRANT

Similarly, the new curriculum will take a broader look at Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and the repercussions of coronavirus lockdowns.

He cited a recent clip he saw of a student stating that the only thing they knew about Thomas Jefferson was that he was a slaveholder, and did not know he was a president or the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.

"And so we will drive these lies out of the classrooms and get back to an understanding of American greatness throughout our history," he said, noting that Oklahoma will teach "the good with the bad."

Walters was asked how the curriculum would teach COVID-19 lockdown history, given how states like Pennsylvania, New York and Hawaii were confident their zero-tolerance edicts were the right response, just as much as Florida believed its less restrictive response was right.

"I don't care to appease the left or make them happy. We're going to teach facts. We're going to stick to accurate history here. And they can be offended by that," Walters said.

"It is not debatable. Rights were taken from individuals during COVID. That's not debatable. It's also not debatable that lockdowns hurt kids. Lockdowns hurt families and businesses," he said, adding that current curriculum often glosses over that argument and offers only a more proverbially-northeastern view of the COVID years.

"We are ultimately going to let [students] come to their own conclusions," Walters said of the curriculum writ-large.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

U.S. history is strewn with successes and failures on all sides, he said, adding that the most responsible way to prepare the next generation to lead the country is to instill in them the widest view of its history and law possible.

"The left wants to browbeat kids into believing to hate their country, while conservatives, we just want history taught, and show that America is the greatest country in the history of the world."

"It will show you what policies work, what policies don't work. A kid should come to their own conclusions. That’s why every state has to look at their [civics curriculum] standards."

Fox News Digital also reached out to union leader Randi Weingarten via the AFT for comment on the general tenor of partially blaming teachers unions for purportedly slanted curricula.

Federal judge who refuses mental evaluation at age 97 fights suspension

11 December 2024 at 05:20

Judge Pauline Newman, the oldest federal judge in America at age 97, is continuing to fight against a suspension from the bench by her colleagues who found her mentally not fit enough to serve. Newman is appealing her suspension and has also filed a motion to unseal documents related to an investigation which ultimately led to her being temporarily removed from the bench.

Newman, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, was barred from serving in September 2023 for a year by the Federal Circuit's Judicial Council after the panel said she refused to cooperate with an investigation into "reasonable concerns" surrounding her mental fitness. The suspension was extended for another year by the panel in September. 

The Committee on Judicial Conduct conducted more than 20 interviews with court staff pointing to her "significant mental deterioration including memory loss, confusion, lack of comprehension, paranoia, anger, hostility and severe agitation," per court documents. 

FEDERAL JUDGE, 96, BARRED FROM HEARING CASES AFTER PANEL CLAIMS LACK OF MENTAL FITNESS: 'BASELESS ALLEGATIONS'

The suspension order also said Newman was slower than her colleagues in issuing opinions and had "amassed a troubling backlog of cases," which her team has said is not accurate.

The Federal Circuit Court on which Newman has served for nearly 40 years deals frequently with patent, intellectual property and copyright cases. Newman is considered a leading intellectual property jurist.

The investigation into Newman led her to file a federal lawsuit against her fellow judges.

U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper, a President Obama appointee, threw out most of Newman’s lawsuit in February, then dismissed the entire case on the pleadings in July, per Law & Crime.

In his 15-page ruling, Cooper rejected the legal challenges Newman had raised to the Judicial Conduct & Disability Act and did not focus on the factual allegations against Newman.

Newman appealed the ruling Monday and argued via counsel to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that although advanced in age, she "retains her sharp intellect," and both lay and expert witnesses have described her as an "unusually cognitively intact … woman" whose cognitive and physical abilities make her appear "20 or more years younger than her stated age," per Law & Crime.

She says she is physically and mentally fit enough to continue doing her job, and has obtained independent evaluations from doctors issuing the same opinion, court documents revealed.

REAGAN-APPOINTED JUDGE, NOW 95, FACES PROBE INTO WHETHER SHE CAN STILL DO THE JOB

In the appellate brief, cited by Law & Crime, Newman’s counsel said she was in sound mental and physical health, and argued that the only reason Newman was late in submitting written opinions is that "she takes extraordinary pains to ensure that her opinions fully reflect her views and remain consistent from case to case and year to year."

Newman is being represented in the lawsuit by the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), a nonprofit civil rights group that says it views the "administrative state" as an especially serious threat to constitutional freedoms.

The group says that the suspension is illegal and that Newman was removed without due process. 

"Judge Newman’s indefinite, complete suspension is unprecedented in American judicial history, exceeding sanctions imposed on judges who committed serious misconduct and improprieties," the group said in a statement. "Suspending an Article III judge from all judicial functions of her office is unconstitutional."

The group said that world-renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Aaron G. Filler recently directed a cutting-edge Perfusion Computed Tomography (PCT) scan of Newman’s brain and administered a full neurological examination that turned up "no relevant deficits, confirming that she is fully fit to perform the duties of the office."

On Thursday, Greg Dolin, who has represented Newman throughout the case, said via a statement that the entire disciplinary process against Judge Newman was "always factually baseless and legally meritless."

"But the issues are more important than Judge Newman," said Dolin, a senior litigation counsel for the NCLA. "At stake is the very independence of American judiciary and our system of checks and balances. The D.C. Circuit should put a stop to the Federal Circuit Judicial Council’s unconstitutional and ultra vires actions against Judge Newman."

Newman also filed a motion to unseal documents related to the committee’s investigation and findings that are subject to a Dec. 4 gag order, per Law & Crime.

Newman’s legal team said that Newman’s judicial colleagues have refused to abide by rules of judicial conduct and have "threatened Judge Newman and her counsel with unspecified sanctions" for making documents public.

Her team also accused the defendants of seeking to "direct the process within their own forum" in an "entirely inappropriate effort" to contradict the law.

Former senior U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown, was the oldest person to serve as a federal judge in the history of the United States, actively hearing cases until approximately one month before his death at age 104, according to the U.S. Courts. 

Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy and Elizabeth Pritchet contributed to this report. 

❌
❌