CTA on ‘cultural competency’ – a peek into the pus

April 2013
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CTA on ‘cultural competency’ – a peek into the pus

23 April 2013

George Rebane

Our society is covered with plenty of boils and pimples from our attempts to do the ‘right thing’ with all the political correctness we can muster. A correspondent sent me a piece on the California Teachers Association website in which the union highlights the politically correct sensitivities and behaviors of teachers confronting students who come to their classrooms from different cultures – ‘Are You Culturally Competent?’ It is definitely worth a read for a better understanding of what goes on behind the curtain that ails us.

The American school is one place where a student new to our country should unambiguously learn what are our customs, language norms, behavioral protocols, dress codes, etc in the course of being taught the subject matter for which he is attending class. There is already precious little time to get the lesson into the little darlings’ heads without detours to account for what may or not be familiar or acceptable to one or another student. The lesson behind the lesson that the foreign student should learn is that when he’s in American society, then do as Americans do. His home and relatives, not the classroom, are the place and people to teach, practice, and perpetuate his culture of origin.

The fundamental lesson to be learned is that we Americans respect your culture to the extent that you learn and practice America’s culture when in our public arena. We want you to become at one with us, and not the other way around. Diluting that effort to acculturate foreign students in our schools in order to demonstrate ‘cultural competency’ works to impede, or at least slow down, assimilation. And this goes doubly for students who come from global cultures which have already self-declared and demonstrated themselves to be inimical to traditional American values and mores. (As a non-English speaker from Europe, I was among the tens of thousands of foreign kids fortunate enough to have been introduced to America in public schools at a time when such progressive impediments were not in vogue.)

In sum, this is yet another illustration from the catalog of crap that burdens unionized teachers in public education to the ultimate detriment of us all.

Posted in Agenda 21, California, Culture Comments, Our Country

7 responses to “CTA on ‘cultural competency’ – a peek into the pus”

Bill Tozer

23 April 2013

Reminds me of the University of Michigan installing all those foot baths so the Islamb students could do their religious practices on campus during school hours. Don’t recall the U bending over for any other group so they could practice their religious traditions and doctrines at school expense. In fact, the U has bent over backwards to to push other religions out of the public square into little dark corners of the campus, all in the name of freedom of expression of course.
How about that California teacher that sued and won. Her case was simple. She wants to put on a black body bag and go off to Mecca for a couple of months during the school calender. No problem. Take an unpaid leave of absent to do your yearly pilgrimage. Yes, that is problem. She wants to be paid full time and have to school pay for a substitute teacher while she over on another continent and not miss a single paycheck. She wants to be paid full time and have summers off and a couple of months off on salary during the school year. Of course she won. What was the school board thinking by not bending over backwards to accommodate the Isslum woman?? Screw the kids. A sub will teach half the semester. Mustn’t do something that could possibly offend anyone (except all the other religions and countless parents and common sense).

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Ryan Mount

23 April 2013

This (the CTA Article) is a hilarious read. It’s not all bad, but most of it is ridiculous. Is this what our “Liberal” education has become? Frankly is reads very conservatively if you ask me. Like this this line out of the Jim Crow South from Mr. Brian Jeffery. (Now he just may be being pragmatic. I dunno. But his language sounds very “separate but equal”-ish.)

I don’t know any language besides English. Without some degree of cultural competency, it can lead to uncomfortable situations. When I meet Muslim parents, I know it is appropriate to shake the father’s hand, never appropriate to take the mother’s hand, and that I should pat my heart twice to say it’s a pleasure to meet you as a greeting. Cultural competency makes interacting in the world a lot easier.

Yes Mr. Jeffrey. Your sensitivity training has paid off. Maybe it will be like that line out of Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles:
Sheriff Bart: I’m rapidly becoming a big underground success in this town.
Jim: See? In another twenty-five years, you’ll be able to shake their hands in broad daylight.

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George Rebane

23 April 2013

re RyanM’s 209pm – That’s my point. When in America, shake hands with both parents starting with the mother (‘ladies first’). You can discuss divergent customs and their appropriate applications in the sequel.

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Russ Steele

23 April 2013

Here some examples of cultural competency training in New York, that looks like liberalism gone wild.
School Girls Forced to Ask Classmates for ‘Lesbian Kiss’ During Anti-Bullying Presentation
Imagine 13 and 14-year-old girls being instructed to ask one another for a lesbian kiss in a class exercise. The girls had no choice. The parents were NOT informed. But hey, if it falls under “anti-bullying,” than who are you to question it, right?
A recent anti-bullying presentation at a middle school in New York that focused on homosexuality and gender identity has angered parents after their daughters have come home to tell them they were forced to ask another girl for a kiss.
According to reports, the session occurred last week at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York, near Poughkeepsie. A group of students from Bard College led two workshops for the youth, separated by gender.
ooo
According to reports, during the workshop for the adolescent boys, the students were counseled to keep a condom in their pocket at all times, and were taught how to identify a woman who is a “slut.”
Yea, this is what the 13 and 14 year olds need to know about the culture in Red Hook, New York. No worry if they can read, write and calculate only with if they are up on the latest liberal sexual practices.

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Ryan Mount

23 April 2013

If we’re bowing to conservative traditions of yesteryear, such as treating women like second class citizens, this is in no way a Liberal phenomena.
Where are the Progressives on this modern Rosa Parks activity.
Answer: [crickets].
Welp, real answer: They’re shaking Muslim men’s hands in a kind of Neville Chamberlain-esque kind of way.
I beg your pardon, but this Liberal is on the judgmental warpath: if one thinks that a tradition that treats women as the lesser gender should be tolerated, then you (the general ‘you’) are a dangerous fool. But what makes this ‘memo’ despicable is how these teachers are aiding evil at a minimum by accommodating it, and implicitly worse by teaching this abhorrent behavior by rote or example to our children.
Generally I am apologist for teachers and an often a supporter. I think our troubles lie elsewhere. But in the case, it seem clear that we have a treacherous vermin amongst us.
PS. BTW, reading this page a second time, I had to chuckle about the malproprisms that accompany it:

About “isms”: It’s about understanding “isms” including racism, ageism, classism, sexism and homophobia.

Emphasis mine. Morons.

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Scott Obermuller

23 April 2013

I find it interesting that I was always taught that if I were to go to another country, it was my responsibility as a progressive, educated American to be sure to learn of the customs and mannerisms of the society I was visiting and to practice them where possible. Again, we see the racist bigoted attitude of the left in assuming this is not only possible, but required by the euro-descent white American, but quite impossible for the non-euro or non-Christian coming to this country.
A very telling line – “If you are part of the majority culture — which most white people identify with — you don’t realize what you are bringing to the classroom.”
Uh – how about a superior culture that lifted the living standards of the average person living in the mud to one that had “a car, a refrigerator and a college degree”?
Of course we all learn from those around us and I love to be in different cultures and see the differences and similarities – but these are kids in a class room and they need to learn English and show up on time and so on. If they don’t they will never be able to compete in our society. But, of course, that’s the point – isn’t it? Bring up a nation of idiot dependents for the mommy govt to rule over and care for. In other words – Obama voters. The ‘immigration reform’ coming is to flood our nation with millions of Obama voters who don’t have and will never have the necessary skills to be productive in American society.

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Bill Tozer

24 April 2013

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I, too, am deeply offended by the sexism displayed by those who are educating our youth. Downright sexist and bigoted and certainly displays ignorance, lack of a moral compass, and favoritism.
Sure, the teacher should always welcome a new student and make him/her feel comfortable in there new environment. Something like the old introduction works fine. “Class, this is Yuin. He is from Mongolia, a place known for its delicious barbeques.”
There is always favoritism shown, or else the expression “teacher’s pet” would never have existed. Especially if the teenage student possesses a pair of stunning, beautiful hooters, which means she is usually placed close to her teacher’s desk and cut some slack on her ill prepared homework.
But this is going too far. Understanding them is not as important as they understanding the American way of life. The reverse is true if I moved to another country.
Think it was Howie Mandell (I could be wrong) who told a story years ago that always stuck with me. He was the new immigrant in school, in a tough neighborhood in New York. Day one he came home all bloodied. Day two was the same. His mother asked what American kids like. The lad replied “The New York Yankees”. That night his mother sewed together a New York Yankee uniform by hand from a picture. The young immigrant wore that uniform each and every day for the entire school year and never was bullied again. He fit right in.

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