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Alabama governor forces resignation of head Dept of Early Childhood Education because she is "woke" [1]

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Date: 2023-04-30  

This article is not original with me; I copied it entirely from DemocraticUnderground who picked it up from a press article (link included).

In a new shot in the culture wars, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) recently forced the resignation of Barbara Cooper, the secretary of the state’s Department of Early Childhood Education, because of a well-regarded book about developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs.

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But Ivey forced Cooper’s resignation because of an educator’s resource book that had been in use for years but had just been brought to her attention, according to a statement reported by Alabama Political Reporter. The book, Ivey said, “invokes ideas for teachers that there are ‘larger systemic forces that perpetuate systems of White privilege’ or that ‘the United States is built on systemic and structural racism.’”

After being criticized for forcing Cooper to resign, Ivey defended her decision to reporters, saying, “The teacher resource book that I looked at had all those references to different kind of lifestyles and equity and this and that and the other,” Ivey told reporters Thursday. “That’s not teaching English. That’s not teaching writing. That’s not teaching reading. We need to focus on the basics, y’all, and get this right.”

In this piece, Nonie K. Lesaux and Stephanie M. Jones explain why Cooper’s removal undermines Alabama’s early-childhood-education program — and its potential effect on other states.

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Yet, according to a statement from the governor, the book promotes “woke concepts that have zero to do with a proper education and that are divisive at the core.”

What are those concepts? In a few passages, the book reminds readers that Black and other minority children have historically experienced bias and stereotyping that hinders their education, and it urges educators to be aware of those biases and to compensate for them. It also notes that “children from all families,” including those who have gay, lesbian or transgender parents, “need to hear and see messages that promote [their] equality, dignity and worth.”

In other words, it tells educators that children learn best in an environment that feels welcoming and safe to them — the kind of environment that all parents want for their children.

“Developmentally Appropriate Practice” isn’t a curriculum. It contains no lesson plans or specific activities, and it has nothing to say about what educators should be teaching young children. Rather, it’s designed to help educators create classroom environments that are conducive to learning for all children, no matter what they’re being taught.

www.msn.com/...

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/30/2166721/-Alabama-governor-forces-resignation-of-head-Dept-of-Early-Childhood-Education-because-she-is-woke

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