Back a few years, religious con-man Pat Robertson accused Sponge Bob Square Pants of being Gay.
Of course, who knows? Maybe Bob is Gay. I don’t care.
The latest right-wing loony accusation is delivered by Kyle Olson of the Michigan-based grouplet, the Education Action Group.
Olson parades around as a concerned parent of a kindergartener. But we have pointed out that the EAG is secretly funded, has close ties to the Koch brothers, Andrew Breitbart and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The Mackinac Center has recently been exposed for secretly sending emails and lobbying Michigan legislators in violation of their non-partisan tax status.
Kyle also recently filed a Freedom of Information request for my personnel file. Exciting reading.
This week, Kyle went on Fox (surprise) to denounce the use of Click Clack Moo. Cows that Type to indoctrinate kindergarten students in pro-union ideology. He accused a Chicago teacher of sneaking the word, “negotiate,” into a vocabulary lesson.
Kyle. Check this out: I read a picture book about a young Mexican boy called Diego to my first grade art students. It’s about Diego Rivera, the great Mexican muralist. Hey man. He grew up to be a Communist!
Fred Klonsky 
What a hoot! Click Clack Moo is one of my favorite books. I bought it for the collection when I was a librarian. I thought it was just funny, like Dr. DeSoto, and Dog Breath, and Grandpa’s Teeth. Now I learn it’s subversive. Maybe I should take a second look at those other books. They might contain some insidious message concerning dental health.
Heaven forfend students should actually learn something.
Next, we will hear that The Very Hungry Caterpillar promotes obesity, Holes is an antiprison diatribe, and Little Red Riding Hood justifies the destruction of the wolves in the West.
Little Red Riding Hood lied!
Being a committed unionist, I have several books by this author in my classroom. Posters of Doctor King and Cesar Chavez, too.
Have you seen Joelito’s Big Decision/ La gran decisión de Joelito
a timely, timeless beautifully illustrated and translated bi-lingual book about a boy, a burger, friendship and the struggle for a living wage. It’s a great way to start lively discussions that help young people “get” what it takes to create a more equitable future. ($10, Hardball Press. Ages 5-95)
tool.
I wrote an article for Chicago Teachers Union on using that book to teach working conditions, negotiating, collective bargaining and workers rights to my preschoolers. It was published in the June issue. If you don’t teach children their history they won’t know what to fight for in the future. I started this year’s lesson with the Civil Rights Movement with the current event of the Dr. King Memorial. My students know what a march is and a protest. They were shocked to learn that many years ago my teacher assistant and I couldn’t drink out of the same drinking fountain. At their young age they understand people want places to live, food to eat, doctors to go to when you’re sick and a job. Especially cause many of our parents are unemployed. They know I go to marches and events to speak in their behalf. Their parents, my colleagues and friends know it too. And most of all, thanks to Duck, they know to choose your negotiator carefully. Pushing an agenda through math? How about using real life examples to make math more meaningful so that sudents understand it. Young children can understand a lot more than people give them credit for if it is put in terms and language they understand. To say that seniors don’t understand this is an insult. The inner city students are being undermined and denied the education they need to succeed in this world. They need social studies, science, art, music, technology as well as reading and writing. They need to learn to analyze all sides of a situation before making a decision. They need to learn how to ask questions but before they can do that they have to have some knowledge as to what to question. I’m not sold on capitalism, democracy, socialism, communism, any of it. I’m sold on whatever would provide decent living conditions, health care, jobs, etc. for all. As for my agenda it’s to properly prepare my students with a rich currriculum in math, science, literacy, socail studies, history, art, music and technology in spite of the system not because of it.
If the system that places you in the privileged class doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, the last thing you want is for it to be scrutinized, or for alternatives to be presented and discussed.
How do I get this on the BATS site? They’ll love it! And you can put my name on my post. I’m done hiding! Bats don’t hide!