Summary: Educators bring feminist indoctrination to high schools. Admire their skillful use of techniques developed by Mao and company! The WaPo frankly and unselfconsciously tells the tale. “Struggle sessions”, public pressure to confession & repent, and ideological conversions. This fourth wave feminism, the quest for dominance. It will not end well for America.
“I’m sorry for being a man.”
— David Cunliffe, leader of New Zealand’s Labour Party, speaking at a Women’s Refuge symposium on 14 July 2014.
Here is a typical news story in New America. It is unusual only because this event occurred in high school – not college. Boys are guilty of unauthorized thoughts and non-politically correct speech to friends. Then comes the government crackdown and a Maoist-like struggle session – culminating in confession and self-criticism by the guilty. Followed by new programs for indoctrination using authoritarian pressure plus intensive social pressure to conform. It is America’s new education, since teaching about reading and math is so boring. School officials find political activism more fulfilling!
Another in the WaPo’s “Inspired Life” series.
“Teen boys rated their female classmates
based on looks.
The girls fought back.“
A “news” story by Samantha Schmidt
in the Washington Post.
An annotated look at our authoritarian future.
“‘There’s a list of the girls’ names,’ her friend Nicky Schmidt, a fellow senior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in Maryland, said. ‘And we’re ranked.’ …They felt violated, objectified by classmates they considered their friends. They felt uncomfortable getting up to go to the bathroom, worried that the boys might be scanning them ….”
What a strange opening to the story! Children making lists of people they like and dislike is normal behavior. Boys making a list circulated among themselves is not actionable by the government, even in schools, by any normal American standards. There is a massive body of research by psychologists showing how men and women value others by their appearance – an innate behavior by our intensely visual species. It is natural for young people to be uncomfortable about this, whether women or men.
“{A} group of girls reported the list to an administrator …. The next day, the girls learned that after an investigation, school officials decided to discipline one male student with in-school detention for one day, which would not show up on his record. Bethesda-Chevy Chase’s principal, Donna Redmond Jones, said an investigation revealed the list was made during school hours, and that ‘there was definitely discipline applied,’ in line with the district’s code of conduct but that she could not give any more information because of privacy concerns.”
The WaPo does not explain how this violated the school’s Code of Conduct. The principal could have discussed this incident with the girls, explaining that living with such pressures is part of life. Nerds are mocked. Mentally slow people are mocked. Clumsy people are mocked. Cheerleaders and jocks are lionized. It is high school. After graduation the pressures change, but never go away.
“Unsatisfied with the disciplinary action, Schmidt texted about 15 girls she knew, and told them to tell all of their friends to show up at the school’s main office the next day during lunch, ‘to tell them we feel unsafe in this environment and we are tired of this toxicity,’ Schmidt wrote in her text.”
Schmidt understands modern America. Get a mob and confront friendly authorities to get action. Claims of feelings are trump! Feeling “unsafe”, no matter how irrational, gets action. Children’s calls for force to change behavior of the politically incorrect are treated like the Declaration of Independence.
“About 40 senior girls showed up, packing into an assistant principal’s office as Schmidt read a statement she had written. ‘We want to know what the school is doing to ensure our safety and security,’ Schmidt said. ‘We should be able to learn in an environment without the constant presence of objectification and misogyny.'”
What is the threat to their “safety and security”? Irrational demands by the politically privileged are treated respectfully, no matter how irrational. (Another example: “LGBTQ groups say student vets ‘jeopardize’ well-being of students.”) Demands to change behavior of others are considered legitimate, with few daring to challenge them.
“The girls and administrators agreed that they should have a large meeting with the male students in the program, including the boys who created and circulated the list. That Friday, on International Women’s Day, almost all of the students in the IB program – about 80 students – met in a large conference room for what was supposed to be a 45-minute meeting during fifth period.”
Was this structured as a discussion, with both sides able to express their concerns? Probably not. Did anyone ask the boys if they had complaints about the girls’ behavior?
“Instead, the meeting lasted two and a half hours. Several girls delivered personal and impassioned speeches describing not only their presence on the list but also their previous experiences with sexual abuse, harassment and objectification, both inside the school and outside of it.
“‘I feel it when walking home from school, I get catcalled by a man in a truck who repeatedly asks me to get in his car, and follows me home when I don’t,’ said Rose Frank, one of the senior girls on the list, reading from a letter she had prepared. ‘I feel it when my mother tells me that my third ear piercing will ‘send the wrong message’ in a workplace setting, and that in the future it’s best to let my hair down for job interviews.'”
These are complex matters. Some rooted in thousands of years of culture. Some rooted in biology. A discussion would have been educational. But that was not the intent.
This event reads like the classic form of a “struggle session” used in during Communist China’s cultural revolution.These were meetings used to shape public opinion and attack class enemies. A crowd, supported by authority figures, pressures the target to admit crimes – culminating in the target’s conversion to correct though and re-acceptance to the community. These were psychologically powerful and traumatic events. No defense was allowed. Making the target fearful is victory, and the lesson for other class enemies (their time will come). Struggle sessions were often held at the school or workplace of the guilty. For a horrifically vivid description, see Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
“Sitting toward the center of the room during the meeting was the male student credited with creating the list, an 18-year-old senior in the IB program. After listening to all of the girls’ speeches, many of which were directed specifically to him, he stood up and spoke to the group, admitting to making the list and apologizing for the hurt it caused. ‘It was quite intense, being so directly confronted in front of so many people for so long,’ the student recalled in an interview with The Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of the repercussions he could face. …He said he never distributed the list to anyone else in the grade, and he didn’t know how it began circulating earlier this month. But he took responsibility for what he said was a haphazard, ‘stupid decision.’
“‘When you have a culture where it’s just normal to talk about that, I guess making a list about it doesn’t seem like such a terrible thing to do, because you’re just used to discussing it,’ he said in an interview. ‘I recognize that I’m in a position in this world generally where I have privilege. I’m a white guy at a very rich high school. It’s easy for me to lose sight of the consequences of my actions and kind of feel like I’m above something.’ While he regrets making the list, he said he was grateful that the girls spoke up. ‘It’s just a different time and things really do need to change,’ he said. ‘This memory is not going to leave me anytime soon.'”
Following conversion, next comes extending indoctrination to the next generation of children.
“Since that confrontational meeting, a co-ed group of senior students – including the boy who created the list – has been gathering on an almost weekly basis at lunch time to discuss how to prevent this sort of incident from happening again. Jones, the school principal, said she has been proud to see the students take the lead on the meetings since the list emerged. ‘It takes bravery, it takes being vulnerable, it takes a sense of forgiveness,’ she said.
“The Bethesda-Chevy Chase students are planning a day next month in which pairs of students – one senior girl and one senior guy – will go to the younger students’ classes to talk about toxic masculinity, said Gabriella Capizzi, one of the senior girls taking the lead on the campaign. Some students are also organizing a pop-up museum focused on the theme of cultural toxicity. While the event was planned before the list circulated, it has now taken on a new meaning, said Gloria Karekezi, a 17-year-old senior who is working on an exhibit and who has been a part of the ongoing efforts to speak up about the list. With the two months of high school they have left, the seniors hope to set a precedent for the younger grades, Capizzi said.”
This is a profound educational experience for these girls. They get a taste of power. Victim-hood brings power. Feminist power comes through expressions of fear, no matter how imaginary, and working with the government to attack men.
“‘I wasn’t surprised by the list,’ Capizzi said. ‘The kids like the kid who made the list aren’t the outliers. It’s the people who speak up about it that are. And that culture needs to change.'”
This is a powerful educational experience for the boys in the audience. Government authorities are their enemies. Defense is not allowed. They have no rights. Their parents are MIA. They stand alone. At some point they will learn that safety only comes when they stand together.
This shows what many of our schools – first colleges, now grade schools – have become: indoctrination centers to change America’s culture. Needless to say, parents are not consulted. As for traditional education – reading, writing, math – those are secondary to our Leftist masters’ larger goals.
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See the bigger picture
Fruits of our society’s war on boys and men surround us, but we no longer see them (frogs jump from a slowly heating pot, but people don’t). For a detailed analysis of how the Left is steering our society off a cliff, see The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It
“In the middle of an invigorating dinner conversation involving a former governor, a minister, an owner of a PR firm, two authors, and a UC Berkeley professor (three men and three women, two strong feminists), one of the hosts, author Sam Keen, asks, ‘If you were born today, which would you rather be – a boy or a girl?’ Every man answered, ‘A girl.’ As did two of the three women.
“At another dinner party, Melissa, the daughter of close friends, told my wife, Liz, and I that she was pregnant. …Later that evening, I asked Andy, ‘If you had to choose, which would you prefer – a boy or girl?’ After a second’s hesitation, he said in a serious tone, “A girl.” …
“{Dads-to-be are almost twice as likely to prefer a daughter to a son. As for moms-to-be, they are 24% more likely to prefer their firstborn child to be a daughter.”
There will be a reaction to this revolution. This will not end well for America.
For More Information
Ideas! For shopping ideas, see my recommended books and films at Amazon.
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about society and gender issues, about feminism, and especially these …
- The Economist proclaims that men are “The Weaker Sex”.
- Women are moving on top of men in America.
- Victims no more: the revolution puts women on top of men.
- The feminist revolutionaries have won. Insurgents have arisen to challenge the new order. As always, they’re outlaws.
- As the Left’s social revolution wins victories, a revolt begins.
- MeToo discovers that there is always a counterrevolution.
- Society changes as men learn the Dark Triad.
Another book about the gender wars
The War Against Boys:
How Misguided Policies are Harming Our Young Men
By Christina Hoff Sommers.
From the publisher …
“An updated and revised edition of the controversial classic …argues that boys are the ones languishing socially and academically, resulting in staggering social and economic costs.
“Girls and women were once second-class citizens in the nation’s schools. Americans responded with concerted efforts to give girls and women the attention and assistance that was long overdue. Now, after two major waves of feminism and decades of policy reform, women have made massive strides in education. Today they outperform men in nearly every measure of social, academic, and vocational well-being.
“Christina Hoff Sommers contends that it’s time to take a hard look at present-day realities and recognize that boys need help. …that the problem of male underachievement is persistent and worsening. …Sommers tackles: how the war against boys is harming our economic future, and how boy-averse trends such as the decline of recess and zero-tolerance disciplinary policies have turned our schools into hostile environments for boys. As our schools become more feelings-centered, risk-averse, competition-free, and sedentary, they move further and further from the characteristic needs of boys. She offers realistic, achievable solutions to these problems that include boy-friendly pedagogy, character and vocational education, and the choice of single-sex classrooms.
“The War Against Boys is an incisive, rigorous, and heartfelt argument in favor of recognizing and confronting a new reality: boys are languishing in education and the price of continued neglect is economically and socially prohibitive.”
