Future elementary teachers get a lot of training in "equity pedagogy" at the University of Florida, writes Scott Yenor in City Journal. They may not learn much about how to teach.
He is co-author of a Claremont Institute report, Making Kindergarten Teachers into Radicals, on how the University of Florida's education school changed training for elementary education majors in 2020.
“Core Teaching Strategies,” “Mathematics Content for Elementary Teachers,” “Art Education for Elementary Schools,” and “Music for the Elementary Child,” among others, were replaced with a new four-course sequence “centered on equity pedagogy.” Suffused with critical race theory, equity pedagogy makes raising consciousness and eliminating racial gaps — not subject matter mastery or effective teaching strategies — the moral imperatives of the teaching profession.
"At least ten required courses in the University of Florida’s new elementary education major have critical pedagogy embedded in their course descriptions, readings, and assignments," writes Yenor. Nearly all course assignments now "focus on self-reflection about a teacher’s own biases."
Now Florida is trying to roll back the social-justice tide, he writes. A new law forbids teacher-prep programs from teaching“theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States.”
Schools of education that offer teacher preparation programs dominated by theories of systemic racism may continue to operate, but they will not be able to certify teachers in Florida.
Teacher prep has been mediocre for decades, but now it's politicized, writes Daniel Buck in The Miseducation of America's Teachers in National Affairs.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) reviewed the required coursework for 13 programs for teachers-to-be in the state, writes Buck. In courses such as "Foundations of Diversity and Equity in Education" and "Equity Education & Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in the Multicultural Classroom," prospective teachers discussed articles like, "Decolonizing the Classroom," "Moving Beyond Tolerance in Education," and "Creating Classrooms for Equity and Justice." Teachers were told to be a "social justice and change agent."
In Illinois, Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards will require teacher-preparation programs to train new teachers to "support and create opportunities for student advocacy," he writes. Teachers are encouraged to assess students on "social justice work" and "action research projects," that require students to investigate and advocate for various political causes.