Edina 11th grader wins the coveted Spotty!
Charles Heineke, a junior at Edina High School, puts Katherine Kersten and The Center of the American Experiment through the shredder and wins the coveted Spotty™.
Earlier this month, the CAE distributed a magazine-like house organ with a contemptible screed by the CAE’s dowager queen, Katherine Kersten. It seems that every household in Edina received a copy, although it claims to cost $4.95.
On Saturday last, the Strib published a condensed version of Kersten’s article on its op-ed page.
Mr. Heineke made short work of them both in a counterpoint printed in the Star Tribune on October 9th.
Kersten makes the argument that diversity education in the Edina schools has turned them into gulags of political indoctrination and re-education. She quotes several anonymous sources, or maybe a couple of anonymous sources several times; we don’t know.
Here are the first few grafs of Mr. Heineke’s response:
When I came home from school on Friday, I was greeted by an orange magazine featuring the headline, “WHOSE VALUES? Educational excellence threatened by ideology in Edina schools.” The publication included the full-length version of an Oct. 7 commentary by Katherine Kersten (“Racial identity policies are ruining Edina’s fabled schools.”)
As a student in the Edina education system, I was intrigued, and began to read.
The magazine article and the commentary assert that falling standardized test scores can be blamed on the Edina School District’s belief in valuing diversity and equity among students. The author attacks the “All for All” plan of district administrators, the mission of which is to view “teaching and learning experiences through the lens of racial equality,” claiming the plan is “a simplistic blaming of ‘white privilege’ for the racial learning gap.”
Kersten takes issue with an elementary school principal and the school’s “Melanin Project,” which is meant to teach young students about racial equality.
After finishing the article, I wondered if I had come into contact with the fabled “fake news” of our president’s tweets.
You really owe it to yourself to go over to the Strib and read the whole piece by a student of a “failing school system.” He also has the advantage over the rumor monger Kersten of actually being at Edina High School.
Remember, a Spotty™ is awarded for an op-ed, letter to the editor, or blog post or comment that I wish I had written myself. (The Spotty was created by my former blog alter-ego, Spot the Blogspot Dog.)
Thanks for your feedback. If we like what you have to say, it may appear in a future post of reader reactions.