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On Sept. 7, the Star Tribune published "Proposed teacher licensing update draws pushback." While we appreciate efforts to inform the public about the newly proposed teacher licensing standards, the article itself contains serious flaws.
First, the content of the new standards is mischaracterized. The wholesale replacement of 125 existing standards — with seven new standards dedicated to race-consciousness and over 30 others that infuse education with race, automatic identity affirmation, systemic oppression and encouragement to be "agents of social change to promote equity" — is not simple cultural competency. It represents a sea change. For a regulatory agency to misrepresent its own rules so thoroughly is an abuse of the public's trust.
Second, it is claimed that opposition to the new standards is "partisan," and this is grossly misleading. The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, which is mentioned in the story, is itself nonpartisan, and our membership includes people from across the political spectrum. We do not oppose the new standards because we are Democrats or Republicans, we oppose them because they are wrong for Minnesota.
Further, although the hearing referenced in the article featured over 300 attendees, opinions on the standards were not, as the article suggests, evenly split. Of those who testified, 84% (59 out of 70) spoke against the new standards. It is not right to ignore the potential partisanship of the proponents of the new standards, while attributing (without evidence) partisan motives to the opponents.
Opposition to these rules is neither misguided nor partisan: it represents ordinary Minnesotans' rejection of ideology in the classroom.
Jeff Campbell, Plymouth