Antisemitism & Classroom Totalitarianism

Hi all,

I have been out of the loop for a bit because I was up in the Bay Area filming a short documentary that will likely become part of the larger White Guilt documentary.

Every once in a while, parents reach out to me to see if media light can be shined on their local school district’s lowering of educational standards in the name of equity. Unfortunately for these parents, the media often passes on these stories because it’s “old news” — the well known school fights in Virginia have dominated the news for the last two years.

When several parents from Sequoia Union High District reached out to me with their complaints that Honors/AS classes were being removed, I thought this would be the same old story. Still, I agreed to meet with them on Zoom and what gave their story a different angle were two things: 1) Sequoia is one of the wealthiest school districts in the nation (home to many famous tech families) and 2) it was alleged that many teacher graduates of Stanford’s school of education were driving the “woke” changes within the district.

Then October 7 happened.

Antisemitism went through the roof. Jewish kids were told that Hitler didn’t finish the job. Teachers took the sides of pro-Hamas students against Jewish kids. A teacher made Holocaust jokes and so forth.

What was striking was how the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion movement failed miserably in face of this rising antisemitism. The same administrators who eliminated the Honors/AS classes in the name of equity and helping minority kids had little empathy for the Jewish kids.

The reason why I wanted to write to you today was not to focus on the short documentary which will deal with all of this but to offer you a direct and personal glimpse of what is actually happening in our schools.

The following public letter was written by my friend, Brandy Shufutinsky, EdD, who is the Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values. It reveals the biases and ignorance within the school district and here is the slide show in full that triggered this letter. Below is the letter which contains some of the slides:

We write out of concern that the class materials and lessons being taught by Chloe Montgomery fail to meet the requirements of AB-101. Not only that, we believe that her lesson and approach verges on antisemitism -- the inaccuracy of her lesson certainly runs the risk of turning her students into antisemites, inadvertently or not. A few examples are provided below. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but are a sample of the problematic lessons being taught in her class. 

First, in lesson I.8 Counter and Dominant Narrative, Ms. Montgomery centers Israelis and Palestinians, further marginalizing the four ethnic groups central to ethnic studies. Teaching students examples from an international conflict rather than focusing on deep and rich narratives from Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native, and Latino Americans continues the very same erasure that ethnic studies is supposed to counter. In fact, it arguably highlights Ms. Montgomery’s privileged position of power to teach through her preferred dominant narrative. 

Second, Hamas is presented as a “group,” ignoring that they are an internationally recognized terrorist organization whose mandate is to obliterate the state of Israel and to inflict genocide upon Jews around the world. This whitewashes the violence perpetrated by Hamas, again displaying Ms. Montgomery’s evident bias. 

Third, this lesson uses a map showing a shrinking Palestine. This map is factually inaccurate. Before the establishment of the modern state of Israel, there was no Palestinian state. The land was administered by the British empire, and the Ottoman empire before that. The map in this lesson makes it seem as though there was an independent Palestine that was stolen when Israel achieved independence. This highly opinionated and inaccurate portrayal of population shifts generates a hostile environment for Israeli students, a group protected from discrimination due to national origin. I am happy to provide further analysis of why the map progression is erroneous. 

Lastly, Ms. Montgomery’s lessons are historically and culturally inaccurate. This is a blatant display of  bias against Jews, erasing Jewish indigeneity, including cultural, historical, and spiritual connection to the land of Israel.  

In a letter dated August 23, 2023, California Governor Newsom’s administration made clear the following points regarding ethnic studies. Unfortunately, it appears as though the class taught by Chloe Montgomery violates these points. 

The stated purpose for ethnic studies in California schools is to allow students to learn about the “histories, cultures, struggles, and contributions to American society of these historically marginalized peoples,” focusing on African American, Asian/Pacific Islander American, Native American, and Latino American communities. 

The manner in which lessons are formed must follow California education codes. The discrimination intended to be excluded by the governor and his administration are similarly prohibited by the US Constitution and federal and state statutes. Some examples provided by the Governor’s administration include: (1) Be appropriate for use with pupils of all races, religions, nationalities, genders, sexual orientations, and diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, pupils with disabilities, and English learners, and (2) Not reflect or promote, directly or indirectly, any bias, bigotry, or discrimination against any person or group of persons on the basis of any category protected by Education Code Section 220. 

Brooks Allen, Education Policy Advisor to Governor Newsom, made clear that some groups are promoting materials that “may not meet the requirements of AB 101,” including the guardrails formulated to prevent discrimination and bias. 

I urge you to take immediate action and ensure students are not subjected to discrimination and  indoctrination from an educator who seems intent on spreading her biases to  students from her position of power as their teacher. 

Please inform me of the actions you have taken to address the discrimination, erasure, marginalization, and bigotry being taught in Ms. Montgomery’s ethnic studies class and undo the damage already done by correcting the factually incorrect information for those students who have already been subjected to it. 

Respectfully,

Brandy Shufutinsky, EdD

For me, the above antisemitism is not the main issue. This kind of ideological education has no place in the classroom. These students are not being taught how to research complex issues or to think for themselves. They are being indoctrinated. One teacher that I interviewed for this short documentary told me that students are not allowed to have an opinion in the classroom. How is that not classroom totalitarianism? If a student cannot challenge the above slides and its incorrect facts, then a school ceases to be a school.

My apologies for this kind of an email right before Thanksgiving — I know it’s not the news most people want to hear but we are fighting to restore schools to their original purpose of educating kids for the future. I hope you all have a wonderful and plentiful Thanksgiving with family and friends.

All my best,

Eli