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Leaked lesson plans from a freshman education course at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign sparked backlash after a student whistleblower exposed the level of hard left ideology being taught. The student shared six weeks of lectures with Fox News Digital, accusing the professor of turning an intro course into an indoctrination seminar focused on, you guessed it, equity, identity, and oppression amongst other practices. Slides from the course, which is a requirement to graduate, show first year education majors were trained to prioritize equity, LGBTQ plus issues, privileged identities, and preferred pronouns.
Erica Donalds, AFPI Center for Education Opportunity Chair, responded that what the student whistleblower reveals is political, not an education course, and called it a course in liberal left wing Democrat politics. She argued it is infuriating to taxpayers paying for these courses that it explicitly teaches new teachers to be activists and to view schools as part of a larger political system, with the ideologies in the PowerPoint described as radical left wing ideologies being pushed on students instead of teaching the science of reading, how to teach rigorous math, and other fundamentals. She noted that brand new teachers coming out of teacher colleges are "woefully unprepared," citing surveys.
The discussion highlighted concerns that if teachers focus on such content, they cannot teach students what they need to know. The problem, it was said, lies with the people teaching the teachers, suggesting reforms must target teacher certification and the ideologues running these programs. Donalds advocated reforming teacher certification, arguing that students who majored in core subjects must return to take courses from colleges of education for purposes of indoctrination and protectionism by teachers unions.
One point raised: courses on privilege can lead to teaching individuals to shame children for how they were born, a concern about teaching young adults who are preparing to be teachers. The discussion asserted that parents and teachers are being disillusioned by education schools, undermining trust in colleges of education and colleges in general.
On the political front, Linda McMahon, the Education Department Secretary, was discussed in the context of dismantling the department. It was stated that groups suing to stop reforms are not parents or classroom teachers, but teachers unions, progressive school district coalitions, and advocacy groups that benefit from centralized federal control and oppose curriculum transparency and accountability. The claim was that Congress created the department, but nothing requires it to remain an untouched bureaucracy, and McMahon is reportedly working to deliver on a promise to dismantle the Department of Education, with some functions moved to the Treasury, the Labor Department, and HHS. The conversation concluded with support for McMahon’s efforts and skepticism about the department’s longevity, ending with a light remark about the department’s age.