Ķvlog

Opinion
Families & the Community Letter to the Editor

We Mustn’t Downplay the Dangers of the Right and Far Right

April 16, 2024 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

To the Editor:

The March 4 opinion piece seems reasonable at first glance (“Why Educators Often Have It Wrong About Right-Leaning Parents”). However, at a time when Ķvlog are, in fact, surrounded by those who want their own versions of “political correctness” to hold sway in every level of education, authors Frederick M. Hess and Michael Q. McShane, both of whom work in organizations with rightward slants, downplay the dangers that come from increasingly strident and extreme politics in the right and “far right.”

What exactly are the “shared norms” that Hess and McShane tout? Our communities of the poor, Black, brown, and migrant people are increasingly fragmented and targeted by conservatives who don’t actually value the traditions and customs of such communities. We only have to listen to the increasingly hostile, even fascist-tinged language coming from some on the right. “” is just the most recent example of this kind of hostility. These two authors, rather than finger-wagging at Ķvlog, might be more reliable if they first disassociated themselves from the extreme right wing. That faction is not conservative at all!

Most Ķvlog already opt for understanding and discussion. That approach is seldom reciprocated!

Jon McGill
Educator
Baltimore, Md.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the April 17, 2024 edition of Education Week as We Mustn’t Downplay the Dangers of the Right and Far Right

Events

College & Workforce Readiness Webinar How High Schools Can Prepare Students for College and Career
Explore how schools are reimagining high school with hands-on learning that prepares students for both college and career success.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
GoGuardian and Google: Proactive AI Safety in Schools
Learn how to safely adopt innovative AI tools while maintaining support for student well-being. 
Content provided by 
Reading & Literacy K-12 Essentials Forum Supporting Struggling Readers in Middle and High School
Join this free virtual event to learn more about policy, data, research, and experiences around supporting older students who struggle to read.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Families & the Community These Schools Let Students Lead Parent-Teacher Conferences—With Big Results
Conferences that put the student in the driver's seat can produce positive results.
6 min read
Teacher with primary school student with their parents
iStock/Getty
Families & the Community How Public Schools Can Defend Their Work—Without Tripping Into Political Debates
Schools should use clear messaging to connect with parents and communities, researchers recommend.
4 min read
Illustration of two people and conversation bubbles with gears.
iStock/Getty
Families & the Community Opinion 'Constant Anxiety': What a Chicago Teacher Witnesses as ICE Swarms
What federal immigration agents are doing in Chicago doesn't look like democracy, an educator says.
4 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week
Families & the Community As Schools Grow More Culturally Diverse, Calendar Planning Gets More Complicated
Districts have added holidays like Diwali to their calendars to reflect demographic shifts in enrollment.
6 min read
Worshippers pray at the Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple in Frisco, Texas, on Oct. 22, 2022. Worshippers celebrated Dhanteras, which is the first night of the Hindu holiday Diwali.
Worshippers pray at the Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple in Frisco, Texas, on Oct. 22, 2022, the first night of the Hindu holiday Diwali. More districts are putting Diwali and other non-Christian holidays on school calendars as populations of Asian students increase.
Andy Jacobsohn/AP