School District Pays to Show 'White Privilege' to Black Kids

A Minnesota school district has shelled out close to $3 million to teach African-American students that the nation's educational system is rife with white privilege and victimizes black students.

The jolting expenditure was revealed in a Freedom of Information request by the Education Action Group Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group that promotes "sensible education reform."

According to Steve Gunn, editor-in-chief of the foundation's news site EAGnews.com, schools in St. Paul have paid about $3 million over five years to the Pacific Educational Group (PEG) of San Francisco, which he says "claims that the American education system is built around white culture, tradition and social norms — aka 'white privilege' — to the unfair detriment of black students."

In addition, Gunn reports, "PEG believes that black students will only achieve if school curricula are customized to meet their cultural specifications. It also rejects the concept of using suspensions or expulsions to discipline black students."

According to EAGnews.com, crucial policy changes have been made in the school district since education officials began working with PEG, including special needs students with behavioral issues being mainstreamed into regular classrooms, a position pushed by PEG.

In addition, student suspensions were replaced by "time outs," and "school officials starting forgiving or ignoring violence and other unacceptable behavior, according to various sources," EAGnews.com's Gunn said.

"The result has been general chaos throughout the district, with far too many students out of control because they know there are no real consequences for their actions."

CityPages, a Minnesota news blog, recently reported how when one female teacher at St. Paul's Harding High School tried to break up a fight between two basketball players, "one grabbed her shoulder and head, throwing her aside. The kid was only sent home for a couple of days."

The same teacher was also told by a student he would "fry her ass." As CityPages reported, "she tried to make a joke of it — ‘Ooh, I could use a little weight loss.’ Her students interjected: ‘No, that means he’s gonna kill you.'” She now uses a secret signal to admit students.

Joe Nathan, executive director of the Minneapolis-based Center for School Change, told The Minneapolis Star Tribune: "The most basic thing our schools must offer is the safety of the children. A significant number of families are saying their children do not feel safe in the schools. They don’t feel safe even going to the bathroom."

In his expose, Gunn concludes: "Will officials continue to waste taxpayer dollars on an organization that pushes policies that destroy any hope for creating or maintaining a productive learning environment?"

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