The Daily Signal - Free to Learn Coalition Wants to Take Politics Out of Classroom

Episode Date: July 16, 2021

The Free to Learn Coalition is a nonpartisan organization that wants to take politics out of the classroom. Alleigh Marre, the president of the coalition, joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” today to discuss how she hopes to do that. "We started to hear a lot more about how there's been more of an emphasis on activism, rather than academics," Marre says. "And that includes, certainly, critical race theory," which she says is "extremely prevalent and something that we're starting to hear more and more about, but it's not just isolated to that." Marre added: "And the big thing that we are hearing from parents is that, as we start to fall behind in the world, countries like China, Russia, Estonia, Slovenia, Canada, they all outperform us. And that's something that's very concerning to parents. We're all taxpayers, we're all paying into a public education system, and our students just aren't prepared for the future." We also cover these stories: Black Lives Matter is blaming the United States for the turmoil in Cuba.  In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, 82, announces that he hasn’t decided when he will retire and says he's pleased with his new role as the court’s most senior liberal. Seventeen state attorneys general, led by Republicans, support Arkansas' outlawing of "experimental" transgender operations on minors.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, July 16th. I'm Doug Blair. And I'm Risha Del Judas. The Free to Learn Coalition is a nonpartisan organization that wants to take politics out of the classroom. Ali Mari, the president of the Free to Learn Coalition, joins me today on the Daily Signal podcast to discuss how. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. And now on to today's top news. Black Lives Matter is blaming the United States for the situation in Cuba.

In a Monday statement posted on Instagram and Twitter, Black Lives Matter said, Black Lives Matter condemns the U.S. federal government's inhumane treatment of Cubans and urges it to immediately lift the economic embargo. BLM added, this cruel and inhumane policy instituted with the explicit intention of destabilizing the country and undermining Cubans' right to choose their own government is at the heart of Cuba's crisis. Since 1962, the United States has forced pain and suffering on the people of Cuba by cutting off food, medicine, and supplies costing the tiny island nation an estimated $130 billion. Protests in Cuba began on Sunday as thousands of Cubans gathered in the streets due to the dire conditions brought about by the Cuban nation's communist regime. Florida Republican Senator Marco Reveal called out the statement from BLM on Twitter, saying,

The extortionist ring known as the Black Lives Matter organization took a break today, from shaking down corporations for millions and buying themselves mansions to share their support for the communist regime in Cuba. In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced he has not decided when he will retire and is grateful for his newfound role as the court's most senior liberal. When asked if he's decided on his retirement plan, Breyer responded with no. Breyer continued by revealing his two considerations when making his decision of when to retire,

saying, primarily, of course, health, second, the court. Breyer's announcement comes as numerous Democratic Party officials and progressive activists have publicly called on him to leave the bench and allow President Joe Biden to name a younger liberal to the court while the Senate stays in Democratic control. 17 state attorneys general led by Republicans are coming out in support of Arkansas outlawing experimental transgender operations on minors. A statement from Attorney General Steve Marshall reads in the amicus brief from the 17 states, we are concerned about the surge in recent years of children suffering from gender dysphoria

and other forms of gender-related psychological distress. In April, Arkansas enacted the Save Adolescence from Experimentation Act, which outlaws gender transition for minors. Marshall, the Arkansas Attorney General, said, the evidence also shows that nearly all children whose gender dysphoria is treated with puberty blockers to, by time, will proceed to take cross-sex hormones and seek other medical interventions with irreversible lifelong consequences. Complications such as infertility, loss of sexual function, increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, bone density problems, risk of altered brain development, social risks from delayed puberty, and mental health concerns. In May, the ACLU sued Arkansas over the Arkansas law. Holly Dixon, ACLU's executive

director said in a statement, this law would be devastating to trans youth and their families, forcing many to uproot their lives and leave the state to access the gender-affirming care they need. Educational nonprofit organization, Consumers Research, released a new ad campaign on Thursday titled Woka Cola, targeting soda company Coca-Cola over its woke business initiatives. The campaign includes an ad airing in Atlanta, a website at alwayswoka-Cola.com, and mobile billboards on trucks that will drive around Coca-Cola's headquarters, museum, and the Georgia State Capitol over the next month. In a Thursday statement to Fox Business, consumers research executive director Will Hild said,

Today we are launching always wokecola.com and the accompanying ads as a satirical reminder to Coke to focus on their consumers, not woke politicians. Hild continued. The company has taken its eye off of the well-being of the customer. Their products continue to contribute significantly to childhood obesity. They have sourced sugar from companies in China, reportedly using forced labor. and they have such poor quality control that racist directives like Be Less White are included in staff trainings. Coca-Cola has come under fire recently for what many conservatives view as inappropriate forays into the political sphere.

In February, the business-faced backlash for promoting an online training course, encouraging employees to, quote, try to be less white to fight racism. While in May, Coca-Cola was criticized for statements the company made surrounding election integrity legislation in Georgia. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Ali Mari, followed by one of the most recent ads from the Free to Learn Coalition. The Heritage Foundation has a new website to combat critical race theory. CRT, as it's known, makes race the centerpiece of all aspects of American life. It categorizes individuals into groups of oppressors and victims. The idea is infiltrating everything from our politics and education to the workplace and even our military.

Heritage has pulled together the resources that you need to identify CRT, in your community and the ways to fight it. We also have a legislation tracker so you can see what's happening in your state. Visit heritage.org slash CRT to learn more. I'm joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Ali Mari. She's the president of the Free to Learn Coalition. Ali, it's great to have you with us on the Daily Signal podcast. Thanks for having me.

Well, Ali, can you just start off by telling us about what the Free to Learn Coalition is, what you guys do? Sure. So the Free to Learn Coalition is a nonpartisan coalition aimed at taking the politics out of the classroom. Over the last two years, 18 months, we've seen just an excessive uptick in a focus on activism rather than academic achievement. And seeing the classroom from a front row perspective by parents after a year of virtual learning with COVID, I think really helped to open everyone's eyes to what a problem this is and that it's not an

isolated incident to a district here and there, but is really something that's widespread. Well, we're going to talk about the ad campaign that you all just launched. But before we get there, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about what you were hearing or did you hear anything as we had this whole past year of virtual learning. What are parents saying or what have you been hearing them saying about what they've observed their kids learning as they've been home, maybe hearing parts of lectures, hearing more of what their kids are talking about, about what they're discussing in school. What was being said? What were parents saying? Exactly. I think the year of virtual learning is really what opened everyone's eyes.

You know, there had been anecdotal stories and feedback along the way. You know, this isn't a new thing. I think a lot of people have always thought that our education system trended to the left. However, seeing it firsthand, we started to hear a lot more about how there's been more of a emphasis on activism rather than academics. And that includes certainly critical race theory is extremely. prevalent and something that we're starting to hear more and more about, but it's not just isolated to that. And the big thing that we are hearing from parents is that as we start to fall behind in the world, countries like China, Russia, Estonia, Slovenia, Canada, they all outperform us.

And that's something that's very concerning to parents. We're all taxpayers. We're all paying into a public education system. And our students just aren't prepared for the future. So you all launched initial seven-figure national ad campaign. That's well over a million dollars advocating for classrooms that are independent, from political influence. So can you talk to us about just generally what this ad campaign does?

Sure. So there's four parts to it. Basically, there is the national ad campaign. In that campaign, we touch on three different districts across the country, Grace Church School in New York City. Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia and also Peoria, Arizona. And then there is a more geographically specific targeted advertisement in each of those three places. So a 30 second ad in Arizona in Fairfax and then also in New York City. And what we touch on in each of those is exactly

kind of what we just talked about as kids in the United States start to fall behind the rest of the world, there's this desire instead to focus on activism versus academic achievement. And so we highlight the issues specific to each of those three districts to help raise awareness within those communities and to show parents who may otherwise be apolitical that this isn't something that they should sit on the sidelines for. Well, we're going to get back to those issue-specific ads in those three school districts, but something I wanted to talk about more of the broader message of this is that the ads do call on schools to stop using partisan politics to shape students. Can you talk about what you've observed, what the organization has observed in terms of how schools are doing this right now?

Exactly. So as we got started and really were taking the temperature to see what kind of momentum we'd have for this type of a project, we did some initial research. And in our initial research, we learned that 82% of parents across the board, That's regardless of your political leanings, your socioeconomic background, your race, etc. 82% of the parents who we heard from agreed that there is no place for politics in the classroom. If you drill a little bit deeper than that, we found that 71% of parents said that they wanted their children exposed to multiple viewpoints. And when you drilled down even further from that, 66% of those parents identified as liberal. So this truly does have the ability to be a broad, nonpartisan coalition of parents who are interested in having the focus go back to academics rather than shaping kids into being activists.

Well, I just find that really interesting because in all of the coverage we've seen on mainstream media right now, I feel like what I would even think, and I hadn't heard the number that you mentioned at 82%. I mean, I'm curious what you think, but wouldn't you think parents, from what we see reported on mainstream news, would be, you know, huge proponents of maybe critical race theory or other things that are so left-leaning or, you know, specific to one message versus what you're mentioning, Allie, is having a whole multitude of different opinions that students can hear about and learn from. Yeah, I think you're touching on a really important point. First of all, I think the media is focused on one side of it. But beyond that, I think there are a lot of parents who are really hesitant to speak up and to speak up on behalf of their kids for several reasons. First of all, they don't want to be alienated or doxed by their friends or their neighbors or their employers. If you look at Loudoun County, some of the first parents there who spoke up, actually the subject of their recall petition to their school board is because the individuals on the school board and those affiliations, with their physical school, we're doxing them and initiating a cyber campaign to hack their social media accounts, et cetera. And so I think there is some very real hesitancy by parents or

advocates or community organizations to really push back on this because there are real-world ramifications and repercussions for parents who do so. So one of the things that our organization aims to help with is to provide resources, but also, again, to build that, coalition so that there is strength in numbers and so that the people who are interested in pushing back on this narrative and this activism that's taking place in the classrooms have the resources, but beyond just the resources have the numbers to be able to stand up and say, hey, this isn't right. We want the focus to be here. And here's 50 of us, 100 of us, 150 of us, who feel that way. Well, that's actually one of my next questions was asking you about

how your organization mentions that this ad campaign really marks. the beginning of an ability to give parents a bigger platform, more of a platform. And I even know you mentioned some of the ways you're hoping to do that. Is there anything else you want to add to that or even just address why this is so important is giving parents this voice, this ability to be present, to be involved in ways they really haven't been before? Yes. So as we've touched on, this is a big and nonpartisan issue.

We really believe and have seen in our research as parents are exposed not just to some of the buzzwords, but what is actually being taught that it is riling up a much bigger base of support than what might initially be thought to exist. And then to expand further on that, a lot of parents don't have a background in politics or activism. You know, Sarah Smith is a doctor and this person works at Amazon and someone else that works at Target. You know, these are people who are parents who send their kids to school, who expect to have their kids come home and study their math books and get good grades on their tests and then graduate and be successful in life. And they haven't previously had a need or a desire to be involved as activists themselves

in their kids' education. But the more that we see here and learn about what's going on, there is that desire, but these parents don't necessarily have the tools. And what we're seeing now is just showing up at school board meetings and trying to talk to those who are supposed to be representative of the curriculum that occurs in the classroom, the dialogue just doesn't exist. A lot of times as parents speak up, they're either shouted down. They're held to very, very small windows of time to be able to address the school board or, you know, the school board will pull something where they'll say, oh, this next meeting is virtual so that they can shut off microphones, et cetera. And what we're really seeing is just this increase of lack of representation

of dialogue. And the parents are really being pushed out. So to your point, in addition from just this initial splash of the ad campaign, we hope to be able to equip parents with tools to be able to make those meaningful conversations and impactful conversations with their schools and their representatives. Well, you had mentioned a little bit ago, Allie, about the three different ad campaigns you're doing in Virginia, in Arizona, in New York. Is there any story from either one of those three ad campaigns or any, I don't know, situation you want to tell listeners about the ads themselves and why you decided to pick those three different states? Is there anything you'd like to draw out for people that maybe they can identify with? Sure. So we chose the three that you mentioned

for a couple different reasons, the first of which to show that this is truly something that is, quote, sweeping the nation. It's not unique to New York City. It's not just happening in Oklahoma. I mean, it's happening across the country. So New York City, Fairfax, Virginia, Peoria, Arizona. And they also are all very different examples. One that hasn't gotten much attention at the national scale is Peoria, Arizona, where we chose to focus. This is a district where we're talking about truly issues of actual public safety for kids. Over the course of the last 18 months, two years, there have been cases of assault, sexual assault,

and a student who actually went missing and was later found in Iowa with a staff member from the school. And all of that is occurring. Meanwhile, the school is implementing this activist-style curriculum, and when parents show up the school board meetings with questions about it, there is more of a focus on shutting down

the dissent and the debate or even the request from parents to see the curriculum, then there is on any of those public safety and student safety issues that we just talked about. So again, it just shows this really unfortunate example of where priorities and resources are just misaligned with what we should be providing for our kids in order to make them successful. And that in some cases, unfortunately, like Arizona, it's not just, about academics, it's also broader than that to include safety. Well, as we wrap up, I wanted to ask you for those who might not be as familiar with Free to Learn Coalition, what other things would you like to highlight as ways you all are helping, you know,

parents and students take on this political activism that we're seeing? Well, a big thing I'd like to point people out to is if you visit our website, freetlearn.org, we're collecting stories about this from across the country, and that's actually going to help to inform places that we're able to provide resources as we move forward. So there's an opportunity there for you to share your story about your school district. But beyond that, what we hope to do, as evidenced by our name, is to really truly grow this coalition into a nonpartisan big group of parents that really is a force to be reckoned with where we're able to elevate some of these stories and show that while some in the media or

and the political class want to dismiss this as a conspiracy, it's not. You know, just in the week or so since we've launched, we've seen an incredible amount of activity on that, share your story page on our website. And we're hopeful that in the next couple days we'll be able to share and roll out some of those stories just to help show that this is unfortunately something that is pervasive across the country. And it really is something that requires some action.

Well, on that note, I guess bonus questions, since you mentioned the stories. Is there one that you want to preview or highlight or even if you can't do that, maybe just a common theme of something that you're seeing in those stories? I think the biggest thing that we're seeing, and we've touched on this already, is that parents don't feel like school boards are being responsive to them. So while the issues may be slightly different from district to district, when parents are calling either their school administrator or the superintendent, the principal,

et cetera, and saying, hey, my son or daughter came home talking about this, can I see the curriculum or can you tell me more about what this is? A lot of times they're dismissed and brushed off. And that can be as minor, use that air quotes there, as minor as just being told, oh, forget about it. It's no big deal. It was just this day of kind of unit thing to something like, oh, that doesn't exist. We don't teach critical racer here.

We aren't talking about sexuality. We aren't talking about, you name it. And just a full-blown denial. Meanwhile, the parent is holding a handout that was given to their child in their seventh grade math class. So I think the biggest thing is that there is just this total lack of representation and accountability on the part of schools. And just this desire to sweep it under the rug and make it a part of the curriculum that kids are being taught versus having any sort of meaningful discussion with parents where there may actually be opportunities for buy-in. on certain issues or in the way that they're presented. But the way that it's happening right now with no dialogue and parents being told that none of

it is in fact happening, it's really setting up for just a, you know, unfortunate dynamic there where parents are feeling like they have to be against their school instead of working collaboratively to make sure that their kids are getting a quality education. Well, Allie, thank you so much for joining us on the Daily Signal podcast. It's been great having you with us. Tell folks where they can follow Free to Learn Coalition if they want to get involved, if they want to share their story. Yes, free to learn.org is our website. And I would encourage you to join us there, share your story, sign up for updates.

Awesome. Thank you, Allie, for joining us on the Daily Signal podcast. Thanks for having me. While our students fall behind the world in reading, writing, math, and science, New York City's Grace Church School is employing a curriculum that demonizes children based on skin color. Fairfax County, Virginia is turning the best. best school in the country into a casualty of political activism. And in Peoria, Arizona, officials are blocking parents from even seeing the controversial curriculum they teach. Enough with schools using partisan politics to shape students. Our kids deserve better. Join us.

And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and IHeart Radio. Please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcast. and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back with you all on Monday. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Rachel Del Judas, sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailySignal.com.