Is it time to reset the clock again? Yet another American public school has been caught out, foisting yet another far-left activist on its kids. It sure sounds like yet another sally in the Long March through the Institutions.
An Ohio superintendent defended a decision to bring a self-described “anarchist bimbo” who posted on Twitter about “sex work” to a high school classroom.
Dr. Trent Bowers said in a Monday email to Fox News Digital that the activist spoke to high school students about homelessness in a class catered to radical voices.
A “class catered to radical voices”?
The anarchist activist, Elizabeth Blackburn, tweeted about the speaking engagement at Worthington Kilbourne High School hosted on Oct. 19.
She said, “I spoke to Worthington Kilbourne Politics and Radicalism classes today, a presentation titled ‘Solidarity: the Case for Camp Shameless.’ It was such an awesome experience, I can’t wait to read what the students write about it,” according to a screenshot shared by Libs of TikTok.
In her Twitter profile, Blackburn identifies herself as an “anarchist bimbo,” “fat activist,” and included “sex work.”
Other screenshots captured by Libs of TikTok showed Blackburn showing off “#antifafashion” and sexually explicit pictures.
Sounds like yet more of the same old, same old, yes?
Well… maybe not.
A school principal was in the room during the discussion and there was nothing presented to students like is being presented in social media online.”
So, what was presented?
[Blackburn] also links to a non-profit group called the First Collective. The group is located in central Ohio and sponsors an encampment called “Camp Shameless.” According to their website the camp “houses 20-25 residents, provides shelter, food, medical supplies and care, transportation, harm reduction supplies, funds for individuals’ immediate needs, and a community of support, acceptance, and growth.”
Which is what she apparently spoke about.
“Worthington Kilbourne recently had a speaker who focused on activism for the homeless population. That speaker’s social media is drawing attention and unfortunately people are not taking the time to understand that by nature the speakers in this elective only class will be radical.”
Fox News
To give them the benefit of the doubt, the classes in question appear to be highly specialised, and offered only to seniors and two high schools. The classes have run for decades and are explicitly designed to examine “political thought in the United States of America from the extreme right to the extreme left and beliefs beyond the traditional political spectrum.”
Note that: extreme right to the extreme left.
In fact, it appears that this high school class is one that would shame — if not outrage — many college campuses, where hearing opposing viewpoints is all but banned.
A political science course where speakers from the most radical groups—from neo-Nazis to die-hard communists—are invited to present their views and answer questions […]
Over the years, the speakers have included Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground (“Don’t be stupid like me when I was younger,” he told the class), white supremacist Richard Spencer, and Ramona Africa, sole survivor of the bomb police dropped on MOVE, the headquarters of the black (and animal) liberation organization to which she belonged.
Unlike some college professors, who find themselves unable to discuss a controversial topic without being accused of endorsing it, at Worthington there seems to be a solid understanding that there is a difference between studying radicalization and actually radicalizing students. In fact, the idea of “Let’s explore all those landmines” is probably the most radical idea to which the kids are being exposed.
Past students endorse the class as exactly the sort of exercise in engaging with challenging ideas that many universities today refuse to even allow. As one senior said, “it helped her expand her views and learn tolerance”.
What they are getting instead is the chance to hear from an array of speakers outside the mainstream, as well as the ever-more-rare chance to be treated as thoughtful humans who can grapple with ideas and people they disagree with, and not be harmed in the process.
Reason
Which sounds exactly like the sort of exercise in free speech I at least could get behind.
