Education
Feminist Kathy Groob’s Racist tweets about Kentucky essentially having NO ASIANS is a lose-lose situation
Kathy Groob got into a Twitter war arguing that Elaine Chao, the former labor secretary and wife of Republican US Senator Mitch McConnell, can’t possibly be from Kentucky, “because she’s Asian.”
That drew a firestorm on Twitter from folks who didn’t see the relationship between being from Kentucky and being Asian. One of Ms Groob’s many Anti-Kentucky and Anti-Asian American racist tweets (all of which she later deleted from her account), appears below.
In order to present an accurate portayal, I am including links to articles posted on a Kentucky television station (WHAS), an extremely conservative blog (fireandreamitchell.com) and an Asian American blog (AsAm News) to let you determine the appropriateness of Ms. Groob’s comments regarding Asian Americans and Kentucky (1) Kentucky has no Asians, and (2) Ms. Goob continues to openly express the widely held belief, despite her very liberal views, that Asian Americans, regardless of how many generations their ancestors have been American citizens “are really never fully American.”
I realize, of course, that politics often descend into the absurd and that Ms. Goob made her racist attacks because she disapproves of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnel (R, KY) (who is married to Asian American Elaine Chao–a citizen of both Kentucky and the United States) and I realize she did make an “apology” (though her “apology” was perhaps the weakest and least effective apology in modern political history). Ms. Goob’s comments, however, fall outside any sense of human decency, and continue to depict Asian Americans, depite their legal citizenship, as forever foreign and unwanted in their country of citizenship. Make no mistake, there is no doubt, whatsover, that Ms. Goob was well aware of Ms. Chao’s citizenship (in both Kentucky and the U.S.). If she is as involved in politics and feminism on the national scene as she claims, she would certainly know that Elaine Chao was the first Asian American women to be appointed to a U.S. President’s cabinet in American history, serving as the United States Secretary of Labor from 2001 to 2009. If Ms. Chao did not possess Asian features, I can only assume she would have been thumping her chest that a female served as Secretary of Labor (a Cabinet level position) for two full terms under a Republican President–but how could she celebrate a woman in such a high level position because thw woman “did not look like an American citizen, but looked instead like a massage parlor worker whom the poor, ignorant hillbillies populating Kentucky (including me, though I have an LL.M. degree from George Washington University and even have an “Asian” daughter) would surely not allow to live in their state. I guess I should receive my notice any day to report to an interment camp with my daughter).
Since Ms. Goob has announced to the world through social media that Ms. Chao can’t possibly live in Kentucky because of her Asian features, I guess, based on her logic, my 15 year-old Asian American daughter isn’t from Kentucky either since she was adopted from the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan and has lived with and been a part of our Kentucky family since she was 18 months old. The good liberal, Ms. Groob, has helped perpetuate the myth that Americans with Asian features are somehow strange and different and will never be accepted as true Americans in the United States. Perhaps her point of view (which many claim is wholely within the domain of Conservative politics, though Ms. Groob has proven otherwise) is the reason that Asian teens are the most bullied racial group in the U.S. and also have the highest suicide rate.
I care very deeply about this subject of Asians being viewed and treated differently because the issue directly affects my ethnic Kaazakh daughter (both an Asian and Kentucky citizen, though in Ms. Groob’s world the two categories cannot co-exist). I also care because my Asian Kentucky citizen daughter was bullied (racially harassed and retaliated against) at her previous school based on her ethnicity, national origin, race and religion) while the school system at every level displayed an incredible deliberate indifference with regard to my many comlaints of her mistreatment. When people like Ms. Kroob spew their hatred on a national stage, there is a trickle down effect reminding all of white America that American citizens with Asian features are “not really” Americans and there is no need to allow them the same courtesy and conditions to which white people feel priviliged.
http://www.asamnews.com/2014/08/04/whas-democratic-operatives-tweet-about-elaine-chao-draws-rebuke/
Posted with BlogsySlowly, but surely, the law recognizes bullying for what it is.
The article from the Education Law firm referenced below provides a very concise, but accurate picture of the general state of the law regarding bullying, as it now exists. Here's to hoping school administrators (not all of them, of course, because I've m
et some very good ones) spend more time in changing their school system's climate that tolerates (or, at times, instigates) the harassment of students from diverse cultures, and spend less time trying to protect those in their good old boy network and less time focusing on preserving the cronyism status quo. Adopting a curriculum that extolled the virtues of tolerance and the importance of diversity should be a top priority for all school administrators.
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/bullying-slowly-but-surely-the-law-rec-74663/
Bullying will never end at some schools because it is an effective, but terribly cruel way to protect the administrators and their cronies
The link below shows another superintendent rambling about his school days as both victim and bully and both the shame and guilt he continues to experience. Other than currying favor with those families with family members who have been victimized AND with those whose family members engage in the victimization, what does his article say? Yes–bullying hurts many people. Yes–the effects of bullying lasts into adulthood. But now that he holds a position in which he could effectuate REAL CHANGE, what has he done or what steps, if any, has he considered to STOP or implement to mitigate the effects of the victims and hold the bullies responsible for those actions he considers so heinous.
http://www.vaildaily.com/opinion/12310939-113/bullying-bus-signs-person
His rhetoric is, quite bluntly, what WE DO NOT NEED to effectuate real changes to stop the bullying in our schools–not some maudlin, reflective piece by a school administrator perfectly balanced to maintain perched atop the fence, straddling both sides.
Bullying and Harassment–Efforts by the Presidential AAPI to Protect Asian Americans–an often overlooked group
http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/aapi/bullying-and-harassment/
The Presidential AAPI Initiative has been very effective in reducing bullying of Asian Americans, the most bullied ethnic group in America, but only in those schools who have a genuine interest in choosing to complying with Federal and State statutes and regulations over hurt feelings of mommy coaches and friends who, without impunity, follow the long-held unwritten rules of cronyism–believing their threats to parents who raise legitimate, will destroy their children’s chances of being placed in AP courses or, for those few minorities in these (mostly schools with no minorities employed for any positions) a reduction in playing time or a smear campaign if complaints of racism do not stop (without ever investigating these complaints, of course). If you have bought into the “Asians as model minority myth”, please recognize that The term “Asian” covers an incredibly large number of people, whose only connection with other Asians is simply that their ancestors at some point lived on the same, extremely large continent. Please treat all Asians or Asian Americans as separate ethnic groups with their own, often very different, cultures and heritage. My Asian American daughter is from Central Asia and her ancestors did not use chopsticks (though she has since become quit adroit at using them). She also excels at the highest levels of amateur basketball, playing on one of only a handful of Nike-sponsored teams and a member of Nike’s EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League), yet was taunted by her own teammates at her FORMER school with racial slurs and up through the last day was told “Asians can’t play basketball.” Typical comments raised as complaints up through the all-white schoolboard and white School District Superintendent. After the high school varsity coach declared that my daughter had the best skill set on the varsity team, I raised a number of complaints of Title VI yet again (though now that she has thankfully transferred to a school that celebrates her diversity, I question why I continued to make complaint after complaint, when most rational people would have stopped when the entire coaching staff ratcheted up their harassment of my daughter. Most significantly, though, after proclaiming my daughter the best player on the varsity team, posting her name as the only middle school player on the varsity team in the community’s largest newspaper and having her dress with the varsity the first 4 or 5 teams, summoned my daughter into her office and said, “Don’t take this personally, but you ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO PLAY VARSITY, and then calling a fellow 8th grader (who did not make the all conference team as my daughter) and a 7th grader who rarely even played in 8th grade games) to proclaim they would be on the varsity team. In fact, the two newest varsity members were not even made to play on the freshman team, as was my daughter–though she was the only middle school player who played JV the previous year, but at that point relegated to a little used player on the JV team. It should be pointed out that this schools girls basketball program was very lightly regarded. Two months after the season thankfully came to an end, my daughter’s AAU team won the State’s AAU Division I championship and earned a number 15 seed in the AAU National tournament. Despite transferring to a new school where she is treated with respect and dignity, the U.S. Department of Education and our State’s Commission on Human Rights is continuing to investigate the school’s athletic program–complaints filed by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) who filed the complaints in their own name against my daughter’s former school system–after the school district treated a NYC civil rights group in the same manner as they treated my daughter and our family WITH COMPLETE DELIBERATE INDIFFERENCE.
Connectivism as a solution to the “critical thinking crisis? My humble view.
This is a very interesting concept in education–one I have found to be very effective in the graduate university courses and seminars I have taught. The style I have found most beneficial to my students learning complex and controversial material is to: (1) I begin each course period with an overview of the concepts to be learned and applied in that period [Students are warned in the initial introduction class that a if they fail to complete the assigned reading in advance of attending the class, there is little chance for mastery of the material.]; (2) After completing my lecture and handing out to the students copies of my lecture materials, I randomly and arbitrarily assign each class member to a group of 3-7 students, depending on class size [To assure the best random sample possible, I base placement into groups on arbitrary, meaningless criteria such as zodiac signs, favorite cartoon characters, and so forth.]; (3) I then pass out to each “small group” a written hypothetical statement of facts, prepared in advance of class and using the students names as the “characters” in my “stories” (and given that I have primarily taught environmental/natural resource courses, the characters are typically engaged in activities viewed as compliant or non-compliant with statutory and case law and guidance and regulations, in numerous ways); (4) Each small group is required to appoint a spokesperson and then provided a given length of time (typically limited to 30 minutes to avoid extemporaneous conversations) to IDENTIFY each relevant issue spotted in the hypothetical story, IDENTIFY each character's culpability listed in the story (liable versus compliant, etc.), and PROVIDE A WELL-REASON CONCLUSION FOR EACH ISSUE; (5) I reassemble the small groups back into their ordinal seating configuration, and then I ask each group leader to identify each issue in the “story”, the potential fate of each character–all supported by a reasoned conclusion, and I then ask which issues were most controversial among the group, (6) Finally, we have a general class discussion in which I answer any questions, point out issues which every missed (and explain why those were important enough to be identified and analyzed).
I am not suggesting my teaching technique is unique, that I “invented” it or that it isn't less effective than other teaching styles. All I can say is that the rapid evolution of the students' critical thinking skills and mastery of the materials throughout the semester is shocking to me each time I teach a new course. I have been told by students in every class, who come into my class with diverse educational backgrounds (degrees in Biology, Engineering, Occupational Health and Safety, Geology, Teaching, Law, Political Science, and Physics, to name only a few), that my course is the first course, at any level, that they have ever been made “to think”, rather than memorizing copious amounts of information and “puking it out onto an exam” –never to think about how it might be applied in “the real world” or ever thinking about the material again. I am also frequently told, particularly by those students with a physical science background, that at the beginning of the course they felt I was being evasive by refusing to reveal “the correct answers” to their questions, but instead suggesting to them that there is “no” wrong answer, provided the answer is responsive to the question and backed by a strong, well-reasoned analysis. Typically, those students would tell me the lightbulb came on just about at the midpoint of the semester, and that they then became comfortable with working with subject matter that is very gray, as opposed to the black and white world through which their physical science courses were taught.
In order for the small group discussions to continue to be dynamic, I must reassign students to new groups each new class–so they can experience the collective experience with all of their classmates (and to avoid the problems with cliques, but exposing them to the real world working environment by rquiring every student to work collectively, toward a common goal, witth students from diverse educational, socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic and racial bakgrounds).
I realize that I have used, actually overused the term “critical thinking” in this post and it is now fashionable in academia to bemoan the inability of this current generation of students to critically think, but rest assured, I slowly developed my system of teaching over the last 15 years because I observed first hand the students in my graduate classes the dearth of students possessing the ability to critically think. I was caught completely offguard 15 years ago when an entire class of students (except one, whom I will list by name–Cory Wilson) would respond any time I asked a question that required an answer based on reasoning and analysis, “What page is that on, Professor?” In any event, I am not simply jumping onn the bandwagon decrying the loss of critical thinking skills nor do I even have a working defintion of the term. I simplistically view the term “critical thinking” just as did U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart viewed hard core pornography in the case of Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964), in which he infamously and imprecisely stated, “I know it when I see it.” Only in my case, the reverse is true: I know it when I don't see it.
I am always interested in learning of teaching styles which require students to “critically think” in an effective and enjoyable way . . . so please feel free to share with me any tecniques that have been beneficial in your teaching experience.
Below is a link to an excellent article written by Robin Bartoletti regarding her experience with connectivism.
http://elearningfaculty.org/connectivism-its-a-theory-i-am-the-one-who-is-connected/
Why does this inane and insane stereotype of Asian Americans continue to gather momentum?
Why does this inane and insane stereotype of Asian Americans continue to gather momentum?
The “model minority” myth lives on, and, in fact, is spreading even more rapidly than anyone imagined–not as a compliment, but as some analysts contend a shield against claims of racism.
Picture used in high school AP history class
Discussing No Court Time with a Player
Not everyone can be a star, but every player CAN & DESERVES TO BE TREATED WITH DIGNITY!
There are so many excellent coaches wo willingly volunteer their time or get paid next to nothing to make not only skilled players out of our sons and daughters, but also mold them into excellent young men and young ladies. Having played, coached, been the son of a coach and have had so many excellent coaches for my daughter, I really admire the characteristics of a great coach I just listed. Unfortunately, just as someone gets to become rich by playing the lottery, there are those rare coaches (scratch that last noun and insert: “bullies who love the title of coach, but whose real love is humiliating talented players,destroying their confidence and then telling them they couldn’t “man up”–who in my daughter’s case was 11 years old when the bully who calls herself coach dug her claws into her. Thankfully, we moved schools while the U.S. Dept. Of Education and our state’s ?Commission on Human Rights investigates this “coach”, and my daughter, just finishing her 9th grade year is receiving recruiting letters from NCAA High Division I universities–but nearly gave up basketball because of the deplorable treatment of her bully who called herself a coach.
If you are a sports fan, a coach, player or concerned parent and you haven’t or don’t follow FBC (@funbasketballcoach), you are missing out on some wonderful articles from advice articles such as this one to coaching strategy and player drills. I personally have not met the man behind the twitter account, but I know I enjoy his posts!
terryclarke blog 
