Letters: 'Indoctrination' just a misnomer for 'Protect Ohio Children from the Truth'
Truth disguised as 'indoctrination'
I read Madeline Mitchell’s article on Protect Ohio Children and Diane Stover with interest. I was particularly struck by the use of the term "indoctrination."
One definition of indoctrination is "the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically." (Oxford Lexico) The key word is "uncritically."
More: Are schools indoctrinating kids on sex, gender, diversity? Protect Ohio Children says yes
During my high school education in the late '60s, the term "indoctrination" referred to the strategy of dictators and groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Anyone who offered a critical point view regarding Nazi or Klan beliefs risked death.
More: Is critical race theory an attack on 'whiteness' and American values?
For hundreds of years, a white male-dominated education system has indoctrinated all Americans to believe false narratives about heroic white early settlers, theft of Native American land and culture, the brutality of enslavement, and more.
This false narrative has contributed to mistrust of "others" in America and to systems that continue to marginalize others.
More: Letters: Don't erase 'ugly truth about this potentially great country.' Ditch the trash.
Now this historic indoctrination, embedded deep in American education, is being examined critically and, like those who have committed indoctrination in the past, Stover and others characterize truth as indoctrination.
Perhaps the organization should be renamed "Protect Ohio Children from the Truth."
Chris Kloth, Columbus
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Strike would hold education 'for ransom'
Community members following the coverage of the Columbus teacher contract drama — which appears to be spiraling toward a strike — likely remain unaware of the main point of contention.
More: Leaders of Columbus teachers union vote to issue 10-day notice of intent to strike
The teachers union continues to demand a 26% salary increase over three years, on top of the automatic “step” raises most teachers receive automatically. The district has offered a 9% increase and $2,000 retention bonus.
Some recent history is helpful: In early fall 2020, with the economy in freefall and Columbus parents facing waves of layoffs, the union insisted on continuing with the planned 3% raises, even as other public employee groups made concessions, while refusing to extend the school year to address learning disruption.
In late fall 2020, the union unilaterally blocked the district’s limited reopening plan that prioritized students with severe disabilities, who struggled the most with virtual learning.
More: Bargaining ends as Columbus City Schools says it's made 'final offer' on teachers contract
What ultimately got schools reopened was not better health measures but financial concessions: The district agreed to boost the pay for a small number of teachers assigned to its virtual academy, adding an hourly “supplemental” rate on top of their regular wages.
Unfortunately, as with most education issues, the current fighting is also about adult interests, not student needs. Teachers have difficult jobs and deserve our respect. But the union should not hold education for our most disadvantaged children for ransom.
Vladimir Kogan, Columbus
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Letters: 'Indoctrination' another word for protecting kids from truth
