The Lies My Teacher Told Me At GMU
By Greg L | 18 May 2008 | Prince William County | 34 Comments
George Mason University has a graduate program for teachers called “Initiatives In Educational Transformation.” Billed as a professional development opportunity for teachers in Northern Virginia, it is little more than a taxpayer-supported opportunity to for radicals to force-feed propaganda down the throats of those who teach our children. Why our public schools accept professional development credits from this institution, given what I’ve heard from the students subjected to this “academic” farce is beyond me, as there seems to be nothing of value whatsoever in this program.
The program describes itself with a predicable degree of meaningless gobbledygook:
The philosophical aim of IET is to help teachers develop a repertoire of practices that challenges them to surface, revisit, and rethink the routines and assumptions that shape their work. Recognizing that the practice of schooling often thwarts what Parker Palmer calls the “inner landscape of a teacher’s life,” IET seeks to intentionally create spaces where teachers can reflect upon their practice and, in the critical company of others, design thoughtful and constructive responses to the obstacles that inhibit student learning.
Because our goal for teachers is to literally transform their school environments, IET grounds its work with teachers in reflective practice and critical pedagogy, which contributes to the notion of schools as just communities. All aspects of our planning and teaching revolve around the premise that every act of a teacher has moral implications for children and families. This means that teachers struggle with issues of what it means to teach in moral ways, to promote social justice, and to shape the educational context of US schools at the beginning of this new millennium. We consistently make the case for action - that teachers can be agents for change in schools and have the potential to marshal resources for the betterment of children.
So what does a program that seeks to bring a “social justice” element into pedagogy do? They throw away any premise of actual learning, and instead parade a bunch of political outcasts in front of the students (or victims, if you prefer) to convince them that the community is fatally infected with a level of racism, sexism, and capitalism to provide their unique and ideologically approved screeds to a captive audience trying to fulfill the professional development requirements that teachers must meet. That parade included Aracely Panameno, who garnered fewer votes in her attempt to unseat Neabsco Supervisor John Jenkins than “Ham Sandwich”obtained against Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert in the November 2007 elections. It included representatives from “Tenants And Workers United”, a radical open-borders group that organizes illegal alien day laborers. And no parade of “social justice” advocates would be complete without Annabel Park and Eric Byler, of the 9500Liberty and UnitedForObama websites.
This charade came to my attention after one of the students, who is a member of Help Save Manassas, informed me that Aracely Panameno had made her unique contribution to the search for academic truth by telling this captive audience the ridiculous lie that Help Save Manassas is a joint project of the Ku Klux Klan and the Minuteman Project during a class. “Tenants And Workers United” also came and spoke while photographing the students in the classroom, which many found disturbing. I figured that since this was supposed to be an academic environment, it might be a good idea to email the professor and offer her an opportunity to allow some diversity of viewpoints. So I sent the professor Betsy Demulder this email:
Betsy,
My name is Greg Letiecq, and I am president of Help Save Manassas. I’ve gotten reports that at a recent class a Ms. Aracely Panameno made claims that Help Save Manassas was founded by minutemen and the Ku Klux Klan. This is absolutely false and slanderous. I understand that panelists invited by the Graduate School of Education are solely responsible for their comments, but allowing false and slanderous rhetoric such as this to go unchallenged and uninspected is a disservice to your students and to the reputation of George Mason University.
In the interest of ensuring your students obtain a more complete and accurate understanding of the dynamics involved in the immigration debate and what that debate means for professional educators, I am willing to make myself available to your class and provide a more responsible picture of the immigration debate in Prince William County and beyond. If there’s a specific topic you’d like me to cover, let me know and I’ll put something together that I’m sure will be of value. I’m more than willing to answer questions, and speak to any number of students, faculty or other interested persons.
This could be a great opportunity for your students to get a true picture of the opposing sides in this debate, as well as a chance to correct some false information that one of your panelists provided.
After a few days, I got this response:
Greg,
We are interested in hearing all perspectives on the immigration issue and would welcome your attendance at one of our class days. Annabel Park, who is producing the 9500 Liberty documentary, will be screening her film for our class in May and we plan to open that up as a community event. Perhaps you could join us then. I will get back to you when I know more.
Thank you for getting in touch.
-Betsy DeMulder
So perhaps the search for academic truth isn’t entirely dead, but subject to some severely unequal treatment. I would be the first to provide an alternative viewpoint, and instead of given an opportunity to present my take on the issue, I’d be put in the position of responding to someone else’s take on me. It’s a challenge, but since it would likely be the only opportunity to show this as the farce it is, I figured that making sure an accurate record of the event would be recorded would help ensure that some semblance of fairness existed. Here’s my response:
Professor Demulder,
Although this has every hallmark of an ambush, to try to force me to respond to the work of political opponents that would like to characterize themselves as unbiased documentary filmmakers, I think I’ll accept on the condition that we are permitted to record what transpires as long as we keep confidential the names of any students and do not use photography or other images of students in your class. Unlike Tenants and Workers United, we are not interested in documenting who your students are without their permission. We would also like to make available printed materials to any students who may be interested in them that would correct the false information that has so far been presented in your class.
My intention was that I would be able to provide for your students more accurate information about the citizens who wish to reduce the number of illegal aliens who unlawfully reside within our communities, and the implications of this ongoing public debate on the public school system. If instead you simply want me to respond to the charges of my political opponents, I can do that as well.
I’d note that you have not attempted to subject those who advocate on behalf of illegal aliens to these same conditions. Our opponents were given free reign to present whatever they wanted, without providing any balance to the debate, and never called on to respond to any criticism. Our only invitation to present our side of the debate, which we had to request, requires that we respond to the propaganda of our opponents.
I can see that the academic search for truth is alive and well at George Mason University.
Fair or not, we will accept your invitation, subject to these conditions which I am sure you find reasonable given the circumstances.
No response. I guess I hit a nerve. So how does Betsy Demulder react? I’ll let one of her students tell you:
At the last class in April one of my professors told us that you “refused” to come speak with us because “it had all the hallmarks of an ambush”. I noted the fact that she alleged you “refused”, I wrote it in my notes. However I was familiar with your response to them, and when Betsy told us you “refused”, I instantly thought “That’s not what I read!” [Ed note: this student had been given a copy of the email exchange earlier] So I took it upon myself to note this in writing. When I gave my required feedback to my professors, I called them on their lie, by informing them that they lied. They responded to my feedback with their own feedback, and they claimed they NEVER said you refused, they told us that you accepted with conditions that they could not meet so they decided not to extend an invitation. Now I was at that class and I did not hear that, I showed the email sent to me claiming what they said to a classmate, and her response was “bullshit.” I showed another classmate the email and his response was “That’s not what I heard.” I showed another classmate the email and she said “That is NOT what they said.” They emailed me and demanded that I back up my suggestion that they lied. I did. I have yet to hear back from them.
So what happens when there isn’t a student in the class who is actually interested in learning the truth and willing to fight for it a bit? Does this propaganda delivered by selectively invited leftists, with the approval of professors who are so eager to lie to their class in order to defend this, just get absorbed without any degree of critical thinking by the students? I should hope not.
Annabel Park got a chance to deliver her propaganda diatribe in the end during a forum at the “World Cafe forum”. Some students started getting wise to the game being played, and began to look at what was being delivered by GMU with a much more critical eye.
A friend of mine from the IET program was invited to speak at a World Cafe forum on immigration at GMU. Annabel was also there speaking. My friend told me that she found Annabel to be really “out there” with her ideas, and Annabel offered many conspiracy theories in regard to immigration issues.” My friend thought she was a real nut job.
It’s not like this friend was a hard-core immigration advocate either — she was hand-picked by the faculty to participate in this, and sounds like a pretty liberal, sort of artsy person who wouldn’t normally have an unkind word to say about anyone. If Annabel Park is getting this kind of reaction from what should be a pretty accepting crowd for her, something here is seriously wrong. When you start promoting bizarre government.military/Republican Party conspiracy theories however, even the granola and birkenstocks crowd starts to think you’re an over the top loon.
Finally there was an opportunity for Annabel Park to address the IET class, and screen a few clips from 9500Liberty. The student in the class picks up the story with this narrative:
This Saturday we heard from Annabel Park and Eric Byler, her cohort. The class I spoke of in March was Aracelly Panameno and Francisco Hernandez of the Tenants and Workers United along with another hispanic guy whose name I shall find for you. I do know the “hispanic guy” is very involved in the Knights of Columbus at All Saints if memory serves me. This past Saturday was a bit surreal. Annabel and Eric showed up for their 9:30 to 11:30 presentation. Campus security was there as well, in the lobby, while the two of them spoke. Annabel was pretty toned down in her rhetoric. She described you as a “provocative figure.” The clips were old. Three times they showed Robert Deucaster at the board meeting talking about repelling the invasion. Eric Byler referred to him as “a crazy old man.” Annabel stated that illegal immigration and the resolution “are two separate things”, and that to say one is “against illegal immigration makes no sense” as no one is for it not even the illegals themselves.
Eric then went on a rant about how because of the resolution, school enrollment in PWC will drop so low it may cause teachers to lose jobs. The two of them suggested that people locked up on immigration violations were not really criminals and were taking up space in the jails. A teacher in the audience said “If a person breaks a law then they need to be arrested.” Annabel responded with “I don’t understand?” (she did this frequently which drove me nuts). “Are you talking about criminals or those who violated immigration?” The teacher responded by saying that a violation of immigration law is a violation of law. Annabel’s response “Let’s show another clip.” She blew the teacher off. Then she and Eric went back to the teacher and said “What is it you were saying?” The teacher repeated what she had said before which was a violation IS a violation. Then Annabel and Eric started to laugh and Annabel said “I often speed should I be put in jail? Isn’t that a violation?” The teacher responded by saying “This is not funny to me! I live here!” Eric then responded by demanding “What do you teach?!” The teacher then said that does not matter!” He kept asking “So what do you teach?!” the entire time the teacher was trying to get her point across.
At another point, Eric and Annabel were talking about how the PWC resolution required the police to racially profile all people. A wife of a PWC cop spoke up and said “My husband was never asked to racially profile anyone! He went to a training class about how NOT to racially profile! And he is very unhappy about how the media has portrayed what PWC police do!” Annabel’s response “I don’t understand?”
Then another person spoke up and said “What she is saying is..” then Eric butted in and said “All I hear is that there is a miscommunication between between this lady and her husband!” He was then booed by the majority of the audience. They did show a clip of you reading from the bible. Then they had a clip of a Catholic priest refute what you said. All I could think was “Why on God’s green earth would they go Catholic for a response?”
They did show an interview with Daniel Fernandez, son of the wall dude. Eric asked him in the interview if he (Daniel) felt as those whites at school were against him. Again, and again Daniel said he did not feel as though his peers in school were against hispanics. Eric then said “Well you can tell in the interview that I did not believe him.” The two of them then tried to get the teachers to say that there is racial animosity in their schools. However, the majority, especially the elem levels could barely come up with a single example.
One of the funnier moments when the clips from 9500Liberty were screened involved a speech from a teacher in Prince William County that stated that Christopher Columbus was an illegal alien. These teachers, infused with the Standards of Learning curriculum which teaches that Columbus never set foot in what is now the United States but had landed in the Bahamas audibly moaned at this point. Underestimating your audience comes with some very real consequences, although it’s not clear whether Eric Byler and Annabel Park believe this falsehood they’re promoting.
So this is what the captive audience of students at GMU have to deal with in order to satisfy requirements for their teaching credentials. If this is how we ensure we have the best teachers, we’re making a huge mistake. How the following program qualifies for taxpayer support is a question that our elected officials in Richmond need to answer, pronto.
Every IET program has the same overview of classes, yet GMU allows their professors to “infuse their own flair” so to speak. The Arlington IET grads’ final project was to decorate a chair, yes I said “chair”. They then had to write a 3-5 page paper. In PWC we were told over and over that we have “white priviledge” and were required to turn in a 30 page research project. Our set of professors taught something different than the professors before them. The professors who follow after are teaching something different as well. The only way to grasp what GMU is teaching to their students is to request the agendas, books, lectures, and assignments. I can guarantee you that Arlington will NOT match with PWC. Yet we receive the same degree.
If GMU can’t engage in a legitimate effort to seek out and teach academic truth, rather than leftist propaganda, they do not deserve taxpayer support. As far as what value “academic” credentials from GMU can possible hold, if this kind of behavior by faculty is commonplace, I can’t see how anyone investing in a degree program from GMU could ever believe they’re getting their money’s worth.
The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.
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34 Comments
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It’s interesting to note that in your first e-mail to Betsy Demulder you address her as “Betsy”, even though it sounds as if you have not met her.
In your second e-mail she becomes “Professor Demulder”.???
The student you’re quoting sounds as if he has been very well indoctrinated in Gregism, IMO.
Benton,
That’s education courses for you! Always dealing with some sort of liberal clap-trap
That one sounds like it was the root of all evil. You left off the granola bars! They also probably recycle paper in that class.
Gawwwwd, I hate ED courses.
You know you have won the argument when the opposition starts to call you names.
Great information Greg. Keep up the good work. I come here several times a day to read your post and the comments. I am from SW VA where they don’t care about illegals.
ladyxx - from BSG (Big Stone Gap), myself. Whereabouts are you?
Krutis said on 18 May 2008 at 4:00 pm:
It’s interesting to note that in your first e-mail to Betsy Demulder you address her as “Betsy”, even though it sounds as if you have not met her.
In your second e-mail she becomes “Professor Demulder”.???
What is your point and which address is incorrect?
Benton - Roanoke. Home of the El Rodeo underground railroad.
Oh, when you are from BSG, that is south central. Ha!!! When you are south of Kentucky, you are in SW VA!!
999 - Point being: If I were formally writing to someone for the first time not knowing that person (I’m not talking about blogging now) I would address that person as Mr. or Mrs. or other appropriate title. It simply struck me as strange that Greg would use the first name in his first mail while using her title “professor” in the second.
As far as being correct or incorrect, I would say that the first was incorrect if one considers common curtesy. That was my point, 999.
How sad…although not surprising.
Krutis,
These young whippersnappers just have no respect. I am with you on this one. Too much informality.
Krutis said on 18 May 2008 at 6:00 pm:
Point being: If I were formally writing to someone for the first time not knowing that person (I’m not talking about blogging now) I would address that person as Mr. or Mrs. or other appropriate title. It simply struck me as strange that Greg would use the first name in his first mail while using her title “professor” in the second.
So, I take it you’re okay with the substance of the post?
Krutis never speaks to substance, es_la_ley…that would require going beyond nitpicking.
I found that “white priviledge” remark by the teachers to be racist and insulting.
Obviously Annabel Park and Eric Byler still haven’t done their homework; yet they aren’t very good covering up the fact that they are uninformed and don’t seem to care. So I’m not sure if they’re just so fully of ideological crap that they can’t see how dumb they come off to people, or that they are just THAT stupid.
Krutis said on 18 May 2008 at 6:00 pm:
999 - Point being: If I were formally writing to someone for the first time not knowing that person (I’m not talking about blogging now) I would address that person as Mr. or Mrs. or other appropriate title.
Apparently the professor got it wrong too in her reply to Greg’s email.
After a few days, I got this response:
Greg,
We are interested in hearing all perspectives on the immigration issue and would welcome your attendance at one of our class days. etc. etc.
Dolph said on 18 May 2008 at 6:48 pm:
Krutis,
These young whippersnappers just have no respect. I am with you on this one. Too much informality.
I assume that the professor is a young whippersnapper?
“…a joint project of the Ku Klux Klan and the Minuteman Project…”
Hey, this sounds like a good idea! Guys in white robes and sporting those scary pointed hats would surely secure our Southern border.
As for your mock shock at discovering that public universities are chock full of leftist idiots, rest assured that about ninety-eight percent of faculty are lefties. Except for a few exceptions most universities are openly hostile to Republicans, Libertarians and any form of conservative or traditional view that is respectful of White men.
I would like to see reader input on who is at the bottom of the barrel among academic institutions here in Virginia, with regard to academic and political freedom.
In my opinion, the lowest of the low, has to be the University of Richmond where both faculty and senior staff are openly hostile to any conservative people on campus. They went so far as banning an adult from campus who had the audacity to try to start a Students for Mitt Romney group there, last Fall.
The most open among the public colleges is Christopher Newport, but that will only last as long as Paul Trible is president there. On the private side, there are a few Bible-thumper schools that are tolerant of conservatives, but they are snotty to non-Christian views, so out of the secular schools, Hamden-Syndney would be my nominee for the most open, but I haven’t been there for a while and I have never been there for a football game completely sober either.
Yep, 999, the professor got it wrong too; definitely!
es-la-ley @ 7:19pm
I didn’t read all that blather, so I don’t agree or disagree with the substance. I was only addressing the propriety of means of “address”.
Both Greg and the Professor were wrong. Maybe it doesn’t matter to most, but curtesy and propriety are necessary for a decent society.
999, I have no idea. I don’t care much for informality without invitation to do so. I was teasing with Krutis. My humblest apologies if you were offended.
Krutis,
You are completely correct about curtesy and propriety being necessary for a decent society. But we have discussed this before.
Speaking of schools…..The U. S. News and World Report is out with its best schools list. Congratulations to Manassas Park High School for receiving a bronze metal, not in the top 100 but still. Even little Rappahannock High School in Warsaw, Virginia had a bronze award.
Montgomery County Md Schools had 6 high schools in the top 100 in the nation. Fairfax Co had 5 in the top 100 and Arlington had 2. I thought I saw TJ on the list but it wasn’t mentioned on channel 9. Someone is doing something right.
Sorry to report no other awards that I saw for Manassas City or PWC.
Krutis said on 18 May 2008 at 10:18 pm:
“I didn’t read all that blather, so I don’t agree or disagree with the substance. I was only addressing the propriety of means of “address”.”
If that’s the case Krutis, why do you care about coming here at all if it’s too much trouble to “read all that blather?” That “blather” is the subject of the blog post…not Emily Post.
If you want to talk courtesy, how about the lies and half-truths in which Annabel and Eric indulge with their carefully edited videos? Or how about that Professor telling her class that Greg “refused to come” when invited to address the class…after only inviting people who indulge in libelous statements regarding him? That’s really the epitome of academic integrity, much less courtesy, wouldn’t you say?
Correction: slanderous, not libelous…libelous is what you find over at AntiBVBL.
That opening of the second email “Although this has every hallmark of an ambush…” was not very tactful. At the very least it should not have started with that, if you really wanted to go there, which you did I think.
I also wonder if these professors have any financial interest in construction contractors in Richmond like that other guy. Maybe the “liberal” construction industry businessmen are behind the liberal educators in GMU (sarcasm, mostly).
Dolph said on 18 May 2008 at 10:56 pm:
999, I have no idea. I don’t care much for informality without invitation to do so. I was teasing with Krutis. My humblest apologies if you were offended.
Not offended in the least. We should be concentrating on the substance of the correspondance and not on how one is being addressed. I think Greg was trying to keep things informal and in turn, the professor decided to do the same. I may be wrong, but that is how I assess it.
I’m at a loss to understand how anyone can read this piece, and their only response is to criticize the saluation of the email?
I am a GMU alum and am outraged. This is truly disgusting!
I agree with JFK - I am also a GMU alumni and I am both outraged and disgusted that this is happening. This type of “mis-education” was thankfully not offered in any of my courses and I graduated without any type of liberalistic bent.
Seriously now, what does anyone expect when one enters a Master’s EDUCATION program named “Initiatives in Educational Transformation?” That title sure told me to read the fine print and to run like hell.
This program has been around 15-20 years and it IS what it IS- a low-cost degree program for groups of teachers willing to work together. If someone wants a different program, pay for it yourself. This one used to be at a very much reduced rate. I am assuming it still is.
I have heard people whine about this program since its inception. It is known for requiring a large about of busy work. I recommend taking a masters program based on content material rather than educational fluff anyway.
I see no reason for anyone to be outraged, pissed off, mad, angry or anything else. Those who are in the program are getting a master’s degree at low lost. It sounds like they held their own and fought back with their own ideas. What good is any course that simply spoon-feeds you what you want to hear?
There is nothing more obnoxious than a classroom full of pissed off, rowdy teachers to deal with. They have learned from the very best miscreants. I do not envy those on the receiving end!
Princess Billy-Bob said on 19 May 2008 at 10:44 am:
I see no reason for anyone to be outraged, pissed off, mad, angry or anything else. Those who are in the program are getting a master’s degree at low lost. It sounds like they held their own and fought back with their own ideas. What good is any course that simply spoon-feeds you what you want to hear?
I am disgusted because programs like this water down the meaning and significance of an advanced degree. My MS degree program, at GMU, was quite difficult and challenging. I didn’t decorate a chair, or have to sit through drivel and allow myself to be indoctrinated.
Grad school should not be for everyone.
jfk,
College shouldn’t be for everyone, much less an advanced degree.
I don’t think these people were indoctrinated. Not in the least. It sounds like they found back. And on the other hand, what if they believed otherwise? Perhaps they would have thought that Greg’s version was indoctrination.
Let people decide for themselves. I expect drivel out of education classes. They are an endurance test. Remember that an advanced degree in education is going to be quite different than one in finance or English or one of the sciences.
For a somewhat conservative college there is still VMI…
They might have a few Democrats there, but one hasn’t spotted in the wild for years.
Regardless of what the students believe, this type of idiocy should not be part of higher education. You have to stretch the issue to the breaking point to find a reason to connect this topic to education.
Maybe the problem is that too many people expect the worst, and aren’t surprised when they get it. Why is there a reason to change anything if you have this kind of mindset?
From that account Byler sounds like a typical liberal fascist. It sounds like they got put in their place.