Conservatives have been raising the flag for a long time regarding indoctrination in schools, only to be ignored, mocked, and called conspiracy theorists. Worse, in recent years, some officials have even labeled them as domestic terrorists for standing up for their rights as parents at school board meetings. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the supposed watchdog for hate groups and crimes, is now being investigated for funding the very wrongdoings they purport to condemn. To make matters worse, it appears SPLC is scrambling to hide any evidence of its teaching materials that reportedly promote hate and division.
Capital Research Center likened the sudden disappearance of lesson plans and other education material that SPLC provided to teachers as the “memory hole” out of George Orwell’s dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where “a chute leading to an incinerator, down which the regime’s Ministry of Truth would dump embarrassing news stories that had been rewritten to cover up official misdeeds and humiliations.” The classroom resources and the archived lesson plan builder pages now just provide 404 error codes instead of the hundreds of lessons that teachers could use for free and that were distributed in public school classrooms across the country.
Since SPLC is currently under indictment for federal fraud charges, including giving money to white-supremacist groups, is it any wonder the agency has pulled all of its educational resources? Especially when you look at just a couple of lessons, where the name says it all. Digital Activism Remixed: Hashtags for Voice, Visibility and Visions of Social Justice, “teaches students to build social justice hashtag campaigns,” the Research Center explained. The Color of Law: Developing the White Middle Class, “tells children that pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is a myth and the American Dream is a lie, or only for white American males. Lessons are built on the premise that the color of your skin determines your destiny in this country.”
Kali Fontanilla, a teacher in California who works with the Capital Research Center, wrote: “I saw these messages poison students. The SPLC called this educational material. I call it indoctrination, and it was funded by a nearly billion-dollar nonprofit.”
Educational Warnings
Warnings have been going out to parents for some time, sounding the alarm over the potentially biased material that may even be promoting racism – the very thing the SPLC is supposed to be championing against. Family Research Council produced a three-page PDF about the law center’s “Teaching Tolerance” educational method. SPLC has been publishing the Teaching Tolerance magazine for educators, providing online lesson plans, and has produced documentaries for instructors since 1991. “SPCL teacher resources seek to encourage K-12 teachers, and specifically English and history teachers, to discuss controversial topics related to gender identity and purported ‘prejudice’ and ‘bias’ in the classroom,” the Family Council explained. Furthermore:
“The Teach Tolerance program bills itself as a program focused on social justice, civil rights, multiculturalism, and anti-bias education. However, Teaching Tolerance program materials, sample curricula, and resources focus disproportionately on conveying acceptance for homosexuality and endorsement of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community. Through lesson plan templates and teacher training programs arranged through local school districts, SPLC encourages teachers to address controversial issues related to gender and sexual orientation in the classroom with children starting in preschool and kindergarten.”
The organization listed several examples, such as the teacher newsletters that are sent to 400,000 teachers nationwide “presenting strategies for creating classroom environments that celebrate the LGBT lifestyle.” As an example, a May 2012 SPLC teacher newsletter was referenced that focused on “Queerness Meets Early Childhood Education,” in which gay and lesbian teachers were encouraged to share their stories of “addressing queerness” with “young students.”
SPLC published lesson plans and toolkits on topics such as gender equity, civil rights history, LGBT rights, and family diversity. While teaching that families may look different but are still equal, educators were instructed to cite gay and lesbian couples as examples of “families ‘no different than’ traditional nuclear families.” In addition, instructors were encouraged to have a “gender-neutral day in the classroom,” and teachers had lesson outlines on “Using Role Plays to Understand How Gender Stereotypes Affect Our Lives,” where it was suggested they consult the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Educators Network, an activist organization.
While bullying should never be approved or encouraged, the SPLC expanded the understanding of bullying “to include any communication or treatment that does not celebrate and positively affirm an LGBT student’s gender identity.” Furthermore, “Schools with policies that require simple neutrality on contentious subjects such as same-sex marriage have been targeted by SPLC as not ‘inclusive’ enough of LGBT students,” Family Research Council warned. “In practice, the school-wide bullying policies that SPLC advocates for (and often threatens legal action to secure) create a hostile environment for students who hold traditional religious or moral beliefs about family formation.”
When an organization like the Southern Poverty Law Center is given years – decades, even – of influence in American classrooms, the impact doesn’t stay contained to a handful of lesson plans. Its ideas become embedded, shaping how students view history, identity, and each other. Critics have long argued that some of its materials push a one-sided narrative on race and society, yet those concerns were often dismissed or ignored. Now, with serious legal scrutiny surrounding the organization, those warnings are getting a second look.
