All posts tagged: classrooms

Politics Home | Train Teachers To Identify Antisemitism In Classrooms, Says Independent Advisor

Politics Home | Train Teachers To Identify Antisemitism In Classrooms, Says Independent Advisor

Published by Sam Flores

The government’s antisemitism Lord John Mann told PoliticsHome all school teachers should have “basic” antisemitism training. (Alamy) 5 min read51 min The government’s independent advisor on antisemitism has called for teachers to be given basic training in how to identify antisemitism in classrooms, telling PoliticsHome that there must be a stronger state effort to tackle rising hate against Britain’s Jews. Lord John Mann, a former Labour MP who has advised ministers on antisemitism since 2019, said he was not “satisfied” with how successive governments have responded to rising levels of antisemitism in the UK, saying “everyone needs to up their game”. Mann spoke to PoliticsHome after two Jewish people were stabbed in a terrorist attack in Golders Green, north London, on Wednesday. The Met Police announced on Friday morning that Essa Suleima, 45, had been charged in connection with the attack. There have also been arson attacks in the wider borough of Barnet, home to the UK’s largest Jewish community, in recent months, including the firebombing of ambulances run by a Jewish charity and several synagogues, and a lethal …

Thou Shalt Not Post the Ten Commandments in Classrooms

Thou Shalt Not Post the Ten Commandments in Classrooms

Published by Sam Flores

When you were in elementary school, did your mind occasionally rise above the smell of pencil shavings and the sound of squeaking desk chairs to contemplate whether you ought to commit murder? Did you ponder what it would mean to covet your neighbor’s wife? Ordinarily those aren’t questions addressed in grade-school classrooms, but according to legislators in Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, they ought to be. In those districts, state Republicans are rallying behind laws that would mandate posting the Ten Commandments in public-school classrooms and common areas, such as cafeterias and libraries. This fad began in 2024, when Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed such a bill, reviving a debate long silenced by the Supreme Court’s 1980 decision in Stone v. Graham to strike down a similar Kentucky law. Other states followed suit: Arkansas and Texas last year, and Alabama just this month. Although these laws pose a threat to the First Amendment rights of students and teachers, the trend is spreading, so far unchecked by courts. Opponents of Texas’s law suffered a defeat last …

The radical decision letting the Ten Commandments be posted in Texas classrooms

The radical decision letting the Ten Commandments be posted in Texas classrooms

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — On Tuesday (April 21), the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave Texas the green light to require every public elementary and secondary school classroom in the state to display the King James Version’s translation of the Ten Commandments. In its decision in Nathan v. Alamo Heights Independent School District, the court’s 9-8 majority both rejected long-standing precedent and grounded its ruling in an interpretation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause that is at odds with how the Supreme Court has understood it for over 60 years. The precedent is Stone v. Graham, in which the Supreme Court in 1980 ruled unconstitutional a comparable Kentucky law requiring a copy of the Ten Commandments to be posted in every public elementary and secondary school classroom. That decision relied on the so-called Lemon test, a three-pronged Supreme Court standard created in Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) to determine if government actions or laws violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause. To be constitutional, a law had to have a secular purpose, have a primary effect that neither …

What to Know About the Ten Commandments Going up in Public School Classrooms

What to Know About the Ten Commandments Going up in Public School Classrooms

Published by Sam Flores

DALLAS (AP) — Court rulings are bolstering mandates to display the Ten Commandments in public schools in the U.S. as supporters push to expand the role of religion in classrooms, including making Bible stories required reading for students. The biggest drive yet to put the Ten Commandments in every classroom began last year in Texas, where a challenge to the law was batted down Tuesday by a U.S. appeals court. While the issue remains far from settled, the ruling was a victory for conservatives who reject arguments that the displays proselytize to students or step on the rights of parents, including families of other faiths. The law has been met with a mix of enthusiasm and alarm, animating school board meetings and prompting the handing down of guidance to teachers about what to say when students ask questions. Some teachers have resigned instead of hanging the Ten Commandments in their classrooms. Here are some things to know about the issue: States pushing the Ten Commandments The latest is Alabama, where this month Republican Gov. Kay …

From campuses to classrooms: Turning Point USA’s next frontier

From campuses to classrooms: Turning Point USA’s next frontier

Published by Sam Flores

A conservative youth organization is rapidly expanding its presence in U.S. public high schools — this time with support from Republican officials — raising new legal and ethical questions about the role of politics in education. Turning Point USA, founded by the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, has built a network of thousands of student chapters nationwide. In several states like Indiana and Arkansas, GOP leaders including the states’ governors have encouraged schools to host the group, framing it as a way to promote civic engagement and free speech among students. But critics say the effort blurs the line between student expression and state-backed political advocacy. Civil liberties groups and educators argue that promoting a politically aligned organization within taxpayer-funded schools could raise First Amendment concerns, particularly if other viewpoints are not given equal access or institutional support. The expansion has already prompted protests, pushback from teachers unions and, in some cases, legal scrutiny over whether schools are improperly favoring one ideology. The issue is gaining national attention as Donald Trump praised Kirk and the …