...I am afraid that education is conceived more in terms of indoctrination by most school officials than in terms of enlightenment. My own belief is that education must be subversive if it is to be meaningful. By this I mean that it must challenge all the things we take for granted, examine all accepted assumptions, tamper with every sacred cow, and instill a desire to question and doubt. Without this the mere instruction to memorise data is empty. The attempt to enforce conventional mediocrity on the young is criminal. - Bertrand Russell
Education is not merely neglected in many of our schools today, but is replaced to a great extent by ideological indoctrination. - Thomas Sowell
Earlier this week former teacher, education advocate and researcher, Chanel Pfahl, finished an epic twitter thread: 26 exhibits (a to z), featuring photographic evidence of ideological indoctrination occurring in Canadian k-12 classrooms.
I recommend Woke Watch Canada readers bookmark todays post as it provides a treasure trove of evidentiary material illustrating the extent of ideological indoctrination that IS happening in Canadian schools.
Before we get started. Credit must go to Chanel for compiling this extraordinary index of ideological overstep, all happening (without a doubt happening) in the one place where Canadian children are most vulnerable to suggestion, bias, and yes, to indoctrination: the institutions parents trust to educate their children.
These 26 exhibits are the tip of the iceberg. Chanel is dedicated to this file! Follow Chanel on X - where she publishes a steady stream of this type of content. From questionable material produced by school administrators to the sometimes blatant indoctrination by woke teachers, captured in source documents, and/or photographs of classroom settings. See for yourself how students are engaged in various lessons and exercises that informed observers correctly identify as ideological indoctrination.
Support Chanel by becoming a member of her Substack. Or, make a donation and support her research and advocacy efforts, here.
The text in italics is Chanel’s comments originally posted to X along with the “exhibit” images.
All other text is my commentary.
The indoctrination is so deep that educated people think they’re being objective. - Noam Chomsky
Exhibit A
Grade 1/2 in Halifax. Nobody is indoctrinating kids, exhibit A?
Why are grade 1 and 2 kids in Halifax being taught that gender specific pronouns are choice dependent? In the following example, the student goes through the “ritual” of writing personal pronouns (which they are taught can be chosen based on identify affinity), into the dialogue bubble, prompted by “Today, my words are…”
Exhibit B
Grade 7/8 at Lawfield Elementary (HWDSB). Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit B.
The above images feature ideas such as gender fluidity (that you can choose your gender) and that white people have special advantages or “privilege.”
A number of studies have shown that the teaching of “white privilege” does more harm than good. When professor David Haskell delegated to the Waterloo District School Board last year he brought with him a number of studies pointing out the harms of Critical Race Theory, DEI, and the divisive concept central to both: white privilege. Here is one example:
In 2019 a study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General . Dr. Erin Cooley of Colgate University in the US was the lead researcher.
The aim of the study was to measure the affect that lessons on white privilege would have on attitudes of students.
Well, the study found that teaching lessons on white privilege did not make students more sympathetic to people of colour. In fact, it did nothing positive.
But it did increase hostility toward poor whites.
Exhibit C
Presentations for Ontario elementary school students (4 different schools). Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit C.
Above we see that being an ally is not only associated with the highly politically charged raised fist symbol of solidarity and resistance, but also by affirming the gender confusion of other students. “Their name is Kayden now,” instead of “Kayden…used to be Kyla.”
Exhibit D
Toronto high school. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit D.
Along with the constant attention paid to identity, is the assumption that white privilege and racism are existential threats needing to be forever addressed.
Exhibit E
Ottawa high school, grade 7/8. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit E.
And of course white privilege means power. You don’t have power if you don’t have privilege. And you don’t have privilege if you aren’t white. However, the “wheel of power” is obscenely reductive about eleven other identity markers as well. According to this “lesson,” a “cis-gendered” person (a person who identifies with their natal sex) has more power than a person who is gender diverse.
Exhibit F
In the hallway at an elementary school in Brampton. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit F.
Elementary students of all ages (considering this display is in the hallway) must learn all about different sexualities (even though most of them are far too young for that) and made up gender identities (taught to them as if it were hard science).
Exhibit G
Entrance display at Ottawa high school (Hillcrest). Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit G.
Ah yes the “Genderbread person,” a personal favourite of mine. There is nothing quite like cute cartoon characters used to confuse kids and potentially destabilize their identity.
Exhibit H
Teaching kids that “different identities are not valued equally in society” at an elementary school in Midhurst, ON. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit H.
Constant obsession with identity. In the lesson above, learning about identity means learning that society values people based primarily on identity, and not all identities are equal. What a thing to teach kids. Skills, competence, and merit are never mentioned - students are led to believe they are trapped in their identities, and their only choice is to become an ally and activist to fight back against what they are told is unjust oppression and marginalization.
Exhibit I
Elementary students categorizing themselves by age, “gender identity,” sexuality, race, etc at the SCDSB. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit I.
The aspects of identity the most obsessed over are sexuality, gender and race. It is my view that discussing sexuality with elementary school children is age inappropriate. Most parents agree that somewhere after grade 6, some form of sexual education is necessary, but the way schools are relentlessly focusing students attention on identity, including sexuality, goes far beyond what most parents feel comfortable with.
Exhibit J
Grade 1/2 at the PDSB. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit J.
They certainly harp on about privilege, don’t they? I wonder how it makes disadvantaged white students feel to learn how privileged they are?
Exhibit K
Grade 9 science activity at a high school in Brampton (PDSB). Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit K.
It appears the point of this identity obsessed lesson is to prove to the kids that scientists are mostly white men of European descent. Instead of asking, what is it that white men of European descent do that makes them so successful at science, the implication is that their power and privilege, not knowledge, handwork or merit, is what matters most. Are they trying to tell non-white kids not to bother with career aspirations in the scientific field?
Exhibit L
Lunchtime activity at an elementary school in Whitby (DDSB). Students could colour various printouts with affirmations such as “my body is the gender and sex I say it is.” Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit U.
The message is never about being comfortable with their bodies, it’s always about, my body is what “I say it is,” even if its not what I say it is.
Exhibit M
Student work displayed in the hallway of an Ottawa elementary school. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit M.
Again we see age in-appropriate sexual themes in the hallways of an elementary school. Why do they insist on exposing young children to sexual content not developmentally appropriate for them?
Exhibit N
Display at an elementary school in Newmarket (YRDSB). Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit N.
I am assuming that “About this Board” means that the mostly made up identity categories listed below, are identity features of trustees and administrators who work for the board. Why do students need to know about the sexuality of board members?
Exhibit O
“Identity wheels” made by students at an elementary school in Barrie (SCDSB). Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit O.
The fixation on identity extends to the “identity wheel” where elementary school students are asked to write down their sexual preference (even though most would be to young to have one) and of course, their race and gender.
Exhibit P
Part of a grade 9 Phys Ed lesson at an Ottawa Catholic high school. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit P.
By the time students reach grade 9, the gender woo starts taking on the appearance of something technical, systematic and scientific. It is none of these things. There is zero scientific basis for gender ideology. The reason the indoctrination efforts are so extreme, is becuase the ideology is so far from believable. Even when dealing with children susceptible to influences at school, the indoctrination still must unfold over years in order to convince them that gender is fluid and sex is “assigned at birth.”
Exhibit Q
Learning to conjugate verbs with made up “non-binary” pronouns at an elementary school in Whitby (DDSB). Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit Q.
Yes, gender woo is multilingual.
Exhibit R
School-wide presentation at an elementary school in Markham (YRDSB). Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit R.
Teaching children to be aware of their biases and the power that comes from their ethnicity, race and gender. How deflating this must be for students informed their skin colour has no power. And that they don’t have the agency to do anything about it.
Exhibit S
New mural at an Oshawa high school (DDSB). Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit S.
One wonders if the schools celebrate anything else quite as much as they do LGBTQ identities? One also wonders why that is?
Exhibit T
Student work displayed at an Ottawa elementary school. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit T.
It might as well say normalize unscientific gender mysticism.
Exhibit U
Lunchtime activity at an elementary school in Whitby (DDSB). Students could colour various printouts with affirmations such as “my body is the gender and sex I say it is.” Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit U.
Exhibit V
Displayed in the entrance of an Ottawa Catholic high school. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit V.
The LGBTQ won’t even leave religious communities alone. Gender ideolog, which is not scientific, and certainly not biblical, must also be pushed on Catholic students.
Exhibit W
Elementary school classroom decor in Ottawa. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit W.
“Trans rights are human rights” is the chant repeated in the streets by overly aggressive and violent LGBTQ and ANTIFA activists, who cover their faces while physically assaulting anyone who correctly states gender is not fluid and that sex is confirmed (not assigned) at birth. Clearly, the point here is to instruct kids to be trans rights activists (like the school administrators).
Exhibit X
Student work at an elementary school i.n Mississauga (PDSB). Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit X.
Constantly writing down, and about, ones skin colour is essential for indoctrinating kids into the tenets of Critical Race Theory, like white privilege,
Exhibit Y
Students at an elementary school in Toronto (TDSB) “performing skits and defining social justice terms” for every class. Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit Y.
Racism, a constant theme in Canadian schools, is thought to be transmitted through “microaggression” - a thing that is highly questionable, becuase it is up to the person who supposedly perceives a microaggression, to also be the one to identify and label it. The concept of microaggression is about as valid as white privilege or gender fluidity, yet these views are taught to children as if they were facts well established long ago.
Exhibit Z
Bulletin board displays at an elementary school in Kitchener (WRDSB). Nobody is indoctrinating your kids, Exhibit Z.
Typically, these last two represent the twin obsessions of Canadian schools: LGBTQ (sexuality & gender) and race (especially black people).
Do not indoctrinate your children. Teach them how to think for themselves, how to evaluate evidence, and how to disagree with you. - Richard Dawkins
Thanks for reading. Learn more about Chanel Pfahl’s story in her piece, Intimidation Masquerading As Virtue Is Chilling Free Speech
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I find this stuff so distressing that I just can't read it through to the end.....and not just emotional repulsion so much as a particularly dangerous form of existential anger.
This isn't just about intellectual debate or left/right ideological divides, but the nature of reality, being able to distinguish the boundaries of knowing fantasy from unknowing delusion, and understanding the line between what is tolerable and what isn't; between what is robust disagreement and the Wrath of God.
We are all moving into very dangerous territory. I think the people and institutions that are dragging us on this trajectory have no idea what an enormous risk they are taking, not just with us, but our children and our common future.
I couldn't get through it all. I makes me want to vomit to look at the garbage they are teaching kids. Given the amount of time and effort put into it, I can understand why kids cannot read, cannot do simple math and know nothing about history or geography. How did we let this happen? It is recent. My daughter is 27 and thus would have been going to elementary school from 2001-2008 and I never saw any of this crap coming home, nor did she ever mention any of this nonsense about pronouns, sexuality etc. If she had, I would have pulled her out of school and sent her to a private school, that could assure me it wasn't teaching this garbage. The thing is my husband and I had only the one child, two we were financiallly capable of paying tuition fees for private school. What avenues do other parents have? Well homeschool and that doesn't mean they have to do this on their own there are coops and support groups out there.https://www.ochec.org/join-a-homeschool-group/https://www.savvymom.ca/article/homeschool-activities-for-families-in-ottawa/ Maybe as classroom empty out because parents are sick of this bullshit, someone will wake up. Because it would seem the Millions March 4 Children didn't do it., with our Prime Ministers tweeting out that the marchers were haters and bigots, with NDP Leader marching with the counter-protesters and with union leaders, including teachers unions organizing and sponsor counter protesters across the country. This poison has infected so many aspect of our society it is beyond belief, but it has, and somehow we let if happen right under our noses.