By Allen Quist and Julie Quist
Marxist ideology and practices are coming to Minnesota schools disguised as new teacher licensing rules.
The Minnesota teacher licensing board is called the Professional Educators Licensing and Standards Board or PELSB. Each board member was appointed by Gov. Tim Walz and PELSB is fast tracking new teacher licensing requirements.
The new standards will embed basic Marxist principles and practices such as critical race theory, fluid sexual identity, and gender politics into all Minnesota schools.
Standard Marxist practices and dogma divide people into opposing groups so that students and teachers must view themselves not as individuals, but as members of groups —oppressor groups or oppressed groups, and oppressed groups must be liberated from the exploitation of their oppressors.
When formally adopted, the new requirements must be met to become or remain licensed to teach in Minnesota, including teaching in Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) from pre-natal on, and Adult Basic Education. Since nonpublic schools generally hire licensed teachers, these standards will apply to them as well.
Below are some of the new licensing standards. We have bracketed our commentary on the meaning and significance of the standard. Teachers must:
- Help students develop social identities based upon their social grouping [Group identities will usurp individual identities.]
- Comply with the construct of “multiple identity formation” [This means they must identify which identity groups a student belongs to, the scale of power assigned to each identity group and how their “identities” intersect. This is called “intersectionality.”]
- Incorporate “Social and Emotional Learning” (SEL) into all classes [SEL seeks to transform the values, attitudes, and beliefs of students and achieve full compliance with equity and gender ideology.]
- Understand “systemic trauma,” including racism and “micro and macro aggressions” [Trauma is presumed to have been inflicted upon victims from the oppressor classes.]
- Be “inclusive” to reflect “diversity of cultures” [Teachers will have to affirm homosexuality, transgenderism, sexual identity (gender as a choice, not biology), and the absence of moral standards for sexual practices, which will set the stage for the normalization of pedophilia.]
- Fully affirm and incorporate identity politics into the school, including race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, economic status, and ethnicity
- Focus on implicit bias and systemic racism, including “white privilege”
- Prioritize materials from “traditionally marginalized voices that offer diverse perspectives on race, culture, language, gender, sexual identity, religion, nationality, migrant/refugee status … and other identities traditionally silenced or omitted from the curriculum” [Identity politics will drive curriculum content.]
- Teach materials that “empower learners to be agents of social change and promote equity” [“Equity” means required equal outcomes, not equal opportunity. Marx said it this way: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”]
- Train students in social activism through service learning
- Connect students with local and global political activists
- Understand that Minnesota’s laws were created to oppress by race, class, gender, sexual orientation, language, and nationality [This is the Marxist interpretation of history through presumed identity group power.]
- Understand white supremacy, and how racism operates institutionally [This is the Marxist assumption that our institutions are fundamentally racist.]
- Understand “enthnocentrism” and “eurocentrism” as undermining “equity” [“Eurocentrism” and “ethnocentrism” form the core of America’s cultural, religious, and political heritage and are presented as racist and oppressive. Young people will be stripped of their history and instead be told their heritage is oppressive: racist, “white” and “heteronormative.”]
Every CRT and gender fluid buzzword is embedded into the standards, and they are required to be incorporated into the instruction. Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci, said that people are “trapped in a prison-house of language.” Because language determines how people think, he emphasized that we must change the language of the culture in order to usher in the Marxist revolution.
In summary, the new licensing standards will force every Minnesota teacher and school to become Marxist revolution indoctrination centers.
It’s time the public is informed about what is going on.
Allen Quist is a former 3-term Minnesota state legislator and retired professor of religion and political science at Bethany Lutheran College, is currently adjunct professor of Christian apologetics at Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary and has authored ten books on education and theology. Julie Quist is Board Chair of Child Protection League.
The Child Protection League (CPL) is committed to promoting the welfare of children and protecting them from exploitation, indoctrination, and violence. We educate citizens on issues that protect or threaten the safety of children.
