Hi everyone, my name is Emil Hakimi, and I am running for a seat as a Trustee on the Great Neck Public School Board of Education.
I was inspired to run in order to be a voice for parents who are extremely concerned about the introduction of socio-political indoctrination into our children’s curriculum and instruction.
The dismissive attitude with which our concerns have been met has led to a strong feeling of distrust between a large segment of parents and the school board. I hope that my election will help rebuild this vital bridge.
Since the School Board started prioritizing politically motivated social programs and curricula, the national standings of the school district have declined drastically.
According to US News and World Report, in 2017, Great Neck North High School was ranked #164 nationally, and now we have fallen to #503.
Given the amount of money being spent per student in Great Neck, this is extremely disappointing. We need to refocus on academic achievement and excellence, rather than on controversial agendas which do not align with the values of many in our community.
I would also like to discuss misinformation being spread about my stance on the budget. I am unequivocally supportive of the budget passing, and I encourage all my supporters to vote in favor of the budget as well.
I have four children currently in the district and would never jeopardize the quality of their education. These rumors and personal attacks against me are unwarranted and are simply meant to minimize our concerns and deflect from the issues that matter. I hope this statement clarifies my position on the budget so that we can focus on having meaningful discussions about the topics which have many parents concerned.
We are all one community here, we all share the same instinct to want what’s best for our children. So please, let’s all be kind to each other. Regardless of the outcome of this election, we must all be united for this common cause.
I kindly ask that you vote yes on the budget, and elect me on May 17.
Emil Hakimi
Candidate for Great Neck Board of Education
Thank you for clarifying your support for the. budget. There is a piece of information in your letter that I’ve seen going around social media regarding the decrease in ranking from 2017 to 2021 that is false. US News has been clear that they changed methodology and nothing pre 2019 can be compared.
https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/articles/2019-04-30/why-us-news-revamped-the-2019-best-high-schools-rankings
How Comparable Are the 2019 Best High Schools Rankings with the Best High Schools Rankings U.S. News Has Published in Previous Years?
The 2019 Best High Schools rankings are not comparable with Best High Schools rankings U.S. News has published in the past. The primary reason is that the new methodology is completely different from the past, so a high school’s performance in the new rankings should not be compared with its past numerical rank or unranked status.
Steven,
By any chance, do you know whether there is a chart which shows the school names versus, the school rankings, and the average cost per student?
Also, do you know whether the cost per students for the institutions which ranked better than Great Neck schools on the average had a higher cost per student?
Hi Fred,
This information is available. Generally Great Neck is actually slightly lower per child than a district like Jericho. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find it in a simple chart. You can look each up on niche.
There have been no personal attacks on Mr. Hakimi, only several invitations to participate in public forums to share his positions on important issues. While he initially said he would consider participating in Reach Out America’s Candidate Forum on April 27, he never responded again, and the forum went on with only one candidate sharing their views.
Although he ignored repeated requests to participate in the forum, Mr. Hakimi nevertheless signed on and attended the forum as an audience member. He also declined North Shore TV’s invitation to record a brief video so that people could learn more about him.
Why is Mr. Hakimi unwilling to speak in a public forum and answer questions? He throws out buzzwords such as “socio-political indoctrination” yet he seems unable or unwilling to face his constituents and explain exactly what he means by that, or to engage in “having meaningful discussions about the topics which have many parents concerned.”
Mr. Hakimi refers to “the dismissive attitude with which our concerns have been met” – how about the rude, belligerent and unacceptable behavior that he exhibited at the November 2021 GNPS BoE meeting? No one was dismissive – in fact, the BoE president was very patient, but ultimately a recess had to be called because of Mr. Hakimi’s outburst and refusal to follow the rules.
Don’t be fooled by the “big lies” being spread about “indoctrination” of our children. For decades, Great Neck has been a town where students are encouraged to develop critical thinking skills and learn about challenging ideas. This is not “indoctrination,” it’s education, and GNPS continues to provide a top notch education to all students.
There is too much at stake to throw away your vote on a candidate who is pushing these lies, and who is afraid to face his constituents. Protect quality education and re-elect Donna Peirez as Board of Education Trustee on May 17!
Nina, what Outburst at the BoE meeting?
You and I must have watched different meetings.
In a video circulated, I saw Mr. Emil wait his turn to speak publicly and then when he began the board members almost immediately interrupted him and cut off his microphone.
After they tried to silence him, he spoke directly to the people without a microphone To uproarious applause.
It was the most egregious abuse of meeting decorum I’ve ever seen. And was frankly an embarrassment.
As for your refusal to acknowledge the “indoctrination” of our children in GNPS, I assume you must not have seen the assignments that the children are getting. Maybe you don’t have school-age children anymore?
I’ve seen the assignments with my own eyes explaining to the white children why they are lesser and should feel guilty about the color of their skin.
Your misinformation is not going to convince anybody
Dear Ms. Gordon:
You wrote: “ There have been no personal attacks on Mr. Hakimi, …”
How can you prove a negative? If you had observed an event, like attack on Emil, you could have made a statement about your observation. Unless, you were Emil’s body guard 24/7, there is no way you would have had that knowledge.
From your very own statement, it seems that you believe that you are the only person who would attack Emil and no one else.
Is that true?
I don’t think he even wrote that letter where the socio-political indoctrination term was used. Something tells me he has a writer.
To Steven’s points – ranking is ranking and even without comparison to previous years, #503 is unacceptable. As a person who grew up in the GN public schools and now has children in the GN public – I see so many more children needing and parents asking for tutoring now than in the past. Yes, curriculum change. Many things have changed. But I can’t help but wonder – a significant drop in ranking, mirrored with parents paying for tutoring in greater and greater volumes – what is actually going on in those schools that us parents are not seeing.
To Nina’s points – I am not even Jewish and know April 27th was Holocaust Memorial Day [starting that evening]. Synagogues across the country had memorial events. I don’t know which Synagogue Mr Hakimi may or may not attend, but I’m willing to guess that out of the many many many Synagogues in our lovely town, a good number of them had programs that night and I’m willing to guessi Mr Hakimi was at one. I have never met you, I wouldn’t recognize you in a store if I bumped into you, but your presence on social media has been nothing short of vile, divisive, xenophobic these past few weeks. You have taken every opportunity to attack Mr Hakimi, and I am a full time working mother I only have time to glance through FB groups I keep seeing your rudeness and attacks, imagine how much more of your arguing I am not privy to. When asked why your immense disdain with Mr Hakimi, the only word you manage to throw around is “Mashadi”. Then what? What else has Mr Hakimi done or said to explicitly make him a “bad candidate”? He and his wife seem to have grown up in the public schools here from what I understand, their children are now growing up in our public schools, their circle of friends all have kids in our public schools, what other show of passion to you want for our public schools? And on the note of his behavior at that infamous BOE meeting, he is a parent and has EVERY right to speak to and demand answers from our BOE. WE are all parents and will demand the best from our appointed trustees. We are not animals to be conditioned to “obey” a few peers sitting on stage with a gavel. Mr Hakimi was clear and kind and gentle in his speech, the person sitting up there was triggered and made uncomfortable. Parents across the nation are upset with CRT/DEI garbage taking away valuable class time and education from our precious children. To your point of “lies” about what is being taught in our classrooms – you sincerely expect the community at large to believe you a human without children in any of our schools over believing parents that see their children’s homework? Over students that have screenshot and have hard evidence of the crap some teachers are trying to brainwash them with? We as parents don’t know, we are telling lies, we are disconnected, our children are telling lies – but sure, believe the adults that are not there when they claim “CRT is not being taught in our classrooms”.
And perhaps if Mrs Peirez had a solid foundation to campaign on, her supporters wouldn’t be compelled to give out Starbucks gift cards in exchange for promises of votes. I personally will never trust the education of my precious beautiful intelligent and talented children to the hands of someone bribing for votes.
Mr Hakimi, I cannot wait to vote for you May 17th.
The only egregious abuse of meeting decorum at the November 2021 BoE meeting was Mr Hakimi’s behavior. He was rude, turned his back to the board and addressed the audience, and when asked politely to address the board, he refused and continued to grandstand to the audience, and when asked repeatedly to observe proper procedure, he refused and a recess had to be called.
As for April 27 – Your guess is wrong. Mr. Hakimi was not at ANY synagogue on April 27. He was attending the Candidate Forum to which he had been invited to participate – but instead of participating, he was in the audience, watching and listening. Again I ask… WHY IS HE AFRAID TO PARTICIPATE IN A PUBLIC FORUM AND ANSWER QUESTIONS?
Lastly – I have NEVER expressed any opinion on Mr. Hakimi’s ethnic heritage, and I dare you to find any example of my doing so, on social media or otherwise. To slander me by accusing me of racism is disgusting – no wonder you are afraid to sign your own name.
This is typical of Mr. Hakimi’s supporters – hiding behind aliases and playing the victim by accusing others who question him of being anti-Semitic, anti-Persian, anti-Mashadi, or whatever. That is just complete BS. I have never “attacked” Mr. Hakimi, and frankly, I don’t care what country a candidate comes from or where they worship, but I have asked and will continue to ask questions about why Mr. Hakimi is afraid to face his constituents in a public forum.
This sounds like an attack, not only on the candidate, but all his supporters to me!
I second the comments from parents have heard enough. Especially the parts about Nina Gordon and CRR/DIE
LOLOL – what is “CRR/DIE” – please enlighten us.
I find it really amusing that so many people are so concerned about my opinion.
I’m not running for the board. I’m not running anyone’s campaign.
I’m just another voter expressing my opinion, without hiding behind a made-up name.
A vote for Donna Peirez is a vote for quality public eduation. Our children deserve the best.
The choice is clear: Vote for Donna Peirez for Board of Education Trustee on May 17.
Why are you so bitter? How do you have so much time to constantly opine on a school board in which you have no children? There must be an underlying reason why you have such interest in influencing this vote (having no children in these schools).
The bullying towards Nina and other members of the community who are unafraid to speak their mind needs to stop. Those that bully, provoke and/or dissect every aspect of their words looks pathetic.
Poor innocent Nina….she’s done nothing wrong but let Emil Hakimi live rent free in her head.
Voting for Mr. Hakimi. We need someone new with open eyes and a kids in the school system. As much as Donna is loved. It’s time for change and we need it now. My children deserve the best and the parents deserve transparency. As far as Nina goes she is just making Donna look terrible with her unethical comments. Again calling him a liar. The budget will pass. That’s not his “AGENDA”. Thanks for sharing this. You just won my vote. Good luck. You got this. I also want to thank Mr. Hakimi for not bashing others and taking the high road. Not sending his “tribe” to attack is extremely impressive. Thank you again.
But when Nina and Her minions do it, its perfectly fine and we should sit and obey. Her defamation started the moment announced his candidacy. Give respect and she will get respect.
The only “defamation” in evidence is from Mr Hakimi’s supporters, most of whom are afraid to sign their own names to their slanderous comments.
Keep it up, you only make your candidate look worse.
Looking forward to a breath of fresh air on the BoE. Vote Emil May 17!
Nina Joon has been repeatedly claiming that CRT is a law school course from the 1960s and can’t possibly be taught in middle school.
The swastika originated as an ancient religious symbol of divinity and spirituality in Hinduism and Buddhism. Those origins were eradicated with the advent of the Nazi abuse of the swastika in one of humanity’s darkest moments. I wonder if Nina starts preaching that the swastika is a symbol of peace when Neo-nazis and antisemites defile synagogues with them.
Sit down and read something instead of listening to Fox News for a change. CRT is NOT TAUGHT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/many-americans-embrace-falsehoods-about-critical-race-theory-2021-07-15/
And you don’t have to wonder, I can assure you that I will never be “preaching that the swastika is a symbol of peace.” What are you smoking, anyway?
Then stop the nonsense that CRT is a class in law school. Its evolved into something completely different just like the swastika.
Nina , prove us wrong that CRT/DEI/SEL is not being taught in schools. Tell me, how many kids have you spoken to regarding assignments where they’re pretending to have an opinion that their teacher will approve? That has become the norm. Kids are not being told HOW to think, rather WHAT to think. And they get points off when they don’t.
How many hw assignments have you helped kids on in the last year? The last 10 years? Hell, the last 20 years?
Where did you get your CRT in Schools degree from? What makes YOU an authority on this?
We should believe you, a keyboard warrior who hasn’t stepped into a classroom since 1974, over the hundreds of parents and students who are privy to this daily? The better question is, what are YOU smoking?
Until now, the public schools held the absence of political indoctrination sancrosanct. The utmost respect for different families’ religions and cultures was so ingrained in the system that it was taboo for teachers to promote their personal views on even the most controversial topics. The only values that were unabashedly promoted were those values that were common to all:
Kindness to our neighbors;
Respect for our neighbors;
What it means to be a responsible citizen;
The importance of charity for the poor or less fortunate;
The importance of saving money (each child was encouraged to have a savings account)
Unofficial spokeswoman of Donna Peirez.
This is Nina Gordon. She has a relentless vitriolic campaign against any parents who dare to criticize the GN board. Starting the campaign made her the unofficial chief campaigner for Donna, but only to attack Emil , without highlighting any of Ms. Peirez’s “achievements” but spreading lies, deceiving information about Emil position and generally a toxic attitude toward the concern parents who actually have children in school. I experienced GN school for the last 10 years and I can see the difference. The GN board keep patting their backs being the great school but the reality is that more than 50% on the students are in some form of tutoring. This phenomenon developed in the last 5 years and it’s growing every day. The English books become the new social justice tool, and children lost their interest in reading. We are told that no classics are thought and the cursing is legitimized throughout the books. The most disturbing thing is the attitude of the Board, the opacity and arrogance that parents received for a group of people who are elected to serve them, created this movement of concerned parents. Emil is totally invested in this race because he has 4 children in the school district and his life is going to be connected with the school system for Many years. What is Donna interest, how is she connected with the daily experiences that children have. Only two members of the board currently have children in school. We need people who are directly connected to the school, parents that have first hand knowledge of the curriculum, not from the school website, but from the books and the materials kids bring home. I don’t know Emil very well, I know he is a decent human being, a concerned parent and somebody who will sacrifice the time spent With his children to be on this board and fight for our children.
Another alias, another pack of lies. It speaks volumes about Emil Hakimi that those who support his candidacy are unwilling to sign their names.
I am NOT anyone’s “chief campaigner,” just ANOTHER CONCERNED PARENT like you.
Having children in school is NOT a requirement for serving on the board. Having 4 children in school seems to be all that Emil or his supporters can offer as to his qualifications. He has shown NO understanding of what a board member actually does, nor has he offered any information about his education or employment history that might give voters an idea of his qualifications. He is a “straw man” who is parroting right-wing talking points, offering nothing of substance to voters who want to know more about this candidate.
Mr. Hakimi is hiding from the public while his supporters post slanderous lies under fake names. That should raise a huge red flag for any concerned voter.
Go Emil! Power to the people
Donna is incredible, but she has been on the Board since 2016. It’s not democratic to have the same person sitting on a board for 6+ years. It’s time for a change. We’re voting for Emil!
“Having children in school is NOT a requirement for serving on the board”
So this Nina person who does nothing but attack Emil doesn’t even have kids in the school system?
Her interest in our children’s education is creepy.
Don served on the BOE for 39 years and was re-elected 12 times. Serving on the BOE for any period of time is an honor. So your saying his 39 years of service wasn’t democratic enough?
This is just a battle between one part of the community vs the other. Emil has no clue about what being on a school board entails otherwise he wouldnt be hiding.Emil and his peeps will do whatever it takes to win election whether its stealing signs or telling lies. We went thru this with the parks dept already. This town is going down the toilet. Stop this madness now and vote for Donna.
so move.
Barbara has been on the board since 1992. Just bc someone has served for X amount of years does not mean it’s not democratic.
Prior to volunteering her time as a Board trustee, she contributed to the GNPS community through other various school associations and committees. She served as a member and executive board officer for the E.M. Baker School Parent Teacher Association (PTA); a member and budget chairperson for United Parent-Teacher Council (UPTC); and a member of Shared Decision-Making Committees at both Baker School and North Middle School.
How has Emil contributed towards the community as a whole?
All you need as qualifications to run for BOE is to be a resident of Great Neck and to read and write. Community contributions are not required to run.
The same way all you need as qualification to vote in BOE is to be a resident of Great Neck, and it doesn’t matter if you have kids in the schools or not.
You are missing one more accolade, Vice President of the Great Neck Teacher’s Union. A body that places the teachers ahead of the students.
Whether Nina or anyone else has children in the system or not is irrelevant. They are residents, tax payers and voters and have just as much say/rights as do parents with kids in the system.
Interesting how Emil is suddenly willing to address his stance on the budget in a letter to the newspaper but not on his Facebook page that, as an interesting aside, he scrubbed clean prior to announcing his candidacy, where so many people have been asking about it. Why do so many of his supporters have to use fake names, including stealing the identities of those they harass?
Grant
Past member, Board of Education Financial Advisory Committee. Past executive board member, United Parent-Teacher Council (UPTC). Past chairperson, UPTC Budget Committee.
What has Emil done??? Nobody can answer the question.
Isn’t it telling that Emil refuses to verbally address the community at large??? Is he relying on the votes from his own community and does not care about informing everyone else so they can make an informed decision???
Did Donna verbally address the community at large?
Like many of you I was very concerned about the #503 ranking of North. What is very interesting is that GN South is ranked #195, well ahead of other great districts in the area like Syosset, Roslyn and Port Washington. Given the two high schools are in the same school district with the same curriculum and Board of Education, perhaps there are other factors that need to be addressed.
What is also interesting is that although GN South is ranked #22 in the state, only about 5 or 6 of the schools ahead of it are high schools that don’t require some sort of testing or application process.
Who will advocate for children normally!!parents. So I say let’s vote for the change for parents who actually care for their kids and their future and their beliefs. My vote is with Emil for prosperity for solution to normalcy and for the love of g-d. Let’s make greatneck school great again. Why don’t people like berkowitz leave already!!! What’s in it that they don’t want to give up their power??? Emil will win. Power of parents.
ROA School board forum- BOTH candidates were invited to participate on 4/27. Mr. Hakimi said he’d consider it, then never responded. He did, however, attend the forum as an audience member. How strange and telling? Again refusing to put himself out there to be vulnerable. Dona spoke eloquently and was bold in her responses towards many harsh/obnoxious questions asked by audience members.
This is a joke…this man has zero qualifications to run for a school board position
Is this power of the parents or power of the persian community of great neck? Asking for a friend
Replace the word ‘persian’ with ‘black’ or ‘asian’… how does that sound? Your ability to be so unabashedly racist in the guise of concern, is remarkable.
You ain’t got no friends. As we say in Farsi, vastah bebeen. You ain’t seen nothing yet.
I am super impressed with this article and all that you have clarified, Mr. Hakimi. I now understand your position and I most definitely will be voting for you. I trust your knowledge and passion to make Great Neck as “great” as it once was. Thank you for our private chat and for this article. I, Kate Goldberg, will be voting Emil Hakimi!
I’m struck by the immaturity and meanness of Emil Hakimi’s supporters on this comment thread. Impersonating others is not a way to win elections. Most importantly it’s not a way to win respect for the community that Emil Hakimi represents as school board candidate.
The real Kate Goldberg
Kate Goldberg, thank you for your thoughtful comments. I just read through this thread too, and I am frankly kind of sickened that the poison that has pervaded our lives has reached our town too.
Quite frankly, every time I see such negativity on one side, it makes me want to vote for the OTHER side.
I appreciate Ms. Peirez’s many years of service as an educator, but I also appreciate Mr. Kahimi’s concerns as a parent. I am leaning towards supporting Mr. Kahimi, because the Board needs balance. Teachers and the teacher’s union are already represented on the board, but parents are not.
I don’t want my child brainwashed by her school to any political party or social cause, left OR right. I want her to learn how to read, write, do math, do science, do art, do sports, and learn how to think for herself. And there are certain things that I believe that I as a parent should teach her, not an agenda set by the teacher’s union.
I can still be convinced either way, but there’s one thing I do agree with–if anyone here is using this election to push their own social agenda on my kid–and I mean to EITHER the progressive left or the conservative right–I will fight you with every fiber of my being. Let my kid be a kid.
Would the real Kate Goldberg please sit down
Dear Nina Gordon,
Over and over I see you using social and online media to slander, defame and vilify people you know nothing about, more recently, the candidate for the GN Schools’ Board – Emil Kahimi.
You state that you are pro-social justice, yet you do the exact opposite. Your pro-justice stance does not apply to anyone whose opinion you don’t agree with. You purposefully exclude many people, including myself, by banning them from your Facebook group whenever you do not agree with their opinions. The majority of those you ban are minorities and people of brown color from the Middle East! What happened to the diversity of opinions and inclusion of all? Or, does your social justice only apply to African Americans and/or LGBTQ+? You certainly are not applying your own so-called social justice values as your actions have shown the exact opposite of this mission.
Furthermore, regarding the “Don’t say gay bill”. Perhaps some minor clarification for you would be helpful. Florida does not have a “Don’t say gay bill”. In summary, Florida’s HB1557 bill states that parents have the right to be notified about their child’s physical and mental well-being, and the school is prohibited to talk about sex/gender topics to kids in grades K-3rd grade. Nina, Florida’s bill HB1557 language is here for you to read: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557/BillText/er/PDF?fbclid=IwAR0qhJ_UHm8iq9YCdwojbujfxxs3s4BVzY2eaukryyJtgRCcYew21X2FBh4
Emil Hakimi’s goal is to bring together the adults and children of this community to celebrate the value of diversity, including diversity of opinions, and all the benefits such diversity would bring to this school district.
So, please kindly put a stop to your hateful and divisive behavior.
Alina,
Why do you care so much about my opinions? If you find me so hateful, why do you follow me on social media? Why do you allow me to occupy so much real estate in your mind?
And why would you bring up the Florida legislation? What on earth does that have to do with our school board elections?
(rhetorical questions, I really don’t care to hear your response, because you find me so hateful and divisive.)
Emil should be ashamed of himself. It happens to be teacher appreciation week and of course he found a way to bash the teacher’s union on his personal FB page. “These are screen shots taken from the Great Neck Teachers Association website…They serve as a glimpse into the social and political agendas which have seeped into our schools. We need a Trustee who represents the voices of parents in the district, not one who serves the interests of the union. I kindly ask that you elect me on May 17th as your next GNPS Board of Education Trustee.https://www.gnteachers.net/social-justice.html”
Of course he failed to recognize all of the selfless work our teachers do on a daily basis and ALL that they have accomplished to support our most vulnerable and needy families. Why did he fail to list all of the positive and wonderful things that they have done, which is listed on their website??
Just wow!!! Great way to start your campaign Emil by insulting the teachers!!! The teachers that teach our children day in and day out! Doyou not realize that many teachers are residents and voters. What a great way to introduce yourself to them by publicly bashing them during teacher appreciation week. Speaks volumes of your intent.
We don’t need a toxic person like you on our BOE. You owe the teachers an apology.
Dear Emil,
You’re a joke!
We all agree…this is a joke!
But i believe he will also win cause its a numbers game at the end of the day
Can’t wait to vote
With the school board meeting approaching, I felt it was important to get this message out there. One of the candidates is from this community.
This community does not call themselves “Persian” and only started to very recently. In fact they are from “Mashad” ( a town in Iran) and only call themselves “Mashadi” as the video will demonstrate. Mr. Hakimi is a Mashadi, of that community, and therefore he MUST address the issues that are presented in this video of a Mashadi boy boasting about his community, disdain for teachers and public health mandates.
The second video is more recent of him giving autographs to his fans while at temple.
Before the attacks, let me be clear, I’m Jewish. I am not anti Jewish, I am not anti Persian, I am not anti mashadi- I am pro public schools.
Vote for who you want, but please be informed
https://mega.nz/folder/s2BEAR6B#WPmlIH8nwPMvAtXanD1mPg
That foul potty mouth child in 4th gr from JFK school. He is a product of his parents. No child speaks like that unless he hears it at home. Not sure if the family even had to meet with admin but they owe the school an apology. That’s the consequence of an adult taking that video and spread it like a disease. Nothing to boast about. Quite pathetic
Wow…I didn’t realize how radical the Great Neck Teacher’s Union was until I saw “Our Teachers!” post the message above.
I didn’t have a dog in this fight, but if the Great Neck Teacher’s Union is going to bring radical progressivism that is poisoning New York City schools to Great Neck, we need a candidate who will stand up and defend our community.
I’m not sure which candidate it is, but I plan on listening to both and hearing what they have to say.
NEWSMAX.COM – The Anatomy of Ignorance
Robert Unger, Esq.
Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2002
This article is the first in a series that will discuss the horrifying state of American education. We will focus on what is being taught and what is not being taught. We will delve into who the teachers are and who trains them. What is the intellectual level of those who become teachers? What are their SAT scores and educational accomplishments or lack thereof? After all, in order to impart knowledge you have to have knowledge. Is your child’s teacher an intellect or someone scraped from the bottom of the academic barrel?
We will explore whether there is a scientifically validated disease known as ADD/HD or is it a fraud perpetrated on children and parents to increase funding and profit for the education and drug industries. It’s time for the American people to take their heads out of the sand and act like citizens of a republic instead of lemmings going over a cliff.
Most parents realize that the American educational system is replete with incompetent teachers and illiterate students. However, the incompetents are never their kids’ teachers and the illiterates are never their kids. Well, guess what; the literacy challenged are your kids.
Even Albert Shanker, former president of the American Federation of Teachers, estimated that only 5 percent of college graduates can read at an advanced level. Of course, few notice this because the SATs have been renormed to make scores higher and standards have been lowered across the board. After all, if you lower the rim enough, even a dwarf can dunk.
The following books do an excellent job of documenting everything I say: “Dumbing Down your Kids” by Charles Sykes, “The Conspiracy of Ignorance” by Martin Gross, “Inside American Education” by Dr. Thomas Sowell, “The Whole Language OBE Fraud” by Samuel Blumenfeld, “Educating for the New World Order” by Beverly Eakman, and “Why Johnny Can’t Read” by Rudolph Flesch. I suggest you read these books and then more closely examine your child’s school.
The bureaucrats, educrats, politicians and media mandarins jabber on about the urgent need to further bilk taxpayers in order to help educate “our children.” I have a brief response to them all; it’s the curriculum, stupid!
Trained to Fail
The reason why Americans are poor readers is quite simple; they were trained to be poor readers. As Rudolph Flesch pointed out in his best-selling classic, “Why Johnny Can’t Read,” children are instructed to read English as if it were Chinese. English is an alphabetic language whereas Chinese is a pictographic language. Why would anyone teach English as if it were Chinese? Aren’t they the ones that care about “our children”?
The English language is composed of 44 basic sounds known as phonemes. The letters of the alphabet, either individually or in groups, correspond with these sounds. The alphabet is a code, and the process of sounding out words is therefore called decoding. Once you teach a first grader to make the symbol-sound connection, he or she will read with relative ease. The only way to really tell if your child can read is to place a new book in front of the child and have him read out loud as you look over his shoulder.
Now all this may sound like plain common sense to you, but among members of the educracy, common sense is commonly uncommon. Teachers’ colleges around the nation routinely train these illiteracy producers to utilize a reading methodology alternately known as “whole language,” “psycholinguistics,” “look say” and whatever else the latest fashion may dictate.
What all of the foregoing terms have in common is that they do not teach the symbol-sound connection in an intensive systematic manner. Instead, they have kids memorize so-called “sight words” and guess the words they don’t recognize from the context of so-called “clues.”
‘Learning Disorder’ Is a Teaching Disorder
The clues can be pictures or other words that the child can recognize within the sentence. As a result of this word recognition or whole language method, the child will try to read a word the way he recognizes a familiar face. However, a face doesn’t have to be recognized from left to right. As a result, words are not decoded from left to right, and student victims of this horrible incompetence are labeled “dyslexic” when they are really “teachlexic.”
Of course all of this so-called dyslexia spawns an ever-growing education blob. Special-education funding increases incrementally as illiteracy increases exponentially.
But of course, this benefits the psych industry and the drug industry, both of which profit from placing children on Ritalin. Never mind that studies have shown Ritalin to be “more potent than cocaine.” Why should cold facts stand in the way of warm feelings that come from making “our children” more “manageable”?
Dumbing Down Citizens … and Voters
Come to think of it, illiteracy makes the population more manageable. Intelligent people think in words. As the intricacy of vocabulary grows, so does the level of abstract thought.
On the other hand, as we dumb down the vocabulary, we dumb down the level of thinking to that of an aboriginal tribe. It was the alphabet that greatly contributed to the superior advancements of Western civilization compared to those civilizations that drew pictures on cave walls.
A highly literate individual has now become a threat to the establishment. After all, an independent advanced reader doesn’t need to get his information from the boobs on the tube such as Dan Blather. They can read Bernard Goldberg’s expose of the CBS regime’s biased propaganda, which CBS passes off to the Jerry Springer crowd as news.
In Samuel Blumenfeld’s excellent book “The OBE Whole Language Fraud,” Thomas Sticht, assistant to former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, is quoted in the Aug. 17, 1987 Washington Post as follows:
“Many companies have moved operations to places with cheap, relatively poor educated labor. What may be crucial, they say, is the dependability of a labor force and how well it can be managed and trained – not its general educational level, although a small cadre of highly educated creative people is essential to innovation and growth. Ending discrimination and changing values are probably more important than reading in moving low-income families into the middle class.”
Mr. Blumenfeld also quotes professor Anthony G. Oettinger, chairman of the Center for Information Policy Research at Harvard University and a member of the elitist Council on Foreign Relations, telling an audience of communications executives in 1981:
“Our idea of literacy, I am afraid, is obsolete because it rests on a frozen and classical definition. Literacy, as we know it today, is the product of the conditions of the industrial revolution, of urbanization, of the need for a work force that could, in effect, ‘write in a fine round hand.’…”
Obviously the professor either doesn’t realize the fact, or wants to hide the fact that we’ve become less literate since the Founding Fathers and it is the urban public schools that have dumbed us down. God help us all if the elite “cadre” of Messrs. Sticht and Oettinger turn us into their “manageable” illiterate worker bees.
Hail Nina Gordon for her courage and bravery to always speak up on behalf of what is best for our community.
I’m appalled by some of the filth that lives / drives around in Great Neck with their shady businesses, shady way they raise their families, sense of entitlement, homophobic disposition and sinning ways. What also baffles me, for a pretty affluent area, there are some pretty ignorant and down right stupid people that live here. Outside of the bubble they live in called GN, they would be revealed to be the scum that they are.
As someone above mentioned – GN South schools are still at the top schools in the country. I am worried that “concerned” parents are already messing with GN North and that is the reason for such a bad rating. Let’s not forget – it is in that school there was a SAT scandal.
I would also question Mr. Hakimi motivation if he is only mentioning one school, and that he worries only about half of the student population. Are the rest not important? Are they less in his eyes? Is it, if I dare to mention, racism? Is that why he wants to exclude education about racism from GN schools?
It is very concerning to me that someone who represents “concerned” parents is ready to disregard half of the school district. I guess GN is ready for another age of segregation – good luck to is all!