Dumbing down our kids: Our schools are lowering standards & assuming parents aren't paying attention

live cam yes we're live hi everybody good morning today's Tuesday May 25th I'm Jill simonian from prageru kids if you have not subscribed for free yet parents fraggeryoukids.com everything you need for kindergarten through 12th graders to nourish your child's minds and um and educate them about what many schools are not educating them about so uh let's jump into it the headlines we have we have some crazy headlines this morning as we always have once a week I hop on Facebook and YouTube here to say hello and alert you about what is happening in education so that parents and good teachers because we know that good teachers are out there so that all of you can be informed to stay engaged and active in your local schools I'm going to follow along here on Facebook as I usually try to do sometimes effectively sometimes and effectively so tell me where you are from tell me if you are in California like we are in the belly of the Beast or if you are elsewhere today we're going to be talking about New Jersey we're also going to be talking about Beverly Hills School District so let's start our first alert headline that we have for you happening in education today the lowering of standards in New Jersey now I'm sure many of you will argue hey they're lowering standards all across the country Jill get with it and yes I know you're probably right but today I want to take a look at an article that the 74 uh the 74 million.org put out uh let me see it was oops let me close this up hold on hold on let's take a look at this article that the 74 put out uh last week former New Jersey education Chief says that lowering passing scores on state tests is a parlor trick fun word that hurts kids so basically the 70 report the 74 is reporting that only 39 of high schoolers would be graduation ready under previous education standards think about that for a moment again we are talking about New Jersey but I know that this in fact probably does permeate across the country as well the New Jersey Board of Education recently decided by a one vote margin people to lower the minimum passing score on the state's High School graduation test and we have the link pulled up here if you are looking and viewing along with us under the prior passing score 39 percent of student students would be graduation ready in reading and 49 and a half percent in math but with the reduced standards that number Rises to 80 percent of students passing in reading and 55 percent passing for Math and that is the little parlor trick that the headline of this article really describes so I want to hear what you think about this because my initial gut reaction as a parent is don't we want our kids to be educated and capable to live and work in America anymore we talk about lowering standards here on the prageru kids team quite frequently and it is one of the problems in our education system that is really fueling us to create shows and resources to raise that academic standard so that our children can be knowledgeable can be informed can be educated about history and the current world around them I want to scroll this article a little bit right here it says for decades no matter whether Democrats or Republicans were in charge our elected officials have agreed that the state should set high standards for academic achievement again this is in New Jersey standards that correlate with being truly prepared for success in life and the decision that one vote margin that I spoke about earlier where the the Board of Education decided to lower this standards that decision represents a stunning abandonment of that principle that we should be teaching our children to be capable to be knowledgeable and to be prepared for Life uh something else that this article in the 74 really touches on um is the the the concept of equity I know that we've all talked about Equity before Equity is not equality right right we remember Equity means equal outcomes and I have frequently talked about the problem when school districts or in this case the state of New Jersey sets goals for Equity because the standards do not maintain or rise to to pull the lower performing students up the standards in fact fall right which undermines everything that an educational institution should be aiming to do so this article points out the critical it undermines the critical goal of equity and one board member who supported lowering the passing scores suggested that it was unfair to Black and Latino students to require underperforming students to demonstrate a higher level of proficiency in reading and math before graduating and this gets it totally backwards I mean every student regardless of what color skin your economic background where you live where you come from which family situation is every student should be expected to rise to a decent academic standard so that they could be launched into adulthood set up for Success that should be the primary goal for all of our schools I don't care what school you are or where you are so tell me if you're in New Jersey first of all tell me if you're in New Jersey if you've experienced this firsthand if you've noticed a decline in uh what is happening in your community I want to check in with the comments right here just to see if people are great info here thank you we're getting dumb to Dumber World yeah we are we are getting Dumber we are getting Dumber let's see Carrie says even with lower standards Baltimore passed only a small percentage of seniors of which no one had competency in math reducing standards is pure crap but make sure we push sex ed on grade school students it's sure a clown World Carrie thank you for this comment I appreciate your candor it's always fun to read colorful colorful words and comments from others I couldn't agree with you more I couldn't agree with you more and Carrie your comment actually serves as a um unofficial segue into what I'm going to be talking about next here which is the sex ed curriculum in California specifically that is being administered to fifth grade students now in Beverly Hills Unified School District and we'll talk about that later but um later but um another fun fact about lowering standards that I just want to touch on I actually was on Fox News uh I think it was two weeks ago talking about these lowering of academic standards when it came to teaching children Civics and history okay so I want to go to another article now discussing the nation's report card 8th grade civics and history test scores plummet after coven 19. now of course the Washington examiner can cite covid-19 is the blame I personally don't cite covid-19 as the blame I place blame on our education system that continues to fail our kids uh let's let's go ahead and just take a look at this again the headline is 8th grade civics and history test scores plummet so this article here Washington examiner talks about students in the eighth grade are doing worse in U.S history and Civics than they were in 2018 and this of course heightens concerns about learning loss and this is all according to data from the national assessment of educational progress that was released a few weeks ago now so what's happening in a nutshell that this article describes is something very disturbing for all of us no matter if you have children in school or if you don't take a big breath while I say this 13 percent of 8th graders scored at or above the proficient level that doesn't mean an A that doesn't mean a b that means proficient level uh for the national assessment of educational progress and 13 of 8th graders in 2022 could explain important Milestones people or events in American history 13 of 8th graders understand American history basics American history events significant historical figures their their significance who they were what they did why it's important to us and this also includes um because it is civics and this includes knowing our rights this includes our basic founding documents like the Declaration of Independence like the Constitution like the Bill of Rights only 13 percent of eighth graders were proficient in this National assessment of how many students across the country really know American history and and and who we are and what our rights are as people that is terrifying right terrifying I don't know another word for it all I can think of is a future of again uninformed young people and eventually let's not forget uninformed and uneducated parents for the future future of our country that is scary we should all be I am very very scared I'm seeing a lot of shocked emojis coming through a lot of crying emojis coming through in the comments I'm right with you I am right with you let me see another comment before I go on to the Beverly Hills sex ed uh Andrew I absolutely 100 agree School standards need to get better more education less indoctrination the sooner the better oh he says both in the UK and in the United States that's interesting so let's see Eric when I graduated sixth grade in New Jersey Public School in 1962. I knew as much English grammar as the typical college student today with a degree in English I don't disagree with you Eric let's see from Earl I see it all the time I'm a janitor in a grocery store in Glens Falls New York and I'm surprised at how much kids don't know how to count money or do simple tasks at work yes thank you that's another good point Earl that is another point we're not only talking about an educated youth for an educated Nation to go on and be doctors or lawyers or you know very very uh High professional degrees we are talking about the fabric of our country the good people who work the the jobs that keep our country moving in stores in retail in coffee shops okay right we've talked about this before we're we're the workforce is is completely oblivious to having any kind of common sense or knowledge because our education system is dumbing us down further and further and further and it's from lowering standards and it is terrifying so so that is the alert that we have uh first first round for this Facebook and YouTube live today not to be Doom and Gloom but we again firmly believe that the more we are informed as parents the more we understand the current data statistics the current happenings and the realities about what's going on about 13 of 8th graders don't you know are proficient in American history on a basic level the more we know that New Jersey the state of New Jersey amongst other states I'm sure is uh lowering standards so that only uh you know half of their students um you know are are able to get by without having true knowledge in in math reading that's information that we need to know so that it can motivate us as parents and teachers and taxpaying community members also by the way to stay on top of our school districts and demand that the standards are not lowered for our youth for our country okay let's go ahead now and jump to something else that tends to get people riled up sex ed okay raise your hand in the comments if you get riled up by current sex ed happening in our schools I have a feeling I'm go I'm getting a lot of laughing emojis and I'm getting a lot of uh Angry emojis so yeah those are kind of the emotions that I was uh that I was predicting would come through here so another Alert in education sex ed in California it is no secret that California is the most Progressive when it comes to teaching our children gender identity gender ideology all of these things inside of a sexual education um uh uh lessons in our classrooms as young as fifth grade recently a parent sent me something from The Beverly Hills Unified School District Let's see we got technical difficulties what's happening plug my computer back in that is what is happening all right when you're live you roll with the punches how's this cam on the tech side did it work did it work okay I don't want to lose these good people in the audience are you there yes you're still there I still see the angry and shocked emojis coming through okay so let's back it up another Alert in education that gets people riled up is of course sex ed it is no secret that California is the hotbed of radicalized sexual education inside of our schools including gender identity all sorts of gender ideology um you name it California is trying to push it onto our young students as young as fifth grade fifth grade in California is when students start receiving uh what the state of California deems as the healthy youth Act Right a very lovely sounding title for a very radicalized sexual uh sexual education agenda so a parent sent me something from The Beverly Hills Unified School District okay and I'm going to show it to you right now I um this parent sent me this in an email form I cut and pasted it word for word inside of a document here uh to not um to you know to keep the anonymity of this parent private uh because that matters email from assistant superintendent we have come to the time of year when we are required to address growth development and Sexual Health instruction to accomplish this in compliance with State Education Code again this is California the district has designed policies activities and curricula to develop health literacy in our students at the end of May 5th grade students will receive instruction in growth development and sexual health so this is essentially happening happening now as today the date of this live is May 25th so this curriculum supports families in teaching young people medically accurate terminology about human anatomy the growth and development of the human body during puberty I don't disagree with any of that to me as a parent of uh you know children who have already gone through this fifth grade age bracket I don't see this as unreasonable at all we have sexual development reproductive Health pregnancy HIV virus sexually transmitted diseases these are all important conversations that need to be had with kids I will go so far to say that I do believe of course reasonably that it is the duty of the parents to lead these discussions and to direct the education and upbringing of our children in partnership with schools the thing that will raise a lot of red red flags is with many of you is included in this bullet list that Beverly Hills unified will teach is of course definitions of lgbtqia so there are I'm actually just noticing this now the the I and the a I don't I I'm not laughing but I actually I don't know what the I and the a stands for that's that's new uh maybe I'm not up to date on my terminology lately um but Beverly Hills unified will be teaching this so again the instruction will reflect the standards of the California healthy youth act Education Code sections 51930 Etc in sequence so here's what the Beverly Hills Unified District emphasized here in bold we encourage all students to participate in the growth development and sexual health unit of instruction please complete the form to indicate your consent so what I do like about this is that they are in fact no matter what you think about the healthy youth act no matter what you think about any of this in classrooms at all we are we all have a right to our diversity of opinion but no matter what you think about this I appreciate that they are sending this to parents ahead of time saying please complete this form to indicate your consent the district's email here then includes all the and this is more than you'll get from many other districts by the way I can say that as a former Public School parent click here for a copy of California Education Code sections so that you can know exactly what the California Ed code says uh you can click here says the email to look for the materials for the growth development and Sexual Health curriculum you can you can click here to view those if you do not fill out the form ah here's the catch if you do not fill out the form we are required by the state to opt your child into this program there's the problem right most of us California parents know this there's the problem and there's something that the reason why I bring this up is because in the California Ed code now let me see if I can find it here we go I've clicked on the link California Department of Education if you're watching along I want to scroll down to this area that says parent consent active consent I'm highlighting it requires that a parent or legal guardian be notified in writing and give and gives written permission for the student to participate in the survey okay they're talking about delivering surveys here to students passive consent requires that a parent or legal guardian be notified in writing about the survey and is given the opportunity to review the survey parents need to notify the school if they do not want their children to participate in the survey passive consent is required for students in grades 7 through 12. so to simplify this active consent me it means that a parent must say yes it's okay for my child to do that passive consent means that the state and school is going to do it anyways no matter if you read the email or not and if you do not want your student to participate you must write to them and specifically say opt me out otherwise they automatically opt you in that is what I as a mom have a big problem with and unfortunately as we saw in this letter the sex ed curriculum which includes gender identity lessons is a passive consent situation which is not okay so in the Beverly Hills Unified School District email it continues where do I find my consent form they give the information why are you teaching this they explain uh has Beverly Hills unified change the information the program provides they answer all these questions it really does I'm gonna give I am not a parent in the Beverly Hills Unified School District but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt because this email really provides many links to keep parents informed it's almost as though I feel they're speaking a code with the parents like hello alert here is what is in the law here is what you have rights to here is what you don't have rights to how long has Beverly Hills been teaching this instruction since 2016 that's when the California held the youth act went into effect here's I'm going to continue to scroll down affirmatively recognize different sexual orientations and be inclusive of same-sex relationships in discussions and examples they're going to teach about gender expression gender identity and the harm of negative gender stereotypes these things if you're watching are bolded in the email here because I want to bring them to your attention and then at the end this email concludes saying and it is written by the assistant superintendent of Education Services I did delete this person's name you can look it up on your own because again a parent sent this to me this is allegedly happening and I want to be responsible in giving you the information so as the assistant superintendent of Education Services in Beverly Hills unified rights in his or her email so hold on it is required by law that all growth development and Sexual Health instruction must include instruction about sexual orientations affirmatively recognizing different sexual orientations and be inclusive of same-sex relationships gender expression gender identity and the harm of negative gender stereotypes yes this is not under the purview of b-h-u-s-d that is how the email concludes basically saying we don't necessarily drive this policy but we are bound to delivering it according to California state law and then the email concludes with you may request a copy of the Education Code sections listing all these sections regarding the California healthy youth act from their school so this particular email is really describing to parents hey here's what's happening we are about you know we are obligated to do this be aware be alert I want to go now quickly to the fifth grade health document straight from Beverly Hills Unified School District fifth grade human growth development and Sexual Health teaching materials these are the teaching materials and this link was included with the copy of the email that was forwarded to me by a parent I am just scrolling through this quickly because I want to get to this part where they list the different types of videos that are likely to be shown in this fifth grade Sexual Health curriculum unit in Beverly Hills unified many of these videos are from an organization called amaze.org those of you who have been following us or those of you who even watched our documentary called miseducated um that I incidentally hosted a couple years ago talked about Amaze videos and um I want to go to this Amaze video right now just so you're informed uh so that you can see the type of video that will likely be shown as part of the Beverly Hills Unified um sex ed curriculum this one calls is called what is sexual orientation lgbtq this is for the fifth grade let's take a listen I'm just we're gonna watch it it's two minutes I never heard of this band what kind of music do they do rock so what is it pop so they do techno Progressive Balkan with a touch of metal never heard of that genre sexual orientation describes who you are attracted to may fall in love with and may have a sexual relationship with everyone has a sexual orientation and there are different words to describe different sexual orientations many people are familiar with terms like heterosexual gay lesbian and bisexual but those aren't the only sexual orientations out there for example some people identify as pansexual which means they are attracted to people of all genders many pansexual people feel that gender has little to do with their attractions in other words they are attracted to a person not to that person's gender some people are asexual sometimes called Ace asexual people feel little or no sexual attraction to other people and have little or no interest in having sex or engaging in sexual behaviors many asexual people still feel romantic attraction they feel love and affection but may not feel sexual attraction demisexual people only feel sexual attraction when they have a strong romantic or emotional connection with a person okay I'm just gonna stop it right there again potentially for fifth grade we saw in the last you know one minute pansexual asexual demisexual I don't know about you but I would never show this to my 11 year old it is not age-appropriate she's not developmentally ready for words like this and the meanings behind them or shall I say fake words like this I'm going to go so far as to say made up words like this this is again from amaze.org and amaze.org is part of the videos that are endorsed to be shown as part of the California healthy youth act curriculum for sex ed fifth grade through High School stay informed stay active again what we just discussed was that most of these initiatives in schools are passive consent when it comes to allowing parents to consent and be informed about what their kids that means if you don't happen to read the email that day that it sent to you from the district or if you don't send specific notification opting your child out your child will automatically be opted in so stay informed stay alert are prageru kids action guide is on our website prageru.com in the search bar search for parent action guide if you don't know where to start for staying informed about what is going on in your District how to raise concerns what the pecking order is who you file grievances with first how to file a Freedom of Information Act to understand what is happening specifically between teachers and administrators and outside Consultants that they may or may not be bringing into your school to help usher in these radicalized programs check out our parent action guide it's a road map to get you started if you don't know where to start this is free on our website and I want to go back to the comments before I before I wrap it up here let me see let me see let me see let me see I'm scrolling hmm I'm reading parent sign the permission slips Public Schools were much better years ago in New Jersey and Bergen County while you scream and holler and call them groomers at meetings where they are trying to get worked in you ungrateful morons that's from Matthew thanks for your comment Matthew I may not support what you have to say but I support your ability to say it and I support our first amendment allowing you to be able to voice what you think so again I don't agree with what you say but I support your ability to say it okay let's keep scrolling the comments oh somebody said Joseph somebody said join prep 25 a year oh thank you so much Joseph prep is our prageru resources for educators and parents group on prageru.com and essentially what it is is it is a 25 membership um that you can donate once a year and it funds the creation of all of our prageru kids videos we cannot do any of this creating videos at prageru kids.com to give to you for free for kindergarten through 12th grade to educate your children with knowledge with values with history now with financial literacy with one of our shows called Cash course our new episode our new episode is out now I've pulled up cash cores on the screen for you to see um we've got episodes about student loans using credit card versus debit cards financial institutions checking and savings accounts we cannot create any of these shows to educate our children and equip them to to have fulfilled productive lives as American citizens without your support we are a non-profit everything we do is based on donations so we appreciate all of our donors and thank you Joseph for uh saying that you can join our 25 a year membership to to help do that in in a very uh you know small But Mighty way we there is no donation that's too small we appreciate all of it because it all goes to good use I want to thank you for all of your comments I want to thank you for listening I want to thank all of the parents who are educating our children and most also importantly I want to thank the teachers who are in our schools trying to hold the line and maintain standards so that our children can be educated in an academic way first right this weekend if you are listening live this weekend is Memorial Day thank you does not even begin to communicate how much we all appreciate the men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country for our freedoms for our ability to speak freely as I just read a comment that vehemently disagreed with all of us here but people fought and died for our right to be able to publicly and vehemently disagree with one another and that is a value that I do not take for granted and no one here at prageru takes for granted and I know that countless countless people do not take that for granted as well and we thank our fallen soldiers we think their families we thank all who fight for Freedom this Memorial Day I encourage you to take a moment with your kids and say a prayer give them a little bit of Education in an age-appropriate way about what this holiday is about yes we have barbecues yes it's a three-day weekend yes Everyone likes to you know in my community we have a parade that that honors our military um which I'm very excited about by the way but take a moment to explain to your children what this holiday means we have dozens of of resources videos available for you for free on our website a video that sticks out to me for the older kids on prageru.com is the fallen soldier and it's um it's um narrated by uh Jocko willink if you know if you know him uh tough guy great guy um show that to your older kids for your younger kids we have an age-appropriate Autos Tales episode and book that you can purchase on Amazon about visiting Arlington National Cemetery and it's you know Otto the bulldog and smidge the kitten and they travel to Arlington National Cemetery and they really do meet they they they meet new friends and understand the importance of of the soldiers who have fought and died for freedom and we have all of these for free on prageru kids.com for your families even if it's just five minutes please take time to do that this weekend Our Heroes who were never able who were never able to come home deserve it and I'm not going to get emotional but I'll get emotional afterwards thank you to all of you who continue to support us and we wish you a beautiful and meaningful Memorial Day and We additionally continue to encourage you to stand up for your children's education speak out for not lowering standards and stay informed with what is happening in our education system across the country because if we don't try to save our school system we're not going to have a country for very much longer okay I'm going to say So Long Farewell thank you all see you next time