As the new academic year begins, parents ought to look out for “hidden agendas,” which means not only easy-to-spot activist buzzwords, but the “more troubling” question of what gets left out and why, Dana Stangel-Plowe, chief program officer at the nonprofit North American Values Institute, told JNS.
“Activist educators have influenced curricula and programming in all grades and subjects, sometimes in ways that are not immediately apparent,” said Stangel-Plowe, who taught in K-12 school programs for nearly 15 years. “Lessons often push students to judge America before they’ve learned its full and accurate story of imperfection, struggle and growth.”
Parents should ask questions and demand that instructors “teach knowledge and skills and not a singular political orientation,” she said.
Stangel-Plowe told JNS that lessons or activities that call on students to view themselves as part of a larger group identity, rather than as individuals, warrant scrutiny.
“The binary framework of oppressed-oppressor is dehumanizing and dangerous. It rejects foundational principles of individual rights, equality and dignity, fueling division, mistrust, and ultimately, anti-Americanism and antisemitism,” she said. “Too often, students don’t realize that they’re being given a teacher’s worldview instead of multiple perspectives. It’s up to parents to take note and ask questions.”
She told JNS that there are also good things for which to look out.
“Strong classrooms put core knowledge and skills at the center. Teachers who welcome questions, encourage debate and ground lessons in facts before opinions are preparing students for real learning,” she said. “School culture counts, too: openness, shared values and honesty about curricula and programs all support student success.”
That’s why transparency is very important for classroom materials, she said. “Without it, families have no way of knowing whether education is serving students’ learning or advancing a political agenda.”
Among the most egregious examples that Stangel-Plowe has seen are a Portland, Ore., teacher using a lesson in which students were asked to roleplay Israeli “apartheid” and another lesson elsewhere that asked students to ponder, “How could Jews treat Palestinians without dignity or humanity after what they had experienced?”
“Both lessons reduce Israel’s complex history to moral absolutes designed to appeal to students’ emotions rather than foster genuine understanding,” she told JNS.
A red flag
She also cautioned parents about teachers using public social-media profiles, where many identify as educators and sometimes interact with students outside of school hours, to share “incendiary content, including claims that Zionism is racism or white supremacy, accusations of genocide, and even support for ‘Palestinian resistance’ accompanied by violent imagery.”
“Parents might not realize how much harmful ideology is embedded in seemingly neutral topics,” she said. “For instance, lessons framed as ‘justice studies’ or ‘decolonization’ or ‘imperialism’ can lead to more explicit anti-Israel rhetoric.”
If their children come home talking about Israel only in terms of “colonialism” or “oppression,” without “acknowledgment of Jewish history, dignity or democratic values,” that’s also a red flag, she said.
Parents who avoid talking openly about Jew-hatred with their children risk sending the message to kids that the issue isn’t important or is too uncomfortable to address, according to Stangel-Plowe. But she also thinks that overreacting can send a message to children that discourages them from sharing their experiences.
“A better approach is to create space for conversation by asking age-appropriate, open-ended questions like, ‘What at school makes you feel good or bad about yourself?’ and ‘How comfortable do you feel speaking up?’ and ‘What’s something at school this week that made you proud of who you are?’” she told JNS. “Parents can encourage an open and ongoing dialogue to help their kids recognize bias and respond with confidence.”
She also advises parents to explain the many forms of Jew-hatred to their children. It “often begins with a falsehood,” she said. “Sometimes pointing out that something is not true can be more effective—and less isolating—than immediately labeling it antisemitic.”
Stangel-Plowe thinks that parents should approach teachers “constructively, with curiosity rather than hostility, by asking thoughtful questions that invite dialogue and understanding.”
“As an educator, I know most teachers are not radical,” she told JNS. “They care about kids and usually enter the profession to teach, not to advance an agenda. But they’re working within a system that now embeds activism into education. Ideological materials flow through teacher prep programs, district trainings and teachers’ unions.”
Many times, teachers aren’t aware that they have been handed biased materials, and they may think that they’re “promoting fairness or equity when, in reality, they’re advancing a narrow political agenda,” she said.
“While teachers need to understand how activism is seeping into their classroom, the bigger issue lies in activist policies and frameworks pushed by radical groups outside of school buildings,” she said.
