NASA pushes discrimination to favor minorities in its education workshops
NASA: dedicated to the new segregation!
“Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” A NASA press release today proudly touted what it called a “Culturally Inclusive Planetary Engagement in Colorado,” one of a series of recent science/education workships designed specifically to help “black and Latinx youth and their families.”
Though the events are apparently not segregated, it also appears that white and Asian kids and their parents were not really welcome.
Planetary scientists and engineers from Boulder, as well as scientists from Florida, Maryland, and Alaska participated. ReaCH partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, whose staff participated in the workshop to share their perspectives. Other educators local to the Denver area also participated, along with an educational specialist from NASA@ My Library (another Science Activation program). The workshop culminated in an event at the Shopneck Boys & Girls Club in Brighton, CO; workshop participants facilitated a variety of hands-on planetary activities for approximately 120 children. Workshop participants also shared information about college pathways into science professions with teenagers at the Club.
The location and the local organizations were specifically chosen to aid these specific minorites above anyone else.
[Workshop l]ocations are near concentrations of planetary research facilities and/or Latinx/Black communities.
There was a time more than a half century ago when such a program might have made sense, especially when real segregation and racial discrimination was prevalent. Today however it simply reeks of bigotry and favoritism, simply replacing the old favored race (whites) with a new set of races (blacks and hispanics). This bigotry is very evident in the program’s “objectives and outcomes” statement:
Learn evidence-based strategies for engaging Black and Latinx audiences:
- Deepened understanding of the effect of an individual’s identity and bias on engagement practices
- Deepened understanding of the features of equity-oriented, authentic partnerships
- Deepened understanding of how to recognize and elevate audience assets
Practice planetary science engagement through a culturally inclusive lens:
- Expanded network of planetary scientists and informal educators
- Increased confidence in co-designing culturally inclusive, planetary science engagement
- Increased confidence in implementing culturally inclusive, planetary science engagement
The focus isn’t really education or science, but teaching these minority kids that they have been oppressed, and that they therefore deserve special treatment to teach their oppressors a lesson. Great stuff to teach little kids!
I also strongly suspect — though I have no direct evidence — that this program was more explicitly discriminatory in the past, but has since eliminated such language to avoid lawsuits. The press release for example refers to “careful revisions to these workshops and detailed evaluation,” without specifying those revisions. The changes could be of course revisions to make the events more effective, but based on recent history it is just as likely the program managers suddenly realized that expressly limiting attendence only to minorities was blatantly illegal.
Nor is this program the only NASA educational outreach program that appears to favor minorities. In fact, the only other such program, labeled VIRTEX (Virtual Trips to Extreme Environments), appears to partner with the same organizations in the same locales, thus favoring the same minorities. As far as I can tell, NASA has no similar outreach program designed to work with all schools, regardless of race.
The bill that founded NASA included a requirement that it foster education nationwide. It did not say that the agency should play favorites based on race, ethnicity, or sex. Yet that is what NASA is now doing, and like many government agencies and those organizations funded by the government, it is doing it routinely and systemwide.
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Doesn’t make any difference since the quality white workers will be working for Musk on actual spacecraft and NASA has
become a dysfunctional old relic…
“Education equity”, because there are minorities in every country, the left feels better about themselves to give selected groups “favored status”.
Every Democrat is mother Tresa now and won’t feel bad about the evil they do as they are compelled to make the world in their own image.
Just as John Karry’s daughter became a doctor to help people, and then advises the world economic forum to encourage countries to start executing climate deniers and conservatives.
That goes along with documents on official government websites outlying the redefinition of what American terrorist is, and how the descendants of the terrorist in the rebellion against King George creating this illegal country and how they must be punished along the East Coast starting with denial of government help with Hurricane relief. Good grief.
Or claiming women have the right to do with their body anything they wish… Only as long as they don’t refuse to take a vaccination shot. A persons right to do with their body extends just so far with the liberals. It seems you only have a right to your Genitals/reproductive organs. (if you do not own your own body, then you truly own nothing)
Which brings me to the point… The left screams about democracy but it soon will be twisted into a pretzel as majority vote (mob rule) can no longer be tolerated because it’s not sustainable, equitable or good governance!
Democracy “violates equity”.
(But that’s why we are a republic)
Hasn’t become obvious to everyone? That those who think they know a better way of doing things has no connection to reality? The “do gooders” are destroying this world. but then we could’ve told them that the “road to hell” is paved with “good intentions”.
Q: Is this just a temporary trend in a cycle until some measure of a new balance can be arrived at?
Or, a founding of a new paradigm in human education and work that will lead the country and the world to a new reality of excellence?
If I had to choose, In the long run, I choose the former.
Stay tuned.