Privilege Bingo: Military Kids Need to Check their Privilege
And so do white boys who don't share a bedroom or take the school bus, according to Fairfax County Schools
Schools across the country are increasingly obsessed with identity and it's not unusual to see classroom resources and lesson plans that include activities focused on the concept of unearned privilege. White Privilege. Male privilege. Cisheteronormative privilege. The belief that being a member of the “dominant culture” automatically imbues one with privilege undergirds most diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and practices and is a basic tenet of critical race theory and critical gender theory.
Fairfax County Public Schools may have just outdone themselves on the lessons-on-privilege-front with a district approved English lesson that includes a bingo game. The usual suspects of course appear on the card: white, male, Christian, cis, heterosexual. But this version of the game includes a square that has ignited a justifiable firestorm.
One of the identities that imbues privilege, according to the game, is being a military kid. That's right—if one of your parents is deployed overseas, you are privileged. If you have to move every three years, leaving behind your friends and teammates and perhaps a home you have grown to love, you are privileged. Gold star families? Privileged.
On the one hand, it is unsurprising that a district as far gone as Fairfax could be so tone deaf as to label the children of the 1% of Americans who volunteer to serve their country as privileged. This is who Fairfax county schools has become. It has become the norm for them to shame students and families for their immutable characteristics, including the level of melanin in their skin. They yell and scream about equity and anti-racism and inclusivity when really, they epitomize intolerance. The district has shifted so far away from its mission of educating students to become a bastion of activism and ideology.
It would be one thing if these lessons were absurd but benign. But the brutal truth is that the school district, and many others like it, are peddling dangerous ideas to other people’s children.
Let's take a closer look.
According to the Bingo card, being mentally healthy is a form of unearned privilege. They are teaching students that they are privileged if they have not lost a loved one. All the boys in class are being told that they are automatically privileged simply because they’re male.
After initial complaints, Fairfax Schools defended the assignment and confirmed that it had been approved. The following email is a response from the assistant superintendent:
The screen shot you reference comes from an approved FCPS English Curriculum lesson that is centered around students selecting a “choice” test and examining in detail the author’s perspective on a wide-range [sic] of issues. Students are asked, in the lesson, to read critically and think critically about the author’s perspective on several fronts including the author’s privilege that may or may not be present in the work. Students are then asked independently and self reflectively to juxtapose their thoughts regarding any perceived privilege they think they may have and how they would potentially rewrite portions of the text. Students are not asked or required to report out their self-reflections. This lesson is an adept vehicle to push student thinking to challenge the author’s thoughts/conclusions and to sharpen their ability to critically read selected texts. — Assistant Superintendent Douglas A. Tyson (as reported by Luke Rosiak at Daily Wire.)
But a few hours later, they changed course, sort of.
One the one hand, it’s a positive development that they responded to outrage over the idea that a military kid has unearned privilege. On the other hand, the fact that they don’t see a problem with the rest of the squares on the Bingo card is evidence that they are not serious people.
My son would have yelled BINGO several times. He only missed two squares. Is there any surprise that these kids are the most depressed generation? Before he has even had the opportunity to make any decisions in his life he is dubbed as an oppressor. This is why so many kids are saying that they are non-binary or trans - because they cannot change their immutable characters or divorce their parents. Should I feel bad that my husband and I have a stable marriage, that my son has his own room and does not share the marital bedroom with us, that his grandparents have not yet died, that he lives in a safe neighborhood? Shielding kids from the reality of the divide in wealth or comfort is not healthy either but (1) it is not the school's place to teach my child empathy, generosity, and philanthropy; or (2) to tell him he is privileged so he should feel both guilt and have no excuse for ever feeling sad. Let parent's parent. To even the playing field - concentrate on educating the "under privileged" kids with the math, science and English instead of teaching this nonsense. Instead, the US is lowering standards to include my kids as "passing". Raise them up.
One thing my circle discusses a lot is how, with so much focus on various forms of 'under-privilege', where the grain has been raised and a taxonomy built and codified - there is a whole new class of average, mild students who get no attention, merit no support and are left largely to their own devices. I work in schools and can tell you there is a large swath of disaffected, unattached youth who lack a connection to the adults in their daily (school) life and often with peers as well. The issue has become somewhat visible, but is only blamed on the pandemic. Personally, I think the roots are much deeper and broader.