Little Red Classroom: House Republicans investigate school program with ties to communist China

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SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE

House lawmakers held a hearing to investigate the Chinese Communist Party’s alleged efforts to influence American classrooms.

The Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee held the hearing, led by Chair Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla.

Lawmakers brought scrutiny against Confucius Classrooms, a program with ties to the CCP, which promote teaching things like the Chinese language and culture, among other things, in hundreds of classrooms around the country.

In Alaska, Scenic Park Elementary School was listed during the Gov. Bill Walker Administration as the state’s first Confucius Classroom, as reported by the Asia Society. Scenic Park Elementary has a Chinese immersion program. The grant that paid for Confucius Classroom, however, was stopped during the Trump Administration.

The nonprofit education group, Parents Defending Education, released a report earlier this year which found the Confucius Classroom program has received over $17 million in government funding of some kind since 2009 and has been present in 143 school districts covering 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Currently, the school districts still linked to the Confucius Classroom, according to Parents Defending Education’s “Little Red Classroom” report, are:

  • Cloverport Independent School District, KY 
  • Minnetonka Public Schools, MN
  • St. Cloud Area School District, MN
  • Tulsa Public Schools, OK
  • Sisters School District, OR
  • Highland Park Independent School District, TX
  • Seattle Public Schools, WA

Ryan Walters, State Superintendent of Public Instruction at the Oklahoma State Department of Education, had one of his schools mentioned in the report and testified at the hearing.

“Following the discovery that one of our school districts in Oklahoma, Tulsa Public Schools, was named in that report, my staff diligently conducted a further investigation into the issue and discovered a disturbing connection between the CCP and that school district,” Walters said in his testimony. “Through a series of non-profits, that school district maintains an active connection with the CCP through a program called Confucius Classrooms, even after the federal government cracked down on similar programs in 2020.”

Walters advocated for banning this kind of funding.

“With whatever common sense remains, I urge that Congress pass a law to ban schools from accepting money from hostile foreign governments and prohibit data sharing agreements with hostile foreign governments,” he said in his testimony. “At the state level, state education agencies should require districts to report foreign money they accept and non-profit money they accept.”

Bean argued the program poses a national security threat, making note that in 20 instances the classes are near military bases.

“The risk posed by the proliferation of Confucius Classrooms is threefold, threatening America’s national, geopolitical, and academic interests.”

Lawmakers also warned of ideological influence on American students, particularly regarding things like Chinese history.

“I think we all know how the CCP views education. They view education as being entirely subordinate to the party, to the message of socialism and communism,” Rep. Brandon Williams, R-N.Y., testified at the hearing

Gisela Perez Kusakawa, Executive Director, Asian American Scholar Forum, testified at the hearing, pushing back on some of the sentiment of other witnesses by raising concerns about using national security concerns to make Asian Americans feel like “perpetual foreigners.”

“We need to do better for the Asian American community and our youth, and address the underlying issues of these inherent biases against and scapegoating of Asian Americans,” she testified. “We must be prepared to be critical of economic or national security pretexts that can be used to perpetuate racial bias, profiling, and hate against Asian Americans.”

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said this issue is beyond normal partisan lines.

“Someone listening to this hearing might come away thinking this is a partisan issue, but I actually suspect that parents on both sides of the aisle do not want foreign governments—especially communist powers—indoctrinating their children,” she testified.

26 COMMENTS

  1. What? Chinese edging their way into classrooms?
    I will bet the farm the white house press secretary will call it Chinese misinformation and Joe will have no response because he doesnt want to piss off his Boss.

  2. Oops! Articles like this will probably give some members of Anchorage School Board(not Dave Donley)
    ideas to try for alternative funding sources.

  5. Anybody remember when billy walker took his entourage to China and tried to sell the gas pipeline to them for a 75% stake in ownership? Wouldn’t chinese classrooms in our schools be beneficial for such a project? Jeez!!! A person just can’t make this crap up!!

    • The timing of when all this grant money started funding these programs is right in line with when China Joes travels to foreign countries began when his boss (Obama) named him foreign relations “expert”.
      He made comments while being in China that it seems as though He was spending more time in China than at home. I am sure they had lots to talk about with many avenues of culture sharing ventures such as educational opportunities for the youth
      All part of “The Change” Obama promised us when He was campaigning.

  6. THEE(!!!) … Most effective solution is clearly to take your kids out of the public school system.

    A couple options …
    1) Enroll them into private school, preferably a Christian based school system with a strong basis in God – Country – Conservatism – Academics, whereby parents have a meaningful and respected voice. Note, not everyone will be able afford the costs.
    2) Parents form a coalition, hire the Teachers that meet their standards and expectations, secure a space where instruction can take place. This approach will likely be more cost effective.

    Hands-Down(!!!), we must insist upon the Property Tax Dollars to follow the student, allowing the Parents to choose where their child will be taught using the Property Taxes collected, to do so.

    The situation hasn’t improved, only diminished over time, out of control with no acceptable path forward, and is most likely “not” going to get any better. Therefore, it is becoming ever so clear that Parents must take decisive action.

    • Rob B, I definitely agree with the idea of a coalition of parents to hire teachers. Also, that monies provided through the federal, state and municipal taxes follow the student to the school of choice!

  7. Basically, I’d like to know what is/was wrong with a Chinese immersion program. If the Chinese are going to be cited as an enemy, wouldn’t it be wise to learn what it is that they represent, and have some familiarity with a foreign language that 16% of the world’s population speaks?

    I recall my harried mother picking up the black Bakelite handle of the telephone and slowly starting to dial ‘the Bogeyman’ if we children didn’t stop running around, and start behaving. Oh boy. We were scared of that nebulous ‘Bogeyman’ for a few years until the oldest child questioned what was so scary about the ‘Bogeyman’. We learn about Bogeyman and the fear of the unknown at some point in our human education, usually.

    • “We learn about Bogeyman and the fear of the unknown at some point in our human education, usually.”

      And every one of you control-freak radical leftists and lemmings of the ruling class establishment ran with that ball into the goal zone with all the extreme fearmongering and hysteria peddled by the corporate regime media regarding the Covid (non-)pandemic.

      Are you still dutifully wearing your mask, Mrs. N?

      • She’s talking about learning a common language, and admonishing dishonest reactionaries for invoking “boogieman” as a means of control. She has good points.

        Where’s the part about her being a control freak leftist lemming? Are you nuts? That boogieman comment really triggered you! But I think I know why after reading your comment.

    • What’s wrong just look at our current education system and you can see what’s wrong men and women, sports, constant, protest, limitation, and what you can wear say, or display on school grounds. Parents are allowed to speak out against curriculum. I could go on but this mess we currently live in is largely from poor eduction.

    • Oh of course Mrs N, There is no such thing as “Bogeyman”.
      North Korea actually has some people that would love to convince you otherwise. You should spend a few weeks visiting and getting to know them. I am sure you will be well entertained while there.
      Once you have made friends there you may want to travel on to the mountainous regions of Afghanistan Pakistan Iraq and Iran.
      You wont have to worry about being kidnapped or held for ransom. Joe Sniffy will gladly put up at least 6 Billion for your return trip home.
      Safe travels Mrs.N…Dont forget your copy of Mein Kampf. It will be a helpful tool to understand their way of life and strong family values.

    • You musnt pass up the opportunity to visit Tian’anmen Square while touring China. It is by far the most rewarding place to visit with a rich cultural history of “Bogeyman”.(I hope they have resurfaced the stone to get rid of the purple bloodstained surface of the entire square)

    • Great question, Mrs. N. Answer should be a resounding yes.
      .
      Show-stopping problem is this: who in Alaska’s education industry would you trust to teach children to speak Chinese and understand what it is that Chinese people represent, when you can’t trust Alaska’s education industry to teach children to speak English and understand what it is that American people represent?
      .
      How well is the Alaska’s education industry’s English “immersion” program running now? Is it not nationally recognized among the worst in the country for its overpriced underperformance? Imagine that same mob of woke, anti-American, groomers running a Chinese-language immersion program.
      .
      Woke, anti-American, union hacks teaching children what it is the Chinese Communist Party represents… what could possibly go wrong?
      .
      What can you trust the education-industry mob to tell you about what they’re teaching your children when they won’t tell you what they’re doing to indoctrinate your underage children into demanding mutilation and castration?
      .
      Seems ironic, don’t you think, the maxim “know your enemy” is rooted in Chinese history, but so many American institutions such as government, the education industry, Big Tech, Big Pharma, mainstream media, social media platforms, and multinational companies seem to be doing their utmost to prevent Americans from knowing this enemy, what they’re doing, what they’re planning for their generational enemy… which -shock and dismay- happens to be us.
      .
      Have to take your word the Bogeyman isn’t real. But this one… not sure turning the lights on makes him go away, plus he can hack phone networks anytime, even if Mom doesn’t call him.
      ,
      To your question, Mrs. N., yours is a great idea, how do you make it happen?

  8. Investigate the Little Red Schoolhouse while ignoring TikTok is a bit like investigating a lit cigarette in front of you while a forest fire blazes behind you. Cheers –

  9. I thought the Chinese Language Immersion program would had lived up to its dream. After six months enrollment of my first grader and watching the fifth graders weren’t even fluent nor holding conversations which the 10year olds should be holding back and forth conversations between themselves and Chinese speakers. I doubt in ASD ability are hardly teaching and passing on language skills on to its enrolled students. The fifth graders in 2019 had wasted their time. Which was really sad to me cause I saw the Scenic Park ASD classrooms were FULLY equipped for success. But also to the English core teachers I couldn’t understand how come they weren’t independently learning Chinese language to weave the language and culture of Chinese people through the class core subjects, cause if I was in their shoes I be learning Chinese language on my own time, the English teachers were just as unmotivated as the Chinese teachers passing on language. Then my child would report to me the Chinese teachers weren’t teaching her and classmates Chinese they’d only speak Chinese expecting the kids to understand and follow what they were saying. She said the kids didn’t know what to do and didn’t know what were the instructions for assignments, and on the Chinese classroom side was when her classmates were the most wild. I believe ASD has been wasting too much money on continuing its Immersion language programs. The goal for an immersion class is by the child’s 10th grade if they been in an immersion class they should be fluent if their teachers were any good. That’s the expectation.

  10. I took German in high school and wouldn’t have minded taking a few of the other required classes with a German immersion focus such as art, band, chemistry, physics, (probably not driver’s ed, though. I don’t think Mr Sanders who is Italian-American would’ve appreciated having to instruct his class of 15 year old teen-agers in German.)

    I know some folks don’t really care to hear about my mother. As a child of French Canadian immigrants, it was her first language i.e. Quebecois. As a dual language speaker, she was her high school valedictorian, and probably studied Latin as well, considering this was the fad at the time. She didn’t teach her children out of deference to our father who only spoke English.

    However when she was renewing her teaching license, she was asked to help in the classroom with several French-speaking children.

    Personally, after high school and college German courses I’ve come to the conclusion that learning and, or studying another language stretches a person’s mind, anyway immersion programs are a lot easier if they are a language spoken in the home.

    Anything to do with China, or even Taiwan appears to be a touchy subject at present, but I think it should be offered if other languages are, as it is not as similar or intuitive as western language, especially the written language, but it is interesting to consider that it is the same written language as thousands of years ago, and is the basis for other Far Eastern languages.

    • Good points all…
      .
      How does one make Pinyin speakers out of American children whose education system fails them so badly that they’re nationally recognized for their problems with the English language?

    • N, you’re like an extremely narcissistic Paul Harvey. You’re only capable of telling anecdotal stories about yourself.

  11. Give the Democrats control of our state and federal governments for another decade, or less, and we’ll all be getting the Chinese Immersion treatment…well, those who are left that is.

  12. Troy University in Alabama was one of the leading promoters of the Confucius Institutes in the US. “Competing against more than 525 Confucius Institutes and 1,113 Confucius Classrooms in 146 countries, the award recognizes the Confucius Institute at Troy University’s commitment to furthering the teaching of Chinese language and culture in elementary, secondary and tertiary schools in Alabama.”

    Now it has finally terminated its Confucius Institute: “The Trustees voted on Feb. 2 to discontinue the partnership with Confucius Institute citing federal regulations that will limit the availability of funding to institutions that maintain their agreements with Chinese partners. The closure was effective March 1 and TROY officials have completed notification of the partner institution in China and have formally closed the office at the Troy Campus.

    Troy University’s Confucius Institute opened in 2007 as a joint venture with educational partners in China to provide language and cultural learning opportunities to citizens in Alabama. At the time, there were more than 500 such institutions worldwide and more than 100 in the U.S. The TROY Confucius Institute was twice named the Confucius Institute of the year and hundreds of Alabamians have taken part in learning opportunities offered by the institute.

    In recent years, the federal government has taken steps to discourage some kinds of Chinese partnership agreements, notably the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which gives universities a deadline of October 2023 to discontinue Confucius Institute programs or lose eligibility for defense funding.”

    Note that it only ended its Confucius Institute and its agreement with CCP because it feared losing federal dollars.

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