Social change and cultural division in America have accelerated in this century and further intensified with the Covid-19 pandemic, the George Floyd incident, and the two recent presidential elections. Seemingly settled issues-social change to bring equal opportunity for minority populations and the basic importance of equal protection under the law-have been upended or reversed. Americans are under extreme pressure, grappling with upheavals over race, education, economic structure, crime, immigration, and foreign policy. For context, it is instructive to review the years of radical social activity from the 1960s on and chronicle the positive achievements. Today's discourse has fractured and polarized us. There is no longer a consensus on how to disagree in public. America Challenged: The New Politics of Race, Education, and Culture provides needed analysis and commentary and presents viewpoints largely unreported in the mainstream press. This book is of crucial importance to all who care about America reaching its fullest potential and for people who want to play a meaningful role in the continued development of our country.
Rosalie Pedalino Porter, EdD, advises state and federal governments in the U.S. and other immigrant receiving countries on education policy. She is a published author and an advocate for educational opportunities for immigrant children.
Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Introducing the Issues Chapter 2. Damaging Effects of Multiculturalism, Multilingualism, and Diversity Policies on American Public Life Chapter 3.Identity Politics Is the New Spoils System: The Imposition of Color, National Origins, Gender, and Sexual Personae as Group Dividers and Victim Creators Chapter 4. Freedom of Speech: More Reviled than Respected in Today's USA Chapter 5. Freedom of Religious Practice Chapter 6. Race and the New "Anti-Racism": Developments Post George Floyd, 2020-2022 Chapter 7. Critical Race Theory: How to Destroy the U.S. by Educational Indoctrination Chapter 8. Concluding Thoughts: We've Gone Too Far Bibliography About the Author
I have worked with Rosalie Porter for three decades when, like me, she dared to question the effectiveness of bilingual education for English Language Learners and presented evidence to back this position. We were successful as co-chairs of English for the Children in convincing the voters of Massachusetts to overturn the bilingual education mandate, Chapter 71A, and to adopt English for the Children as the state policy for English Language Learners in 2001. In this book, she once again dares to question the effectiveness of the latest fad in political correctness-Critical Race Theory-and presents detailed evidence that the training employees receive regarding race and class in the workplace and schools is counterproductive and only increases the racial/political divisions in our country. She wants a return to the spiritual leadership of the old civil rights leaders who worked to unite, not divide us. I support her. -- Christine Rossell, professor emerita of political science, Boston University Rosalie Porter's America Challenged deals with both the good and the bad outcomes that have resulted from America's quest for self-improvement. Porter not only delves into the controversial culture wars of today, but also explains their origins and offers solutions. A couple of decades ago, she brought awareness to the public through her book Forked Tongue by exposing bilingual education as an expensive progressive experiment that had failed immigrant children miserably. She is enlightening us again through America Challenged by taking on the many issues threatening our culture presently-and doing it with aplomb! -- Johanna J. Haver, author of "Vindicated: Closing the Hispanic Achievement Gap through English Immersion" Rosalie Pedalino Porter has been in the vanguard of bilingual education reform and has always supported equality, academic rigor, and non-discrimination for all. Her observations on the harmful and divisive effects of diversity policies, identity politics, and so-called "anti-racism" and CRT (critical race theory) are cogent and accurate. Make no mistake, Critical Race Theory poses an existential threat to national unity and independence of the United States as well as academic standards and safety in schools. Porter soberly documents and explains the essence of this creeping new radicalism that threatens American freedoms and perhaps, worst of all, harms children while stoking hatred and racial separatism. -- Richard Munro, former Spanish, English, and social studies teacher, Kern High School district Rosalie Porter's new book directly addresses the widespread damaging effects of Critical Race Theory and other forms of Marxism lurking beneath the political and cultural fabric of American life today, including, but by no means limited to, such movements as the 1619 Project and White Privilege. To counter these measures, Porter presents her astute and incisive answers to how much is really at stake here for us. There is so much to reflect on in these pages and so much to praise, all presented with convincing research and analysis. And wit! Porter had my attention from the opening pages, and did not let me go until I had read and reread and absorbed the multifaceted insights she has to offer in a time of sadly increasing unrest and turmoil. -- Paul Mariani, professor emeritus, Boston College; author, "Ordinary Time: Poems" and "The Mystery of It All: The Vocation of Poetry in the Twilight of Modernism"
