Under the Guise of ‘Learning English,’ Boston High School Teaches Newly-Immigrated Students That Physical Violence and Political Assassinations Are a Legitimate Form of “Resisting Oppression”

Classroom materials from Charlestown High School’s “Sheltered English Immersion” (SEI) learning program surfaced this week showing the school is teaching foreign-born 9th- and 10th-grade students that political violence and assassination are legitimate forms of action, as part of the process of learning English. 

According to The Epoch Times, which found the downloadable documents on the Boston Teacher’s Union (BTU) website, the discovery has sparked fears that some teachers are “indoctrinating these [newly-arrived, foreign-born] children to incite violence” whenever there is “perceived” oppression. 

The “classroom files” of three of Charleston’s SEI teachers – Katie Li, Caitlyn Castillejo, and Caroline Smith – include “notes and assignments around oppression, resistance, and narrative structure,” as well as many “detailed note-taking sheets and powerpoints on institutional, interpersonal, and internalized oppression” – all of which can be downloaded from BTU’s website here. 

As an example of what is included in the course, BTU provides a worksheet, titled “Forms of Resistance,” which instructs students to list and identify several different examples of oppression. Towards the end, it lists out several examples of what’s referred to as “peaceful protest,” including boycotts, sit-ins, and petitions – which are all legitimate forms of public demonstration. 

However, the list continues – without skipping a beat – by showing the student three images that portray extreme violence that’s quite similar to what we saw during the summer of George Floyd riots. 

Displayed under “peaceful protests,” the first image shows a crowd of black-clad masked protestors rioting and throwing projectiles. One rioter even appears to be throwing a lit flare (arson). 

The second image shows two people brawling with each other. 

Finally, the last example of peaceful protest – political assassinations. 

As shown to the students by way of an image of President Richard Nixon targeted in the crosshairs. The question for students asks: “what type of oppression is [political assassination] most effective at ending?” 

GRTWT.