Minnesota's attack on Christians; where you at MLC?

 

Legislation_Report_0923.pdf (welsmn.org)

The Minnesota District of the WELS, Legislation Committee put out a report in September covering various legislation issues affecting the district. Now, note the Minnesota district spans Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri. 

All the bad news revolves around Minnesota - approving an abortion rights bill, stripping parents of their legal rights if they refuse 'gender-affirming care' for their children, and protecting pedophiles (sorry, 'minor-attracted people') from being discriminated against if they seek employment in a preschool, day-care center or other facilities serving children.

Minnesota sucks.

But the fourth bullet is relevant to last week's post: new teacher licensing standards have been approved, including:

The new standards for teacher licensure that were proposed by the Minnesota Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) were mostly approved by two administrative law judges in December of 2022 and are set to go into effect on July 1, 2024. The new standards will apply to all new teachers applying for state licensure (including educators who end up teaching at private schools). Among other things, the new standards will require candidates to demonstrate from their coursework their ability to: 

• “affirm” student identities, including sex and gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation and “incorporate” them into a learning environment 

• “understand” how “ethnocentrism, eurocentrism, deficit-based teaching, and white supremacy undermine pedagogical equity” 

• “assess” their “biases” and “mitigate their own behavior to disrupt oppressive systems” 

• “empower” learners “to be agents of social change to promote equity” 

Obviously these new standards will have a dramatic effect on students in the teaching track at Martin Luther College as they pursue state licensure. And if Martin Luther College chooses not implement or follow the new standards, it will affect the college’s status as state-licensed school.

MLC, are you going to bend the knee or put up a fight?