Antisemitism in Philadelphia schools is such a systemic problem that even CNN is paying attention. The district is under congressional investigation for its failure to handle this rampant antisemitism. Jewish students are bullied, and Jewish teachers are harassed.Now, Jewish organizations are suing the Department of Education for failing to hold the district to prior agreements stemming from an earlier investigation into antisemitism. It is a big problem, but it is not the big problem.Philadelphia schools’ problems with antisemitism won’t be fixed by yet more training or Holocaust modules for students. The problem is political, and so is the solution. Antisemitism in K-12 schools is a result of an illiberal ideology that divides the world into oppressed against oppressor. This ideology has captured our major educational institutions and trickled down to individual classrooms across the country.
Ismael Jimenez, director of social studies curriculum for the entire district of almost 200,000 students, has come under fire for comments that place the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel “in context.” But Jimenez is also on record calling Israel a “terrorist state,” and sharing an Assata Shakur (a member of the Black Panther Party who was exiled in Cuba) quote that “schools in America are interested in brainwashing people with Americanism… As long as we expect America’s schools to educate us, we will remain ignorant.”
