NOVEMBER 24, 2025 NEWSLETTER
The THINC Foundation is dedicated to Transparency, Honesty, and Integrity in the Classroom.
Welcome to THINC Foundation’s newsletter! Releasing semi-monthly, it contains our views on key developments in Liberated Ethnic Studies (LES) in K-12 schools as well as relevant news articles and timely calls to action.
Our Vision: Teach Ethnic Studies in a Constructive Way that Unites Students
By Mitch Siegler, Founder
We’ve written extensively about the dangers of political ideology in our K-12 schools. Seeds of the polarization in our politics and the extremist ideologies on our campuses are planted far earlier – often starting in the first or second grade. In many schools, the centerpiece of this radical approach is “liberated” ethnic studies education, which sorts kids into “oppressor” or “oppressed” categories based on their skin color, ethnicity, or other immutable characteristics.
There’s a better way. THINC has embarked on an ambitious project to pilot ethnic studies education that brings students together and celebrates all they have in common rather than dividing them and fostering shame, guilt, and envy. The centerpieces of our curriculum are civics – how the American system of government works – and American history, warts and all. The United States, while imperfect, is a great country that has made enormous strides and remarkable contributions to the world. Students need that foundation to discuss what works and what needs to be improved.
Core to that approach is teaching students how to think in a flexible and critical manner, debate complex issues, and disagree agreeably. These are the ingredients for success in a healthy democratic republic.
Please consider helping us with this important work!
We’re Grateful for You!
As we approach Thanksgiving, our thoughts turn to gratitude.
Thanks to all of you who have engaged with THINC in the past year. We appreciate that you read our newsletters and follow us on social media. (If you’re not doing both already, now’s your chance!) And thanks for forwarding our information to your friends and professional networks. We need your help in amplifying our work and increasing awareness.
We’re grateful to the organizations we’ve partnered with in the past year (listed below) to raise awareness about the dangers of ideology in our K-12 schools and the importance of bringing students together through a constructive educational approach.
We’ve co-authored op-eds with some of these organizations and representatives of others have appeared in our short-form videos to tell their experiences with K-12 education. Many thanks to:
- Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies (ACES)
- American Jewish Committee
- Asian American Coalition for Education
- Center for the American Experiment
- Citizens of Pajaro Valley
- Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA)
- Hindu American Foundation
- Palo Alto Parent Alliance
- StandWithUs
We Simply Can’t Do This Work Without Your Help!
While THINC is a highly efficient organization, it still costs hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to do this important work, and we simply can’t do it without your help.
As you make decisions about your 2025 charitable giving in the next few weeks, please consider making a generous, tax-deductible donation to THINC Foundation (tax ID 37-2145886).
You can give directly on our website and send checks through your donor-advised fund. If you wish to make a gift of stock or other assets, please contact us for details on how to do so.
THINC Voices
We wanted to share two installments of our THINC Voices video series.
Dr. Sara E. Brown, THINC Advisory Council member and Regional Director of American Jewish Committee San Diego, discusses how “liberated” ethnic studies flattens complexity with a “blatant disregard for historical facts,” presenting only one distorted narrative.
David Smokler, Executive Director of the K-12 Fairness center at StandWithUs and a former teacher, explains how kindergarteners are being ideologically indoctrinated.
THINC in the News
"Ideology shouldn’t displace education in our K-12 classrooms"
By Mitch Siegler and Elina Kaplan, San Diego Union Tribune
Liberated Ethnic Studies (LES) Activists in Their Own Words
We talk a lot about the LES movement’s extreme positions, but what does that look like in practice? Take a look at these quotes from prominent LES leaders.
"Our fight is against patriarchy, our fight is against capitalism, our fight is for the soul of our city”
- Greta Callahan, then-president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers
"Meritocracy is a myth. I think deep down, the rich white elite in this country know this, but they fight to keep this myth of Meritocracy alive to legitimize their wealth and maintain power over the rest of us”
- Irene Sanchez, Ph.D., Ethnic Studies professor and former high school teacher, a past teaching fellow with the Pulitzer Center and member of the National Humanities Center Teacher Advisory Council
“Meritocracy invites educators to see themselves as innocent, instead of complicit participants in a system that reinforces and is reinforced by white supremacy...Teachers’ complicity in schooling undergirded by white supremacy regularly prevents them from being successful with all their students, particularly BIPOC students”
– Riley Drake, Ph.D. student in the Social and Cultural Studies of Education program at Iowa State University and former elementary school counselor, and Alicia Oglesby, high school counselor
Support our Work
Our continued work depends on the generosity of people like you! Please consider making a contribution to THINC to fund our continued work to combat Liberated Ethnic Studies and advocate for more constructive education in K-12 schools.
THINC Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is qualified to receive tax-deductible donations.
