On the Arkansas Boys State agenda: Indoctrination?
Remember back during the legislative session, during the debate over the LEARNS Act, when the Arkansas Left was ruthlessly mocking Governor Sarah Sanders for saying she wanted to rid schools of indoctrination? According to the Left, there was absolutely no evidence of any indoctrination occurring anywhere in Arkansas and so, therefore, any efforts to prevent indoctrination were silly, based on conspiracy theories, products of right-wing extremism – you name it.
While I don’t have any new evidence of in-classroom indoctrination, the agenda for this week’s Boys State, hosted by the American Legion, is certainly raising some eyebrows.
According to this week’s agenda, high school students will hear Wednesday from two surprising guests:
- Chris Jones, who ran for Arkansas governor last year (as a Democrat); and
- V.P. Parker, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for Arkansas Children’s Hospital
The keynote speaker on Sunday was Democrat Wesley Clark.
Notably absent from the roster: Governor Sarah Sanders.
Now you might be asking yourself, “Why does Children’s Hospital need a ‘Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion?’”
And I would tell you, “I have no idea.”
Especially because Arkansas hospitals are consistently and constantly telling the public how “broke” they are and asking for more and more handouts.
It’s also unapparent to me what DEI has to do with, you know, improving the quality or cost of healthcare, which is presumably what Arkansas healthcare providers should be focused on.
According to Parker’s LinkedIn profile, his job description includes the following:
Notably absent: anything related to improving patient outcomes, health, or costs.
I’m sure Mr. Parker is a very fine person, but it is unclear what value his job brings to the good-paying customers of Children’s Hospital–and what exactly he has to contribute to high school students at Boys State.
As far as indoctrination goes, if the Left is willing to do this in public, out in the sunshine, what type of indoctrination might they be pushing behind closed classroom doors?
P.S. Here's what our Policy Associate Pyrce Renfroe had to say about his personal experience at Boys State:
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