Can China’s “Social Credit Scores” be far behind?

China’s social credit system is a set of databases and initiatives that monitor and assess the trustworthiness of individuals, companies, and government entities. It is Orwellian; it has the potential to turn friends against friends, neighbors against neighbors, and, at its worst, loved ones against one another. Most of all it reminds Chinese citizens in a not-so-subtle manner that, not unlike George Orwell’s Big Brother in “1984,” we’re watching your every step. Now, critics charge, the state of Virginia has an ominous step in the same direction.

Virginia’s legislature has cleared two bills that will mandate all teachers in the state to undergo a “cultural competency” evaluation, followed by “cultural competency training,” as reported by Just the News, with history and social science teachers required to undertake additional training on African-American history.

The twin bills — one in the state House of Delegates and one in the Senate, require the addition of “cultural competency” evaluations to the existing set of evaluations that all incoming teachers in the state must undergo as part of the certification process. In addition, “each teacher and any other school board employee holding a license issued by the [Virginia Board of Education] must complete social competency training, in accordance with guidance issued by the board, at least every two years.”

Think about that. “In accordance with guidance issued by the board.” Again, somewhere, Big Brother is smiling.

It gets worse.

The legislation itself does not define “cultural competency,” leaving its ultimate definition subject to “guidance” issued by the board of education, nor does it clarify the scope or content of “African American history.”

As State Sen. Mamie Locke told Just the News, Virginia’s African American Education Commission has “prioritized cultural competency as an important skill to ensure the holistic teaching of Virginia’s diverse and complex history.”

“Cultural competence is simply defined as being aware of one’s own cultural identity and views about “difference” [as defined and judged by the education board], said Locke, and “the ability to learn the varying cultural and community norms of students and their families,” That doesn’t sound intrusive at all. Locke went to explain “the importance” of such indoctrination. There, I said it.

“I would explain that this legislation is important because there are real circumstances where classroom teachers have demonstrated insensitivity to black and brown children in their classrooms, either through assignments or comments. For example, a teacher giving an assignment requiring students to do a family tree going back six generations.

“For African-Americans whose ancestors may have been slaves, families ripped apart, sold, etc., could this teacher not see the difficulty with this assignment? Or the teacher said to an honors class, ‘That’s why you all are going to be working at 7-Eleven’ and didn’t understand why the students took offense. Or the teacher who said to her class they were all attending a ‘ghetto’ school.’

“Being culturally competent will provide the kind of pedagogical training that will broaden the base of understanding and help teachers, counselors, administrators and others better understand and accept the difference of those they are working with each day. If we accept and understand differences, we build a better society.”

Democrat Gov. Ralph Norton is expected to sign the legislation into law this week.

One question: Why in the hell would anyone other than a so-called “progressive” choose to become a teacher in today’s America? Other than to attempt to thwart the insanity? Hopefully, there are more than a few of those brave and convicted souls to do just that.

Let’s check in with the American Psychological Association, which “loosely” defines cultural competency as “the ability to understand, appreciate and interact with people from cultures or belief systems different from one’s own, a key aspect of psychological thinking and practice for some 50 years.”

[Cultural competency has] become such an integral part of the field that it’s listed as one of psychology’s core competencies. The federal government, too, views it as an important means of helping to eliminate racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in health and mental health care.

But defining, understanding, and applying cultural competence in treatment hasn’t been easy. For one thing, researchers are still arguing over the basic ingredients of cultural competence and culturally competent care. What makes a particular therapist, practice, or protocol, culturally competent? While there is plenty of speculation on the topic, answers to these questions are a long way from being settled.”

Yet, the state of Virginia is going to give its Board of Education and African American Education Commission carte blanche over not only how it indoctrinates every teacher in the state, but in turn, how its teachers “educate” Virginia’s children.

Liberals are not unlike spoiled children in multiple respects, one of them being the more you give the left, the more they want. They will only remain satisfied at a certain level for a while before they want — and often demand — more. And more. And more.

What could possibly go wrong?