I’m a Paraeducator in an elementary school, and I am in the minority at my school...only 7 of us are unvaxxed. And I am the only one who is vocal there about the vax and mask mandates.
The parents have no idea what goes on here and if they did, I honestly don’t know if they’d do anything.
I went to my principal last week about the constant “mask shaming” of the kids. She legit looked at me and asked “What’s mask shaming?” 🤦🏼♀️ I said...the constant yelling at the kids with: “Where’s your mask?”, “Pull up your mask!”, “Your mask is dirty!”...and even putting kids in time out for not wearing their masks “appropriately”.
I then reminded her of the beautiful collage of Self-Portraits in our hallway. The collage that saddens me greatly every time I walk by. The collage of Self-Portraits that show the masked faces of all but a handful who drew themselves without a mask. THIS is how our children “see” themselves, and it is heartbreaking.
This makes me so sad. I know it is not easy or comfortable to continuously agitate at your place of employment, but please don't stop. It is so important to have people "on the inside" speaking up.
I honestly don’t think they’d see what I’d see. More and more of the kids are coming to me and proudly telling me that “Mommy took me for my Covid shot this morning”. 😞😞😞
Both my sister and my sister-in-law were quick to mask themselves and their kids. When they had their young’uns vaxxed…they were quick to tell me about it. (WHY DO THEY TELL ME??)
Since there’s nothing I can do after the fact, I pretended like I didn’t hear them, but I’ve made myself scarce (scarcer than usual). How does one watch abuse in progress and not try to stop it?
When I explained it to her, she was in agreement with me and said she will bring in up in the weekly team leaders meeting. I’ll find out, and if it wasn’t brought up, you’d better believe I’ll be right back in her office!
In France, I find I can't go to some hospitals because I don't have the ridiculous 'passe sanitaire'. Time to bring the whole circus down, not just education, but the so called 'Health' systems, 'Social' systems, the lot.
There was a time when teaching was a calling. It didn't pay well and most of the people who went into teaching did so out of a love for children. The low pay was balanced by lots of time off which resulted in working 35 weeks out of the year (approx. 170 days). This was quite different from most other types of work where people worked at least 45 weeks a year (approx. 225 days).
To "improve" education and recruit "better qualified" teachers money was thrown at the "problem." Salaries were increased again and again. The result was that many of those recruited no longer saw it as a calling but as a pretty decent paying job with lots of time off, early retirement compared to most other types of work, and tremendous job security. The result was an overall decrease in the quality of education. The solution to that was to increase pay further and to pay for teachers to acquire Master's degrees and to pay the holders of those degrees even more pay. This resulted in a further overall decrease in the overall quality of education. To fix this there are still those who insist that the solution is more money.
None of this is to say that teachers should not be paid a decent living salary but it is to say that throwing more money at the problem of low quality education is not the solution or at least not the sole or primary solution.
Then there is the credentialing process. Many people who are experts in their fields are "not qualified" to teach because they don't have a teaching degree. For example a successful artist who has had their art displayed in many galleries is not qualified to teach an art class. A person who started a small business and grew it into 20 locations is not qualified to teach a business class. A carpenter with 20 years of experience is not qualified to teach a wood shop class. An accomplished author is not qualified to teach an english composition class. The teaching credential from a college is required. This isn't based on what is best for kids. It's based on the teacher programs at colleges guarding their turf and insuring a continous flow of customers for their programs.
All of the above is just part of the problem with elementary and secondary education. The problems with the college system are also numerous. The whole system is based on guarding turf. Experience counts for nothing. However like elementary and secondary education the quality of college education has decreased for similar reasons. The costs have increased while the quality has decreased.
I think the solution at the elementary and secondary levels is school choice. Unions and politicos being opposed to that is just evidence of their agenda not being what is in the best interests of children. If they deliver quality education they would have nothing to fear from competition.
The nature of bureaucracies is that over time the primary purpose becomes the continuance and perpetuation of the bureaucracy.
I have a PhD in chemistry and at one point many years ago considered the possibility of teaching either high school chemistry or community college. Both required a teaching certificate. I took one education class and couldn’t stomach it.
The other thing that throwing money at the education system is create a huge amount of administration. The salaries for administrators is usually over 100k too. Get rid of them as well!
Don’t know where you are, but in Southeastern Pa. The pay for teachers is usually over 100k. Administrators in the 200k plus range. In our district these overpaid bureaucrats control the so called school board.
There was no coordinating requirement for excellence with the increase in pay. There is no standard by which the teacher can be judged. I wonder how it would go if you had to pass a rigorous test on each area of core curriculum at the end of each semester from 4th grade forward. Your kids don't pass, neither do you. Kids who don't pass should be quickly brought up to snuff. If they are not, goodbye principle. That would be school Raptorized. Also - sidenote: STEM teachers should be paid more than other teachers. Kids should be sorted early to attend to their needs better.
Problem is their union. Same with any government union. The politicians and labor bosses turned it into a money laundering racket, totally corrupt. Many already had civil service protections but with unionization, they have an impenetrable shield. All of your ideas have merit if we lived in an honest world but, we don't.
Well, no. Teaching was the only "respectable" profession for unmarried women. It wasn't an active choice so much as the default. As employed women became more common ie. less eyebrow-raising, it became the liberal arts choice if you had no specific professional goals, i.e. no special gifts to be explored. Teaching has been full of people who really don't have any simpatico for kids. (I've been around teachers plenty. It's a miracle any kids get out of public school in any shape to build a reasonably productive life. I, like Ernestine, only a HS graduate, managed decent success as the support staff, i.e. indentured servant, to executives because I was mostly self-educated and wrote and spoke like an edukkated person. Little thanks to my schooling in "good" districts in NYC.)
‘executive secretaries’ were hands down the most knowledgeable, capable professionals i came into contact with in my career life... actually they ran the outfits...
True. Most teachers were females and I think that females are still a majority although less of a majority. There were other respectable professions open although not as many as today, nursing is one example.
Of the people that I personally know there doesn't seem to be much of a correlation between level of degree and inteligence.
Some of what you point out has great merit, but I would suggest that the notion that women are needed in the business boardroom has a point as well. In the past highly intelligent women had no path outside of the caring professions. Thus many became teachers, a highly respected career. Those same women today are told to enter the business world for diversity reasons. And the compensation offered is an inducement as well. Their prospects for producing better humans dashed against the prospects of better widgets.
I might hope that some women return to that classroom, as did my late wife. After a successful career, a manager of some 100 staff, she decided to get a MA in special education. She relished the work but rarely got the supports she needed. Her joy was in the child in 7th grade who couldn't read and hearing from a parent the child was reading the cereal box. As a former manager she would use corporate tactics that created administrative anger; she quickly learned that bucking the system made trouble. The administration eventually broke her and after excessive class loading (2008 money collapse) her frustration forced her to resign; her darkest failure. Driving out master teachers is not an good example.
The authoritarian educational institutions, health care systems, and employers have done us a favor by liberating all of the ethical, talented critical thinkers who value freedom and humanity. This will cause the collapse of Establishment organizations while we erect thriving parallel educational, health care, and business services.
I believe it is already underway. Parents are pulling their kids out of public schools in droves, health care workers are taking on roles in alternative health care, and fired professors are delivering online courses and setting up Substacks!
I hope you are correct. I try to support these parallel institutions every day even in small ways. I don’t have kids so I can’t do the homeschooling thing but I did quit my teaching gig in 2021 in protest of woke BS
All the leading publications for, you know, the smart people have been running articles for several years now portraying children as irritants and impediments to the "fulfilled" life. They're at most lifestyle accessories but not, you know, who you'd die for...
I gave birth at 40 and thought I was a fully-formed human being by then. Not hardly; not even begun. Parenthood makes you reach your full potential, for good or ill. It's a horrifying landscape out there at the moment, with the folks with authority and reach being the worst at it...
We homeschooled. Best decision ever and this was before. (Our youngest graduated 9 years ago.) not only do kids get a better education, they are well rounded, have a lot less teen angst overall, and have a lot more experiences (travel, field trips, volunteering, jobs, etc). Our state has a lot of homeschoolers and has been homeschool friendly, but we get zero for our tax dollars - can’t use school facilities, libraries, participate in sports. So there are homeschool leagues for the major sports, the public library, and coops to do science labs. People innovate and make it work.
Agree with all you said. Plus my homeschooled (25 years ago) kids have always gotten along and been pretty close, in general. Homeschooling fostered close family ties. Not to mention a voracious love of reading, and the curiosity and inquisitiveness that goes with it.
One of the most insidious parts of Common Core is its move towards nonfiction reading. By the time students reach high school, the majority of their L.A. reading is nonfiction. Lost are the classics that immerse kids in word-smithing and inspiration. It's such a travesty.
It’s worse than that. They are “reading” graphic novels. At high school level. What language skills can one possibly acquire by looking at pictures? No wonder CalStates are revamping their history curricula because students are unable to understand textbooks.
Dr. Pam Popper did an extended and phenomenally positive interview with Dr. Joe Mercola on his channel (e.g. Rumble). Part of the interview was devoted to this school problem, its extent, the years of breakdown prior to the lockdown, the calls for reform that never happened. Popper describes solutions that her community and others around the nation are implementing. First step is to remove children from the toxic environments. If enough do this, the mandates stop and the schools collapse. She describes a case where a mask mandate was quickly retired when no children showed up for school. But more importantly, the quality of the educational experiences and its impact has many silver linings and opportunities as she describes in detail. Elsewhere in the interview she talks pragmatic strategies for making change, and the great progress her organization and community group is making in collaboration with Tom Renz on legal challenges. Her story about backing Ohio down from a second lockdown is instructive.
Back in May I stood in front of my local school board (I worked for this school district for five years as a para and quit because of masking children. Both of my children attended their schools. They are being educated in an alternative way right now) and railed on them for masking children. I was called a right wing conspiracy theorist in social media, local newspapers. Nothing changed. Children are still be masked, separated and being conditioned to believe they are walking disease. The school boards are useless. They parrot what the local health department tells them and if they dare defy the mandates the school funding will be pulled. It’s tyranny! But parents are not backing down. They are organizing and planning. Stay tuned.
I taught math at a middle-tier, private university for 35 years. I taught a course that had a large number of math-ed students. They were known to be the weakest students we had. The math-ed department (not the math department). felt it was not necessary for them to understand fractions, and objected to their being forced to learn them. Their feeling was we should just "let it go. They'll learn fractions when they are in the classrooms and have to teach them". One excellent adjunct faculty member was let go because she continued to insist they learn fractions in order to pass.
I tutored math thru college (both students at my university and to those attending the feeder community college). Some just had a few holes that needed patching up. Most had very shaky basic understanding. I went to a very competitive college. Truthfully, outside of my upper div. degree concentration studies, it was a joke.
Lord help me. How can you bake a cake sans fractions? Change a recipe? My late wife taught fractions by teaching elementary cooking to her special ed students - learn by doing. She also had to teach analog clock reading which was a stunner.
Apparently it doesn't take much these days. Students who don't understand fractions nevertheless are led to believe they can be anything -- and not just teachers. I had aspiring doctors and engineers in the same category. They found out the truth at great cost to themselves and their families. No one was willing to tell them the truth. When I asked whether I should advise students who were failing my remedial pre-calculus course to find another major, I was told to let them figure it out themselves. It took the students too long to figure it out--thousands of dollars too long. Because they believed what they had been told--that they could be anything!
Having helped create a charter school I will tell you in for a hard slog. The entrenchments of the administrators of our educational system is frightening. I have met many home schooled children in the past nine years and that is the hope of the future.
Yes, it is going to take a long time to purge the system of indoctrinated educators and administrators who will continue to do "what they think is best for your child".
Oh man Chicago. Everyone with the money to do so flees the system, then votes like good liberals to bar any poor inner city people from improving their lot via choice and charters.
Pull your kids out of government schools now, you cannot afford to wait for school choice initiatives or change. Yes, we should push for them but in the mean time we need to starve the beast and for heaven's sake protect our children. Even if those in charge of your local school district or school aren't lunatics themselves, I can guarantee they are gutless cowards. They will go along with the lunatic left in every demand because their worst fear is that someone will call them racists, homophobic, etc. They will willingly sacrifice your children to help ensure no one calls them names. They are government bureaucrats at heart, and their biggest concern is keeping their head down.
Seriously, you cannot wait on this. Do whatever it takes to get them out, if that means a second mortgage on your home, working overtime, or raiding your 401k then that's what you need to do. You risk losing your children to the non-stop indoctrination and may *never* get them back. We almost waited too long but it looks like we got ours out just in time (though our older one is still touch and go at this point). Yes, we had to change our lifestyle to afford it but these are our kids we are talking about.
Do not wait and start looking into options now. Our kids ended up at a small jr/sr high school run by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod that is absolutely fantastic. We are Christian though not Lutheran, but they LCMS is conservative and very traditional. It's also has the second largest parochial school system in the US. This may not be best solution for everyone but it was literally an answer to our prayers. It was a huge change for our kids from a big suburban school district, but they adapted quickly and really enjoy it.
Yes, we need to fight for school choice and also must go on the offense at school board meetings. But change takes time and in the meantime your kids will be subjected to relentless indoctrination and peer pressure to conform. Don't wait, get them out now. Every day they spend in government schools is a day spent indoctrinating them with values directly at odds with yours.
Have your school's parents made any noise about cameras in class? If not you might consider it. WHY? You are putting your children's teaching about faith in their hands. That is the most important thing you, as a Christian, are responsible for teaching your kids. You will want to get that right. Ditto for in-school chapel. Are all teachers Lutheran? Are you familiar with the teachings of Lutheranism and how they differ from your own beliefs? All important things.
Great questions all. As to cameras we have not pushed that but my wife volunteers at the school two days a week so we have someone on the inside (so to speak). Most of the teachers are LCMS but not all, however all must be believers and affirm a statement of faith regarding the essentials of Christianity. We are non-denominational Protestants largely following the Baptist tradition and recognize there are some differences in beliefs. However, we are in complete agreement regarding the essentials of historical Christianity and the differences are secondary in nature (millennialism, God's plan for Israel, meaning of some sacraments, etc.). IMO, these are points of biblical interpretation that needlessly divide the body, and good people can disagree. However, we stand united in the firm rock of Christ's atonement on our behalf and our need for a Savior.
There's a real danger of the perfect becoming the enemy of the good. Our kids attend Lutheran chapel at school in addition to services at our church (Calvary Chapel). We speak frankly with them regarding the differences and have wonderful conversations regarding points were the two may disagree (all on non-essential doctrines I might add). Regardless, we sleep well knowing that their teachers love Christ and trust in Him, not things of this world.
Don't forget we just found out this week that the NSBA letter to the DoJ was only at the request of the Brandon White House, used as a pretext to come after "uppity" parents who dared object.
That the NSBA is imploding as a result could not be a more perfect example of Karma in action.
Been hearing murmurs that Emmanuel Goldstein... er, I mean Vlad Putin, has taken a break from election hacking and is once again stirring up trouble in Eurasia.
The lower the approval numbers, the higher the probability of Russian aggression.
I dunno. I don't think even Brandon is stupid enough to take on Putin. And A. Blinkin is not the warmonger that Hillary is. Considering the appalling outcome of the Afghanistan pull out and what it did for the administration's ratings, I just don't see them taking on foreign misadventures.
Most of the Democrat focus on misdirection is domestic so far, especially with COVID and 1/6. They will milk those at least through the midterms.
Although we have many choices among colleges for our kids, they are in such lockstep with one another, so it’s just as bad or even worse than public education. The “better” the school in historical rankings, the more carefully captured it is in all respects. Duke and Stanford, for instance, are among the most oppressive Zero-Covid and woke idiocracies on the planet.
100% agree. In the meantime, I recommend supporting HSLDA. They're not going to listen to us as long as a majority of our kids are enrolled in the schools they have, so we need to make sure everyone retains the right to homeschool.
I’m a Paraeducator in an elementary school, and I am in the minority at my school...only 7 of us are unvaxxed. And I am the only one who is vocal there about the vax and mask mandates.
The parents have no idea what goes on here and if they did, I honestly don’t know if they’d do anything.
I went to my principal last week about the constant “mask shaming” of the kids. She legit looked at me and asked “What’s mask shaming?” 🤦🏼♀️ I said...the constant yelling at the kids with: “Where’s your mask?”, “Pull up your mask!”, “Your mask is dirty!”...and even putting kids in time out for not wearing their masks “appropriately”.
I then reminded her of the beautiful collage of Self-Portraits in our hallway. The collage that saddens me greatly every time I walk by. The collage of Self-Portraits that show the masked faces of all but a handful who drew themselves without a mask. THIS is how our children “see” themselves, and it is heartbreaking.
This makes me so sad. I know it is not easy or comfortable to continuously agitate at your place of employment, but please don't stop. It is so important to have people "on the inside" speaking up.
I’ll never stop speaking out advocating for these kids!
Every time I declare it hopeless, I will remember you. I knew there was one.
That means a lot. Thank you!
One day a kid will write you a note to tell you that you made all the difference. I know it.
Well, you and my 4th grade teachers Mrs. Anderson and Mr. Grisham. How I adored them.
Sending the self-portrait home might shock those parents into agitating.
I honestly don’t think they’d see what I’d see. More and more of the kids are coming to me and proudly telling me that “Mommy took me for my Covid shot this morning”. 😞😞😞
Both my sister and my sister-in-law were quick to mask themselves and their kids. When they had their young’uns vaxxed…they were quick to tell me about it. (WHY DO THEY TELL ME??)
Since there’s nothing I can do after the fact, I pretended like I didn’t hear them, but I’ve made myself scarce (scarcer than usual). How does one watch abuse in progress and not try to stop it?
I’d like off this ride now, please.
Ditto!!
Oh Monica. I feel for ya. Keep up the good fight, but careful with your job.
Can't "like" this as it's horrifying!
That is depressing. I am curious about her reaction to your answer to "what is mask shaming?" and the self-portraits.
The numbed delusion!
When I explained it to her, she was in agreement with me and said she will bring in up in the weekly team leaders meeting. I’ll find out, and if it wasn’t brought up, you’d better believe I’ll be right back in her office!
Teachers like you give me hope. Your students are lucky duckies.
OMG. That is so very heartbreaking. :-(
Leftists encroachment in the educational system have turned Schools into corrupting indoctrination camps.
In France, I find I can't go to some hospitals because I don't have the ridiculous 'passe sanitaire'. Time to bring the whole circus down, not just education, but the so called 'Health' systems, 'Social' systems, the lot.
There was a time when teaching was a calling. It didn't pay well and most of the people who went into teaching did so out of a love for children. The low pay was balanced by lots of time off which resulted in working 35 weeks out of the year (approx. 170 days). This was quite different from most other types of work where people worked at least 45 weeks a year (approx. 225 days).
To "improve" education and recruit "better qualified" teachers money was thrown at the "problem." Salaries were increased again and again. The result was that many of those recruited no longer saw it as a calling but as a pretty decent paying job with lots of time off, early retirement compared to most other types of work, and tremendous job security. The result was an overall decrease in the quality of education. The solution to that was to increase pay further and to pay for teachers to acquire Master's degrees and to pay the holders of those degrees even more pay. This resulted in a further overall decrease in the overall quality of education. To fix this there are still those who insist that the solution is more money.
None of this is to say that teachers should not be paid a decent living salary but it is to say that throwing more money at the problem of low quality education is not the solution or at least not the sole or primary solution.
Then there is the credentialing process. Many people who are experts in their fields are "not qualified" to teach because they don't have a teaching degree. For example a successful artist who has had their art displayed in many galleries is not qualified to teach an art class. A person who started a small business and grew it into 20 locations is not qualified to teach a business class. A carpenter with 20 years of experience is not qualified to teach a wood shop class. An accomplished author is not qualified to teach an english composition class. The teaching credential from a college is required. This isn't based on what is best for kids. It's based on the teacher programs at colleges guarding their turf and insuring a continous flow of customers for their programs.
All of the above is just part of the problem with elementary and secondary education. The problems with the college system are also numerous. The whole system is based on guarding turf. Experience counts for nothing. However like elementary and secondary education the quality of college education has decreased for similar reasons. The costs have increased while the quality has decreased.
I think the solution at the elementary and secondary levels is school choice. Unions and politicos being opposed to that is just evidence of their agenda not being what is in the best interests of children. If they deliver quality education they would have nothing to fear from competition.
The nature of bureaucracies is that over time the primary purpose becomes the continuance and perpetuation of the bureaucracy.
I have a PhD in chemistry and at one point many years ago considered the possibility of teaching either high school chemistry or community college. Both required a teaching certificate. I took one education class and couldn’t stomach it.
The other thing that throwing money at the education system is create a huge amount of administration. The salaries for administrators is usually over 100k too. Get rid of them as well!
Don’t know where you are, but in Southeastern Pa. The pay for teachers is usually over 100k. Administrators in the 200k plus range. In our district these overpaid bureaucrats control the so called school board.
And in many of these districts there are now more administrators than teachers.
Same for colleges. The Administrative State.
It wouldn't surprise me if the DEI Aministrator per pupil ratio is higher than the Teacher per pupil ratio...
Yes! Same in Loudoun County Virginia.
Remember “No Child Left Behind”? More like “Get the Child Behind the Left “.
The same sales pitch for most government positions; “how are we to recruit talent if we can’t compensate like a private company?”
Well, look how that worked out. The lower pay came with at least on benefit they touted; early secure retirement.
Now, insider trading, ownership in companies they’re supposed to be overseeing and a cushy job after their retirement.
We’ve been bamboozled, over and over.
There was no coordinating requirement for excellence with the increase in pay. There is no standard by which the teacher can be judged. I wonder how it would go if you had to pass a rigorous test on each area of core curriculum at the end of each semester from 4th grade forward. Your kids don't pass, neither do you. Kids who don't pass should be quickly brought up to snuff. If they are not, goodbye principle. That would be school Raptorized. Also - sidenote: STEM teachers should be paid more than other teachers. Kids should be sorted early to attend to their needs better.
Problem is their union. Same with any government union. The politicians and labor bosses turned it into a money laundering racket, totally corrupt. Many already had civil service protections but with unionization, they have an impenetrable shield. All of your ideas have merit if we lived in an honest world but, we don't.
Dang. Maybe there needs to be a big move like dissolving the Department of Edumacation.
A follow on “contrived controversies;”
Resident Biden calls on social media outlets to censor Americans right before TruthSocial is about to come out. Good luck 😎
https://t.me/realx22report/5746
Former FBI official says new DOJ unit on domestic terrorism is 'fraught with First Amendment concerns’
Former Assistant Director of the FBI says new DOJ unit was 'driven' by Jan. 6 riots
(Which are proving out as another “Pelosi, Democrat, Astroturfed, SCAM.)
https://www.foxnews.com/media/former-fbi-official-doj-unit-domestic-terrorism-first-amendment
AG Garland Directs FBI to Investigate Alleged ‘Violent Threats’ by Parents against School Officials
https://www.nationalreview.com/news/ag-garland-directs-fbi-to-investigate-alleged-violent-threats-by-parents-against-school-officials/
Well, no. Teaching was the only "respectable" profession for unmarried women. It wasn't an active choice so much as the default. As employed women became more common ie. less eyebrow-raising, it became the liberal arts choice if you had no specific professional goals, i.e. no special gifts to be explored. Teaching has been full of people who really don't have any simpatico for kids. (I've been around teachers plenty. It's a miracle any kids get out of public school in any shape to build a reasonably productive life. I, like Ernestine, only a HS graduate, managed decent success as the support staff, i.e. indentured servant, to executives because I was mostly self-educated and wrote and spoke like an edukkated person. Little thanks to my schooling in "good" districts in NYC.)
‘executive secretaries’ were hands down the most knowledgeable, capable professionals i came into contact with in my career life... actually they ran the outfits...
No kidding.
True. Most teachers were females and I think that females are still a majority although less of a majority. There were other respectable professions open although not as many as today, nursing is one example.
Of the people that I personally know there doesn't seem to be much of a correlation between level of degree and inteligence.
They also got rid of standard testing so there is no longer any accountability for our children's education.
GREAT summation of everything that’s rotting education system from the inside out 🐱🙏
Sadly, not just our education system but you know that. Our body politic has cancer!
Some of what you point out has great merit, but I would suggest that the notion that women are needed in the business boardroom has a point as well. In the past highly intelligent women had no path outside of the caring professions. Thus many became teachers, a highly respected career. Those same women today are told to enter the business world for diversity reasons. And the compensation offered is an inducement as well. Their prospects for producing better humans dashed against the prospects of better widgets.
I might hope that some women return to that classroom, as did my late wife. After a successful career, a manager of some 100 staff, she decided to get a MA in special education. She relished the work but rarely got the supports she needed. Her joy was in the child in 7th grade who couldn't read and hearing from a parent the child was reading the cereal box. As a former manager she would use corporate tactics that created administrative anger; she quickly learned that bucking the system made trouble. The administration eventually broke her and after excessive class loading (2008 money collapse) her frustration forced her to resign; her darkest failure. Driving out master teachers is not an good example.
I wasn't suggesting driving out master's level teachers. Just suggesting that increased costs has not improved education.
Yes a lot of good teachers leave due to the system not being child focused.
People who think for themselves are any system's greatest threat.
I posted this comment elsewhere (https://tobyrogers.substack.com/p/thinking-points-memo-jan-15-2022), but it is so apropos to this post, I’ll repeat it here:
The authoritarian educational institutions, health care systems, and employers have done us a favor by liberating all of the ethical, talented critical thinkers who value freedom and humanity. This will cause the collapse of Establishment organizations while we erect thriving parallel educational, health care, and business services.
May this happen quickly and peacefully.
I believe it is already underway. Parents are pulling their kids out of public schools in droves, health care workers are taking on roles in alternative health care, and fired professors are delivering online courses and setting up Substacks!
Until the US gobbermint gets their tentacles in for their share
I hope you are correct. I try to support these parallel institutions every day even in small ways. I don’t have kids so I can’t do the homeschooling thing but I did quit my teaching gig in 2021 in protest of woke BS
AMEN!
All the leading publications for, you know, the smart people have been running articles for several years now portraying children as irritants and impediments to the "fulfilled" life. They're at most lifestyle accessories but not, you know, who you'd die for...
I gave birth at 40 and thought I was a fully-formed human being by then. Not hardly; not even begun. Parenthood makes you reach your full potential, for good or ill. It's a horrifying landscape out there at the moment, with the folks with authority and reach being the worst at it...
I wouldn't have learned life's most important lessons without my daughter.
We homeschooled. Best decision ever and this was before. (Our youngest graduated 9 years ago.) not only do kids get a better education, they are well rounded, have a lot less teen angst overall, and have a lot more experiences (travel, field trips, volunteering, jobs, etc). Our state has a lot of homeschoolers and has been homeschool friendly, but we get zero for our tax dollars - can’t use school facilities, libraries, participate in sports. So there are homeschool leagues for the major sports, the public library, and coops to do science labs. People innovate and make it work.
Agree with all you said. Plus my homeschooled (25 years ago) kids have always gotten along and been pretty close, in general. Homeschooling fostered close family ties. Not to mention a voracious love of reading, and the curiosity and inquisitiveness that goes with it.
One of the most insidious parts of Common Core is its move towards nonfiction reading. By the time students reach high school, the majority of their L.A. reading is nonfiction. Lost are the classics that immerse kids in word-smithing and inspiration. It's such a travesty.
It’s worse than that. They are “reading” graphic novels. At high school level. What language skills can one possibly acquire by looking at pictures? No wonder CalStates are revamping their history curricula because students are unable to understand textbooks.
That too. Even the fiction reading is laughable.
Dr. Pam Popper did an extended and phenomenally positive interview with Dr. Joe Mercola on his channel (e.g. Rumble). Part of the interview was devoted to this school problem, its extent, the years of breakdown prior to the lockdown, the calls for reform that never happened. Popper describes solutions that her community and others around the nation are implementing. First step is to remove children from the toxic environments. If enough do this, the mandates stop and the schools collapse. She describes a case where a mask mandate was quickly retired when no children showed up for school. But more importantly, the quality of the educational experiences and its impact has many silver linings and opportunities as she describes in detail. Elsewhere in the interview she talks pragmatic strategies for making change, and the great progress her organization and community group is making in collaboration with Tom Renz on legal challenges. Her story about backing Ohio down from a second lockdown is instructive.
Back in May I stood in front of my local school board (I worked for this school district for five years as a para and quit because of masking children. Both of my children attended their schools. They are being educated in an alternative way right now) and railed on them for masking children. I was called a right wing conspiracy theorist in social media, local newspapers. Nothing changed. Children are still be masked, separated and being conditioned to believe they are walking disease. The school boards are useless. They parrot what the local health department tells them and if they dare defy the mandates the school funding will be pulled. It’s tyranny! But parents are not backing down. They are organizing and planning. Stay tuned.
I taught math at a middle-tier, private university for 35 years. I taught a course that had a large number of math-ed students. They were known to be the weakest students we had. The math-ed department (not the math department). felt it was not necessary for them to understand fractions, and objected to their being forced to learn them. Their feeling was we should just "let it go. They'll learn fractions when they are in the classrooms and have to teach them". One excellent adjunct faculty member was let go because she continued to insist they learn fractions in order to pass.
I tutored math thru college (both students at my university and to those attending the feeder community college). Some just had a few holes that needed patching up. Most had very shaky basic understanding. I went to a very competitive college. Truthfully, outside of my upper div. degree concentration studies, it was a joke.
Lord help me. How can you bake a cake sans fractions? Change a recipe? My late wife taught fractions by teaching elementary cooking to her special ed students - learn by doing. She also had to teach analog clock reading which was a stunner.
Siri. 🤦🏼♀️ I hate to admit I do it all the time. But you are correct.
Apparently it doesn't take much these days. Students who don't understand fractions nevertheless are led to believe they can be anything -- and not just teachers. I had aspiring doctors and engineers in the same category. They found out the truth at great cost to themselves and their families. No one was willing to tell them the truth. When I asked whether I should advise students who were failing my remedial pre-calculus course to find another major, I was told to let them figure it out themselves. It took the students too long to figure it out--thousands of dollars too long. Because they believed what they had been told--that they could be anything!
And WHY were they accepted into a middle-tier, private university??? Oh yeah...tuition.
Having helped create a charter school I will tell you in for a hard slog. The entrenchments of the administrators of our educational system is frightening. I have met many home schooled children in the past nine years and that is the hope of the future.
Charter schools in California have been forced by the teachers unions to become run of the mill government schools.
We started one in Napa. It is now part of the Unified School system. Their plan all along.
Yes, it is going to take a long time to purge the system of indoctrinated educators and administrators who will continue to do "what they think is best for your child".
The support for school choice/anti CTU sentiment is the highest I’ve seen in the 15 years I’ve been in Chicago…
Oh man Chicago. Everyone with the money to do so flees the system, then votes like good liberals to bar any poor inner city people from improving their lot via choice and charters.
Pull your kids out of government schools now, you cannot afford to wait for school choice initiatives or change. Yes, we should push for them but in the mean time we need to starve the beast and for heaven's sake protect our children. Even if those in charge of your local school district or school aren't lunatics themselves, I can guarantee they are gutless cowards. They will go along with the lunatic left in every demand because their worst fear is that someone will call them racists, homophobic, etc. They will willingly sacrifice your children to help ensure no one calls them names. They are government bureaucrats at heart, and their biggest concern is keeping their head down.
Seriously, you cannot wait on this. Do whatever it takes to get them out, if that means a second mortgage on your home, working overtime, or raiding your 401k then that's what you need to do. You risk losing your children to the non-stop indoctrination and may *never* get them back. We almost waited too long but it looks like we got ours out just in time (though our older one is still touch and go at this point). Yes, we had to change our lifestyle to afford it but these are our kids we are talking about.
Do not wait and start looking into options now. Our kids ended up at a small jr/sr high school run by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod that is absolutely fantastic. We are Christian though not Lutheran, but they LCMS is conservative and very traditional. It's also has the second largest parochial school system in the US. This may not be best solution for everyone but it was literally an answer to our prayers. It was a huge change for our kids from a big suburban school district, but they adapted quickly and really enjoy it.
Yes, we need to fight for school choice and also must go on the offense at school board meetings. But change takes time and in the meantime your kids will be subjected to relentless indoctrination and peer pressure to conform. Don't wait, get them out now. Every day they spend in government schools is a day spent indoctrinating them with values directly at odds with yours.
Have your school's parents made any noise about cameras in class? If not you might consider it. WHY? You are putting your children's teaching about faith in their hands. That is the most important thing you, as a Christian, are responsible for teaching your kids. You will want to get that right. Ditto for in-school chapel. Are all teachers Lutheran? Are you familiar with the teachings of Lutheranism and how they differ from your own beliefs? All important things.
Great questions all. As to cameras we have not pushed that but my wife volunteers at the school two days a week so we have someone on the inside (so to speak). Most of the teachers are LCMS but not all, however all must be believers and affirm a statement of faith regarding the essentials of Christianity. We are non-denominational Protestants largely following the Baptist tradition and recognize there are some differences in beliefs. However, we are in complete agreement regarding the essentials of historical Christianity and the differences are secondary in nature (millennialism, God's plan for Israel, meaning of some sacraments, etc.). IMO, these are points of biblical interpretation that needlessly divide the body, and good people can disagree. However, we stand united in the firm rock of Christ's atonement on our behalf and our need for a Savior.
There's a real danger of the perfect becoming the enemy of the good. Our kids attend Lutheran chapel at school in addition to services at our church (Calvary Chapel). We speak frankly with them regarding the differences and have wonderful conversations regarding points were the two may disagree (all on non-essential doctrines I might add). Regardless, we sleep well knowing that their teachers love Christ and trust in Him, not things of this world.
Don't forget we just found out this week that the NSBA letter to the DoJ was only at the request of the Brandon White House, used as a pretext to come after "uppity" parents who dared object.
That the NSBA is imploding as a result could not be a more perfect example of Karma in action.
Let's hope we soon see the implosion of the Brandon administration as an equally perfect example of Kamala in action.
That implosion is well under way. You don't come back from numbers like these.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president-biden-job-approval-7320.html
Oh, nothing a shiny new war can't cure.
Been hearing murmurs that Emmanuel Goldstein... er, I mean Vlad Putin, has taken a break from election hacking and is once again stirring up trouble in Eurasia.
The lower the approval numbers, the higher the probability of Russian aggression.
I dunno. I don't think even Brandon is stupid enough to take on Putin. And A. Blinkin is not the warmonger that Hillary is. Considering the appalling outcome of the Afghanistan pull out and what it did for the administration's ratings, I just don't see them taking on foreign misadventures.
Most of the Democrat focus on misdirection is domestic so far, especially with COVID and 1/6. They will milk those at least through the midterms.
Let's hope you are right.
But if the worse does occur and we do go to war, we can all rest easy knowing we are in the hands of this fearless warrior:
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpaine.tv%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F08%2F46082167-9843021-Pictured_United_States_Defense_Secretary_Lloyd_Austin_seen_left_-a-62_1627644231879.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1
Makes me feel safer just looking at him.
"Together we will rule the Universe as Father and Son!"
The NEA wrote up the infection control/reopening plan for after lockdown, hence the kids eating alone, the plexiglass boxes, the masks, etc. and the CDC accepted it with zero editorial input. The collusion between the teachers' union and government bureaucracy is evident. This stole and destroyed developmental milestones and learning in children, "because we had to keep the teachers safe" ---remember this??? https://www.mystateline.com/news/state-news/chicago-teachers-union-leader-who-vacationed-while-claiming-its-unsafe-to-return-to-school-apologizes/
The Dept of Education, CDC, heck the FBI and Dept of Energy must all be shuttered as they have caused more harms to the people than 9/11.
Although we have many choices among colleges for our kids, they are in such lockstep with one another, so it’s just as bad or even worse than public education. The “better” the school in historical rankings, the more carefully captured it is in all respects. Duke and Stanford, for instance, are among the most oppressive Zero-Covid and woke idiocracies on the planet.
defund the U’s
there are alternatives... Hillsdale College💕
100% agree. In the meantime, I recommend supporting HSLDA. They're not going to listen to us as long as a majority of our kids are enrolled in the schools they have, so we need to make sure everyone retains the right to homeschool.