The Serial Thinker Blog

The Stand

 I'm over it. I've been tolerant. I've been patient. I've held my tongue. I've taken the hits in the name of teamwork and professionalism - as many others have. I'm just letting you know that I'm done.

Not done teaching - this profession is my calling.

I'm done taking it for the team. I'm done being a too quiet punching bag for our colleagues on the left. I'm done bottling up and absorbing the hostility that surrounds me at work. I'm done listening to the values that I revere and the country that I have LITERALLY risked my life defending, maligned by people whom I neither like nor respect.

Whatever the consequences may be, I'm done playing their game. I'm taking the fight to them and they're going to wish that I had died in the hospital this week.

March 10, 2021

Part I

Last evening I signed a separation agreement between myself and the school district where I've worked for 21 years. It was the culmination of a relentless cancel culture mob's activism and my concurrent unwillingness to acquiesce to their demands that I forfeit my First Amendment right to free speech.

 

They made baseless accusations about my being an anti-Semitic, racist, misogynist, transphobe and that I was a threat to do physical harm to students or others in the school community because of my vocal support for the Second Amendment.

They lodged complaints not only with the district administration, but went so far as to call the police and file a report with the FBI.

 

I was never contacted directly by law enforcement, but friends I have in these agencies validate that contact was made and upon their investigation dismissed.

At the district level, I was placed on administrative leave while HR did their own investigation of the many claims made against me. This investigation concluded last week and was reviewed by outside legal counsel this week. The investigation concluded that there was ZERO evidence that I had violated any law, professional or ethical standard, or provision of my teaching contract with the district.

ZERO evidence.

Therefore - no basis could be found for severing my employment with the district.

However, the issue has become so politically volatile that my return to the classroom would have been unmanageably disruptive to teaching and learning (not by my doing, but by the noise caused by the mob -- which now includes members of my own faculty). So to avoid further conflict I was offered a settlement in return for my resignation.

I accepted their proposal and finished cleaning out my classroom early this morning.

 

I am not done teaching. I am just done teaching there.

 

Part II

 

I believe in God. I don't believe that God is random. I believe that God has purpose for our lives and that if we seek him he will reveal it to us.

 

I say that, because in all of this I have come to understand that I am in this situation for a reason. I don't know exactly what it is yet, but I believe this to be true.

 

Why?

 

Because God has protected my family.

 

We are in a position in our careers and in our lives where this turn in the road is just a turn in the road and not a head-on collision or a spin-out accident. If this had happened a year ago, or five years ago, it would have a significant impact on my family's trajectory, but it didn't. For a reason.

 

My fear is for the family of the next teacher who speaks out. The teacher who is younger in our profession with high aspirations and huge potential. The one who can ill afford to uproot their family, leave the district/community, and replant themselves somewhere else. If that teacher's freedom is curtailed, the cost to their family, to our profession, and to our future is incalculable.

Biotic or Abiotic…

When my students attended Outdoor School in grade 5, they learned the word 'Biotic'. This word is made up of the Greek prefix 'Bio' meaning life, and the Greek suffix 'ic' meaning 'of or pertaining to'; so together they combine to mean 'of or pertaining to life'. They are taught that this term applies to things that are alive, were alive, or will be alive.

Then they wander around the woods and the shoreline identifying things they see as biotic or abiotic (isn't now, has never been, and will never be alive).

 

Rocks - abiotic

Water - abiotic

The organisms in the water - biotic

Fallen leaves and sticks - biotic

 

I wonder what they would classify fetuses in grade 5.

Then in grade 8.

Then in grade 12.

Then as a new college graduate.

Then at age 30.

A Decade Ago…

Last night, Anthony and I sat on our balcony looking at the constellations and discussed astronomy, the nature and composition of the planets, the effects on Earth of a solar collapse, the potential butterfly effect of violating the space/time continuum, and lots of other related topics. Very interesting, thoughtful, and high level conversation.

 

Unfortunately, there is not an assessment that I know of that is commonly administered by a public education system that can capture this kind of intelligence. Rather, he is given the state test and told that either he has failed or that the system has failed him because the does not 'meet standard'. OK, let me give the testmakers a state standards-type assessment about Minecraft, or the Apple Operating System, or Java programming and see how well any of them do. Let's put them in Anthony's sandbox and see who fails to meet standard.

Communication Strategy

You can't respond intellectually to an emotional argument. It's the Republican/Conservative/Libertarian's worst debating mistake, and a large reason why our side doesn't connect with the younger voters. You have to respond to an emotional argument from a moral position (not an intellectual one) that exposes the hypocrisy and vacuousness of their side. It isn't natural for us, but we have to become better at it or lose the debate forever.

Explaining Redistribution

Student asked: What would happen if we redistributed the 1%'s wealth to the other 99%?

Answer: 75% of the people decide that chicken would taste great. So they roast their chickens, have one excellent meal, then are hungry again tomorrow.

24% of the people realize their chicken is an egg factory, so they enjoy one egg every day for a few years until the chicken dies.

1% of the people figure out that if they mate their chicken with a rooster they can raise a whole bunch of chickens. In a few years they will have more fresh eggs and chickens than they could eat.

So as a one time reset you haven't changed a thing. Everything is exactly as it was.

A Pre-Covid Teaching Experience

So I learned a first hand lesson in the mechanics of progressivism yesterday at school. My 6th period Spanish class organized an end of the year class party. At the end of the day a few of the kids didn't want to take their treats home and left them in my classroom. Not wanting them to sit in my classroom over the weekend, I took them out into the common area and handed them out to kids as they were leaving school. I 'earned' full credit for handing out treats to the students even though I did absolutely nothing to create them. I opportunistically took the product of someone else's labor and redistributed it under the guise of caring for my classroom environment and earned 'cool teacher points' in the process. Am I woke or what?

Should We Arm Teachers?

I have thought about this a lot over the years and I am more convinced than ever that in 99 percent of situations, arming teachers is not a great solution. Why? Because it makes the solution about the guns and not about the people carrying them - just like we argue against when the focus is on the guns and not the shooters.

 

Most teachers do not have the temperament to use a gun to defend themselves and others. Notice I didn't use the word 'carry'. Anyone can carry. That's a simple mechanical task. But removing it from the holster, pointing it at another human being, squeezing the trigger, hearing the very loud BANG, seeing the carnage that you caused when the round impacts, remaining on target, and squeezing off rounds until the person is no longer a threat... Is altogether different. My primary concern with putting weapons into the hands of most teachers is that they would cause more harm than good. I think that the idea is well intended, but is, at its core, a recipe for disaster.

 

 

There Was Never A Palestinian State

Welcome to History Class. Today were going to do a crash course on the history of PALESTINIAN STATE:

1. Before Israel, there was a British mandate, not a Palestinian state

2. Before the British Mandate, there was the Ottoman Empire, not a Palestinian state.

3. Before the Ottoman Empire, there was the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, not a Palestinian state.

4. Before the Islamic state of the Mamluks of Egypt, there was the Ayubid Arab-Kurdish Empire, not a Palestinian state.

5. Before the Ayubid Empire, there was the Frankish and Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, not a Palestinian state.

6. Before the Kingdom of Jerusalem, there was the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, not a Palestinian state.

7. Before the Umayyad and Fatimid empires, there was the Byzantine empire, not a Palestinian state.

8. Before the Byzantine Empire, there were the Sassanids, not a Palestinian state.

9. Before the Sassanid Empire, there was the Byzantine Empire, not a Palestinian state.

10. Before the Byzantine Empire, there was the Roman Empire, not a Palestinian state.

11. Before the Roman Empire, there was the Hasmonean state, not a Palestinian state.

12. Before the Hasmonean state, there was the Seleucid, not a Palestinian state.

13. Before the Seleucid empire, there was the empire of Alexander the Great, not a Palestinian state.

14. Before the empire of Alexander the Great, there was the Persian empire, not a Palestinian state.

15. Before the Persian Empire, there was the Babylonian Empire, not a Palestinian state.

16. Before the Babylonian Empire, there were the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, not a Palestinian state.

17. Before the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, there was the Kingdom of Israel, not a Palestinian state.

18. Before the kingdom of Israel, there was the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, not a Palestinian state.

19. Before the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, there was an agglomeration of independent Canaanite city-kingdoms, not a Palestinian state.

20. Actually, in this piece of land there has been everything, EXCEPT A PALESTINIAN STATE.

Thoughts on Teaching from A Decade Ago

I was going through some paperwork the other day and noticed that my most successful teaching (from a student performance AND a personal fulfillment perspective) has been when I have had the most autonomy. I would suck being a Sea World orca or a circus elephant where my world is completely contained and my routine defined by my handlers; yet that is exactly what school is becoming. A scripted circus show where I and the other animals are expected to perform to the demands of our handlers.

To be fair, there are teachers and students who thrive in a carefully contained, tightly managed, zero defect educational environment; I'm just not one of them.

 

 

 

Two Kinds of Socialists

I think that there are two types of American socialists - the first kind is the anti-American intellectual who understands the implications of socialism and doesn't care. They have an abiding contempt for our country, its values, and its economic system. These people are irredeemable.

 

The second type is like a young man who is intrigued by the excitement and adventure of a crazy woman. He's never really gone out with one, but thinks of all the crazy hot things that they'll be able to do together. He is too naive and inexperienced to see the life altering downside to this relationship. So he frequents dive bars and clubs on the prowl for exactly these kinds of psycho bitches. And maybe it IS what he expected, for awhile, until the psycho in her personality shows up and his truck is wrecked, his dog is dead, she's gone, her kids are in his house, and he is $49,000 in credit card debt on cards that she opened in his name. Only then does he realize that he's f*cked and that it will take a decade or more to unscrew himself.

These people, if you prevent them from making the initial mistake, can be saved from themselves.

 

This is why education matters.