John, for me, your posts are the purple cows that get my attention.
The difference is I grew up in another generation when my experiences and learning taught me to question the claims others made. I also grew up with a father that had extremist views and I figured out early that he was full of it, his rantings did not line up with reality.
The teens I teach today are constantly searching for the new purple cow every few minutes. Things that entertained them even a few years ago are boring today. They are searching for more extreme videos and find it funny when others get hurt, or worse, killed while doing stunts. The have no sense of the value of life.
I am by the way, one who will look at the regular cows as I drive down the road. I learned from a young age that I had to make my own entertainment on family road trips. There were no DVD players or cell phones. We had to make up our own games. Of course that meant all in the car were talking and interacting with each other. What people used to do in the past.
The last time I flew, 3 years ago, every passenger around me was watching something on the airplane entertainment screen in front of them. Others were playing games on their laptops or cell phones. Everyone had earbuds in. My wife and I got some dirty looks because we carried on a conversation the entire time. We were not talking loudly, just normal low volume conversation that people used to engage in. When we flew 20 or more years ago, we would have conversations with out seat mates. We were exposed to people who lived in different parts of this country and I believe it made us realize that no matter our political views or where we were from, we were all still human and could work out our differences in a civil fashion.
Now, the purple cow is saying and doing things that are extreme to get attention. My personal priorities in life are the only ones that matter and you have to agree with me or you are an idiot to be humiliated.
The left have learned to do this well for fame and fortune.
A month ago, students in my district staged a walk-out to protest ICE. The next day, they were shocked that under state law, it was an unexcused absence and I did not allow them to make-up the work. We had a test that had been scheduled for over a week. Their grades took a major hit since test scores account for half of their overall grade.
I asked them what did you hope to change with your walk out? There was dead silence. I asked what did you accomplish, again dead silence. I said the people that promoted this had nothing to lose. They were influencers that got views and paid telling you that you needed to walkout to protest ICE. You cannot even state one thing that ICE has done that is illegal or a danger to you. You hear made-up stories from people who are after views so they can get money. You took part in an action that was being promoted by people who were rewarded with money and you suffered all the consequences.
By the way, one teacher did engage in the walkout, she was a young new teacher. She learned the hard way that her right to protest did not protect her from the consequences of her walking off the job and leaving her students unattended. It was easy, she was not tenured so the district immediately let her go. They did not have to show any cause, they only had to say we no longer need your services.
I doubt these students learned anything. They were quickly distracted by the next purple cow they found on social media.
As harsh as this might sound, I wish my dad thought and acted like you, Jerry. But my pops is a woke robot who disrespects America, its present and past, and fears- and believes- that the Christian right was/is trying to implement a theocracy, and that the wealthy have destroyed the environment, the economy, the health care system, and public education. He was a science teacher for 35 years who retired at age 58. I won't berate him because I believe in the Lord's commandment to honor thy father and mother, but its inarguably true that he is a world class hypocrite who never failed to support a costly school referendum, then when all those millions needed were added to our property taxes, moved out of the district because "the wealthy aren't paying their fair share," as if they had like ten times as many kids in school as he did. I am glad that he retired early so that he would stop propagandizing and blame shifting. For my whole childhood I heard the ranting about how "Catholic schools are siphoning all the money out of public education," and how "the administration is screwing the teachers' union out of a fair wage." He was a frugal man who did a lot of things for himself, but in his tirades about how underpaid he was he would always leave out the part where he enjoyed a three month vacation every summer. That's why I enjoy hearing from you, a sane teacher who doesn't make excuses for people not doing the work and demands results instead of insisting that it must be the religious right's fault that things aren't going well when his preferred plan inevitably failed. His response is always to "double down" on a bad plan. Ironically, in his personal life he always acted responsibly and understood that dumb actions have dumb prizes, but it doesn't stop him from financially supporting the George Floyd/BLM protests, anti-ICE protests, and contributing and "sharing" what he's "learned" from Noam Chomsky, Bernie Sanders, and Annie Laurie Gaylor and her "Freedom From Religion" foundation. God bless you and prosper you, Jerry; keep up the good fight sir.
My father was like yours, but in the opposite direction, so far right that sometimes he crossed over to the far left.
Now my brother is another story. He is like your dad. He is 5 years younger than I. He was a hard core Regan republican. Around 20 years ago, he became involved in the teacher's union and now is fully woke wanting the ultra wealthy to pay more so schools can fully fund the equity programs that are needed due to white priviledge.
I sent this before I had finished. His own kids when to a Christian private school because they needed to be protected from the same students he teaches and sympathizes for.ny wife and I were discussing the problems with education today (she is a retired science teacher that has returned part-time so she has something to do) I mentioned that if we were raising our son today, I would seriously consider a Catholic school. We are Protestants.
We both agree that public education is broken to the point it is too late to fix it.
Speaking of those summer breaks, we always considered that a perk because it allowed us to travel all over the US with our son to give him experiences that most kids do not get today. A few times when money was tight, we did teach summer school.
Finally, you mentioned you wished I were your father. I have been told that by many students who struggle greatly because they have no father in the home. I respond you would not like that, first your cell phone and social media accounts would be gone. You would have to do your homework before anything else when you got home and then you would have chores to do. They are surprised. One young lady did understand how I work. She responded that she would not mind those rules because I was showing her I cared and wanted the best for her. Neither of her parents spend any time with her and barely notice that she often get home late in the evening because they let her do whatever she wants. This also means they are not available to help her with her problems.
Thanks for your reply. I agree that being a teacher has become almost impossible between helicopter parents, woke school boards, and the curse of the smart phone and social media mania. I just learned about the horseshoe theory of what happens to those too far on the right, and there are lots of examples, but do you think that a conservative with Christian values and with their mind focused on the Lord and eternal life, could make that (fatal) leap? For me, that's what keeps me grounded- and humbled- and I can't see ever being able to leap from biblical values to satanic ones, short of a massive stroke or a complete mental illness ten magnitudes stronger than TDS. What do you think, am I wrong? I still pray for my dad to change, sometimes, but he is still going 1,000 MPH in the wrong direction and shows no interest in changing. In Matthew 10:35, the Lord said he came to divide, father from son, mother from daughter, so I can accept that this is out of my control.
My exposure to the horseshoe theory came in a PolySci course I took in 1982. It was taught by an instructor who chained smoked during class, wheezed and coughed, and skewered everything and everyone. He made you develop your personal political philosophy and you had to defend it.
During a particular lecture, he drew a straight line on the board and wrote left on the left side and right on the right side. Then he named historic and current political figures and we had to place them along the continuum. Hitler and Stalin were very difficult to pin down. Stalin started on the far left, but after lots of questions about particular policies of Stalin from the instructor, we had him all over the far right and far left. The same thing happened with Hitler.
Jerry Brown was in his first stint as California Governor. This was the period that earned him the nickname Gov. MoonBeam. Brown was all over both sides and the middle. After 20 minutes on Brown, a student asked the instructor where did he place Brown. He drew a circle around the line and said, even Brown does not know what end of the Political spectrum he falls on. He is all over the place. That was when he got across that the political spectrum is not a continuum along a line, but more of a circle and sometimes, one gets so far to one end that they actually adopt the ideology of the political group they consider their enemy.
So what most people do is adopt a political philosophy as a young adult. They see all the things they cannot have right now and look around to other countries that give those things out for free. Free healthcare, free education, free housing and so on.
They never stop to consider the entire picture. Look under the surface and you find the free stuff is highly regulated, given only to a subset of people who are considered the most-worthy, and delivered at a much lower level of quality as we are accustom to expecting in the US. Capitalism is not perfect, but it works the best compared to all other systems.
Those that start off leaning right, start to realize that there are those gaming the system. Government services are not free but people love to want the government to take care of them. So, they start wanting to limit those services to those that are abusing the system or not working and paying into it. They move even further right.
Ultimately, as one moves further right or left, they want more government control to impose their views on others. It becomes us vs. them. The left uses class distinctions to put people into groups, the right often uses race or nationalism in some way to group people. The result is the same, the only way to reach the ideal situation, government has to step in and force change. Go even more extreme and those that resist have to be imprisoned, re-educated, or just killed.
Stalin approached extreme totalitarianism from the left, Hitler from the right. Both ended up in the same place.
Several years ago, I was trying to figure out where do I fit in. I share views from the less extreme on both sides. I eventually studied the founding of our Country and came upon Classical Liberalism. Then it all made sense. It is almost in the center. The government only does those things that individuals are unable to do. National defense, policing, a judiciary to deal with legal issues. Individuals are to take care of the things that they are best able to do; run our lives as long as individuals do not interfere on the rights of others.
What many consider to be rights are things that they believe should be rights. So, we hear about a right to healthcare, right to an income, right to an abortion, etc. They forget our Constitution is based on Natural Rights, the God-given rights we are all born with, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These Natural Rights do not include anything that has to be taken from another. The right to healthcare would mean forcing someone to treat you without compensation (slavery) or theft of money from others (taxpayers). It is not a Natural Right.
Right to an income would mean stealing from others to provide income to someone not doing anything to earn it. The people that have their money taken now have to work to pay for their own needs as well as the needs of others.
The right to an abortion means taking the life of another person. The only time it is acceptable to take the life of another is if they are threatening your life or the lives of your loved ones. Biblically, this would also cover protecting the weak. So, the only acceptable abortion is to save the life of the mother and that happens very rarely. Most mothers would rather risk their lives to save that of their child. That is a natural instinct in most of us. I know, as a father, that if anyone tried to harm my son (who is 31 now) I would do whatever was needed to protect him and bring accountability to the perp. That also covers his wife and now son.
Ultimately, we have to recognize that others are allowed to do or believe differently from us as an individual as long as it does not trample our natural rights. So, I have to accept that some people will say things I find offensive. As long as it does not cross the line to threaten my physical being, I have to let it go. I cannot force my religious beliefs on others and live with those who have religious beliefs I find repulsive, as long as they are not harming others.
I know this is long, I learned from my search that our Constitution is based on Christianity. As long as I am focused on Christ, I will not move to either extreme. I hope this answers your question.
Additionally, we have to accept some will make very poor choices. They need to suffer the natural consequences of those choices. We cannot save people from themselves. So if some idiot crosses a barrier at the zoo and is mauled by a lion, that is on them, not the Zoo. People who do stupid things will not be deterred by a sign that says do not cross this barrier.
Why are there more people than ever getting gored by bison in Yellowstone, they do not read the sign that says stay far away and they expect the government to only allow docile animals to be in a National Park. In most of Europe, the animals in their parks are domesticated to tolerate people. They are not fully wild.
People want to help the homeless out of compassion. They forget that many are in that situation because of drug use. Providing money or food is not compassionate, it enables the person to continue harming themselves and ultimately dying from the drugs. Compassion means do not make their situation worse. You want to help them, institutionalize them for at least a year so they can dry out. Then provide some job training so they can take care of themselves. Hopefully, once they get on their feet, they will have concluded they are valuable and need to behave in their best interests. If they go back to drugs, they made their choice, the now suffer the natural consequences. You cannot help those that refuse to be helped.
If they have a mental illness, then institutionalize them so they are no longer a danger to themselves or others. It does not mean we have to go to the mental hospitals of the past. It means we do our best to treat their illness and provide a safe environment for those who are too ill to ever by let out. That is compassion, protecting the sick and frail.
I had replied to this, but on my yahoo page, and it blocked me from replying to you directly. I had a few examples from my experience, including working my whole career at a County owned, former "poor farm," alcoholic living facility and mental hospital, where we housed, fed, and employed- to their capacities- as many as 435 residents on 14 wards. The "reforms" of the sixties had shut most of this down, and many were the tales from the former patients who lived and worked there, how much they missed the safety and self-worth of farming, raising dairy cows and pigs, running a bakery, working in the apple orchard, cooking their meals, working in the County's laundry and butcher shop. All gone, in the name of progress and resident rights...
My county had one of those. As a young child, I remember passing by it on our way to church. It was along a road that connected where we lived to the church. It went through some county land and other farm land. Now it has a community college on it and lots of houses. Interestingly, our church moved to the site to build a larger facility.
We had a state hospital in our town (these were the Mental hospitals of the time). Those that could improve enough moved to the farm.
Ironically, then Gov. Reagan cut funding for them in the name of cutting the budget. The dems went along with it because the residents should determine where they live. They wanted community based group homes. Now the state has cut funding for those.
I like that you used self-worth. That is the key. So many use self-esteem. Self-esteem is feeling good about oneself. It does not require a reason to feel good. The criminal has self-esteem because they are committing the crimes they enjoy. We hype students up on feeling good about themselves for any reason, hence participation trophies. We are so concerned about their emotional well-being, we just make up anything to get them to feel good.
I was the last generation of teachers to go through a teacher training program that required two course on psychology of children and teens as well as a class on the legal aspects of teaching.
Now, I am an overeducated biology teacher. I was one that loved the university and I could not figure out exactly what area of biology I wanted to focus on. I spent 20 years as a student and a few years as an instructor. I had psychology from the perspective of science, not social science, which is not a science at all.
It was drilled into us to give authentic praise. Not you did a good job or you worked hard, but I am proud that you earned a B on the last test, and the test before you failed. Great job, now, what did you do differently this time? Then the conversation is about how to continue learning at a level that allows the student to earn better test grades.
That is what I still do because if I can get a student hooked on the “high” of knowing they have value and are worthy because they can do school, it is not easy, but they can do it by working at it. They earned it.
I was out yesterday because I had to see my cardiologist. I got a note from my sub about a student that actually worked in class, did not try to have his phone out, and completed the assignment. He was amazed because in the other classes he covered, this student rarely worked and either slept or socialized.
This student is a special education student. Many teachers just give him a pity D- so they do not have to make an effort to work with him and not have to deal with parents and all the headaches related to special education students. I have been working with this student all year. He failed the first semester, and no, I do not give pity grades for trying. I spent time dealing with his cell phone and parents. Every time I took it away, his parents had to come and get it. Back in January, I told him if he would put in the effort, leave his cell phone in his backpack, and work with me, he would pass. He decided to test that. I got him to ask me questions when he did not understand, every time I was near his desk, I stopped to check in on him and provide any help I could. He passed the first test ever in his high school career. He was so excited he wanted me to write a note to his parents, not an email. He wanted to give it to his parents. I did that. At the end of the note I suggested they take him out to dinner at his favorite restaurant. They did. He was even more excited.
The test we had a week ago, he earned a B. He feels worthy because he can do biology. I got him experience the feeling that comes from doing something you thought you could not do. Now you realize you can be successful at things that you think are too hard.
I know this feeling well. I am dyslexic. My mother taught me how to deal with the dyslexia so I could learn to read, to do math, and everything else I set my mind to. These things were not easy, but once I figured out how to make my own accommodations, I was in charge of my learning. I then used it to my advantage because I think differently that most.
This is why I know public education is beyond repair. All we have done is made things easier and lowered our expectations to get kids to pass and graduate. As they continue declining academically, we double down on lowering expectations and making the work easier. Until there is a groundswell demand that we go back to what we know works (like when we were in school) education will continue to fail, no matter how much money is thrown at it.
The government just cannot run schools the way private businesses can.
I used to be. It is heading down the woke path. The district lets each high school a fair amount of autonomy so they can better meet the needs of their community. The previous school, in the same district, I was at is fully woke. They keep getting woke administrators who last a year or two and are let go because the problems have become worse. They were hired to turn the school around because the state has labeled it an underperforming school.
Four years ago, I told the district I would retire early if I was not allowed to transfer to a different site. They had blocked my requests to transfer for several years. By the metrics of the district, I was a was an effective science teacher whose students outscored students of other science teachers on state assessments. The problem was, I am an old school teacher and have high standards. The administration was not happy that I would not follow their woke directives. I had to file a couple of lawsuits which the district elected to negotiate a settlement while conceding the site administration was in the wrong.
When I reached 60, I was tired of the constant battles and was ready to take early retirement so I could leave CA and find a different job while being near my son and his wife. It takes an average of 5 years now to find a replacement science teacher. There are about 6 open positions that they have not been able to fill for a few years. The state withholds some funding because these classes are taught by long term subs who are not qualified because they do not have the proper credential.
They let me move to a different site 4 years ago. My new school has sane administrators and a very good principal. His philosophy is teachers are to teach and remain politically neutral in their classrooms and students are there to learn. If students are disruptive, they are removed to a classroom where they spend a few days working on curriculum about how to do school. They get three shots at that and then they are pushed into an alternative school program.
This is my last year because our new superintendent is pursuing woke policies. We keep getting mandates on how we are supposed to grade. They want to institute a policy that even if a student fails to do an assignment their minimum grade is 50%. We do not want them digging a hole they cannot get out of.
I am covered by the State Education Code giving teachers the final say in their grading policies. Administrators cannot overrule the grading decisions of teachers. So, I ignore school board and district policies and there is not much they can do about it. Newer teachers, to get tenure, have to follow district policies.
They let the protesting teacher go because she left her class unattended and did not inform the admin that she was leaving. That places the liability for anything that happened onto the district. Fortunately nothing bad happened and a student in the class went to the office to tell an administrator what happened. An administrator took over the class until a sub could get there.
The district has offered me incentives to remain another year. They still have not been able to find replacements for the two teachers who left last year and they will now potentially have 3 unfilled positions. Nothing will change my mind, I am done with education. Public education is broken and still headed in the wrong direction. If it were a private company, it would have been bankrupt and out of business years ago.
It is sad, I was from the last generation to go through California's public school system when it was the best in the nation. Back then, students knew not to tell their parents the teacher was wrong when they earned consequences for bad behavior. Blaming the teacher just made things worse. The consequences from parents was way worse than any of those given by the school.
After the move, I will find another job because I intend to contribute towards private school for my grandson and future grandchildren. I also plan to share my wisdom with my grandchildren just like my grandfather did for me. He taught me what I had to do as a man. I never wanted to hear him tell me that I disappointed him. I strove to meet the same high standards he set form himself. He worked until he was 85 and had to finally quiet due to poor health. He passed away at 87. The last two years of his life, I drove him where ever he needed to go and fixed things for him at his house so he could stay at home as long as he could. I still value those last 2 years. We had many great conversations.
The more clickbait-y the title, the more Purple Cow-ish the claims the less likely I am to pay any attention. Oh yeah, sometimes I’m tempted, but always resist. That old addage, if something sounds too good…crazy…outrageous to be true, it’s probably not. If someone I trust is talking about it, I’ll listen, otherwise, nope.
John, for me, your posts are the purple cows that get my attention.
The difference is I grew up in another generation when my experiences and learning taught me to question the claims others made. I also grew up with a father that had extremist views and I figured out early that he was full of it, his rantings did not line up with reality.
The teens I teach today are constantly searching for the new purple cow every few minutes. Things that entertained them even a few years ago are boring today. They are searching for more extreme videos and find it funny when others get hurt, or worse, killed while doing stunts. The have no sense of the value of life.
I am by the way, one who will look at the regular cows as I drive down the road. I learned from a young age that I had to make my own entertainment on family road trips. There were no DVD players or cell phones. We had to make up our own games. Of course that meant all in the car were talking and interacting with each other. What people used to do in the past.
The last time I flew, 3 years ago, every passenger around me was watching something on the airplane entertainment screen in front of them. Others were playing games on their laptops or cell phones. Everyone had earbuds in. My wife and I got some dirty looks because we carried on a conversation the entire time. We were not talking loudly, just normal low volume conversation that people used to engage in. When we flew 20 or more years ago, we would have conversations with out seat mates. We were exposed to people who lived in different parts of this country and I believe it made us realize that no matter our political views or where we were from, we were all still human and could work out our differences in a civil fashion.
Now, the purple cow is saying and doing things that are extreme to get attention. My personal priorities in life are the only ones that matter and you have to agree with me or you are an idiot to be humiliated.
The left have learned to do this well for fame and fortune.
A month ago, students in my district staged a walk-out to protest ICE. The next day, they were shocked that under state law, it was an unexcused absence and I did not allow them to make-up the work. We had a test that had been scheduled for over a week. Their grades took a major hit since test scores account for half of their overall grade.
I asked them what did you hope to change with your walk out? There was dead silence. I asked what did you accomplish, again dead silence. I said the people that promoted this had nothing to lose. They were influencers that got views and paid telling you that you needed to walkout to protest ICE. You cannot even state one thing that ICE has done that is illegal or a danger to you. You hear made-up stories from people who are after views so they can get money. You took part in an action that was being promoted by people who were rewarded with money and you suffered all the consequences.
By the way, one teacher did engage in the walkout, she was a young new teacher. She learned the hard way that her right to protest did not protect her from the consequences of her walking off the job and leaving her students unattended. It was easy, she was not tenured so the district immediately let her go. They did not have to show any cause, they only had to say we no longer need your services.
I doubt these students learned anything. They were quickly distracted by the next purple cow they found on social media.
As harsh as this might sound, I wish my dad thought and acted like you, Jerry. But my pops is a woke robot who disrespects America, its present and past, and fears- and believes- that the Christian right was/is trying to implement a theocracy, and that the wealthy have destroyed the environment, the economy, the health care system, and public education. He was a science teacher for 35 years who retired at age 58. I won't berate him because I believe in the Lord's commandment to honor thy father and mother, but its inarguably true that he is a world class hypocrite who never failed to support a costly school referendum, then when all those millions needed were added to our property taxes, moved out of the district because "the wealthy aren't paying their fair share," as if they had like ten times as many kids in school as he did. I am glad that he retired early so that he would stop propagandizing and blame shifting. For my whole childhood I heard the ranting about how "Catholic schools are siphoning all the money out of public education," and how "the administration is screwing the teachers' union out of a fair wage." He was a frugal man who did a lot of things for himself, but in his tirades about how underpaid he was he would always leave out the part where he enjoyed a three month vacation every summer. That's why I enjoy hearing from you, a sane teacher who doesn't make excuses for people not doing the work and demands results instead of insisting that it must be the religious right's fault that things aren't going well when his preferred plan inevitably failed. His response is always to "double down" on a bad plan. Ironically, in his personal life he always acted responsibly and understood that dumb actions have dumb prizes, but it doesn't stop him from financially supporting the George Floyd/BLM protests, anti-ICE protests, and contributing and "sharing" what he's "learned" from Noam Chomsky, Bernie Sanders, and Annie Laurie Gaylor and her "Freedom From Religion" foundation. God bless you and prosper you, Jerry; keep up the good fight sir.
My father was like yours, but in the opposite direction, so far right that sometimes he crossed over to the far left.
Now my brother is another story. He is like your dad. He is 5 years younger than I. He was a hard core Regan republican. Around 20 years ago, he became involved in the teacher's union and now is fully woke wanting the ultra wealthy to pay more so schools can fully fund the equity programs that are needed due to white priviledge.
I sent this before I had finished. His own kids when to a Christian private school because they needed to be protected from the same students he teaches and sympathizes for.ny wife and I were discussing the problems with education today (she is a retired science teacher that has returned part-time so she has something to do) I mentioned that if we were raising our son today, I would seriously consider a Catholic school. We are Protestants.
We both agree that public education is broken to the point it is too late to fix it.
Speaking of those summer breaks, we always considered that a perk because it allowed us to travel all over the US with our son to give him experiences that most kids do not get today. A few times when money was tight, we did teach summer school.
Finally, you mentioned you wished I were your father. I have been told that by many students who struggle greatly because they have no father in the home. I respond you would not like that, first your cell phone and social media accounts would be gone. You would have to do your homework before anything else when you got home and then you would have chores to do. They are surprised. One young lady did understand how I work. She responded that she would not mind those rules because I was showing her I cared and wanted the best for her. Neither of her parents spend any time with her and barely notice that she often get home late in the evening because they let her do whatever she wants. This also means they are not available to help her with her problems.
Thanks for your reply. I agree that being a teacher has become almost impossible between helicopter parents, woke school boards, and the curse of the smart phone and social media mania. I just learned about the horseshoe theory of what happens to those too far on the right, and there are lots of examples, but do you think that a conservative with Christian values and with their mind focused on the Lord and eternal life, could make that (fatal) leap? For me, that's what keeps me grounded- and humbled- and I can't see ever being able to leap from biblical values to satanic ones, short of a massive stroke or a complete mental illness ten magnitudes stronger than TDS. What do you think, am I wrong? I still pray for my dad to change, sometimes, but he is still going 1,000 MPH in the wrong direction and shows no interest in changing. In Matthew 10:35, the Lord said he came to divide, father from son, mother from daughter, so I can accept that this is out of my control.
My exposure to the horseshoe theory came in a PolySci course I took in 1982. It was taught by an instructor who chained smoked during class, wheezed and coughed, and skewered everything and everyone. He made you develop your personal political philosophy and you had to defend it.
During a particular lecture, he drew a straight line on the board and wrote left on the left side and right on the right side. Then he named historic and current political figures and we had to place them along the continuum. Hitler and Stalin were very difficult to pin down. Stalin started on the far left, but after lots of questions about particular policies of Stalin from the instructor, we had him all over the far right and far left. The same thing happened with Hitler.
Jerry Brown was in his first stint as California Governor. This was the period that earned him the nickname Gov. MoonBeam. Brown was all over both sides and the middle. After 20 minutes on Brown, a student asked the instructor where did he place Brown. He drew a circle around the line and said, even Brown does not know what end of the Political spectrum he falls on. He is all over the place. That was when he got across that the political spectrum is not a continuum along a line, but more of a circle and sometimes, one gets so far to one end that they actually adopt the ideology of the political group they consider their enemy.
So what most people do is adopt a political philosophy as a young adult. They see all the things they cannot have right now and look around to other countries that give those things out for free. Free healthcare, free education, free housing and so on.
They never stop to consider the entire picture. Look under the surface and you find the free stuff is highly regulated, given only to a subset of people who are considered the most-worthy, and delivered at a much lower level of quality as we are accustom to expecting in the US. Capitalism is not perfect, but it works the best compared to all other systems.
Those that start off leaning right, start to realize that there are those gaming the system. Government services are not free but people love to want the government to take care of them. So, they start wanting to limit those services to those that are abusing the system or not working and paying into it. They move even further right.
Ultimately, as one moves further right or left, they want more government control to impose their views on others. It becomes us vs. them. The left uses class distinctions to put people into groups, the right often uses race or nationalism in some way to group people. The result is the same, the only way to reach the ideal situation, government has to step in and force change. Go even more extreme and those that resist have to be imprisoned, re-educated, or just killed.
Stalin approached extreme totalitarianism from the left, Hitler from the right. Both ended up in the same place.
Several years ago, I was trying to figure out where do I fit in. I share views from the less extreme on both sides. I eventually studied the founding of our Country and came upon Classical Liberalism. Then it all made sense. It is almost in the center. The government only does those things that individuals are unable to do. National defense, policing, a judiciary to deal with legal issues. Individuals are to take care of the things that they are best able to do; run our lives as long as individuals do not interfere on the rights of others.
What many consider to be rights are things that they believe should be rights. So, we hear about a right to healthcare, right to an income, right to an abortion, etc. They forget our Constitution is based on Natural Rights, the God-given rights we are all born with, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These Natural Rights do not include anything that has to be taken from another. The right to healthcare would mean forcing someone to treat you without compensation (slavery) or theft of money from others (taxpayers). It is not a Natural Right.
Right to an income would mean stealing from others to provide income to someone not doing anything to earn it. The people that have their money taken now have to work to pay for their own needs as well as the needs of others.
The right to an abortion means taking the life of another person. The only time it is acceptable to take the life of another is if they are threatening your life or the lives of your loved ones. Biblically, this would also cover protecting the weak. So, the only acceptable abortion is to save the life of the mother and that happens very rarely. Most mothers would rather risk their lives to save that of their child. That is a natural instinct in most of us. I know, as a father, that if anyone tried to harm my son (who is 31 now) I would do whatever was needed to protect him and bring accountability to the perp. That also covers his wife and now son.
Ultimately, we have to recognize that others are allowed to do or believe differently from us as an individual as long as it does not trample our natural rights. So, I have to accept that some people will say things I find offensive. As long as it does not cross the line to threaten my physical being, I have to let it go. I cannot force my religious beliefs on others and live with those who have religious beliefs I find repulsive, as long as they are not harming others.
I know this is long, I learned from my search that our Constitution is based on Christianity. As long as I am focused on Christ, I will not move to either extreme. I hope this answers your question.
Additionally, we have to accept some will make very poor choices. They need to suffer the natural consequences of those choices. We cannot save people from themselves. So if some idiot crosses a barrier at the zoo and is mauled by a lion, that is on them, not the Zoo. People who do stupid things will not be deterred by a sign that says do not cross this barrier.
Why are there more people than ever getting gored by bison in Yellowstone, they do not read the sign that says stay far away and they expect the government to only allow docile animals to be in a National Park. In most of Europe, the animals in their parks are domesticated to tolerate people. They are not fully wild.
People want to help the homeless out of compassion. They forget that many are in that situation because of drug use. Providing money or food is not compassionate, it enables the person to continue harming themselves and ultimately dying from the drugs. Compassion means do not make their situation worse. You want to help them, institutionalize them for at least a year so they can dry out. Then provide some job training so they can take care of themselves. Hopefully, once they get on their feet, they will have concluded they are valuable and need to behave in their best interests. If they go back to drugs, they made their choice, the now suffer the natural consequences. You cannot help those that refuse to be helped.
If they have a mental illness, then institutionalize them so they are no longer a danger to themselves or others. It does not mean we have to go to the mental hospitals of the past. It means we do our best to treat their illness and provide a safe environment for those who are too ill to ever by let out. That is compassion, protecting the sick and frail.
I had replied to this, but on my yahoo page, and it blocked me from replying to you directly. I had a few examples from my experience, including working my whole career at a County owned, former "poor farm," alcoholic living facility and mental hospital, where we housed, fed, and employed- to their capacities- as many as 435 residents on 14 wards. The "reforms" of the sixties had shut most of this down, and many were the tales from the former patients who lived and worked there, how much they missed the safety and self-worth of farming, raising dairy cows and pigs, running a bakery, working in the apple orchard, cooking their meals, working in the County's laundry and butcher shop. All gone, in the name of progress and resident rights...
My county had one of those. As a young child, I remember passing by it on our way to church. It was along a road that connected where we lived to the church. It went through some county land and other farm land. Now it has a community college on it and lots of houses. Interestingly, our church moved to the site to build a larger facility.
We had a state hospital in our town (these were the Mental hospitals of the time). Those that could improve enough moved to the farm.
Ironically, then Gov. Reagan cut funding for them in the name of cutting the budget. The dems went along with it because the residents should determine where they live. They wanted community based group homes. Now the state has cut funding for those.
I like that you used self-worth. That is the key. So many use self-esteem. Self-esteem is feeling good about oneself. It does not require a reason to feel good. The criminal has self-esteem because they are committing the crimes they enjoy. We hype students up on feeling good about themselves for any reason, hence participation trophies. We are so concerned about their emotional well-being, we just make up anything to get them to feel good.
I was the last generation of teachers to go through a teacher training program that required two course on psychology of children and teens as well as a class on the legal aspects of teaching.
Now, I am an overeducated biology teacher. I was one that loved the university and I could not figure out exactly what area of biology I wanted to focus on. I spent 20 years as a student and a few years as an instructor. I had psychology from the perspective of science, not social science, which is not a science at all.
It was drilled into us to give authentic praise. Not you did a good job or you worked hard, but I am proud that you earned a B on the last test, and the test before you failed. Great job, now, what did you do differently this time? Then the conversation is about how to continue learning at a level that allows the student to earn better test grades.
That is what I still do because if I can get a student hooked on the “high” of knowing they have value and are worthy because they can do school, it is not easy, but they can do it by working at it. They earned it.
I was out yesterday because I had to see my cardiologist. I got a note from my sub about a student that actually worked in class, did not try to have his phone out, and completed the assignment. He was amazed because in the other classes he covered, this student rarely worked and either slept or socialized.
This student is a special education student. Many teachers just give him a pity D- so they do not have to make an effort to work with him and not have to deal with parents and all the headaches related to special education students. I have been working with this student all year. He failed the first semester, and no, I do not give pity grades for trying. I spent time dealing with his cell phone and parents. Every time I took it away, his parents had to come and get it. Back in January, I told him if he would put in the effort, leave his cell phone in his backpack, and work with me, he would pass. He decided to test that. I got him to ask me questions when he did not understand, every time I was near his desk, I stopped to check in on him and provide any help I could. He passed the first test ever in his high school career. He was so excited he wanted me to write a note to his parents, not an email. He wanted to give it to his parents. I did that. At the end of the note I suggested they take him out to dinner at his favorite restaurant. They did. He was even more excited.
The test we had a week ago, he earned a B. He feels worthy because he can do biology. I got him experience the feeling that comes from doing something you thought you could not do. Now you realize you can be successful at things that you think are too hard.
I know this feeling well. I am dyslexic. My mother taught me how to deal with the dyslexia so I could learn to read, to do math, and everything else I set my mind to. These things were not easy, but once I figured out how to make my own accommodations, I was in charge of my learning. I then used it to my advantage because I think differently that most.
This is why I know public education is beyond repair. All we have done is made things easier and lowered our expectations to get kids to pass and graduate. As they continue declining academically, we double down on lowering expectations and making the work easier. Until there is a groundswell demand that we go back to what we know works (like when we were in school) education will continue to fail, no matter how much money is thrown at it.
The government just cannot run schools the way private businesses can.
Your school district sounds surprisingly sane.
I used to be. It is heading down the woke path. The district lets each high school a fair amount of autonomy so they can better meet the needs of their community. The previous school, in the same district, I was at is fully woke. They keep getting woke administrators who last a year or two and are let go because the problems have become worse. They were hired to turn the school around because the state has labeled it an underperforming school.
Four years ago, I told the district I would retire early if I was not allowed to transfer to a different site. They had blocked my requests to transfer for several years. By the metrics of the district, I was a was an effective science teacher whose students outscored students of other science teachers on state assessments. The problem was, I am an old school teacher and have high standards. The administration was not happy that I would not follow their woke directives. I had to file a couple of lawsuits which the district elected to negotiate a settlement while conceding the site administration was in the wrong.
When I reached 60, I was tired of the constant battles and was ready to take early retirement so I could leave CA and find a different job while being near my son and his wife. It takes an average of 5 years now to find a replacement science teacher. There are about 6 open positions that they have not been able to fill for a few years. The state withholds some funding because these classes are taught by long term subs who are not qualified because they do not have the proper credential.
They let me move to a different site 4 years ago. My new school has sane administrators and a very good principal. His philosophy is teachers are to teach and remain politically neutral in their classrooms and students are there to learn. If students are disruptive, they are removed to a classroom where they spend a few days working on curriculum about how to do school. They get three shots at that and then they are pushed into an alternative school program.
This is my last year because our new superintendent is pursuing woke policies. We keep getting mandates on how we are supposed to grade. They want to institute a policy that even if a student fails to do an assignment their minimum grade is 50%. We do not want them digging a hole they cannot get out of.
I am covered by the State Education Code giving teachers the final say in their grading policies. Administrators cannot overrule the grading decisions of teachers. So, I ignore school board and district policies and there is not much they can do about it. Newer teachers, to get tenure, have to follow district policies.
They let the protesting teacher go because she left her class unattended and did not inform the admin that she was leaving. That places the liability for anything that happened onto the district. Fortunately nothing bad happened and a student in the class went to the office to tell an administrator what happened. An administrator took over the class until a sub could get there.
The district has offered me incentives to remain another year. They still have not been able to find replacements for the two teachers who left last year and they will now potentially have 3 unfilled positions. Nothing will change my mind, I am done with education. Public education is broken and still headed in the wrong direction. If it were a private company, it would have been bankrupt and out of business years ago.
It is sad, I was from the last generation to go through California's public school system when it was the best in the nation. Back then, students knew not to tell their parents the teacher was wrong when they earned consequences for bad behavior. Blaming the teacher just made things worse. The consequences from parents was way worse than any of those given by the school.
After the move, I will find another job because I intend to contribute towards private school for my grandson and future grandchildren. I also plan to share my wisdom with my grandchildren just like my grandfather did for me. He taught me what I had to do as a man. I never wanted to hear him tell me that I disappointed him. I strove to meet the same high standards he set form himself. He worked until he was 85 and had to finally quiet due to poor health. He passed away at 87. The last two years of his life, I drove him where ever he needed to go and fixed things for him at his house so he could stay at home as long as he could. I still value those last 2 years. We had many great conversations.
The more clickbait-y the title, the more Purple Cow-ish the claims the less likely I am to pay any attention. Oh yeah, sometimes I’m tempted, but always resist. That old addage, if something sounds too good…crazy…outrageous to be true, it’s probably not. If someone I trust is talking about it, I’ll listen, otherwise, nope.