On advocacy and activism

                                      


In light of a long, rambling, preachy facebook post on one of the several online teacher networks, I should tell you I'm not at school today. I am in Oklahoma City with my family. I mention why later but I just wanted to make sure anyone thought I was slacking off at work...

I was asked by a friend who works for an organization that does things to make Oklahoma better (vague enough) to share how the budget cuts in Oklahoma have impacted my professional and personal situation. It was a broadly specific set of questions and I was happy to do it. I guess if you teach long enough and let people who are smarter than you know that, they will ask you things because, after all, you're a teacher. And as a teacher you are (at least I am) going to answer those questions. It's a chance to help so I filled out the responses (I'll let you know what I hear).

Being asked this question made me think... And its what you would like to discuss today. I'm a teacher and I know what that means... Am I anything else? Am I supposed to be anything else? Is there something else I should be doing?

Teachers (or at least I do) often struggle with where exactly that line between state employee and activist and advocate is. It is too easy to assume people will just do what they are supposed to. Education will always receive copious amounts of lip service. Everyone "supports" education. Then why are we so behind and where does all that support go? There are thousands of Educators active in the political process throughout the state that engage and support our state leaders. But not nearly enough of us do this consistently. At least, in part, political inactivity and a social naivete is killing us. It is setting us up for failure on a spectacular level. We are actively drowning in a sea of narcissistic, self-loathing empty success. We think we are number one, when there is no evidence to give us that assumption. We delude ourselves into thinking the way we have always done it will  just magically work one day. Then, when we keep making it not work, we get all surprised and bothered.. We have to do better that and begins with engagement, participation, and advocacy.

So how do we do that ethically and professionally? As teachers we are paid for by tax dollars. There are and should be protections, for all involved. The students are a captive audience, easily manipulated, and their parents are the final arbiters of most aspects of their development and social awareness. I get that. I definitely do not want my children subject to extreme indoctrination or on political issues in the classroom setting. Reasonable people can have reasonable conversations about those lines and it's not something that is going to be solved anytime soon or in any specific way. It requires a mature attitude and mindset. 

But what are we supposed to do when that which is what we do and are is under attack? Should we just allow this to happen? One critical peculiarity of our profession is its entanglement in so many lives and pieces of our culture and communities. It really does affect everyone. And there is no getting around that.


So I believe we have to advocate. We have to lobby. We have to make sure our voices are heard. After all, this is a democracy (kind of) right? If we don't, no one else will, and it's not just gonna happen. I would also submit it is our duty, especially if we have found ourselves in the camp complaining of the decisions and actions of the State legislature and leaders. If we are not willing to help and contribute in some way, we really should stop complaining. I don't think we are going to stop complaining... So let's get active and involved.

I haven’t spoken much about this on this platform but my youngest child and only daughter has been battling Leukemia for the past two years. She has responded well to most all treatments. However, there still remain trace elements of the cancer in her system so earlier this year we began the process of her undergoing a bone marrow transplant. I will write about it all in my next post (now that I’ve brought it up) but I brought it up to say the transplant doctor and team is at Children’s Hospital in Oklahoma City. She's been there for over a month and will be there until later this Summer. Her mother is staying with her and her brothers are staying on this side of the state to continue school. We are spread pretty thin and make a lot of trips to the City. It is where i am today. 

                                                                           

The hospital is located near the State Capitol and the nearest sonic and On Cue are at 23rd and Santa Fe right below (literally) the Capitol. That stretch of 23rd St in Oklahoma City is named the Clara Luper corridor.


I see that sign almost every time I travel to Oklahoma City. You do too if you take the Broadway Extension or 23rd St to get to the Capitol. That should mean something to us. If you don’t know her story, get to know it. Do it now, I'll wait..., then come back here. If you know it, great. I sure hope you share it when it's appropriate, or even when it isn't. She's an amazing story and she is a member of our education family. We need to find that piece of our profession again, and fight for our kids unequivocally
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If Clara Luper and her students can take action in the way they did, surely we can tweet, email, blog, chat, and discuss topics with our students. Should it be civil? Yes. Will it be controversial? Yeah. Will people be upset? Probably. You'll most likely be one of them at some point, but that is the point. Ideas aren't clean. And knowledge isn’t always pleasant, linear, and pre-boxed with a script and score. We have to be grown ups about grownup things.



We could start with this....

Talk about Trump and Trophies...

What I wanted to do with this post is discuss a cultural touchstone of division and conflict. One that gets a lot of attention. Participation trophies and awards. From auto ads to op-eds to memes, their destructive force is everywhere...

Participation Trophies are the bane of the existence for anyone that “really” loves America. This is one of those odd issues where polar opposites can attract similar opinions. I’m still going to talk about it but, I feel like I have to add something that I think will make sense.

I don't watch or have HBO so what I get is YouTube. I admit I am a fan of BIll Maher. He and I agree on a lot of things but my tweet below expresses my sentiment on the ideological relationship. Here's one where we disagree.

There’s something special about a guy you agree with but still root against. I kinda know how is feeling right now. I say that I'm a fan, which is to say, I’ll watch and listen but I’m not a super fan. I bring it up because apparently he and his staff had almost the same thought as I had about Trump.

Over Spring Break I met and talked shop with a few fellow #oklaed colleagues. While we were chatting I had this thought, and I expressed it to the group. They loved it and I was thrilled. I went home and wrote a tremendous portion of this entry. Then I caught Bill Maher’s show from Friday March 18.

I appreciate a lot of what Bill said and you’ll see where we agree if you choose to read the rest of this. But, I saw something else in his reaction and I want to address that as well. So here it goes...

I don't want to be too psycho-analytical but I think the rugged individualism and bootstrap attitude forged and infused into so much of our culture creates an almost subliminal aversion to anything “group” related. I think a lot of people see participation trophies are seen as an affront to this very foundational belief. And I can see where they see that. I kind of agree with them, sometimes.

Bill and I agree that The Donald is a perfect example of the negative side effects of the participation trophy culture. This is a person with an incredibly overblown ego. So overblown there is no logical or rational explanation for his worldview of himself.

How else could someone like Donald J Trump, who has failed spectacularly, so many times, on so many levels, in front of so many people, still have the lack of social awareness to declare himself such a “winner”? How else could he utter the phrase (about :50 in)“I know a lot of words, I have the best words” and expect to be taken seriously? How else could he, when asked who we should listen to on foreign policy, say (about :20) “I have a great brain and have said a lot of things, so I would listen to myself” and expect to be taken seriously?

Yes, Donald Trump is a walking participation trophy. His supporters are the parents in the helicopters applauding his buffoonery. They mistake volume as a leadership trait m. They validate his rants as policy, and his obscene inherited wealth as “hard earned”.

This is the culture Donald was raised in and continues to create for himself. An environment so detached from reality, he was able to develop a sense of entitlement and arrogance that can only be measured in how many buildings you affix your name to. Which is in no way a successful measurement of anything but your ability to spell. But, even spelling has been in issue for Trump and his campaign, see here and here.

Of course, there are several living examples that embody much of what was just described. And a lot of them are young kids. The one that concerns me right now isn't though. As a millennial I get it, we were the group that got Participation trophies, and are forever scarred because we don't know what winners are.

So Bill and I came to a similar conclusion, he goes much more cynical and heartless than I. Mostly because of a different worldview. He despises children. I do not. He has no children, I do. He doesn't want kids and doesn't want to be around them. I'm a teacher. That is perfectly fine. If that's your worldview, Don't be. As much as possible avoid them. But remember when you do have to interact with children, they are no more or less human than you. They have the same rights, as much as you want to wish them away, they get to exist. Do some of them misbehave? Yeah. Most do. A lot. So what, get over it and move on. The world isn't getting scarier from the kid's temper tantrums…. The world is getting scarier from the grown ups temper tantrums.

So having a different view of a large section of the culture will obviously lead to different understandings. His view of “the youth” can make it difficult for him to acknowledge they may not be that bad after all. After all, young kids are not having much to do with Trump. The younger the voting bloc the more peripheral he and his attempts at ideas become. I don’t have the time or resources to delve into much more of this too much, but i feel safe in assessing the millennial cooperative spirit and affinity for collaboration over competition had little to do with the “everyone gets a trophy advertisement” that is The Donald. Or if it did, I don’t think they deserve nearly the amount of blame they get to shoulder.

So, Bill and I part ways on this topic is”Who’s to blame?” Maher makes no specific mention other than “the culture”. I would take it a step further. I would add it was the adults at the time (mostly Boomers and older Gen Xers) were making these rules. It was the Boomers who parented with a “no one gets hurt safe space” attitude. Where is the outrage over who built this culture? I’ll leave that discussion for later (the who built this culture discussion) but I think even a cursory look at history would show the effects of such an environment being blamed for such outcomes, is misleading at best, and outright deceitful at worst.



So even though we get the brunt of the blame for all the evils it has created, perhaps we weren't the inventors of the Participation Trophy culture in the first place? I'm looking for nor am I awaiting an apology or anything, I just feel that it should be stated and considered. I do think it is important to know where and how this leviathan came from. If for no other reasons so we can stop the behavior and break the cycle for future generations.

It's been a while

I haven't posted in a while and I have plenty of excuses why. I know you don' t want to hear them, so here it goes... Mostly grad school and family but grad school is done for the semester, there is still family stuff here and there but, I can try to discuss a few thoughts that have swirled in my head these past few weeks. There has been a lot going on and I have definitely had thoughts and opinions about many of these goings on… 

I’ll write about the legislature and what I’m doing in my classroom later but I really want to confess something in this post. It’s something I’ve done, and it is also another reason I have fallen behind in my blogging. I'm in love all over again. I don’t always do a good job of making time for, reading. I’ve gone in and out of reading spells and moods throughout my life. I spent a lot of high school avoiding it and working around it as much as possible. I read what I was supposed to but that was about it. It wasn't that I couldn’t or didn’t really want to, I just really didn't want to. I love it again. A lot.

It annoyed the hell out of my dad. He was a remarkably voracious reader. Every evening he would sit in a corner chair in our living room with a Stephen King book and wonder why we wouldn't read. As I’ve grown older I’ve found that love again. There is a part of me that wishes I had never fallen out of love with it, but I also have developed a deep appreciation for it since I can recall how dull and bland my life was when I wasn’t invading the thoughts and imaginations of others through their written word. I know his example is where I get that touchstone to return to. 

Grad school makes you read. My degree is in Native American Leadership so a number of the courses center around the culture, history, and heritage of theIndian  people. Working to understand their story and legacy has rekindled a curiosity in me. Our human history is remarkably entertaining, and I have a hard time understanding how people don't see that. I love learning about the similarities between our behaviors (both individually and collectively) and their consequences. 

I've annoyed a number  of my friends recently with this new found obsession of mine. I visited the Full Circle Book Store in OKC (If you haven’t you should) and picked up a couple of books. One I really can’t put down, and another I can’t wait to begin. As a history teacher and student I love reading history. Good history, real history. History that can touch me. Do I have to tell you I've read Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United State? I'm guessing most figured that out. Well, at full circle I found a collection of essays and articles titled On History. The writings are incredible. And remarkably relevant to our time. (This is me telling you to read them too!)

So I have been tearing through the pages and don't really want to stop… Plenty has gone on I've just not wanted to hinder reading new ideas by trying to organize my old thoughts. I have a few other ideas and have received some urging to write about one in particular. I'll have that one for later this week...

As a history student and teacher reading about history is what I truly love. Winston Churchill's declaration "the farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see" never rings more true than during a study of human history. You don't have to love it as much as I do, but understanding it is incredibly valuable. 

I know this is a kinda bland post, I'm sorry I'll make up for it I promise. 

Responsibility is tough... Kinda

Two bills passed out of committee this week dealing with education. One is telling us what to do and another is taking resources away from our students. Both show the goals and true nature of their authors and supporters.

First, HB 2949 failed on a committee vote of 8-7. This would establish Education Savings Accounts ESAs, vouchers. However the legislature rules (this is the case is most legislatures by the way) give the speaker of the house and the speaker pro temp of the house a vote in all committees. They used their votes in this committee to sway the vote to 9-8 in favor of passage. The Tulsa World story reported that Rep. Jason Nelson was unable to show how much this program would cost. I guess that's that fiscal responsibility and belt tightening budgeting we keep hearing so much about. Read about the bill and vote here, and a solid analysis here.

The convoluted nature of their process should, at the very least, arouse suspicion. Why can't they just tell us what they want to do? Why so sneaky? There is no evidence anywhere showing where vouchers, by any other name, help any significant number of students and families. I'll refer to the wise words below to sum this argument up.

Next HB 2797 would require schools to incorporate anti-abortion education into their curriculum. Not going to debate the topic itself too much but, the idea of mandating the teaching opposing something that is legal is complicated. It happens a lot (anti-smoking, anti-drinking, anti-gambling). And I get the emotions attached to this topic, which leads me to one possible solution… Teach your kids your views and train them how you think they should be trained on this issue. But don't withhold information from them.

And afford everyone else the same courtesy.

Also, just as a thought, everyone okay with doing the same type of anti-gun ownership curriculum? I mean owning guns leads to murder and the taking of life and anything we can do to minimize the taking of life should be explored.

Speaking of leading to things, the bills intended goal is to create an abortion free society. Okay. I don't think there are a lot of people that would disagree with that being a positive world. Because aside from the traumatic circumstance (regardless of situation) being eliminated, that would mean we've reached gender equality, found cures or preventative cares for dozens of birth defects and pregnancy complications (many of which could prove fatal to one or both parties), we've ended most all sexual assault, and ended all unwanted pregnancies. All of these are reasons for abortions occurring. Most of those provide perfectly moral and legal situations for numerous decision to be made and people should have choices in those situations.

That last one is a big one because is causes the least moral clarity. One would assume eliminating that avenue for these situations to happen would be a great goal. And we are in luck because we know how to do that. To the benefit/detriment of millions of students, each state, and in many cases, each district, decides what sex/reproductive education curriculum to use. See here for a great and hilarious NQSFW analysis of our country's position on Sex Ed.

So we know comprehensive sex Ed works. I would assume it is in this bill., but alas I assumed. There is no discussion about sex Ed at all in this bill. Rep Emily Virgin said it best…

The story also noted Rep. Coody knew the money wasn't there for it to be implemented this year but “it will get the position of the house on the record” whatever that means… again fiscal responsibility at its finest.

We have to work together to fix this state. I get that. But it's a lot easier to work with someone if they can be taken seriously. And if these are the ideas, and it means enough to their party’s leadership to vote in committee (which is perfectly legal, but not that common) I don't know how seriously they can be taken…

It's important to note, neither of these bills are done. We've still got plenty of opportunity to defeat them and we have to. Please thank those that supported us, and start working on all the reps. We are being heard and it is making a difference.

This is about as quiet as I can be...

Soo I guess people do read these blogs…

If you ideas about education, have opinions about other ideas, and live in Oklahoma you should probably just keep to yourself and shut your mouth while the “grownups” make the big tough decisions. I’ve never been one to keep quiet, and I’ll be damned if I am going sit by and just allow the dismantling of public education. Clearly a conversation must take place. So let's have one...

There is no reason to tiptoe around some topics in this conversation. The tone taken by the legislators regarding education issues, especially towards those that dissent from their rigid world view, is largely due to the fact my profession is mostly women. This tone would never be taken, nor has ever been taken against corrections officers, oil executives, bankers, law enforcement or any other constituency to which the Legislature is answerable. I feel fairly confident in my accusation given the litany of legislation leaving Lincoln (blvd) laid-out against ladies, the party in power laughably lifts-up as legitimate governance. Two or three backasswards misogynistic pro-fetus ideas a session can be overlooked. But, a couple of ideas is not the case here.

It shouldn’t matter the gender makeup of our profession. Regardless of the gender diversity of our profession, we are just that, a profession, of professionals. Professionals that know what we are doing, and how to do it. We read books, and learn from one another, participate in PD, and take time away from our lives, for our profession. We do that to make us better. It’s where we get our notoriety. That stuff we derive from the classroom, which we in turn use to promote our partisan political ideology… Except that’s not what we do. We tell the truth and teach kids to be responsible, intelligent, wise, and thinking citizens. If those things are a threat to you and your plans, then just come out and say it.

I also see a strain of jealousy in the comments that have been used to describe those voices from #oklaed. There are 149 people that meet 75 days a year in OKC. They call themselves our legislature. We call them that too, because it's their title. While they make more than many teachers, and work WAY less (75 DAYS of work TOTAL). In most cases they can’t seem to find their ass with both hands without taking money from education and giving it to oil companies. And they just can’t seem to figure out where and how hey lost their way. They did what God Reagan told them to do, cut, cut, cut… But try as they might, they can’t seem to make the facts fit their narrative. It turns out when you don’t have any money, you can’t pay for things… And they are pissed that they might get called on it…

So there they are, sitting at 23rd and Lincoln seeing us measly, weak, ineffective, lazy, union-thug, liberal, slug (yeah Gov. Keating, we remember that one…) teachers actually making an impact on the discourse and making their fragile lives difficult. I KNOW it's much, much easier for them to do what they want when we just sit by and don’t pay attention, but we aren’t doing that.

Could it be they are envious of our influence? That our students, their parents, and our communities do not see us as the evil they try to call us? The political leaders of Oklahoma are running out of devils to blame their sins on, and they are getting cranky. Could it be that we actually know what we are talking about? And its not all just a partisan political ideology? The only reason a politician would be upset at someone using “politics” effectively (which is EXACTLY what #oklaed does) is because they are getting their asses handed to them in the debate. If you like, we would love to teach you how we get that notoriety. It's not hard, read, learn, study, become wise, and help guide people to their own knowledge. That’s all teaching is… And it's not that you haven’t tried, it just helps to use facts. Real ones. And numbers too. Good ones. Not just “the math you do to make yourself feel better as a republican (thank you Megyn Kelly).

I am unwilling to be “legislative-splained” our situation by men and women who have no understanding of history, governance, or the culture they serve. I will not accept “we can’t do anything” from men and women who have done EVERYTHING to ensure nothing could be done to undo their dishonest, impractical, and pathetic “business-minded” decisions and actions. You wrote the rules, you have to rewrite them. And it's your fault the laws are so hard to pass. What was it your mother said about making your bed?

Let’s discuss the topic of decorum. It seems to be the virgin ears of these poor fragile men and women can’t handle when teachers call them on their BS. I can only wonder what type of student these men and women were. At the OK Policy state Budget Summit in reference to a question about expanding medicaid funding and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Sen. Clark Jolley, mentioned “anything with Obama’s name on it, is DOA in Oklahoma”. 

(I have the tweets to prove it too)

Two things about that statement, the ACA, is the acronym and there isn’t a B, an H or an O in that acronym. The term Obamacare has been used since before the ACA’s inception to disparage and discredit its merit. Who was it using it with such distaste? So, when it comes to things being DOA, shouldn’t those responsible for that death share some blame? Secondly, at a time when “all options have to be on the table” and “everything has to be considered”, why isn’t changing this conversation and climate so it can happen a part of he conversation? I’m not so starry eyed to think all will be acceptable but, if Sen. Mazzei can talk about not making tax cuts, surely some of these legislators can have the tough conversation with their constituents, and more importantly, their donors. 

It would also help if these ladies and gentlemen would take their jobs seriously...

I keep trying to bring this to a close but any sort of conclusion I begin just continues into another grinch about how the men and women that run our state couldn’t care less about your kids. So I’ll just finish with this. As a collective group, They. Don’t. Care. There is no logical way to come to any other conclusion. They keep saying “we have to make tough choices” well, the thing is, it’s their job to make those tough choices,nerve made all the ones we can. If they are too weak and fragile to live with decisions that help people that cannot help them, then in the immortal words of Ms. Delores Landingham, “Well, God Jed… I don’t even know if I want to know ya.” And if you don’t get that reference go watch The West Wing TV series NOW, or at least watch this scene.Watch the whole thing, watch the whole series (you’ll thank me later), but the line is 2:20-2:35.

Those millennials are are at it again...

There have been some articles floating around like this, this, and this. I don’t like giving them any more web space than they already have but, this isn't a lot of web space so it's okay. I’ll also just leave this here too. It provides a bit more background about one of the authors.

Articles that take the tone similar to the ones above are part of the reason I never tell my students to “act like adults” or "grownups". Mostly because I have witnessed (and been an example of) how “adults” and "grownups" act.

I don’t know where to start with any of these articles… It’s one thing to not like the younuns’ for their clothes and their phones and their music and all but this devolves into a derangement of some sorts. Never mind the confusion the “adults” seem to have with socialism and democratic-socialism. This might help, as well as this. There is a mania in the writing that is remarkably unbecoming of someone attempting to “right” “wrongs”. I remember hearing something about catching flies with honey but surely that doesn't apply here...

As a political science graduate and social studies teacher I’m supposed to know the difference between these and I work my tail of making sure my students understand the difference. It hurts when “smart people” cannot figure it out, or blatantly lie about it.

Let’s be clear, the Millennial generation does not embrace socialism. If we are screaming collectively for anything, it's fairness. For those to which the article is targeted (of which I am probably one) it is much more appropriate to say it is an embrace of principles that would potentially give us the opportunities previous generations had.

I’ll let the memes speak for themselves but, it’s clear we need to begin any discussion related to this with a bit more maturity. We also need to have an understanding of what we are talking about. And all sides need to seek first to understand… especially as teachers.