mguhlin

Destroying Schools @timstahmer

When I read Tim Stahmer’s (Assorted Stuff) tweet about some wannabe fascist governor in Florida, I have to admit that I had a visceral reaction. That is, I got angry. Then, I started to ask myself, “Why are you angry?” I’d like to say the outrage came from my profound disappointment with how teachers are treated in America. 

I realized that my anger came from my response to my own reaction…the fact that I got angry at what I felt and what I think educators should do in response to Governor DeSantis and the Republicans in America are doing. And, that doing so plays into their long-term plan. Let’s unpack this. Maybe I’m wrong.

Image Source: Christian Nationalism: A Clear and Present Danger, Secular.org

“[Christian Nationalism] is the antithesis of the secular and pluralistic government envisioned by the Founding Fathers and embodied in the First Amendment.”
– Scott MacConomy, Director of Policy and Government Affairs
Secular Coalition for America, Christian Nationalism: A Clear and Present Danger
 

Watch this episode of IndoctriNATION 

Tim Stahmer’s Tweet

Tim, long disappointed in public schools and the commentary shared by pundits, points out the following:

We certainly wouldn’t want highly trained and qualified people doing anything as mundane as teaching children. Especially in Florida. :-/

He’s responding to The Hill’s tweet featuring Gov. Ron DeSantis’ video clip. Instead of treating teachers right, the Governor is offering a 5-year temporary certification for veterans. He holds up veterans as preferable to teachers, who have been indoctrinated by teacher union bosses advocating for teaching credentials that have little effect in the classroom. He believes that veterans would do a much better job, from Devil Dogs to Salty Dogs, etc. ad nauseum. 

Maybe, he read that at the Troops to Teachers website:

See the complete flyer clipped above

Two of my favorite teachers in K-12? Mr. Jewell, a retired Air Force officer, who taught 7-8th grade math while I attended Holy Spirit Catholic School in San Antonio, Texas. The second, Col. Reck (Retired) who taught me Physical Science in high school. What great teachers, their life experiences adding a bit of engagement to the subjects they taught. Col. Reck did pop quizzes every period, and introduced me to the idea of Retrieval Practice (although I didn’t know the term until MUCH later). He had a fun schtick, using a Mr. Fantastik cleaning bottle. I’m not sure how he made some cleaner the key of his teaching engagement, but he did.

So, while I support our Armed Forces, I find the Florida Governor’s proposal problematic.

In fact, while some of my favorite teachers have been veterans of the Armed Forces, all of them earned their teaching credentials. The teaching credentials DeSantis dismisses are as essential as BASIC training for raw recruits. We would no more send our young troops into battle without BASIC training than we would drop a person in a classroom and except them to teach.

This may be the kind of debate Ron wants…to pit veterans of recent wars and conflicts, veterans who have been abandoned by Republican legislators and, to differing degrees, other parties, against teachers who wake up every morning with an ardent desire to educate children.

“Taxpayer-funded, public schools have a constitutional obligation to teach an evidence and science-based curriculum that is religiously neutral and inclusive of all students. Public schools must teach science, not religion, in science classes. Whether it is in social, human or formal science, there is no place for religious science in a public classroom.

Every student deserves a fair and sound curriculum and laws banning teaching evolution are unconstitutional such as “Balanced Treatment” laws that require teachers to give “creation science” or “Intelligent Design” equal classroom time to evolution are equally unconstitutional.

If government-funded schools teach creationism, the government appears to endorse Bible-based religion, trampling on the principles of separation of religion and government.” (source)

Christian Nationalism

The reason why? DeSantis and his ilk want schools to be breeding grounds for Christian Nationalism, a heretical take on Christianity that raises up a white supremacist, gun-totin’, Bible-thumping, fanatical Jesus who never existed in history. Worse, the values of Christian Nationalism run counter to those of a Jesus who consorted with Mary Magdelene (a prostitute) and the undesirables of society.

Source:Patheos, Gunslinger Christianity?

In an offensive short video clip, Ron DeSantis has put teachers into the pot of undesirables. What will children of color, the oppressed, do when they encounter a culture and worldview that is so intolerant and bigoted? It’s obvious.

The Problem with the Proposal

As an educator with experience in various phases of teaching, learning, and leading, I do have reservations about dumping inexperienced, uncertified people into the classroom, no matter what their pedigree or experience. I have no doubt they will do their best, but given the state of educator preparation in the United States, I’m not confident of their success. Oh, sure, confident that a warm body can tell engaging stories that will enthrall students, yes. Confident that they will be able to leverage evidence-based instructional strategies to enhance teaching and learning? Less so.

Senate Bill 797, as passed by the 87th Legislative Session, requires a public elementary or secondary school or an institution of higher education to display in a conspicuous place a framed copy or durable poster of the national motto, “In God We Trust,” under certain circumstances…. (Source: CyFair ISD as cited by KHOU-11)

In God We Trust

The problem isn’t that a person with life experience will lack the skills to do the job of working with children. Rather, that this approach is a trojan horse to do something a bit more dangerous to American democracy. Read how this biased news person put it:

So let’s start with a fundamental truth: On its face, a teacher’s having served in the military isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But what makes the plan especially grim is that DeSantis likely sees the policy as part of his effort to inject nationalistic propaganda into Florida’s schools.

To make that read in a more blunt manner: 

What makes this proposal bad, or grim, is it is a policy to push Christian Nationalism into schools.

Compare that to the effort in Texas schools to make “In God We Trust” mandatory due to new legislation. That’s right, let’s erode the Establishment Clause (and Free Exercise Clause) in the First Amendment. 

Religious school has a low effect size per John Hattie’s Visible Learning MetaX database by Corwin. Religious schools enjoy an effect size of 0.24. This type of proselytizing is problematic. You can’t make public schools into private religious indoctrination schools. 

As a private school attendee (K-12), I wish I had gone to a school that taught the truth, not fantastic lies. I’m sure I could have handled it. All the history textbooks I read covered up America’s baked in enslavement and profiting from million or more folks. The books covered up the Spanish Requerimiento that was read to the Indigenous Peoples right before they were slaughtered for failing to agree.

This is the cover up of enslavement that governors in Republican states want…that and oppression of anyone who doesn’t believe as they do, or reject science that doesn’t serve their purposes.

My Reaction

So, as I said at the start, my anger was less at the Governor. After all, Texas and other states have politicians who lie, pretend to care, but only act when it benefits their re-election campaigns. You may respect (I don’t) their single-minded devotion to falsehoods, their hand in the pockets of taxpayer wallets approach. 

No, my reaction isn’t to bemoan Governor Ron DeSantis’ or Gov. Abbott’s race to the bottom of the outhouse. It is that MY reaction as an educator is to say to all my fellow teachers in Florida, and elsewhere:

“It’s time to abandon classrooms, leave the children high and dry, no matter how hard it is. Politicians have long whipsawed teachers this way and that for their own gain, to their own aggrandizement. Now, let them have public and private schools. Walk away, run away, get away from education. If that’s what they want, a bunch of ignorant children indoctrinated in lies and falsehoods, intolerant of their fellows (e.g., LGBTQ+, POCs), then let them have it.”

You can see why I’m upset at my reaction. It’s wrong. It abandons the field of battle. But teachers are United States citizens. More than anyone else, they are entrusted, not only for passing on the values of America, but educating children in critical thinking, logic, and content. 

When children, when humanity is abandoned:

Children in cages in Texas, BBC

And since voting them out isn’t sufficient, especially in states that have been gerrymandered (like Texas), more action is required. Teachers, myself included, have long been people who did not seek confrontation. Our goal was to focus on educating children. It’s what we have trained for, what we’ve worked hard for.

But that doesn’t matter to those who are narrow-minded, spouting falsehoods, and heresy (per the Bible they say they adhere to). You could say these are the spirit of the Antichrist running rampant, and governors like DeSantis, a false tongue wagging in the wind. 
That’s my opinion, of course, and I may be wrong.

Christian nationalists insist that the United States was established as an explicitly Christian nation, and they believe that this close relationship between Christianity and the state needs to be protected—and in many respects restored—in order for the U.S. to fulfill its God-given destiny. 

Recent scholarship underscores the extent to which these efforts to secure a privileged position for Christianity in the public square often coincide with efforts to preserve the historical status quo on issues of race, gender, and sexuality. 

And the practical ramifications of such views involve everything from support for laws that codify specific interpretations of Christian morality, to the defense of religious displays on public property, to nativist reactions to non-white, non-Christian immigrants.(Source: Christian Nationalism Explained, Rutgers)

 What Should Our Reaction as Educators Be?

Some would say, “We shouldn’t speak on this. Teachers should keep their mouths shut.” But what does that do except protect your employment? Shouldn’t Americans be able to push back against false beliefs that go against the Constitution? 

As I consider this question, I honestly have to admit I don’t know. In a fight of values, the win usually goes to those committed to the most brutal acts. In the war of the Indigenous Peoples vs Columbus and his European cronies in barbarism, it’s clear who won. For the millions of enslaved people dragged to America in the holds of ships, dying and in misery, it’s clear the White enslavers won.

When nationalists go about constructing their nation, they have to define who is, and who is not, part of the nation. But there are always dissidents and minorities who do not or cannot conform to the nationalists’ preferred cultural template. In the absence of moral authority, nationalists can only establish themselves by force. 

Scholars are almost unanimous that nationalist governments tend to become authoritarian and oppressive in practice…in past generations, to the extent that the United States had a quasi-established official religion of Protestantism, it did not respect true religious freedom. Worse, the United States and many individual states used Christianity as a prop to support slavery and segregation. (Source: Christianity Today)

We are in an America that has baked-in misery and prejudice. When you read the actual histories of these United States, you realize how bad things were, and how bad they continue to be for those who lack privilege. What we should strive for is to grant all the privileges that benefit Americans. All Americans should have those, not only those who believe in one God in a certain way. Religious and cultural pluralism must be the primary option. Otherwise, the alternative for the intolerant is jihad against others. The words “American jihad” should be an oxymoron, never to be found in the same sentence.

For those who are the Others (e.g., LGBTQ+, People of Color), sticking your head in the sand is not an option. Remaining silent is NOT an option.
This time, as compared to the last few times of conquest, the peoples oppressed are not ignorant. The oppressed have access to the latest communication tools. They can ban together to pool their money and power. And that is why those who would enslave a new generation are seeking to destroy educators, to devalue their contributions. 

Of course, we can’t let that happen. When a bully picks a fight, you don’t just bloody his nose. You win the fight so decisively you dissuade him from being a bully. You ensure that his or her family knows that bullying isn’t allowed or permitted and that there are long-term consequences.

Is that the “civilized” way? Is that the way Christians behave? Yes, unfortunately, it is. History has shown us how people like DeSantis and his supporters anywhere must be treated.
Make true the words of our Declaration of Independence for every person in the United States. If we can’t do that, there will be no multiracial America, only a Christian Nationalist nation, united under Hate for the Other, the word “God” nothing more than a false story, revised from the original, to reflect the values of a hateful people. 
And, that shouldn’t be the legacy of Abraham, David, Solomon, Uzziah and all those others who said, “Thy will be done” no matter the cost.

Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

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