Why Don’t You Just MAKE Them?

December 15, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 1 Comment

“Why don’t you just make them ______?”

The most adorable befuddlement comes over non-educators when the subject of student learning or behavior is brought up.

It’s completely understandable. Many of them have rose-damaged memories of their own school years – teachers wielding yardsticks, parents spanking and grounding, and a pervasive respect/terror of any and all authority figures. It’s a wonder we haven’t raised an entire generation of serial killers if even half these recollections are true.

Then again, it would explain a great deal about Trump’s rise to power. A wider tie and some day-old stubble and he’s everyone’s caricature of “terrifying-but-largely-incoherent principal.” Generally avoided at all cost, he was just what you needed when schoolyard bullies were about to pummel you. It restored order to your universe to see his furies periodically directed at your oppressors… however similar his tactics were to theirs in retrospect.

Nowadays, though, it seems educators and pedagogical trend-setters are more interested in wooing impressionable young squirrels to daintily learn-out-of-their-hands, instead of putting on their big-teacher panties and really educating those little turds – right up a tree if need be! My god, no wonder we have a nation of wimps – we used to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic; now we just share our feelings, learn about evolution and why everyone should be gay, then go back to talking about our feelings again.

Restorative justice, expanded support services, all manner of training over different learning styles and emotional needs – it must seem ridiculous compared to hazy constructs of our own past.

Whatever the reality of your own “dear old Golden Rule days,” brute force is not merely an ethically questionable classroom strategy in the 21st century – it simply doesn’t work. We can debate it on principle, but realistically… it’s just not realistic.

Consider the things you think you found motivating as a child. Were you afraid of what your parents would say if your grades dropped or you got in trouble at school? That’s certainly a factor for some students today, but not all of them. Not always even most of them. I’ll spare you the sob stories – they tend to be outliers anyway – but life is complicated enough that “wait until your parents find out” simply isn’t a Top Five Concern for many kids. Thus, it’s not a big motivator.

So bust their little butts at school, right? Detention? In-School Suspension? Trapped in a small room with a handful of other offenders, working in dead silence all day? It’s surprising how many students actually prefer this to a normal classroom environment. That’s bad, because we can’t possibly manage that sort of student-teacher ratio throughout the school, even if we wanted to reduce education to a few worksheets and copying down a page of school policies. Besides, kids don’t really learn that way – which is supposed to be the whole point of them being there.

Of course, if they don’t do their work or cooperate at least part of the time, they’ll FAIL! That will teach them! That 13-year-old in front of you had better be making wise, mature, long-term decisions about his future. When his attention starts to wonder or his frustrations boil over, he needs to think big picture! Otherwise he’ll have a rude awakening six years from now when he can’t get into college or trade school, and then… ha! We’ll have won!

Again, not so much the goal.

So we do our best to make lessons engaging, and to adjust them each year, each week, each hour based on the students in front of us. You rarely pull them all in at the same time in the same way – turns out kids are a diverse bunch, inconvenient though that may be. Still, most of them are pretty decent people if you take the time to get to know them. Most want to do well, at something, by some standard, although what that means varies as widely as everything else about them.

It helps if you like them, although I’m not sure it’s essential. It’s useful if they like you as well, although once again the correlation isn’t as strong as you’d think – kids can adore you all year long without it dramatically impacting their willingness to take the content seriously or complete a single assignment outside of class. Maybe not even during.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I’m positive there’s some sort of memory-erasing demagnetizer mounted in every classroom doorway which wipes each child clean of everything we’ve discussed and all they’ve sworn to do thereafter, then returns only the foggiest versions of those same memories when they re-enter 23 hours later.

Some of them are ridiculously energetic, and while we don’t want to dampen their zest for life, we desperately need them to calm down a bit so we can have class. Others barely stay conscious if left to their own devices for more than a few minutes, so we try to keep them moving and talking. Lectures get a bad rap, but a good one with enough visuals and some genuine interaction can cover tons of important information in a short amount of time – at least for the three-quarters of them who learn well that way.

Group work can mean just about anything. Results regularly range from ‘shameful disaster’ to ‘best-learning ever’ – and that’s during the same class period on the same day, involving groups a mere two or three feet apart. Reading is ideal for those who, um… can read. It’s less ideal for those who can’t. Most are somewhere in between.

So you keep trying things, trying to gauge what works the most often for the most kids. It’s an imperfect science.

If you want kids to cooperate, maybe even learn, you absolutely must know your content. On other days, though, far more important that you understand the kids – or at least be able roll with their ever-changing bizarro-worlds. You have to care about them, but not too much or it will render you useless. Well, that or kill you.

You should of course adhere to district requirements and state standards, except if you do that too often, you’ll neglect the most useful, meaningful parts about your job – the stuff that make it tolerable, even in Oklahoma. You must establish that you’re confident and in control of each class, while leaving students a sense of freedom as individuals that doesn’t give them reason to resist you or deteriorate into a power struggle – which you then must win.

It’s unceasingly weird, I assure you.

You teach the kids in front of you, not just that year but that day. You woo them, you cajole them, you scold them, and yes – sometimes you threaten them. With appropriate school-ish consequences, I mean. Never with, like, painful physical mutations or twisted psychological destruction or anything. Not usually. And certainly not that anyone can prove.

Because that would be wrong, probably.

There’s a pedagogy to it, and there are better and worse classroom management techniques. But none of them – none with any value, at least – are “just make them do what you say.” I wish it were so simple.

Actually, that’s not true.

I’m really, really glad that it’s not.

The People Have Spoken, #OklaEd

November 9, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal

Well, that didn’t go well.

I’m not even going to talk about the national elections, other than to note we sent back to the U.S. Congress – by wide margins – the exact sorts of people I’m regularly criticized for assuming the majority of Oklahomans support. So… I’ll let you work that out.

But the state elections. I just…

I really thought they’d go better.

Not well. I didn’t expect them to go well. I was no longer hoping for a dozen seats flipped from “entrenched radical ed-hater” to “teacher running for the first time.” I’d resigned myself to the idea that there might not be much to celebrate.

But I thought we’d get something.

I don’t wish to disparage the accomplishments of the handful of winning edu-slators yesterday. Several incumbents historically supportive of public education kept their seats – David Perryman (D) of HD56, John Montgomery (R) in HD62, Jadine Nollan (R) for HD66, Katie Henke (R) in HD71, and Cyndi Munson (D) of Lake Hefner.

New candidate Mickey Dollens (D) took HD93, no doubt through his genuine commitment to the district and his unmatched work ethic. (His opponent’s ability to personally alienate and horrify almost everyone in the district over the past decade probably didn’t hurt, either.) Forrest Bennett (D) won HD92 and Chris Kidd (R) SD31. So… that’s something.

But dozens of others went down in flames. Not even close in most cases. Even candidates like John Waldron and Lloyd Snow were defeated, while far too many other voices passionate for positive change were simply crushed.

SQ779, after polling well for months, was soundly defeated as well. There were good reasons to vote against it, but added to the rest of the night, it rubbed enough rock salt into the wounds of public education to keep our highways clear for another decade, were it ever to snow again – which of course it won’t, but-don’t-say-climate-change-because-Inhofe-once-had-a-snowball.

It sends a pretty strong message. One I think it’s time we embrace. This is a democracy, after all, and when the people issue this sort of mandate, it’s our civic and professional duty to respect it.

So… I quit.

Not the profession, necessarily. I mean, maybe – it depends on what else I can do at 50 years old. I’m reasonably intelligent and gregarious, though, and despite my shifting politics I’m still an angry old straight white guy – that gives me some leverage in Trump’s America, yes?

But it’s time for #OklaEd to get the message. You are not wanted here. The vast majority does not think you’re worth even what you make now, and they certainly don’t think most of your kids deserve any better. Strong percentages say “we could fix education if only these teachers weren’t in the way” or “those damned districts have been given too much without accountability.” And they believe it. To paraphrase their patron saint, “Public education is not the solution to the problem; public education is the problem.”

I know what many of you will say:

“We’ll just regroup and do even better for our kids!”

“It’s not just a job; it’s a calling!”

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint!”

Like Boxer, you are sure if you only work harder, eventually Animal Farm will prosper. Your convictions about how things should work and what most people must believe become your Napoleon, and no matter how desperately reality tries to get your attention, you remain darned and determined to build that windmill – the better to tilt at, my dear.

That’s noble, in a way, but like Boxer, you’re wrong. Not just “how sad for you” wrong, but “you’ve become part of the problem” wrong. You’re the wife buying her alcoholic husband beer then complaining about how he treats you. You’re the friend doing everyone else’s homework so they won’t get a bad grade, unwittingly condemning them in the long run by enabling their bad choices.

Denial is a powerful sedative – it allows us to tell ourselves all sorts of deluded stories. But it only perpetuates and strengthens the problems we’re trying to avoid.

Oklahoma doesn’t want you here. They don’t like you, and they openly despise many of your kids. If you stay, and keep doing what you’re doing, you’re supporting that – willingly or not. I’m sorry, but it’s true. Don’t get careless in your martyrdom – there are kids in other states who need good teachers. There are other meaningful ways to make a living.

It’s not just about a pay raise – I’d easily support a plan to fund public education and pay young teachers and provide for students that carried a provision denying veteran educators more than a little cost-of-living bump here or there. It’s about a decade of single-party rule with one theme: “You are the problem. If only we could get rid of greedy superintendents and lazy teachers and useless support positions, we could fix it all. But… you know those teachers’ unions and their entitlement mentality…”

We’re largely to blame. We’ve proven year after year that we don’t vote in meaningful numbers, or if we do, we vote our fears instead of our ideals. We jump and bark and pee on their legs every time they dangle “Pay raise! Pay raise! We’ve really got a plan for a Pay Raise! Come get it, boy! That’s a good constituency!”

It’s embarrassing.

The party in unmoderated power could have addressed this any damn time they wished over the past decade. And it’s already starting again. Sitting legislators who’ve just watched the state reject all things education by historic margins are setting up that football and asking us to take another run at it because this time they’re totally certain for REALSIES going to hook us up!

Dance, you pathetic monkeys – dance!

The 2017 Oklahoma State Legislature would be foolish to pass actual teacher raises. They’d be crazy not to ram through the voucher bills so long sought after by their out-of-state fiscal overlords, mandate consolidation across the board, and change all the state standards yet again just to prove they can. Elections have consequences. Legislators don’t do things to be nice; they do things because it gets them elected, and re-elected.

Supporting public ed is a losing issue in Oklahoma. Like, WAY losing. “And-your-little-dog-too” losing.

This past February, I wrote what many assumed was a hyperbolic call for all of #OklaEd to simply turn in their keys and go. I wasn’t being hyperbolic, and I’m feeling great internal pressure to stand by it today. If I had the power, I’d set Winter Break as the ideal time to get a real job – or a teaching gig elsewhere. Classroom teachers, para-professionals, administrators, bus drivers, lunch ladies, school secretaries – just sign the pink slip over to the victors and wish them well.

I don’t have that power, so do what you will. If you stay, however, spare us the noble platitudes. I’m all for sacrificing yourself when it serves a purpose, but the only thing you’re accomplishing here and now is to perpetuate the conviction of those in power that they’re on the right course and should keep it up. Anything that doesn’t work, you’ll cover for them whatever the cost to yourself, your family, and your kids.

And it’s wrong.

I realize I’ll be accused of being a “sore loser” – of taking my blog and going home. There’s probably some truth in that, but not enough to put the house up for sale (nice 3-bedroom, Union schools, glorious breakfast nook, if you’re interested). I think I’m being quite reasonable – Obama won’t be strapping himself to the desk in the Oval Office, desperately clutching his favorite pen, yelling that he’s staying “for the children!” He’ll politely pack up a few personal items, and call a cab.

I’ve been too vocal to back down at this point. It may take a few months, but I don’t see any way out of it without selling out everything for which I’ve fought – albeit unsuccessfully – over the past year. I’ll be reworking the website to focus more on general content and teacher issues, washing my hands of state politics once the moving van is loaded.

I appreciate those of you who worked so hard and did so much over the past few years trying to change things in Oklahoma. I’m sorry we accomplished so little to assist you. I wish you better.

I Read The News Today, Oh Boy… (6/5/16)

June 3, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal

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The 2016 Legislative Session is over, more or less – although we’ll be suffering from the fallout for at least another year.

If you’re aware enough of what’s going on statewide to be annoyed, but haven’t had the time or inclination to read up on every issue, here’s the Blue Cereal Guide to the Latest Oklahoma Clusterfoolery – State Budget Edition. You’re welcome.

The State Budget / Tax Polices

Because “throwing money at a problem doesn’t solve it,” our legislative leadership argues, eliminating all revenue and funding for constititutionally mandated functions MUST be the solution. Oklahoma Logic.

‘Behind Smoky Doors’: Last-minute bills breed public distrust – David Blatt, Oklahoma Policy Institute (6/2/16) – “In May, most of the rules go out the window. Brand-new bills can be introduced, amended, and approved with lightning speed, with little if any opportunity for the public – and most legislators – to understand what’s going on.”

This part of the budget deal may be the greatest threat to Oklahoma’s economy – Gene Perry, Oklahoma Policy Institute (6/2/16) – “The link between education levels and state prosperity is clear. That’s why it is especially troubling that the long-awaited budget proposal from the Oklahoma Legislature and Governor Fallin would decimate funding for higher education.”

Two Things: Not A Flat Budget; Please Vote – Rick Cobb, OKEducationTruths (5/31/16) – This… “budget” our legislature finally threw together at the last minute is a mess, and not even faking it very well.

Oklahoma Makes the Poor Poorer – The New York Times Editorial Board (5/28/16) – Our legislature this session was embarrassing and horrifying enough to grab attention in NEW YORK. Think about that for a moment.

With colleges and universities taking harshest budget cuts, leaders worry about future of higher ed – Kathryn McNutt, The Oklahoman (5/29/16) – Why? Because these schools have been reckless and irresponsible enough to bank some of their resources. Fiscal responsibility is UNFORGIVABLE to the Oklahoma Legislature of 2016.

Where next year’s shortfall starts: Budget counts on $600-$750 million in one-time revenues – David Blatt, Oklahoma Policy Institute (5/27/16) – “Ultimately, the Legislature failed to make those hard choices and instead slapped a bunch of band-aids onto gaping wounds.”

New details: State budget agreement slashes funds for school activities and textbooks – Andrea Eger, The Tulsa World (5/27/16) – And before you ask, yes you can teach w/o textbooks. But that means you need other resources or tech instead – the sorts of things schools usually buy with – wait for it – “textbook money”.

Republicans Willing to Let Oklahoma Burn – Arnold Hamilton, The Journal Record (4/28/16) – The entrenched right wing is willing to take a few lumps if it means clinging to their faith in destroying all public sector spending for their fiscal overlords. It’s almost a religion for them.

Ten Things: OCPA Math – OKEducationTruths (4/19/16) – If you simply make up stuff and choose numbers that sound like they fit, things are actually going pretty well…

The Best Resources For Understanding Why Money Matters To Oklahoma Public Schools – Oklahoma Education Journal (4/20/16) – A links page specific to an important topic, with just enough info to help you find what you need? What a great idea!

The Facts About Oklahoma Education – Oklahoma Education Coalition

Just Teach the Curriculum (Leave That Other Stuff At Home) – Blue Cereal Education (4/16/16) – My take on all this ‘wasteful spending’ on ‘non-teaching positions’ schools are doing, according to those needing a few more distractions.

Oklahoma’s Revenue Options for the Budget Emergency – Oklahoma Policy Institute (4/11/16) – Here’s a crazy place to start: PUT DOWN THE SHOVEL.

Aides, supporting positions proliferate at Oklahoma public schools – Ben Felder, The Oklahoman (4/10/16) – WHY do schools keep hiring people who don’t actually TEACH?! It turns out there are some pretty good reasons…

Why tax increases would be less harmful to Oklahoma’s economy than budget cuts – Gene Perry, Oklahoma Policy Institute (3/7/16)

Oklahoma’s Real Gamblers – Rob Miller, A View From The Edge (3/2/16) – Hint: they’re the ones playing games with YOUR money…

The tax shift rears its head – Gene Perry, Oklahoma Policy Institute (2/16/16) – When tax cuts for the rich don’t work, cut taxes for the rich MORE and go after the poor. What could possibly go wrong?

10th Amendment & #OklaEd – David Burton, Idealistically Realistic (2/11/16) – With States’ Rights comes States’ Responsibilities… this is one of my favorite posts EVER on the subject of state government and public education

Oklahoma state agencies give raises despite executive order – Randy Ellis, The Oklahoman (2/7/16) – This was the trigger for a complete and meltdown on my part. But I was right.

This chart shows why Oklahoma schools are broke… – Lucas, The Lost Ogle (1/26/16) – It’s sad when the humor sites make so much more sense than the ‘experts’ and those in power.

Teacher Pay / Teacher Retention

One way to deal with a shortage of teachers is to crash and burn the budget so we can’t afford more than one adult for every hundred or so kids – not MY favorite solution, but it’s something.

I’m bewildered that the state had to form a 60-member commission to study this issue for a year in order to come up with a few common sense measures (make it easier to move your certification here from other states) and some truly inane ideas (how about some ‘How Great It Is To Teach!’ flyers w/ pictures of happy educators on them?) That’s nothing compared to the ridiculous slew of promises from the Governor and any number of legislators this session that TEACHERS were all getting this GINORMOUS raises because they just LOVE us SO MUCH! It’s prettty hard to insult Oklahoma teachers more than the state leadership normally does, but that pretty much did the trick.

NO EDUCATOR ANYWHERE IN THE STATE believed for three seconds that any of this was even remotely plausible. Now, it’s always difficult to tell when our elected leaders are being cynical to the point of viciousness and when they’re simply so delusional that they probably shouldn’t be left home alone – at least not without removing all sharp objects and turning off the gas. But I for one grew weary of that particular brand of salt being constantly rubbed into our other wounds.

State Could Fall to Bottom in Average Teacher Salaries – Jennifer Palmer, Oklahoma Watch (5/27/16) – “Boren and other supporters acknowledge that a higher sales tax is not the preferred solution to education funding, but say they have no other choice because state lawmakers refuse to address an education crisis that could harm the state for generations.”

Cuts to education spending hurt more than just our children (Guest post: Christiaan Mitchell) – Christiaan Mitchell, Oklahoma Policy Institute (4/21/16)

Teacher pay raise proposals probably going nowhere this session – David Blatt, Oklahoma Policy Institute (2/18/16) – Which is probably better than “we’re cutting your insurance and charging you for rolling chairs but on paper we’ll be able to claim you make more.”

A Plan to Plan to Plan – Rick Cobb, OKEducationTruths (1/25/16) – A $10,000 raise for teachers without any new taxes? That’s… that’s… not how numbers work.

Teacher recruitment legislation not enough to fix Oklahoma’s teacher shortage (Guest Post: Jennifer Job) – Jennifer Job, Oklahoma Policy Institute (12/17/15)

Oklahoma’s teacher shortage is not just about salaries (Guest Post: John Lepine) – John Lepine, Oklahoma Policy Institute (12/14/15)

I know it’s a lot to process, and you don’t have to read it all at once, but this is YOUR money, YOUR state, and YOUR kids’ future – short and long-term. Have a friend do the same, then talk about it and see if you’re coming up with the same interpretations. Heck, get a little circle together and divide them up – an adult version of the ‘jigsaw’ strategy every teacher knows in some form or another.

GET INVOLVED. GET THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU INVOLVED. VOTE LIKE IT MATTERS.

Because, you know… it does and all.

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I Read The News Today, Oh Boy… (5/15/16)

May 14, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal

Sometimes your mind and your emotions reach a point that they click ‘off’ as a sort of survival mechanism. That’s what happened to me this week as I sat at Mom’s Family Diner (41st & Mingo. Oh My-Baby-Elvis-in-a-Manger IS IT GLORIOUS!) catching up on the week’s news.

Clearly I should have been drinking something stronger than coffee. Then again, it was 6:30 in the morning.

A film about Oklahoma oil giant and later governor E.W. Marland is coming out this week. An earlier version was scrapped after the Marland Estate discovered the filmmakers had juiced up the plot a bit.

For those who don’t know, Marland had made and lost a fortune before coming to Oklahoma in the 1920s. He negotiated unheard of concessions from local tribes in order to drill, controlled 10% of the world’s oil supply for a time, built a mansion on the Oklahoma praries, brought fox-hunting and other upper-crust vanities to the plains, instituted health coverage and other worker benefits decades before anyone DID that, and then fell prey to a hostile takeover by J.P. Morgan and his financial machine, losing everything. He later came back as the Governor who brought the New Deal to Oklahoma.

Not intriguing enough? I left out that he and his first wife adopted the son and daughter of her sister. After his wife died, Marland had the adoption of his daughter, Lydie, annulled so that he could MARRY her. It was quite the scandal. Not Kardashian enough for Hollywood, though. *sheesh*

The new one is apparently much more on target, for those of you hung up on facts and reality. Unlike, for instance…

Our State Legislature, which is having trouble coming up with a solution to having so much of the weird crap they pass declared unconstitutional.

No, no… they’re not going to start writing constitutionally viable legislation – don’t be stupid. They’re trying to change the process so that the current bi-partisan Judicial Nominating Committee has only a symbolic role, and the legislature itself gets to pretty much pick appellate judges across the state.

Which would be, arguably, unconstitutional. Our state constitution has this whacky idea about three branches of government, balancing one another in some convoluted way. It wouldn’t matter, though, because – well, you get the idea.

I realize the courts and all those civil liberties are a nuisance. How are we supposed to get anything done if we have to remain consistent with our founding values? Speaking of which…

Sally Kern gave her farewell speech this week. She’s term-limited, along with dozens of other current legislators. I don’t know if they all make dramatic exits, or just the most loathsome of them.

Kern wanted to make sure to emphasize one last time that gays are worse than terrorist. That the ‘gay agenda’ (also known as ‘The Bill of Rights’) has destroyed more lives than, say, Timothy McVeigh.

There are 19 undersized chairs not far from where she gave this speech representing families who might disagree.

She trotted out the usual “public schools spend all day every day trying to turn your kids into trannies” argument. No wonder they resent funding us.

I particularly liked this bit:

“The problem is we’re trying to change the definition of what sin is, when God is not changing the definition.”

That, in a nutshell, is the mindset of far too many of our elected leaders. But it’s not their job to define sin and write it into or out of law. There is no scenario in which a governmental body in the United States has any business claiming to act on God’s behalf; our legislature does it with such regularity that it hardly even registers.

I’m telling you, religious folks – it’s not doing your faith any favors to sign it over to a bunch of small-town rodeo clowns. Surely the Lord made some sort of provision for you to find your eternal way besides the legislative brilliance of Josh Brecheen or John Bennett?

While Kern & Co. are condeming the gay community in the name of the public good, one prominent lesbian was instead doing public good. Ellen DeGeneres checked in with her favorite librarian this week – Kirby Mackenzie at Union’s McAuliffe Elementary – to learn more about the slashing and burning of public ed in Oklahoma.

Yes, once again we’re making national news for something horrifying.

Ellen gave McAuliffe $25,000 to help keep their summer reading program going. Of course we know what’s really behind this – liberals and their *shiver* books. Books are worse than terrorism.

You know the rest of the news.

We’re cutting teachers. We’re cutting activities. We’re cutting support positions. We’re destroying what was a struggling educational system to begin with, all so we can maintain the cascading series of cuts for the wealthiest across the state – cuts which are still deepening as the pillaging and burning increase.

In case you haven’t noticed, the prosperity hasn’t yet “trickled down.”

Don’t worry, however, that our state legislators are feeling the slightest burden or concern over the destruction they’ve wrought – because American Ninja Warrior is coming to the Capitol!

Thank God Oklahoma is currently so prosperous and problem-free that our legislature – with very few days left in the handful they’re actually expected to work – has time for this. I’d hate for there to be any, like… issues distracting them right now.

And yes, I am hostile about it – thank you for asking.

From The Oklahoman:

The show got a free permit to use the public grounds outside the Capitol. A state tax credit will help defray some of the production costs. There are about 200 people involved in the shoot.

We’re paying them to come here and shut down the Capitol for a week to use as a playground. What a comfort to all of those kids who can no longer take art, band, or athletics – at least SOMEONE still gets activities and playtime at taxpayer expense. They’re just much older.

“This brings a lot of people and a lot of investment into Oklahoma City and that’s good in itself, but I think the real value is the exposure this continues to give our city around the country,” Holt said.

I’m trying to think of a nice way to put this. A professional way. A family-friendly way. One that doesn’t start with a ‘B’ and end with an ‘ullsh*t’.

Public education is an “investment.” Infrastructure is an “investment.” Time spent actually dealing with the issues you were elected to deal with is an “investment.”

This is a state-financed circus for legislators who’ve destroyed the economy and refuse to take the least bit of responsibility, instead shifting the fallout onto children, the elderly, and the poor, in order to maintain their groveling obeisance to their fiscal overlords. “Investment?”

I got into a bit of a Twitter argument with Senator Holt over this. He was a bit condescending, but not everyone sees me as the lovable, provocative, voice-of-the-people type I really am.

He insists a few shots of the Capitol in the background will make people want to vacation here and stuff. He then told me if I’d read the papers I’d see that our legislature is working plenty hard to revive the economy without doing so almost entirely at the expense of the weakest members of society.

He and I must read different papers.

“There’s no down side to the show being here,” said Sue Hollenbeck, director of sports business for the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s a family friendly, positive show. It’s about good quality competition. It’s about fitness.”
She said it even feels a little “Land Run-ish.”
“You’re running as fast as you can to get what you can.”

Did we seriously just compare this Ninja Warrior TV show to the Land Runs? I mean… I suppose there are a few similarities.

The Land Runs were promoted as events of amazing opportunity, when in reality they primarily served those already in power. Much of the best land was pre-claimed by surveyors, soldiers, and other government employees who used their connections and power to beat the system. We don’t celebrate that part as much, other than adding ‘Sooner’ to ‘Boomer’ in that song, but 3 out of 4 people who ran went away empty-handed, often thwarted by those who’d never broken a sweat. They didn’t need to – they were already hooked up by the folks making the rules.

As The Lost Ogle documented, our Congress is similarly giddy over the chance to use even more of your tax dollars getting private tours of the set and meeting sweaty people in tights. If there are a few leftovers, they’ll allow a few members of the public to somehow benefit from this spectacle.

Like the show, the Land Runs celebrated the fastest and the strongest – but especially those willing to step over anyone between them and what they wanted. They were in some ways the ultimate homage to the Social Darwinism of the times – to hell with the community, I’m getting MINE.

That’s fine for a game show, or a sporting event, or whatever this is. I wish it weren’t such a celebrated norm for the folks supposedly representing the rest of our state.

#OklaEd Call to Action (It’s Time)

May 3, 2016June 4, 2023 ~ Blue Cereal ~ 2 Comments

You may remember several months ago when word was first spreading about the crashing and burning of Oklahoma’s budget and what it was going to do to public education.

Our elected leadership cried crocodile tears while flinging the usual rhetoric about how much they love children and teachers and so forth. A number – including Governor Fallin – promised teacher pay raises ranging from “delusionally optimistic” to “OK, now you’re just making fun of us.”

They repeatedly assured us that they were powerless to change the legislation continuing to eliminate state revenue, powerless to change the policies which led to the problem to begin with, powerless to do anything about oil and gas prices or the economy in general, and powerless to stop beating up on educators and 8-year-olds for a single session out of basic human sympathy for our plight.

I’ve never seen so many elected leaders run on “We can’t do anything about ANYTHING! We promise!”

It was around mid-January when Mindy Dennison of This Teacher Sings first posted about the $30 her family was likely to save this coming year, thanks to these tax cuts about which no one can do anything ever. The idea quickly spread, and soon there were dozens of edu-blogs and even reports in regular media about #GiveItBackOK.

Some of you have already done much, and I thank you. Others have had good intentions for quite some time, and… well, those are nice, too.

But I need you to step up now. Again. Or finally. Or more than before. Or something.

Statewide Primaries are on Tuesday, June 28th. You have until June 3rd to get registered to vote if you’re not already and wish to participate in these.

And you DO.

This is when we begin the process of choosing who’ll be setting state edu-policy for the next 2 – 4 years. As in national elections, this is when you help choose your party’s nominee for each office serving the district in which you live. Sometimes there will be multiple candidates from the same party running for an office; sometimes not.

I’ve profiled several candidates and compiled links to further information for many others. My list is not exhaustive, but it’s getting there.

Claudia Swisher of Fourth Generation Teacher is doing something similar, and Angela Little – the force of nature behind Oklahoma Parents and Educators for Public Education on Facebook – has her own version as well. We’re not competing with one another so much as simply approaching some of the elements from different angles.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Because these candidates need your help. Thank you for following them on social media. Thank you for sharing their posts. Those things help, and they matter a great deal.

But they need you in more traditional, less air-conditioned ways as well.

Sitting legislators inevitably have financial support from any number of organizations. If a legislator supports gun rights, then gun rights groups donate to their campaign. If they promote gender equity, groups concerned with such things donate to their campaign.

Most new candidates have very little of this sort of support. A few are crazy well-organized and have expert strategy-teams and committed resources and god bless every one of them. We’ve started a PAC in hopes of supporting some of the most promising, but at best this will mean limited financial help for a handful – those who seem most likely to be worth the extra push. That’s not personal – it’s just reality and politics, two things not known for being pretty and soft.

But most are running on faith and friends and word-of-mouth. They’re trying to get by the same way they did (and many of us do) in the classroom every year – you just pull together what you have and go for it, trusting heart and pluck to make up the difference.

We have a chance to make legitimate change this year. Good change. Potentially great change. But can I be blunt for just a moment?

We also have a chance to fail on a scale we’ve not collectively failed before.

You’re aware of the buzz over so many edu-candidates running this year. Now, imagine the total electoral impact is maybe… two seats. Or three. Imagine none of the really critical districts being won. Imagine none of the most frustrating incumbents being shown the door.

What do you think happens come February 2017 for public education? Forgive and forget? Nice try? You were so cute running, we’re gonna completely reverse the way we’ve abused you over the past decade just to show what good sports we are?

Unlikely.

So I’m asking you – every classroom teacher, every administrator, every support position, every parent, every adult who for whatever reason keeps reading these posts, to stop right now and figure out who you can support with your tax break this year.

If you’ve already given THAT money, then pretend you haven’t and give it again.

I know that sounds harsh, but this is kind of a big deal.

If you have a GREAT current Representative or Senator who already supports public education consistently, and who’s facing a difficult primary, please call them and let them know of your support, and why, and give to their campaign. Ask if they need someone on the phones, or going door to door. No better press than a satisfied customer.

As to those new folks running across the state, many of whom don’t have experience asking for money and some of whom sound a bit uncomfortable when it even comes up, let me say what they might not:

THEY NEED YOUR MONEY AND THEY NEED IT NOW IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE ANY REAL CHANCE AT MAKING THIS HAPPEN.

Those signs cost money. You wouldn’t think they’d be all that critical in this sort of election, but they are. Those websites cost money. That might not be how you get YOUR information, but many people do. Those local newspaper ads, those posters, those door-to-door flyers, they all cost money.

None of those things guarantee people will vote for you, but if you DON’T buy the media, people won’t even know your name. If they don’t know your name, they DEFINITELY won’t vote for you.

You don’t even have to live in their district. If right-wing think tanks in Virginia can crank out the cash, no one can begrudge you sending that $50 to the guy two districts over.

THEY NEED YOUR TIME AND THEY NEED IT NOW IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE ANY REAL CHANCE AT MAKING THIS HAPPEN.

Fill out those contact forms on their websites or reach out to them by phone, Twitter, or Facebook, and ask what you can do. Don’t go it alone – call up the 3 least-annoying people you work with and tell them that you’re going to have some bonding time while building warm-fuzzy-make-a-difference mojo together.

Walk those neighborhoods. Make those calls. Run those unending stupid errands no one else will run, but which have to be done. Figure out who can donate snacks or chairs or funny hats or printing. Explain for the thousandth time why vouchers don’t help public schools, or why punishing teachers for their kids’ socio-economic status isn’t the same as ‘high standards’.

Politely, of course.

I believe, my Eleven Faithful Followers. I believe this can happen. Those of you who know me in real life know that I don’t DO vague, hopeful platitudes. I barely do optimism at all. But I KNOW this can happen.

IF you step up NOW.

I’m broke, too. I’m busy, too. I’m frustrated, too. I have good intentions, too. None of that matters right now. Get out your bank cards and look over your calendar. Talk to your department, your neighbors, your family, and make this a group activity.

It’s time to put your time and money where your proverbial mouth is. It’s time to burn those last few fumes of energy backing up what you share on Facebook.

#GiveItBackOK. #GiveItAllOK. Otherwise, #GiveItUpOK.

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