Give Teachers Respect They Deserve
In the Dec. 8 edition of this paper, two letters to the editor appeared in response to Sheldon Firem’s letter from the previous week, both objecting to Mr. Firem’s attack upon the local Tea Party’s involvement in Chardon School Board affairs.
These two letters follow a pattern I’ve noticed in other local news items. They speak forcefully about two participants in debates about education: the school board and district parents concerned about their children’s schooling. But they leave out an important third participant: our teachers. I sense their unhappiness with today’s educators, but I also sense their reluctance to express this unhappiness, as if such expression were akin to touching the proverbial third rail in U.S. politics.
One person who has been less reluctant to touch that rail is the Chardon School Board member Todd Albright. In his controversial YouTube video about the state of Chardon’s schools, Mr. Albright offers a sweeping generalization about books in the Chardon school system: “there appears to be a distinctly dark tone to literature in the school that promotes a fixation on dystopic futures and dystopic outcomes. . . .”
As an example of such literature, he refers to an unnamed middle-school teacher whose recommendation of a book on diversity upset a student who then reported the incident to Mr. Albright. The book in question — a work that Mr. Albright excoriated in his video — was the memoir “Not All Boys Are Blue,” by the black, gay writer George M. Johnson.
But he didn’t stop with that one teacher. In criticizing the “dystopic” literature of the schools, he implicitly blamed all those educators who bring that literature — that is, books about the often painful experience of diverse human beings — into school libraries and classrooms.
In his crusade to ban diversity from the curriculum, he has been willing not only to malign the reputation of a teacher on the slender, second-hand evidence of a single student’s testimony but also to dispute the authority of those educators responsible for assembling and teaching this curriculum.
Teachers deserve more respect. They have recently endured two harrowing years of instruction during a pandemic. Barely able to catch their breath, they have now been thrust into the howling storm of today’s culture wars — a storm not of their own making. Give these teachers a break. All they want to do is teach their students as best way they can.
As our nation becomes more diverse, they see a need to include the topic of ethnic, racial and gender diversity in the texts their students read. In a 2022 survey conducted by a Baldwin Wallace research team, 85% of Ohio parents felt that instructors should teach materials “relevant to the life experiences, cultures and languages of their students.”
Trust our teachers. By virtue of their care, training and experience, they are the experts, not the vocal minority that seeks to undermine their legitimacy. Give these educators the respect they deserve.
John McBratney
Munson Township
Let’s Work Together
In response to a letter to the editor on Dec. 1 regarding a group of people who signed the letter referring to a “flyer” from the Geauga County Tea Party, I would ask this group to review the bylaws of the Board of Education and the Geauga County Tea Party and see how similar they are to each other.
Board of Education oath, as indicated by their Policy Manual, Section 0000 Bylaws, Code poO142.1 Adopted Jan. 11, 2021: “Each member of the Board shall, before entering his/her duties of office, take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Ohio and to perform faithfully the duties of his/her office.”
Geauga County Tea Party section of their bylaws: “Article II – Statement of Purpose item 4. To uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and the Constitution of the State of Ohio, and respect for the Rule of Law.”
Instead of the “back and forth” I am seeing between groups regarding either a Chardon school board member or members, it would be better for all groups to consider each other’s perspectives and come together to form common alliances in support of healthy and appropriate policies for schools in the district.
It is important to respect all points of view in the public domain, since all groups exist for a purpose of common good.
Let’s focus on areas of agreement and work together to build bridges of support on those common themes. When discussing issues for school children and community, leave your politics at the door and instead come to problem solve on behalf of students’ education around areas of agreement.
Sharon L. Madger
Hambden Township
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
‘Twas the night before Christmas,
And throughout the U.S.,
Our borders were open,
Our country, a mess.
The Dems were all angry
Their power was gone,
With homeless and needles,
Scattered on the front lawn.
Then out in the White House,
There arose such a clatter,
I turned on the news
To see what was the matter.
Joe Biden woke up,
From a long weekend nap,
He held a press conference,
He looked like a sap.
“The economy’s great,
There is no inflation,
We’re one with Ukraine!”
Was his revelation.
“That Twitter’s a pain!
Elon Musk, we must stop!
He’s exposing my lies,
Using Hunter’s laptop!”
He fumbled and mumbled,
He stuttered and stared,
He knew not where we was,
And he began to look scared.
He forgot his last name,
He looked for wife Jill,
This guy is our President?
And he’s up on The Hill?
Ms. Pelosi looked down,
She was ready to cry,
Shook her head in disgust,
You mean THIS is our guy?
But Kamala was there,
She laughed as she thought,
“I may be a fool,
But this guy is lost”!
“I can’t find the UK
On a map, that is true,
But even I know how to
Cut up my own food”.
Poor Joey was lost
The conference was ended,
He shook hands with the air,
And down the stairs he descended.
He tripped and he stumbled
But got help from his staff
They were glad it was over
With only 8 tiny gaffes.
It was the start of December,
They thought with some glee,
“We won’t roll him out
Until 2023!”
Air Force One was fueled up,
The cargo was ready,
But Joe seemed confused
He didn’t seem steady.
“What’s wrong Mr. President?”
He asked of his Chief,
“Who is this new pilot?”
Joe said with some grief.
“I liked the one on TV
He was just on the news,
The best pilot in town,
His name is Tom Cruise.”
The staffer assured him
“Our pilot’s all right,
Please go back to sleep,
And to all a Good Night!”
Phil Paradise Jr.
Newbury Township
Luddites 2.0 Unite!
When did our own choices, thoughts, individual creativity and social commitments get kicked to the curb by self-appointed thought leaders, innovators and cultural influencers?
When they discovered the internet’s efficient manipulative power.
Thought leaders, innovators and cultural influencers manipulate our thoughts and lives with “old school” salesmanship clothed in digitized charm campaigns. They manage our minds with their lying and tweets and blogs, “Oh my!”
These internet interlopers are digitally monopolizing our perception of reality, virtually controlling our behavior with frustratingly forced choices.
Their propagandistic mission statements compels us to order, scroll and click.
We order; therefore, we feel. We scroll; therefore, we act. We click; therefore, we are.
Why are we merely streaming with our screens and not screaming at our screens?
Using and abusing the digital world, these internet interlopers have positioned themselves as gatekeepers, redefining sitting mesmerized before a screen as living, googling for answers as growing, and scrolling as socializing.
Who are these thought leaders, innovators and cultural influencers? The mutations follow.
Authoritarian leaders appreciate a good dictatorial state. If the citizen is comfortable with giving up various freedoms involving speech, religion, assembly, free elections and an independent press, the authoritarian leader will gleefully replace these freedoms with his/her narcissism, over-weaning lust for power, oppressive institutional bureaucracy, state-controlled press, and intrusive state police. Think Jair Bolsonaro or Viktor Orban. Think about our incubating American, authoritarian wannabees.
The internet is their strongman.
Political parties and their ultra-loyalists love to paint a good, fact-insecure tale. Spinning a fact insecure tale requires spinning the truth about needed infrastructure projects, political opponents, their views before the primaries, their views after the primaries and before the general election, which dark money they accepted, and which alleged personal scandal they vehemently deny. Think Republican loyalists denying the 2020 presidential election; think Democratic loyalists minimizing Hunter Biden’s tax and gun problems.
The internet is their spokesperson of soft-core spin, and LED lies.
Innovators selling innovation, and on-line grifters love a good digital snake oil. In the digital snake oil bottle, they pour a mixture of unverified claims, compensated spokespersons’ testimonies, promises of miraculous pain relief, hot tips when investing, unproven research, and “scientific” charts that not even a discredited televangelist would promote. Think Elizabeth Holmes’ disproven blood-chip reading technology.
The internet is their advance man.
Citizens who are true believers in their uncompromising religious/political brand and are non-believers in science and rational thought, idolize “alternative facts” and conspiracy theories. They loudly and vehemently proclaim their declarations regarding religion, science, politics, and the Constitution. They ardently believe that their alternative facts are blessed by our Founding Fathers and the Deity; consequently, they suspect that anyone not holding these same beliefs are unamerican and ungodly, therefore dangerous. Think Christian Nationalism’s assertion that the US Constitution is a Christian document.
The internet is their denial platform and potentially their Inquisition platform.
Corporations (“corporate citizens”) covet a good monopoly. Monopolies streamline competition and generously compensate investors and CEOs. A corporation’s multitude of ads, politician/lobbyist connections, support for relatively inexpensive community projects, and celebrity endorsements paint a faux customer, friendly brand. Think drug manufacturers, agribusiness, or baby formula manufacturers.
The internet is their 1960s Ad Man.
Unscrupulous thought leaders, innovators and cultural influencers are the digitally savvy and morally bankrupt authoritarian leaders, political party members, innovators, on-line grifters, ideologically intolerant citizens, and corporate monopolies who present their “pitch” on the internet as a soothing, addictive pablum to an already unquestioning public, transfixed by scintillating pixels and cocaine-like, computer-generated music.
They offer pewter for silver, zirconium for diamonds, and pyrite for gold.
Why do we allow them to lead us away from our independent beliefs into intellectual torpor, into existential stupor?
A contemporary definition of a Luddite is a person resistant and opposed to new technology, but now there is Luddite 2.0.
Luddites 2.0 Unite! Not to resist or oppose the internet, but to intervene and arrest the truth-insecure manipulations of the unscrupulous thought leaders, innovators and cultural influencers.
Sheldon Firem
Hambden Township
