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Helen’s Place LLC Update: April 1, 2023
Society feels doomed when the end justifies the means and lying is normalized to the point that people believe anything they want to believe.
Remember the innocent saying – “sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me?” Today, in the disinformation age, name calling can lead to brutal attacks, and speaking the truth is at your peril.
Words thrown around like “woke” have become the new “N” word.
Prejudice against anything “woke” is understood to means it’s ok to go on attack verbally, and sometimes physically. Gun violence in schools is on the rise. Politicians are attacking public schools for political gains.
Actions by the Bullies:
The culture war of words and actions frequently involve bullying, intimidation, lying, and confusion.
Take for example the case of a Florida substitute teacher interviewed by Ari Melber on Feb. 06, 2023. The teacher was fired for reporting empty bookshelves in the Florida school where he worked, due to book banning efforts in Florida to stop “woke” culture orchestrated by Governor Ron DeSantis.
The substitute teacher was accused of lying, when in fact book banning is happening all around Florida and is well documented.
Quiet Quitting by Teachers and School Librarians:
Unfortunately, teachers and librarians are on the front line of the disinformation wars, in the same way that healthcare workers were on the front line fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
It’s not lost on anyone, that educators and librarians frequently get no respect and are often falsely accused.
Not all teachers or librarians have the will or resources to keep fighting, and some are making the agonizing decision to quit.
Just like in the film “Women Talking,” the choices are: you can stand and fight; stay and do nothing; or leave.
As one Bentonville, AR educator put it, “The money teachers are paid isn’t worth what they have to put up with. Some teacher’s might be able to handle one behavior problem in their classroom, but not a whole roomful, and certainly not a governor!”
The culture wars are leading to teachers and librarians quitting in droves, because of increasing students and parents acting out, lack of administration support for what they have to put up with, and wages that don’t compensated for the stress or their workloads.
They are joining groups of healthcare workers and election workers who are sick of how badly people are behaving in America. Many just bide their time, keep quiet and quit when the school year is over or as soon as possible, because if they speak out they will be fired.
Support:
Many groups are standing up for teachers, librarians and students, including teachers unions, and various teacher associations, and supportive parents and educators.
For the teachers and librarians choosing to remain in their professions, the most important thing they can do is to seek out support and try not to tough it out alone.
This is the opinion of a retired teacher, relaying the story of how she bonded with five other teachers in a right-wing school to make it through together, until they retired. “Today, our society is so much worse – I can only imagine what teachers are going through,” she said.
In the end it will be up to the voters to elect politicians that want to improve public education and the conditions for teachers, librarians, and students.
Related audio/video recording:
Article and video discuss what public schools are up against in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, as right-wing politicians work to destroy public education across America. This is about efforts to save public education through voting in the Chicago Mayors race on April 4, 2023:
People’s World, March 31, 2023, “Chicago Teacher’s Union Slams Vallas’s Path of Destruction”
Other related article you may be interested in:
Article explores how teacher’s must band together for support:
Greater Good Magazine, Amy L. Evan, November 14, 2022, “Why Teachers Need Each Other Right Now”
Article explores the definitions of woke:
Helen’s Place LLC, February 28, 2023, “In the Age of Name Calling – What Does W.O.K.E. Mean Anyway?
Helen’s Place LLC is an information and educational materials company celebrating English Language Arts, Cognitive Science and the love of birds. It’s the maker of printed instructional, educational, and teaching materials for children and adults in the field of English Language Arts and Cognitive Science.
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