Election day

 

 

I hate political themed blogs—I am always amazed at the increased numbers of bloviating writers since the last presidential election.  Even though I am technically a low-volume consumer of these blogs or writings (I am not on Reddit or Substack or other providers), the content still makes its way into my inbox or more annoyingly, onto my Facebook feed.  You used to have to own the press and be able to buy ink by the barrel to share your opinion—now you can do it with a few clicks and a Starbucks internet connection.

Of course I totally exclude myself from these bloviating folks—I simply offer a few thoughtful political observations on this day of reckoning for the country.

First off, I am incredibly optimistic about our country.  We have faced crisis before and amazingly the country has survived.  Wars, monetary foolishness, and even fools have dented but not completely smashed the ideal that is the United States.  So that is good.  But good heavens, I am dumbfounded on how we do this.  We seem to take the most painful, most tortuous path.  Someone, perhaps Churchill, posited that “Americans will do the right thing once they have tried everything else.”

How true, I hope.  The country has tried other things including a lingering, painful nine-year experiment with things Trumpian.  It has divided the country and families, brought shame and embarrassment to the United States, and very certainly lessoned our prestige and the image of a shining city on a hill.  Meanness has become the currency of discourse, and we have devolved into a zero-sum society that allows one group to do better only if the other groups suffer and do worse.

Obviously you should be able to read between the lines on which side of this political divide I stand.  I suppose this decision could be and for many is based on policy differences between the candidates and parties.  There are plenty of these, and while they sway my thinking a bit, they are not the reason why I stand where I stand.

The United States is this confederacy of states but it is also an idea and ideal.  It is a place where people go for refuge, to learn, to prosper, and where they can disagree with the government and others.  Safely.  It is a dream, something that is totally aspirational and it totally isn’t just states with a border.  We should strive for these ideals, all the while knowing that we aren’t quite there yet.  We have much work to do before we are that perfect or even that very, very good Union that we dreamed of and began almost 250 years ago.

How we as a nation have accomplished what we have over this span of time was not just through policies. Those change, sometimes when the wind blows and for sure when there are elections.  The elasticity of the country in terms of policy shifts is pretty remarkable but in my mind, what has supported this (and sometimes, even the successes) of this fragile experiment is that the United States has done the right thing, eventually.  Eventually, character wins over rhetoric.  Eventually, belief in the ideals of this country wins, and lastly, hope and the belief in hope will win out.  I can’t believe that the United States is a dystopian, wasted landscape of despair as some have portrayed.

We will do the right thing, eventually.  This election gives the country a chance to be a little better, to hope, and to polish up that shining city on a hill. Let’s hope we make the correct choices to begin to do the right thing.

I have to go.  My internet connection is timing out…

What's been going on...

 

So some might wonder what have I been up to for the past four years, and it is not all that easy or simple to answer.  Remember that in my last post I mentioned that I have not exactly followed a simple or predictable arc.  I suppose what has been the foundation of the second half of my life has been teaching and education, and that has continued, though I have had detours working for the U.S. Census, a grocery store, and even a go at Starbucks.  And I have the green apron and a pay stub to prove it in case I run for office.

For most of the past four years I have been teaching in one way or another in the high schools.  That has been a pretty dramatic change from years working in the colleges.  It has not always been an easy transition.  I started subbing all over the metro area during the COVID year, and then I was lucky enough to take a long-term sub position for six months.  Last year, I accepted a full-time assignment at an alternative credit recovery high school.  This school year I am back to subbing pretty much full time or at least every day that I want to or can.

As for the transition to working with high school students, all I can really say is wow.  There have been some incredibly rewarding and fun moments where I truly felt/feel that I made/make a difference.   Then there are the days that I spend my time telling the boys to stop making farty noises and issuing bathroom passes,

On balance, it is a pretty rewarding, positive experience, and at the least, I have great stories to tell during post-work cocktail hour!

One advantage of teaching all over is that I get to see all variety of high schools and the variety of students.  Last week I subbed at Edina, no doubt the crown jewel of metro area schools.  Other than perhaps Purdue University,  Edina has the nicest physical plant of any college or university that I have taught at and that list is pretty long.  It is the land of straight teeth and designer clothes for sure, and certainly most if not all are hoping for a spot in some Big 16 or Ivy League institution.  If I am to believe my informal observational poll based on sweatshirts, Harvard seems a popular choice as does Indiana for some reason.  No one was wearing Purdue wear…sigh.

Some other schools are not so lucky to have that same tax base.  Columbia Heights where I frequently am at and where I love to sub, spends less than one-third of what Edina spends on each student.  It is a nice school, but the students are far more likely to be English-language learners than SAT stars, though I have found that there are academic all-stars everywhere and in every single school.

Working at Edina or Southwest or Washburn makes you notice that some students start on their path to academic success at different places and with vastly different resources.  Here is a simple test to show this is the case.  Ask a class what they did during summer vacation.  At some schools, you will hear tales of trips near and far and time at the lake or tennis camp, and they often are wearing sweatshirts that memorialize the trip or experience.  Ask that same question at some other school and you hear tales of work or video games or taking care of siblings.  There clearly is a resource and opportunity gap that is sometimes unimaginable.

My eyes, and certainly my heart, has been made far more aware of all that students have to deal with.  In Minneapolis, almost 15% of students experience housing insecurity each year, and at the school where I taught all last year, the figure was closer to 25%.  Imagine, one out of four students wonder whether or not they have a consistent , safe, place to stay.  Food insecurity is even more prevalent.  Our Communist-Socialist governor, Tim Walz, THANKFULLY signed a bill over strenuous protest to ensure that students got a free lunch and breakfast.  I have seen first-hand significant numbers of students who wait to ingest every available calorie during these meals because that is the only food that they have for the entire day.  Yeah, what a terrible thing to do, making sure that students have something to eat.  No wonder we want him out of the governor’s mansion—what a terrible man.  He should be vice-president or something.

So I get up every morning and am on the road about 7AM to be on the pointy end of the education system.  Today I am teaching business, last week I taught science, history, French, English, and one class of Chinese.  Teaching might be a bit too strong of a verb, but I am in front of a classroom, a spot where I think that I belong.

More pictures and a more personal take on what’s up with me in the next episode.