Confederate bastion of Fort Bragg insults us all.

I’m probably engaging in hyperbole. 

I have a question.  When you think of Fort Bragg, California, what comes to mind? 

The Mendocino coastline?  Definitely.

Whale watching?  Right there.

Fishing?  How can you not think about fishing?

Beer?

 

Gimme dat!

An aristocratic style society with a cotton based economy that desires to break from the United States and continue to institute slavery to maintain social and economic viability? 

Not so much unless you’re a state senator from Orinda, California who got done golfing early the other day and decided to write a bill.

SB – 539

8197.

   (a) On and after January 1, 2017, a name associated with the Confederate States of America shall not be used to name state or local property. If a name associated with the Confederate States of America is used to name state or local public property prior to January 1, 2017, the name shall be changed and any sign associated with the name shall be removed.

(b) For the purpose of this section, “name associated with the Confederate States of America” includes, but is not limited to, the name of an elected leader or a senior military officer of the Confederacy.

 

Apparently the law would impact, on the surface, two elementary schools (in Long Beach and San Deigo) named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and public buildings in the city of Fort Bragg, the city named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg.

For a second let’s throw out the anachronistic assholery of op-eds and look at the situation from a practical point of view.  I’m not pro-Confederacy so you can pause before you sprint to your closet for the cloak of self-righteousness.  Both Lee and Braxton have a history within the United States before the Civil War.  Braxton’s is much more boring and the city of Fort Bragg was actually named when the man was part of the United States military.  Robert E. Lee is one of greatest generals in all of U.S. History, and he didn’t like slavery and only fought for the South because he was from the state of Virginia.  In fact Lee was a strong supporter of the union between the North and the South and found his command regrettable but necessary.  He was treated with incredible respect by the United States after the war, and was actually given back his citizenship by the United States Congress and President For in the late-1970’s.  Robert E. Lee was not Hitler. 

It’s not for me to judge whether or not Long Beach or San Diego want to name elementary schools after Robert E. Lee.  That’s up to citizens of the respective towns.  Nearly every person in U.S. History has skeletons in their closet and if you start looking for angels you’re going to run out of names real quick.  If I had a vote on whether or not Lee’s name on a public school is appropriate in California, I’d question the validity but call it fine.

But the Fort Bragg problem represents how a person that has no working knowledge of history can make life irritating by using political overreach.  I will guarantee that the people of Fort Bragg don’t see themselves as sympathetic to any Confederate narratives, and that visitors don’t make any connection at all between the former Confederacy and Noyo Harbor’s delicious clam chowder.  The State of California already (rightfully) banned the sale of Confederate flags from government offices.  Time for the state to stop being stupid and let local constituents figure things out on their own.       

Young teacher is risky, stupid, gets fired. Hire him back.

I remember back when I was a young and impulsive teacher.  Mid-twenties, full of vim and vigor, willing to try almost anything to get the attention of students.

“(Jordan) Parmenter said the subject of his apology occurred while he was teaching a lesson on freedom of speech during a junior-level English class. Wanting to direct attention to a chart, Parmenter said he made what he now calls the poor decision of using a small U.S. flag in the room as a pointer.

One of the students in this class stated that using the U.S. flag as a pointer is disrespectful, Parmenter said. The teacher said he then made what he says was the rash decision of dropping the flag to the floor and stepping on it to illustrate an example of free speech as part of the lesson that day.”

Oops.

Since I started teaching a month before the attacks on September 11, 2001, playing around with patriotic symbolism was pretty much the farthest thing from my mind during my impulsive years.  Like everyone else in the U.S. I pretty much wrapped myself in the flag in 2001-2002, and then watched the curious steps leading to the Iraq War later on.  I did things for shock value and attention but the national symbols were off the list as being unnecessarily controversial.   

After his flag-stepping Mr. Parmenter did all the right things; he immediately realized his error (in class he apologized), and went full mea culpa in front of his small town school board. 

“The Martinsville School District board voted 6-0 to fire English teacher Jordan Parmenter.”

That a bummer.  This is a clear case of “hey I might be able to make a strong point but, you know, flags and things.”  The thought passes through your head that you can make a shocking, and pretty much harmless, impression on your students while making a very valid point about something important like the First Amendment of the Constitution.  But at this point you realize that in public schools you don’t always deal with rational people (including school boards) and some of the more shocking lessons can pose risks to your ability to retain a job.  As an adult and a credentialed teacher Parmenter should have known that. 

Still, 6-0 in favor if firing?  There might be something else in play here because a unanimous canning of a new teacher because he goes overboard on a perfectly legal (although unwise) flag stomp doesn’t really warrant automatic dismissal.  Risk and passion are good things when harnessed correctly and cutting this guy loose won’t help him learn how to do that.  Plus the guy instantly realized he had gone too far.  Parmenter wasn’t trying to justify anything after the act; a good sign if you are looking for a teacher that might be able to “get it.”

In the end the whole thing is rather tragic.  It was a poor choice that resulted in an overwhelming use of force by the school board and a rough beginning of a career for a teacher.  Learn, young Padawan.  Learn and move forward. 

Lee Siegel is kind of a prick

“….I found myself confronted with a choice that too many people have had to and will have to face. I could give up what had become my vocation (in my case, being a writer) and take a job that I didn’t want in order to repay the huge debt I had accumulated in college and graduate school. Or I could take what I had been led to believe was both the morally and legally reprehensible step of defaulting on my student loans, which was the only way I could survive without wasting my life in a job that had nothing to do with my particular usefulness to society.

I chose life. That is to say, I defaulted on my student loans.”

Ahhh, from the mouth of babes who really, really want to avoid the cost of doing anything in society.  Real talk from a man who thinks society owes him maximum benefit with minimum cost, with a sugar cookie on top.

Mr. Siegel wrote this op-ed column in the beginning of June and the shockwaves have pretty much reverberated around the country as an example of what not to do.  Let’s see if I can summarize.

-Siegel went to a “private liberal arts college” and was forced to transfer because of tuition costs.

-Siegel then went to a state college in New Jersey and dropped out because he “thought I deserved better.”

-Siegel then went to Columbia where he obtained a Bachelors and two Masters degrees.

-Siegel didn’t want to work in jobs he didn’t like when he was in college because he likes writing.

-Siegel defaulted on his loans because fight-the-power.

The unfortunate thing about this story, aside from the fact that Lee Siegel thinks society owes him three degrees from Columbia and an income, is that it actually resonates with this generation’s college attending crowd.  My Facebook feed is full of my former college bound students all clamoring for the platform of Bernie Sanders; the presidential candidate that has made himself known for the “fuck it, let’s just make college free for all” mentality towards college.  This is the realm where Lee Siegel’s actions are seen as legitimate. 

I’m all for reforming the system regarding student loans and college tuition but let’s deal with two issues that people don’t like to acknowledge.

First, students are part of the tuition increase problem.  Not only is the demand for college increasing at a dramatic rate, the demand for the “college experience” is expanding right along with it.  Students want to go to a colleges with great living conditions, high end food, walks through gardens, superior athletic facilities, phenomenal technological equipment, classes about researching Quidditch and analyzing white privilege in ferrets, and having well-known speakers and professors lecture for about 90 minutes a week.  Students are getting iPads to read with their sushi and gluten-free lunches, then heading off to run on the indoor track before attending the Harvard law class taught by Elizabeth Warren (to which she was paid over $300,000).  The college experience could be made to be cheaper except for the fact that students don’t want it that way.

Second, students have been going into debt for a long time.  I recently finished paying off about twenty thousand in college debts, some of it from my own stupidity.  That’s significantly less than most students seeking a Bachelors Degree will have upon leaving an institution of higher learning, and the odds of that debt becoming a greater standard of living are still much higher than someone without the degree.  And as the New York Times highlights, the number of people that do default on student loans is extremely minimal.

Every statistic out there says that while going into debt sucks, the benefit from receiving the college degree far outweighs the problem of going into debt.  This is not to say that every student is prepared to take on the responsibility of the debt, and part of my job as an Economics teacher is to show students that there are ways to minimize the debt burden by the college-going folk.   However many students have been drilled in the art of going to “the best college” without really researching all potential aspects of the decision, including the state college system.  They see California State University of Disappointment instead of the potential to get the same degree at less than half the financial cost.

Lee Siegel’s column is representative of that attitude.  The feeling that society owes them best of everything if they only “work hard” in their own way, and that society then owes them a sense renewal when they screw up because society is mean and corporations are horrible.  Not to simplify the argument for Siegel but suck it up.

Hey California teachers, Jerry Brown just screwed you. Just a little bit but still….

It’s summer time and that means house cleaning.  That’s a metaphorical term as I’m doing plenty to prepare not only for the upcoming school year but also for my educational future.  So, since December 31 of this year is the expiration date of my teaching credential, it’s time to head to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and renew my license.  It’s only a cool $70.  

Wait a minute.  The damn site won’t let me renew my credential.  I wonder what’s going on….

Wow, what a coincidence!  The CTC won’t let me renew my credential now and is raising the fees by over 40%!  Actually, the total fee for me is going to by $102.50 because if you want to actually renew online (you know, without paper) the online processing fee is an extra $2.50.  Why?  I have no idea.  How about this; if you have to go through that boring, pointless horror show known as BTSA, you forgo having to pay for credential renewal forever!  It’s a fair trade.  

So thanks Jerry Brown!  You can’t tell the government to fund a government agency because politics.  Nice job!

Thoughts from the 2015 AP Reading

One of the readers mentioned how idiotic it was that someone had blogged about the AP Reading.  I don’t think it was directed at me but I think I’m safe enough in my posts that I follow the College Board rules and don’t endanger my own future as a grader. 

That said….

-There were four high school teachers and three college professors at my reading table.  All of them had Master’s Degrees, save the one high school teacher from Mendocino County.  That would be me.  This doesn’t give me a complex because a more advanced degree basically means zero in the whole scope of teaching.  But it’s interesting none-the-less that people are spending an enormous amount of money with limited financial gain.

-Scott Walker will never get a vote from me.  What he has done to public education in Wisconsin sounds absolutely horrific. 

-Note to teachers; if you are simply preaching the sermon of the horrific corporation, you are really hurting your kids.  Going on your anti-corporation rants doesn’t allow kids to make real analysis regarding the costs and benefits of globalization. 

-Once again the most depressing thing to read during the grading week are the letters from students who either were forced to take the test, or that had a horrific teacher that did not prepare them.  It seems like more and more schools are throwing APs at students to boost statistics; so they can get ranked in U.S. News and World Report.  Schools are ranked high in that publication based on number of students taking AP tests.  From what I can see they aren’t learning much.

-The usual prom notes, life drama, musical lyrics, and numerous drawings filled out testing booklets this year.  This years oddity; quite a few 9/11 conspiracy theories.  This years trend; ridiculous amounts of “America is #1.”  Quite a few booklets had “why do I care about this shit because America is the best”, a frighteningly un-Advanced Placement attitude. 

Next year?  Maybe.  The dates are getting earlier and earlier, and the brilliance of our elementary school teachers pushed our graduation later.  This sucks for not only AP testing but also AP grading.  I might be out of luck. 

Now’s a good time to talk Confederate flag in the classroom

Yes, I know that’s not the official flag of the old Confederacy.  Yes, I know that’s the Confederate battle flag. 

Also, shut up.  You know what we’re talking about here. 

The tragedy in Charleston has brought about a conversation about a controversial item that never really stopped being a controversial item in schools.  Now that Amazon, Sears, Wal-Mart, and eBay have removed Confederate flag items from their stores, and the National Park Service has eliminated sales of items that don’t have historical relevance, I guess the issue of Confederate flags in the classroom should probably be discussed.

While not prominent I’m fairly sure there is a small Confederate flag on some Civil War stuff I have in my classroom.  I’m not a big fan of the Confederate flag.  I don’t see slavery in the symbolism of the flag.  I see disunion and secession.  I see the attempt of a group of people to refuse to progress as a society and were so head-strong to stay in the Dark Ages that they were willing to destroy a new nation.  In the end it’s a symbol of backwardsness.

However I’m also not a big fan of people deciding what is and is not offensive, and then banning those things because they are controversial.  A few years ago controversy sprang up at our school because some people had Confederate flags on their shirts, emblems on their jackets, or stickers on their binders.  Some teachers wanted the items banned because some students found the image offensive.  I was not one of those teachers.  In fact I was one of those teachers who said that, according to the courts, the image did not have a history of causing violence at our school so it was constitutionally questionable to ban it. 

So what happens when a Confederate flag is seen in the classroom?  Most of the time, nothing.  Giving a symbolic item power usually comes from people getting hysterical (justified or not), thus creating a condition that focuses on the item, not the issue.  In all likelihood the Confederate flag will come up early in the year because it’s been on the news.  We’ll discuss what it means, the history behind it, and the constitutional issues around the flag.  In the end the image of the Confederate flag will remain regardless of its offensive nature.  Why?

1.  It’s constitutionally protected under the 1st Amendment. 

2.  Banning “offensive” items, especially those of a political nature, is a really slippery slope.

And we are teaching young adults here.  We are teaching them to think, debate, collaborate, reason, and act in a way that creates a benefit to society.  Debating controversial things is a benefit to society. Enforcing political and social agendas on teenagers because you have a moral superiority complex is not.  I detest the Confederate flag.  That’s not point.  What it represented, what it represents now, and how it will be represented in the future in the minds of these young people. 

That’s the point. 

Another AP Reading

The only thing I miss about Kansas City is the BBQ. 

The AP Reading is now in Salt Lake City, Utah and I can’t be more thrilled.  The food inside the convention center is better.  The food outside the convention center is better.  There is no humidity.  The city scape is gorgeous.  The transportation system around the area is one of the best I’ve seen.  Yep, I love Salt Lake City. 

Except for the near beer.  A brother can’t get a damn regular beer with pizza.  Nope.  I order a Blue Moon forgetting where I was and got a 3.4% something-or-other.  Ick.

At the Kansas City Convention Center we had to walk down a couple of long halls, about 2-3 city blocks, to get from chow to testing room.  Here?  We walk about half the distance, only we are about four levels up in a small corner of the convention center.  Sort of like the lost attic area where you can work with no one bothering you. 

Oh, and about the test reading……

Uh, uh, uh; no test info for you.  Remember the number one rule of AP Reading. 

#1 Rule:  Don’t talk about the AP Reading.

Ok, how about a couple of side notes then.

-People here are actually getting quite sick.  Apparently the mixture of the dry air and higher altitude have made a nasty combination for those that don’t drink plenty of water and get some rest.  Me?  I’m a little dry but I’m doing  just fine with the altitude. 

-I left Ukiah at 3 p.m. and stayed the night in Sparks, Nevada.  I left Sparks at 6 a.m. and, stops and all, got to Salt Lake City at around 2:30 (including the time change).  Yes, the trip across the Great Basin area of Nevada sucks.  And it rained half the way across the state. 

-Did you know that AP Comparative Government has the lowest turnover rate for test readers?  They keep coming back!  We seem to all recognize each other as regulars and it’s actually pretty comforting. 

-That also means that I took a bit of razzing about the Giants winning the World Series.  All in good fun.