What Gives Me Hope

My answer is Abraham Lincoln.

I think about the fact that men like Lincoln existed, to know there’s someone else of that caliber who will straighten out this mess by reading the memoir of my teaching days, A Graver Danger, which explains in shocking detail how education, with its fascist-like administrators holding all the power, destroyed democracy.

Lincoln had warned, “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next.”

He would have watched over what administrators were doing. He wouldn’t have let this happen. We need someone like him now. We had one before. We will have one again.

Our problem is that no one has known the philosophy of the schoolroom for decades now due to the climate of fear both unions cause by choosing to go along to get along.

My union warned me not to try to expose what’s going on because “Others have tried and it’s impossible,” as they helped my district dispose of me for speaking out about harm to children where I taught.

(Yes, I had tenure, so they had to spend over $1 million to fire me. You see, they spend “their” money to silence evidence, not to get rid of bad teachers. They kill two birds with one stone by keeping lousy teachers: parents think they’re straddled with horrible teachers, and they save the money, so there’s more to go around now that our schools are their treasure chests rather than our stepping stones to achieve the American Dream.)

Meanwhile, the president of the other union just published a best-selling book touting how teachers uphold democracy—it’s correct that their job is to produce citizens—with no mention that self-serving administrations have obstructed most of them from doing that for decades now. Her omission of the truth about our schools is the primary noose around democracy’s neck.

That attitude of accepting corruption for comfort has now become the American way.

Someone has to expose this unknown issue of the powerful having stolen education from us. Education is the great leveler. Unfortunately, it has leveled democracy rather than accomplished its intended purpose to give everyone a chance.

I’m a teacher. No child is impossible, so exposing this is hard, but not impossible. I will never stop trying. I will prove that union leader wrong!

“Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child, / Listen to the DON’TS / Listen to the SHOULDN’TS / The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS / Listen to the NEVER HAVES / Then listen close to me — / Anything can happen, child, / ANYTHING can be.”

Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

To fix our schools that our fascist-like administrators want to keep as is, we need someone of Lincoln’s caliber to listen to whistleblowing teachers like me, something not one leader has had the wisdom to do so far.

The fact that our corrupt education system has destroyed democracy must be widely known so that a quality leader will know what to do. Thus, since 1995, it’s been my mission to expose this with websites at EndTeacherAbuse.org and WhiteChalkCrime.com, where you can hear and almost see the powerless teacher whistleblowers exposing the truth with bags on their heads, because speaking the truth is a career ender in education.

I live with hope because I know our schools paved the way for Trump, and once corrected, support for autocracy will vanish in a nation where education, the main pillar of democracy, is in place. Since our schools are locally controlled, we, the people, can help make this happen, even during this reign of terror.

I know what we need to do.

The fact that no one in power wants to know what called-to-teach teachers know doesn’t discourage me because there was once a man who knew the importance of our schools, who would have done something about fascists hijacking our schools and hollowing out democracy’s foundation.

Therefore, I have hope. I know there will be another such leader.

Please help me find him. Please share your ideas on how we can make that happen.

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