I have oftentimes referred to myself as an educator. I owned a preschool which also provided private Kindergarten and First grade instruction. The students that were in our Kindergarten were educated from First-Grade Houghton-Mifflin textbooks since they had already experienced a Kindergarten level education in their pre-K year at my school. Consequently, our First-Grade students were instructed from Second-Grade level texts. The students at my preschool entered the next stage of their early education at the top of the class. Their test scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) placed them in the 99th to 100th percentile across the board. They had an early foundation of Loving to Learn (our school motto) that promoted a hands-on, out-of-the-box style learning at a high level which engaged these children in a developmentally appropriate way which produced young students eager to learn. We saw this ourselves and we heard about the success of our methods through the next 20 years from parents of these young students as these students excelled from Harvard Medical School, Emory, Georgia Tech, Howard, UGA, Auburn, Clemson, and many more elite colleges all over the country. It was a rewarding and joyous educational career I experienced. I, however, do not have a college degree in Early Childhood Education, or a degree at all.
So, what about that? How do I place myself in relation to what I hear so often said about teachers in today’s educational world? What would they think about me? I know what the parents of my preschool thought about me whether they knew or not that I had a degree to teach. I was asked that a million times from prospective parents as well as parents later on that didn’t think about asking it before they enrolled. We were also questioned about the academic credentials of the teachers of my preschool. You can read more about this conversation and explanation in my book, INSERT GIGGLE GIGGLE, Laughing Your Way through Raising Kids and Running a Business.
The dedication of each and every one of us at my preschool was a palpable certainty. Can that be said about some of today’s educators? I don’t think so, my opinion. In my book, I write about the COVID19 pandemic in several chapters and certainly how it pertained to the children of the world, specifically to their education, during this time. I sold my preschools and retired in November, 2018 and the pandemic struck in early 2020. Of course, the preschool, like every other school in the United States shut down for several months early in the crisis and re-opened with so many regulations and protocols put into place, I'm sure it was hard to manage. But it seemed, to me, that what I saw throughout the country was the desire of our government educational system to not put the children first. Even after it became, in 2022 – 2 whole years later – okay to go anywhere, and I mean large gatherings such as concerts and athletic events, children were the only demographic group still required, in many counties and cities to continue to wear a mask at school. Why?
This Chog is not designed to state scientific facts and assert further my opinion on the political game playing that the pandemic resulted in. We all know those facts. We all have seen the hypocrisy in full display. It cannot be denied – it is not my opinion, it is fully documented fact. But one would have assumed that the children would have been protected from this shameful political situation, but they were not. I believe that history will show just how bizarre and abusive we treated our children during this time. The duplicity of seeing teachers refuse to go in the classroom to teach due to being "afraid of the virus”, but go everyone else, even on luxury vacations, maskless, is demonstration enough. Shameful. Shameful. Shameful. I wanted to hear our political leaders act like President Ronald Regan when he told the striking air traffic controllers to either show up to their assigned shifts by midnight or they would be fired. That’s leadership in the face of a crisis. And our children were and are in crisis with absolutely no leadership from either political party and certainly not from the teachers and the teachers’ unions. Just last week I heard of a school district going on strike just as the school year is beginning. What? Again, the children are left out of this equation and left behind yet again.
Further, we also have the indoctrination of children going on in our schools by ideologs. “The idea of Theodore having been sat down by a teacher and taught how he should think about his future and relationships makes me feel a bit nauseous”. Fictional words from Christina Sweeny-Baird’s book, The End of Men. But no, not fictional – this is an everyday happening in today’s schools. It doesn’t matter if you agree with what is being taught to children or you don’t, it is wrong. It is not the place of the school system to undertake this task. I state in my book that ideas expressed in a passionate way by trusting adults in school settings is a powerful tool, and ideologs have learned how to use this power over our young people in profound ways.
Sexualized discussions encompassing not only sex education, but alternative sexual practices, are seen by some (and it appears most) in the educational world as a function of teachers to their students. Just where do they think they got this authority from? I heard a gay man on the Megyn Kelly show discussing this phenomenon with her and it appeared to be his position that children who may eventually come out as gay, may be coached and turned toward becoming transgender by these (well-meaning) teachers, when that would not be their preference if not for the intrusion of this trusted adult. I have a gay son and if any teacher would have engaged him in a private conversation about this when he was in elementary school, it would have been the last conversation they would have ever had with him, I can assure you.
Florida has (proposed?) legislation that prohibits teachers from classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity and radicals have dubbed this the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. Again, shameful. This legislation has nothing to do with being gay and they know it – it has everything to do with indoctrination and over-reach by our government schools. “Trusted” news organizations have treated this legislation in a way that shows that this is actually the name of the bill! That is not journalism folks. Congresswomen were shown walking down government halls shouting “gay” seemingly in support of gay rights. Huh? And we are talking about a legislation that addresses this issue for children up to 3rd grade and in my opinion should include all grades while in a government run school.
Exactly what adult thinks that talking about anything even in the realm of sexual behavior in any form is okay with a 5-6-7-8 year old CHILD! Who? Come on people!
You hear some radical-type teachers whining that they can’t “be who they are” in front of their students if they can’t talk about their outside of the classroom life experience. What?!
I believe it was this same Megan Kelly guest that said that when we were growing up, we didn’t even know our teacher’s first name! Why in the world do students need to know anything about a teacher’s lifestyle? I say, grow up teachers. Go to work and teach and go home and live your life which has nothing to do with your students!
I looked at several web sites on educational rankings. The United States of America was routinely noted as placing 38th in ranking in math and 24th in ranking in science. Equally dismal are our reading skills. I don’t even think I can name 38 countries! How can that number of countries place higher than the United States of America in anything!!!!!! And yet, we are worried and giving our time and energy discussing sexual orientation of first graders! Please.
Our children are our future. We are playing with fire in trying to use our children as pawns for our political or social beliefs. The current generation of children will aspire to social and political changes, just as generations before them have seen the need of things to change, without the help of actual classroom instruction at an early age of a belief of one certain teacher or a group of teachers. This is why it’s important not to have a teacher’s religious beliefs come into a government classroom setting – if religious beliefs and practices can’t be shared with students, then why in God’s name should sexual beliefs and practices be shared?
When the teachers at my preschool were put in the position of a question being asked of them by a child that was none of their business to answer, they were told to respond, “Go play” and the child would just skip away. Was this a dereliction of their duty and obligation to that student? No indeed. This is not their child and any number of questions are not within their purview to give voice to their opinion on the topic. Please, let’s stick with reading, writing, and arithmetic and see if we can raise these standards and the ideology of Loving to Learn so that these same children can become free thinking adults with their own formed opinions based on their life experiences and no one else’s.
This is the responsibility, duty, and function of government run schools and educators. Nothing more and nothing less.
Next Up….. Do You Like Music?
Always remember to insert a giggle giggle and protect your child ~ Kay 😊
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