Why Trump is Campaigning Against Fact-Checking & Republicans Threaten to Close Colleges that Allow Protests
What I’m Discussing Today:
Kareem’s Daily Quote: Great teachers can change the world.
Trump wages campaign against real-time fact checks: I defy any Trump supporter to give a rational reason to be against fact-checking.
‘Vengeful’ Trump withheld disaster aid and will do so again, ex-officials warn: He admitted to punishing states that weren’t political supporters. President material?
Republicans threaten to punish colleges that allow pro-Palestinian protests: This is the same argument politicians used against civil rights activists and anti-war protestors. They never learn what tyranny is.
Chiefs owner backs Harrison Butker’s political push for ‘traditional values’: Harrison Butker claims he’s supporting “traditional values.” He’s not.
Kareem’s Video Break: Every time I see such displays of sportsmanship, I have a renewed hope for humanity.
Cheetos Food Coloring Turns Mice Transparent: The future of medicine?
What I’m Watching on TV: Shrinking is back, and just as funny and touching. Burn Notice is an old series but still exciting, humorous, and entertaining.
Mitzi Gaynor Sings "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy" from South Pacific: Gaynor died last week at the age of 93, but her performance in this movie will live forever.
Kareem’s Daily Quote
Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.
A Japanese Proverb
Most people can remember a teacher who threw open a large window to the world with a view of limitless possibilities that had been unimaginable before. Many students describe such teachers as saving their lives because, without them, their choices for a better future would have been severely limited. Where before, they only saw themselves as staying in their hometown, working at the local farm or factory, but thanks to that special teacher, they could imagine themselves as a doctor, lawyer, CEO, writer, artist, scientist, or something else that excited them. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with staying in one’s hometown and working the farm or at the factory. It’s just that each child should have the opportunity to choose their path and to do that, they’ll need the educational skills to pursue those dreams. Many also just need someone to encourage them and have faith in them.
I’m not here to canonize teachers. There are plenty of bad ones. We all have memories of them as well. They not only don’t know much about their subject, but they don’t have the passion to teach or the love of their students. They’re there for a paycheck and to do as little work as possible. Or they get off on having authority over others and pontificating their political opinions to a captive audience. Teachers should never give their political opinions but instead teaching students how to form their own through logic and research. As the adage says, “The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don’t tell you what to see.”
Some teachers suck and they know it, and they are a blight on education. Your reaction to that might be that we should fire them but that tenure makes that impossible. Tenure is crucial to protect teachers from the political pressures to teach only what parents want or what politicians want, rather than what qualified educators believe is important. That’s an important guardrail, especially in today’s climate of educational interference.
The same can be said of any profession: there are some good people and some bad people. Because teachers have such an influence on our children—and the adults they will become—good teachers can change the world, or at least the worlds of their students.
Teachers have been under attack in this country by conservatives trying to dumb down education by removing critical thinking, whitewashing history, and forcing Christianity into the curriculum. Abraham Lincoln said, “Teach the children so it will not be necessary to teach the adults.” Unfortunately, we have a lot of adults in dire need of teaching who want to make their children less intelligent and less educated so not to challenge the adults. This is one of the major reasons there’s a teacher shortage across the country.
There’s another popular saying about teachers that I wish to dispute: “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” Anyone who repeats this or believes it is in severe need of more education. There’s an art to teaching—to inspire reluctant students, to make complex ideas understandable. Few people care enough to develop these skills. Being a genius writer, artist, scientist, or mathematician doesn’t mean they can teach whatever they’re brilliant at. An artist might produce a timeless masterpiece, but it often takes a dedicated teacher to show students why they should appreciate the work. And once they have, that work lives in the student’s heart forever.