Posted February 16, 2015, by Mary Grabar: It's Presidents' Day. Which one? George Washington. (And in the north we used to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday on his birthday as well.) The Dissident Prof would like to remind our political leaders of the proper duties and attitudes of a president, as opposed to a monarch, or a plutocrat, or a celebrity... Herewith, a passage from George Washington's Farewell Address addressed to Fellow Citizens:
In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected.
We have also just celebrated Valentine's Day. The Department of Education noted the holiday, not by giving information about the origin of the holiday (Saint Valentine's Day, or its Christian and courtly love traditions), but by sending teachers tips on helping students learn "empathy" (with 20 resources) in its February 12 Teachers Edition newsletter. It's in the section on "Social Emotional Ed" because...that is now part of the business of the U.S. Department of Education. They offer favorite "resource," the creepy Edutopia. The Dissident Prof remembers the excitement of opening those little Valentine's cards that came in boxes of 30 and trying to read little heart candies like tea leaves. "Be mine." What could it mean??? Yes, Valentine's Day was a day of great speculation, deconstruction of messages in cards, and eating awful, hard candy just because it was in the shape of a heart.
Those were innocent days. Not so lucky are the poor kids confined in our schools around Valentine's. If their teachers are taking tips from the Department of Education, and reading the February 12 newsletter, they will be getting lessons from places like Teaching Tolerance, the offshoot of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a place where dissenters are hated. The organization a couple days ago announced that it was taking Dr. Ben Carson off its "Extremist File." They still note his thought crimes about marriage, though. In spite of posting their disapproval of those with whom they disagree, they offer teachers a lesson plan on happy faces. (That's to teach "empathy.") The "happy faces" are to be given by kids to other kids who look like they're having a bad day. Not only that, but the kids are also to "affirm" the adults around them:
Have your students go, in pairs, to give happy faces to adults in school who just need an extra affirmation for the hard work they’re doing. This way, students get a chance to cross boundaries of age to affirm adults.
Great! I can just see it now: some poor kid following the teacher's instructions going around with one of the pre-printed ridiculous faces and handing it out to someone she thinks is having a "bad day." While a teacher might become even more annoyed by having a kid pointing out to her that she seems annoyed, I can see the irrascible bad kid becoming disgusted and letting the little goodie two shoes have it. Of course, then he'd need a course on bullying and exploring his feelings, which would mean more things for Edutopia and the SPLC to sell....
What else does the Department of Ed promote in its teachers newsletter besides emotionally coercive lessons? Certainly not academics, but Common Core, Dream Big artsy competitions, an Uptown Funk video, summits on "Teaching to Lead," (it's always about "leadership" and everyone is a leader in the Dept. of Ed), honoring teachers of the year, counselors of the year, propagandists of the year, promoting pet non-profits that offer dubious educational lessons such as "Because of them we can," AND Free stuff! That means Michelle Obama's FAFSA Completion Challenge (FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid). This is what was sent to principals this month:
Already, we’ve seen schools around the country use creative approaches to encourage more students to fill out their FAFSA. Now, we want you to create a three to five minute video that highlights how your school is stepping up. Then, submit your entry here and share it on social media using #ReachHigher.
And the prize will go to:
Winning videos will be chosen based on creativity and a school’s FAFSA completion growth rate as of March 16, 2015 over a school’s 2014 FAFSA completion growth rate, as reported by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid.
And what IS the prize? What every school wants: a video with a message from Michelle Obama or a commencement address by her in person!!!
So put away your books, get out your applications, your dancing shoes, your hearts and smiley faces because now you will be ready for FREE community college, as President Obama proposed in his State of the Union address. Will this mean Americans will be more highly educated? I don't think so. As I write at the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, "'Free' community college will make a bad situation worse." Read about what it's like to teach in a community college where administrators only care about retaining students because of their financial aid. And read my article at the Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research about how the "free" community college proposal is a way to further impose Common Core on colleges. Yes, we will have Common Core from pre-K to graduate school, and we can all sit around in a circle discussing our feelings and giving each other smiley faces, while the government gives us all Ph.D.'s. Would the situation be any better under a Jeb Bush presidency? Bush is now trying to run, but he can't hide, from Common Core, as I write at the Selous Foundation today, "Presidential Candidate Jeb Bush and the Albatross of Common Core." To clarify the issue of Common Core, the Dissident Prof would urge him and our current president to read Washington's Farewell Address, especially this part:
To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all.
