BLOGGING AS A SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITY

I haven't blogged in awhile, which is really more a disservice to me than anyone who stumbles across these ramblings/rantings, because I was reminded by good friend a couple of years ago blogging is almost a MANDATORY activity for those who teach (Dr. Darren Draper, Director of Information Technology-Canyons School District) because it limbers up the old creative thinking muscles and forces us to write....something we must demand daily out of those we teach.

And, I haven't blogged for a couple of reasons, one being the demands of the job and keeping up with responsibilities outside of the classroom. But, slightly more disturbing, I haven't blogged because of an underlying intimidation after being reprimanded by those who sign my paycheck for past grumblings/analyzing/musings over the motivations of management/administration/leadership and their relationships with those they manage/administer/(but my assertion then and now is they don't LEAD! See earlier ramblings on this blog site...). A recent conversation with an civil-rights attorney, who is addressing the needs/issues of a close friend and fellow educator who has suffered egregious treatment at the hands of our administrators, has reminded me of our constitutional right(s) (indeed, our duty), to speak out when the emperor is wearing no clothes, and we are protected by our constitutional rights afforded by the First Amendment! Funny, how under the duress of being threatened and intimidated with our paycheck and livelihood in difficult times, we forget our right and obligation to do just that. I'm pretty sure those in 'power' know this, as well.

Reading this morning's SL Tribune, and an op-ed well written by Harold G. Christensen, I was torn...'the law IS the law, and the people (were) are good law-abiding citizens', but I felt he almost contradicts himself citing example after example of Thoreau, Gandhi, Parks, King, even furthering with Walesa, Mandela, etc.: WHAT did they all share in common? Serious jail time...simply to do the thing that is right.

We are admonished to teach our kids daily that integrity is 'doing the right thing, even when no one is looking', then punish those who demonstrate that trait. Do these kid NOT understand hypocrisy, or do their 'bull-shit' meters not sound clarion at our own poor examples? I think yet one more example of 'leaders' trying to venture into areas they have no experience/expertise, while calling themselves experts, just because they are elected by a popular vote. And those who truly lead in the classroom suffer at their hands and inexperience, and ultimately, so do our students. Yet they don't ASK for help from those-in-the-trenches, the real leaders, just subjugate them and push them around in a grandiose show of 'real power'.

WHY do our locally elected legislators and Boards of Education, and even Superintendents continue to show such disdain/disregard for their life's blood: their teachers?! Again, I think we threaten them in ways they can't even verbalize...with our passion, experience, expertise, indeed education and ultimately REAL influence at the grass roots...with their kids. Sooner or later, the bubble will burst, and the emperor exposed: http://tinyurl.com/3f2mj68&gt. http://tinyurl.com/3lyvyku. http://tinyurl.com/3ucxwq4. http://tinyurl.com/3gayolw
I said in my header plagiarism is one of the sincerest forms of flattery...I'm going to amend that. I have been censored, and my Blog-Spot musings have been 'blocked' at the school I teach at, and, although I haven't the means to check quite yet, maybe in our entire school District...the assumption being my writings are subversive and disrespectful, and may even cause others to THINK...THAT is the sincerest form of flattery!!