Category Archives: culture

Union…Hubris

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Neal Erickson, was convicted last spring of the repeated rape of a young boy from 2006-2009.  He was, at the time of his crime, a teacher at Rose City Middle School in Rose City, MI.

Erickson’s fellow teachers and his/their union, the Michigan Education Association, think that’s no big deal: they argued for leniency at the time of last spring’s sentencing, and now they’re looking for severance pay–$10,000—for Erickson.  Fellow teacher Sally Campbell wrote a letter to the presiding judge:

Neal made a mistake.  He allowed a mutual friendship to develop into much more.

Much more.  Yeah.  For three years, Neal made his “mistake.”  Hey-ho, nothing serious though, nothing to see here, says the union.  Even the district’s school board condones Erickson’s behavior; that body has refused to take any action against the teachers who rallied to Erickson’s excusal—not even public condemnation of their behavior.

When it became clear that the other teachers in the school were actively supporting Erickson, downplaying his rape behavior, and that the school board was refusing to do anything on its own, parents started taking their children out of the school.  Enrollment is down some 87%.

West Branch-Rose City School Superintendent Daniel Cwayna is all wide-eyed innocence:

I can’t speculate as to why the students have left, but there were certainly parents who vocalized that they were pulling their children out of school because of the teacher’s support[.]

Here’s a thought: maybe it’s because a teacher crew, a union, and a school board that condone child molestation can’t be trusted with children.

Poor Judgment, Generally

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We’ve seen a few examples of poor judgment in our education system vis-à-vis toy guns.  It doesn’t stop there.

The Canon City, CO, school system suspended a 6-year-old boy and charged him as a sex offender for the dastardly crime of kissing his 6-year-old girl friend’s hand (The Superintendent later retracted the sex harassment charge, but only after a public hue and cry).

A 9-year-old in Gastonia, NC was suspended for sexual harassment because he told a classmate he thought his teacher was cute.

An Air Force Base Commander in South Carolina ordered a Christmas nativity scene taken down because it “offended” someone, without regard to whether ordering it removed…might offend…someone.

A 66-year-old portrait of Jesus hanging in a school entrance was ordered removed because it might “offend” someone, without regard to whether ordering it removed…might offend…someone.

The Pentagon said it would court martial Christian pastors who ministered to their congregation members during the just completed government shutdown.

It’s like we’ve all taken leave of our senses.

Poor Judgment

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…makes these unfit to serve as educators, and it’s symptomatic of our broken education system.

A Pennsylvania middle school has chosen to suspend a 10-year-old boy for pretending to shoot a fellow classmate with a bow and arrow while his classmate pretended to shoot him with a folder-cum-machine gun.

A 12-year-old Rhode Island student was suspended for having a gun the size of a quarter on his keychain.

A Maryland 7-year-old was suspended for chewing a pop tart into the “shape of a gun” (he’d bitten off a corner of the square pastry).

These are boys and girls acting like boys and girls.  The teachers, principals, school system superintendents or board members whose judgment that says this should be criminalized or otherwise punished in our schools understand neither children nor education.  They’re wholly unfit to be in our education system in any capacity.

Happy Thanksgiving

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I first posted this in 2011.  I think it bears repeating today.

Today I thought I’d share some thoughts on the matter offered by other folks who are a bit more articulate than I.  In the meantime, be thankful for who we are and where we are: whatever straits we in which we find ourselves, we’re orders of magnitude better off than most everyone else in the world.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be — That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks — for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation — for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war — for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed — for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
-George Washington, 3 October 1789

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God. … No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
-Abraham Lincoln, 3 October 1863

We are profoundly grateful for the blessings bestowed upon us: the preservation of our freedom, so dearly bought and so highly prized; our opportunities for human welfare and happiness, so limitless in their scope; our material prosperity, so far surpassing that of earlier years; and our private spiritual blessings, so deeply cherished by all. For these we offer fervent thanks to God.
-Harry S Truman, 22 November 1950

Perhaps no custom reveals our character as a Nation so clearly as our celebration of Thanksgiving Day. Rooted deeply in our Judeo-Christian heritage, the practice of offering thanksgiving underscores our unshakable belief in God as the foundation of our Nation and our firm reliance upon Him from Whom all blessings flow.
-Ronald W Reagan, 27 November 1986

This Thanksgiving, as we enjoy the company of family and friends, let us gratefully turn our hearts to God, the loving Source of all Life and Liberty. Let us seek His forgiveness for our shortcomings and transgressions and renew our determination to remain a people worthy of His continued favor and protection. Acknowledging our dependence on the Almighty, obeying His Commandments, and reaching out to help those who do not share fully in this Nation’s bounty is the most heartfelt and meaningful answer we can give to the timeless appeal of the Psalmist: ‘O give thanks to the Lord for He is good: for his steadfast love endures forever.’
-George H W Bush, 14 November 1990

And then enjoy yourselves; have plain, raw fun.  That’s not just allowed, it’s a Good in its own right.

Some Thoughts on Freedom

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Daniel Hannan, Member European Parliament for South East England, has a few.  His book, Inventing Freedom: How the English-Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World, was excerpted by The Wall Street Journal a couple weekends ago.  Here are some of Hannan’s thoughts from that excerpt.

Asked, early in his presidency, whether he believed in American exceptionalism, Barack Obama gave a telling reply.  “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.”

The first part of that answer is fascinating (we’ll come back to the Greeks in a bit).  Most Brits do indeed believe in British exceptionalism.  But here’s the thing: they define it in almost exactly the same way that Americans do.  British exceptionalism, like its American cousin, has traditionally been held to reside in a series of values and institutions: personal liberty, free contract, jury trials, uncensored newspapers, regular elections, habeas corpus, open competition, secure property, religious pluralism.

…

What made the Anglosphere different?  Foreign visitors through the centuries remarked on a number of peculiar characteristics: the profusion of nonstate organizations, clubs, charities and foundations; the cheerful materialism of the population; the strong county institutions, including locally chosen law officers and judges; the easy coexistence of different denominations (religious toleration wasn’t unique to the Anglosphere, but religious equality—that is, freedom for every sect to proselytize—was almost unknown in the rest of the world).  They were struck by the weakness, in both law and custom, of the extended family, and by the converse emphasis on individualism.  They wondered at the stubborn elevation of private property over raison d’état, of personal freedom over collective need.

And a warning:

There is, of course, a flip-side.  If the US abandons its political structures, it will lose its identity more thoroughly than states that define nationality by blood or territory.  Power is shifting from the 50 states to Washington, DC, from elected representatives to federal bureaucrats, from citizens to the government.  As the US moves toward European-style health care, day care, college education, carbon taxes, foreign policy and spending levels, so it becomes less prosperous, less confident and less free.

…

Which brings us back to Mr. Obama’s curiously qualified defense of American exceptionalism.  Outside the Anglosphere, people have traditionally expected—indeed, demanded—far more state intervention.  They look to the government to solve their problems, and when the government fails, they become petulant.

What he said.

Hannan’s book, from which this excerpt of an excerpt comes, can be found here and here.